Battery problem.....

[tac foley]

I have a Peter Spoerer set-up in three of my battery r/c locos, and thanks to Philip r/c, I now have two that work. However, the battery in the Baguley-Drewry loco seems to be playing coy.

I plugged in the charger, which first flashed red - once, then green, once, and then the indicator light disappeared totally.

Can I assume that the battery is futzed? BTW, I emole Strikalite, asking if they could replicate it, but so far have received no resplone.

 

[PhilP]

Your charger (nothing connected) should flash red-green-red-green, then go out..
Connecting a battery, should then go red (charging), until charged (shows green)..

If the cells are very low. - Check with a meter.. The charger will not play ball

*Usual disclaimer *
You can probably get the pack back, but it will not be as good as it was..

Connect a dc supply, around 12V would be good, to the battery pack.
KEEP AN EYE ON IT! And check it is not getting really hot, regularly..
Give it, at least, ten minutes. - Keep checking it!

If it has got warm, let it cool for a few minutes, then try again with your smart charger..
Again, keep an eye on it.. Both battery and charger will get warm.
If hot, then stop.

*Own risk*

PhilP

 

[tac foley]

Your charger (nothing connected) should flash red-green-red-green, then go out..
Connecting a battery, should then go red (charging), until charged (shows green)..

If the cells are very low. - Check with a meter.. The charger will not play ball

*Usual disclaimer *
You can probably get the pack back, but it will not be as good as it was..

Connect a dc supply, around 12V would be good, to the battery pack.
KEEP AN EYE ON IT! And check it is not getting really hot, regularly..
Give it, at least, ten minutes. - Keep checking it!

If it has got warm, let it cool for a few minutes, then try again with your smart charger..
Again, keep an eye on it.. Both battery and charger will get warm.
If hot, then stop.

*Own risk*

PhilP

Yup, I've used this charger three times on other batteries in the last week - as you say, it goes red until it goes green. Right now it's completely unlit. I've just pulled the battery out and checked across the contacts and got 3.8V. The battery is cool.

 

[maxi-model]

Your charger (nothing connected) should flash red-green-red-green, then go out..
Connecting a battery, should then go red (charging), until charged (shows green)..

If the cells are very low. - Check with a meter.. The charger will not play ball

*Usual disclaimer *
You can probably get the pack back, but it will not be as good as it was..

Connect a dc supply, around 12V would be good, to the battery pack.
KEEP AN EYE ON IT! And check it is not getting really hot, regularly..
Give it, at least, ten minutes. - Keep checking it!

If it has got warm, let it cool for a few minutes, then try again with your smart charger..
Again, keep an eye on it.. Both battery and charger will get warm.
If hot, then stop.

*Own risk*

PhilP

I had the same problem a while ago, same AA NiMH cell pack size and mAh rating, totally flat (guess who forgot to switch off the loco six months before). Brian Jones (of MAC 5 fame) advised I hook up a 12v/1 amp power source (an old Scalextric power pack I had lying around) for 30 seconds only. That did the trick. It put enough of a charge in the battery pack to put in a low voltage that the smart charger can register, so that it will start to charge normally. If it does not then the pack may have gone bye bye or a duff cell or two. Max

 

[tac foley]

I had the same problem a while ago, same AA NiMH cell pack size and mAh rating, totally flat (guess who forgot to switch off the loco six months before). Brian Jones (of MAC 5 fame) advised I hook up a 12v/1 amp power source (an old Scalextric power pack I had lying around) for 30 seconds only. That did the trick. It put enough of a charge in the battery pack to put in a low voltage that the smart charger can register, so that it will start to charge normally. If it does not then the pack may have gone bye bye or a duff cell or two. Max

Thanks, both, for the advice. The only 12V source I have is a basic LGB power unit and controller. however, I CAN adjust it to 12V by canny use of the control knob. I'll give it a go with my fire extinguisher at the high port......not now though - it's just registered 32C here and there is no way I'm going out to the shed in that......

 

[dunnyrail]

There appear to be the odd ‘feature’ with Smart Charges the is not commonly known. One I have is that as Tac says you go through the flashing sequence and it continues then at some stage (quite a while possibly 10-15 minutes) you get the solid red to show charging. I have assumed that this is some kind of pre-charge job for low powered batteries. I wonder if the light out is a similar undocumented feature that may start to charge with the solid light at some time.