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Tool Talk Discussion Forum

Battery Charger woes

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JoeK(WI)

05-02-2007 10:01:22




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What is it that weakens in chargers once they age.Gotta be a simple fix as they are not exactly rocket science in construction.I now have 3,all older w/same problem.All three would "trip out" the breaker if overloaded/shorted correctly when new,but now trip on ANY heavier load than about 1/2 scale.After a few minutes cooling they will self reset,charge for a bit,then again trip out so takes forever to charge a LOW battery.These are brandname small benchtop chargers of 6/8/10 amps and have been great little units,but hardly worth sending off to East Hookworm,LA or somewhere for repair and I hate to toss & replace something that should be simple and cheap to repair.Used to be an old feller here in town that fixed chargers and fencers to supplement his SS,but he has long passed on and no one else will even look at em for less than a $25"bench charge" let alone repair em. Grrrrr

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Kendall

05-10-2007 08:07:21




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 Re: Battery Charger woes in reply to JoeK(WI), 05-02-2007 10:01:22  
What Bob said. Plus check the auto/manual /low/hi or whatever switch for poor switch contacts. Mine fell apart. Was able to substitute one from local electronics store.



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Hobo,NC

05-03-2007 04:39:46




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 Re: Battery Charger woes in reply to JoeK(WI), 05-02-2007 10:01:22  
I have found the biggest killer of a charger izz folks remove the charger clamps from the battery while the charger izz still plunged in. Unplug the charger from the power source B-4 you disconnect it from a battery.



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dave guest

05-02-2007 19:40:27




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 Re: Battery Charger woes in reply to JoeK(WI), 05-02-2007 10:01:22  
Not your problem but selenium rectifiers do reduce ouput with age. Solution is to replace with diode. Used to cost bout a dollar.



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Gary Schafer

05-02-2007 18:51:11




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 Re: Battery Charger woes in reply to JoeK(WI), 05-02-2007 10:01:22  
Try a new circuit breaker. They get weak after repeated openings.

Regards
Gary



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Bob

05-02-2007 14:15:28




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 Re: Battery Charger woes in reply to JoeK(WI), 05-02-2007 10:01:22  
Some "old" chargers of somewhat recent vintage use a pair of "pellet diodes" lightly held in place against a sort crude of "heat sink".

They make poor contact after a while, and overheat, and one or both fail, typically by shorting, which then passes AC, "fighting" the other diode and the battery, and tripping the breaker. The little charger I keep at the house failed the other day, and acts just like what you describe.

I used to have source for the little "pellet diodes", but don't have a clue where to get them at the moment.

If your's is made like that, and you can find a couple of the diodes, clean the contact surfaces, and snap the new diodes in place, taking note of the postion of the band that indicates polarity.

Alternately, a person could "sub" a pair of "stud-mount" diodes of adequate ratings.

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tech4

05-02-2007 11:37:14




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 Re: Battery Charger woes in reply to JoeK(WI), 05-02-2007 10:01:22  
Most of the older battery chargers used a selenium rectifier that rectified the AC and also the internal resistance limited the charging current. The newer chargers use electronic circuits that limit current and regulate the voltage similar to the voltage regulator on you car truck or tractor. Your problem could be the selenium rectifier if it is the older unit and anything from a bad diode(s) to regulator components or simple mis adjustment internal. Give me the model number and brand and I will see if I can find a schematic of your charger on the internet.

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JoeK(WI)

05-02-2007 12:09:09




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 Re: Battery Charger woes in reply to tech4, 05-02-2007 11:37:14  
Newest is a Schauer CR612 Solid State
2nd is an ESB SS-6
3rd is unknown 3Amp,12V only,mebbee an old Bantam?

As I said,the DO work,it's like the circuit breakers have become very weak though.After enough cycles to perk up the battery a little,requiring less charge,they seem to work OK.



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tech4

05-02-2007 13:26:04




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 Re: Battery Charger woes in reply to JoeK(WI), 05-02-2007 12:09:09  
Sorry but unable to locate schematics for those model chargers. It bothers me that you have the same problem with 3 chargers. All 3 work a little different and I doubt there is a common part that is bad in each charger. The meters on battery chargers are real cheaply made and not uncommon for the meters to read on the low side. The circuit breakers in the older chargers are true circuit breakers but some of the new chargers use a solid state overload circuit. Have you been trying to charge dead batteries that may have a shorted cell? What is your line voltage (high or low) ? The circuit breakers could be bad but seems strange on 3 chargers. Has the chargers ever been hooked up backwards - to + ? If the rectifiers are leaking then that would place AC on the battery that would read half or less on meter and pop the circuit breaker and battery will be hot. Just doubt all 3 have bad rectifiers. This is something that could be tested on the bench and fixed but hard to do remote.

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JoeK(WI)

05-02-2007 16:52:44




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 Re: Battery Charger woes in reply to tech4, 05-02-2007 13:26:04  
Guess I'll open em up and try a few things,check output voltages,for any corroded connections/loose wire etc,Like most home chargers they have been momentarily reversed on hookup,clips shorted etc a few times over the years.No problems with line voltage variation/surges/brownouts here.I've prolly well gotten my $$ outta these over the years but"You know how it is" :)



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souNdguy

05-02-2007 12:23:39




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 Re: Battery Charger woes in reply to JoeK(WI), 05-02-2007 12:09:09  
The old bulb style CB can and do get weak.

Soundguy



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