12v Chineses Blue Li-ion battery charge problem

[ge_rik]

I've been trying to charge up one of those blue 12v Li-ion batteries from China. I'm using an Imax B6 balanced charger which I've used OK with another of these batteries. It's a new battery - never used.

When I try charging up this one it works OK for a while then after anywhere between 30 secs and 2 mins I get an error message 'Connection break'. I've checked all the connections and there does not seem to be a problem - and have now tried the same settings with my other blue battery which is now happily charging.

Looking on the web it seems I am not the only one to experience this problem and one suggestion is to open up the battery and check and then if necessary re-solder the internal connections. I'm not too sure about this. Has anyone else had any experience of this problem?

Rik

 

[Philbahn]

Rick had a similar problem with my dewalt.
Cost so far 2x 18vlt 2 amp £ 90.00
2x 24 volt £100.00

Know tey are not the same as yours but it seem like a similar problem

 

[Madman]

I have several of those blue batteries. Each one came with a simple "Wall Wart" charger. Charging time is overnight. I've not had any issues so far. I would say the oldest of these batteries is about three years.

 

[GAP]

I bought one of these batteries, it came with a charger and power plug adapter.
Mine had a dud cell and wouldn't charge above 8.6V.
When I dismantled it I found that the switch was wired so that both leads were switched and not just one but I tried charging with the switch in both on and off positions.
When it arrived I measured 9.2V originally but after attempting to charge it just stayed at 8.6V even after 48 hours on charge.

On another note I am considering buying an Imax B6 balanced charger to charge a Turnigy 400mAHr Lipo, I am looking at the one with the 240V adapter built in.
Any comments about how they perform would be nice.

 

[ge_rik]

The first one came with a duff charger and this one came with a charger with a two flat pin plug and I've not been able to find a suitable adapter.

I might have a go at stripping it down to see what's inside - just not too happy about bringing a soldering iron too close to the cells.

Rik

 

[ge_rik]

Re:12v Chinese Blue Li-ion battery charge problem

On another note I am considering buying an Imax B6 balanced charger to charge a Turnigy 400mAHr Lipo, I am looking at the one with the 240V adapter built in.
Any comments about how they perform would be nice.

I bought a cheaper clone of one of these with a separate adapter - it takes 12v input and so I thought it might be useful to have the option of running off a car battery.

Like most of these things, the manual is a bit 'technical' with the occasional Chinglish phrase. Mind you its operating system is fairly intuitive once you get the hang of it. What I like about it is it will handle most types of batteries from NiCd through to LiPo - so hopefully it will be future-proofed. It also has various charge and refresh options, one of which is that it will give a charge for 'storage' if a battery is not going to be used for a while. I bought mine through a UK supplier but I could have got it quite a bit cheaper if I'd bought it direct from China - the advantage was that mine came with a UK type adapter and I emailed them a couple of times the first time I used it when I got a bit confused (although the manual says it will charge Li-ion, it only shows Li-po on the menu - but it intelligently works out which is which) .

When trying to understand the fault I found quite a few videos on Youtube showing this type of charger - some of them look like reviews so they may presumably be done by those with more knowledge of this field than me.

Rik

 

[beavercreek]

Because I have such a mix of battery types and voltages (early DC sound board back-up Lead acid, NiMH and NiCad, Li-Ion power bricks etc etc) I invested in one of these:
http://www.4-max.co.uk/gt-x-drive6-charger.htm

I got it for about £80 from Kings Lynn Models and it is great at doing everything and senses if anything is going wrong so no nasty accidents if you leave it to do its thing. It will charge four different chemistiries and voltages at the same time which is great for my purposes. It also has a memory so that you do not have to reprogram in the different perameters for each battery.

 

[ge_rik]

Youtube review of the Imax B6

http://youtu.be/rigWBMBT9NA R...es poof! after a short while (so far so good)

 

[MRail]

...a two flat pin plug and I've not been able to find a suitable adapter.

Try the travel shelf at your local supermarket.

 

[ge_rik]

UPDATE
Bit the bullet and dismantled the battery pack. There were no obvious dry-joints in the soldering so removed the internal switch/LED and tried charging the pack directly.

Same error message.

Have now snipped the interlinking wires between each cell and am trying to charge up each cell separately. So far the first cell I tried threw up the same error message. Now charging the second cell and, ten minutes in, have not experienced a problem (fingers crossed).

If it turns out that only one of the cells is duff, I may use it as a 8 volt pack on a smaller loco.

Rik
EDIT - Second cell now successfully charged-up and it looks as if each cell has its own circuitry to control discharge. Looks as if I'll be able to rewire it as a 2-cell/8v pack. A pity as I would have preferred 12v but maybe this is an excuse to construct a smaller loco for the line.

 

[MasterBruce]

It needs power supply.

 

[GAP]

UPDATE
Bit the bullet and dismantled the battery pack. There were no obvious dry-joints in the soldering so removed the internal switch/LED and tried charging the pack directly.

Same error message.

Have now snipped the interlinking wires between each cell and am trying to charge up each cell separately. So far the first cell I tried threw up the same error message. Now charging the second cell and, ten minutes in, have not experienced a problem (fingers crossed).

If it turns out that only one of the cells is duff, I may use it as a 8 volt pack on a smaller loco.

Rik
EDIT - Second cell now successfully charged-up and it looks as if each cell has its own circuitry to control discharge. Looks as if I'll be able to rewire it as a 2-cell/8v pack. A pity as I would have preferred 12v but maybe this is an excuse to construct a smaller loco for the line.

That sounds exactly like the battery that I got one dud cell.
I left a nastygram on the site and so far the silence has been deafening re a reply.
Won't hold my breath waiting either.

 

[ge_rik]

I'd already snipped off the plug so couldn't return it. So far, the Chinese suppliers I've dealt with have been very good. I bought a spare battery for my camcorder which seemed to have some problems with the connectors - I couldn't charge it at all. I contacted them and they gave me a full refund. I got a charger with it which works OK. Bought another battery from another source and so now have a 'free' charger.

I've just bought another blue battery from another Chinese supplier for £10 - fingers crossed. A bit of a nuisance cos the one which doesn't work was just the right size for my new http://riksrailway.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/how-i-constructed-ip-engineering-jessie.html < Link To diesel build. My other blue battery is too wide. Just bought ten NiMH 3.6Ah AA batteries from a UK supplier which cost me just under £15 so will give them a try.

Rik