Help with a Schulze 10-36.12 charger! Already not liking it.

[themaxx69]

Well, I got this charger because it's supposed to be one of the best and it was cheap, well cheaper than retail. But I'm already having doubts. One being they have no US phone support, and I think I already fried a battery pack.

Right now I only want to charge 6-7 cell nimh packs. And yes, I read through the instruction booklet more than once.

So, right off the bat I'm having probs. I followed the instructions to do an autoDC refresh and it would only charge at around 200-250ma. From what I could make out in the booklet it says you can't use the auto charge feature because of that problem??? And their instructions say you should always charge at 1C or above. I thought you wanted to charge around .5 to .7C?

So, I thought I would try to manual fixC charge. 4200mah 6 cell pack, set charge to 5amp, cutoff sensitive, delay 5min, 6 cell, 5000 capacity, refresh on. Finished charging and said it charged about 1/4 capacity. Ran my stampede for about 7minutes.

Then I tried to charge another 6 cell 3000mah pack, which possibly was on the verge of exploding after this.

I thought I would try the manual refresh cycle fixDC. Set current to 3amp, discharge at 2amp, 6 cell 3600 capacity refresh on. It was charging for probably less than 30 minutes and then the charger started beeping and it said warning #4 disconnect battery. The battery was HOT, too hot to touch for more than a sec or so. Guess what, no info in the manual or their website about errors, at least I couldn't find any.

I really hope someone has some experience with these, because for as much as these retail for, it already causing way more probs than MUCH cheaper chargers. I would think just charging some old nimh would be real easy.

I hope I'm doing something wrong.

 

[Mr Happy]

Er...why are you trying to destroy your battery packs? :thinking:

 

[Papuga]

Sorry that you are having problems. I have the same charger and I can honestly say that these chargers do nickel based chemistry perfectly. If it is not working correctly, it is most likely a configuration issue. I had to read the manual several times before I could say I was comfortable with it.

Have you tried a simple charge cycle to see if everything is working correctly?

I would try charging at 0.5 to 1.0C, no fancy functions, just a simple charge cycle and see how it behaves.

Shulze makes a mighty fine piece of hardware, IMO, and I have not had one single prohlem with mine.

Good luck

 

[themaxx69]

How am I doing that? I'm following their instructions.

 

[themaxx69]

I followed their instructions so I don't know. Even if the pack was bad, wouldn't the charger say something when they are getting SUPER hot?

UPDATE - I just tried another autoC charge on the first 4200 pack and it appears to have worked. It charged it to 4300, the only thing I don't like is that the cells are 120-140 after 75minutes charging at 3.5amps.

 

[Mr Happy]

Firstly, you seem to be overriding the automatic charge features by using manual settings. You should probably put the charger on auto and let it do its thing before you start fiddling.

Secondly, if you have a pack which is new to the charger I would suggest starting out with a slow conditioning charge to balance the cells before running a high rate charge. The usual conditioning charge is run at 0.1C for a timed 16 hours. I don't know that charger, but it likely has a conditioning/balancing cycle you can select.

After that you can run higher rate normal charges. You didn't say what size your cells are? This matters because if you are running a manual charge the charge current you should select depends heavily on this. The 1C guideline applies to little cells like AA or high performance subC cells. For bigger cells like normal C or D cells the maximum charge current might be 2 amps regardless of capacity.

 

[themaxx69]

I would really just like to know why this thing is doing what it's doing and why the documentation that comes with this supposed best charger conflicts with info I have gotten from experts here on CPF. For one, it says you should always charge 1C or higher. I just charged on pack at .7 or .8C and most cells were at 140F when it was done. And for refreshing old cells, I thought you were supposed to charge them at 1/10C?? That's not what this thing does.

I thought I would try the 3000mh pack that got super hot earlier again after it cooled down. I started with a discharge, but it said it was empty, so I thought I would try another charge at .3C. It started charging and immediately said the voltage was above 12v! so I stopped. What's up with that?

So, I just started a .5C charge on a 3rd pack. Did the same settings as the 4200 pack that worked, but now it's doing it again. For 10 minutes it's only been charging at around 250ma and I have it set at 2.5A??

I've read all the directions, I've looked up tons of stuff here. I've never had so many issues with a charger. Is it simply bad packs??

 

[Mr Happy]

BTW if the cells are getting SUPER hot it should say something to you--something is wrong, stop the charge.

Does the charger have a temperature probe? Are you fixing this tightly to or inside the pack when charging?

 

[Mr Happy]

Why don't you tell us exactly what these packs are--what size cells, how many cells, what their previous history is, how you have charged them before?

 

[themaxx69]

subC rc packs. Hum I wonder if the reason it's charging so slow is it knows it's an old depleted pack??? If so, it didn't explain that in the manual. I believe it also says in the manual that it should never charge more than 3 hours.

 

[Mr Happy]

The first thing to try and do is to measure your packs. See if the manual describes a "conditioning" or "balancing" charge cycle. This would be a C/10 charge for 16 hours, followed by a manual or automatic discharge at 0.2C. Use this to balance the pack and also to measure the actual capacity.

Once you have the actual capacity, try a 0.5C normal charge letting the charger do automatic end of charge detection. See if that works OK, and if so do a discharge and then try a 1C charge. Bear in mind that the pack will get hot if you use a 1C charge. 140F is borderline, but not exceptionally high.

 

[BVH]

I don't have any more Nickel packs but back when I had a 24S/4500, I charged it with my 10-36.12 at about 2.5 or 3 Amps and somewhere around the last 20% of charge, the pack would get very, very warm, almost hot. But this pack was a brick configuration, loaded into a tight compartment with no air circulation. I remember other nickel cells getting warm to very warm, but never hot. While charging, did you verify the charge rate and voltages on-screen to ensure they are what you set the charger to provide? Did you see the small "a", "b" & "c" as you should towards the last 20% of charge? I agree, the manual is terrible! I always prefer to use my Revolectics PL8 if I can. It's so much more charger for much less money than the Schulzes. But then, it won't do a lot of larger, unbalanced packs.

IIRC, it does not have a specific C/10 cycle but you simply set the C/10 current rate in the setup. Try a "Fixed charge" instead of the "Auto". Seems to me, under the "auto", it would not always pick the correct number of cells. But I think it erred the safe way in determining fewer cells than actual.

 

[themaxx69]

I tried "it's" conditioning program first, but it wasn't charging at 1/10C.

Like right now. I set a regular autoC charge at 2.5A, but for 30 minutes now it's only been charging at 250-300ma and the voltage has stayed around 7.2V?
7cell 4600 pack.

 

[themaxx69]

Ok, ya see this is what I'm talking about. This thing is doing different things.
I was trying a regular autC charge set at 2.5A and on a 7 cell 4600. For 30 minutes it was only charging at 250-300ma and the voltage was around 7.2.

So, I stopped the charge and thought I would try the "conditioning" charge again. Set it to autDC, 2.5A charge. It started the discharge cycle and after like 10 seconds started the charging cycle. What do ya know, it goes to 1A charge and around 8V within 30 seconds. For the last 6 minutes its fluctuated between 1.5A-2A charge and is now at 10V??? 10V?

I'm totally dumbfounded? And BTW if it's a conditioning cycle, why wouldn't it automatically charge at 1/10C?

 

[BVH]

It does not have a "conditioning" cycle per se. The extent of its' conditioning is to add some special "pulsed" function to whatever charge rate you input. You must manually input the correct C/10. Again, try the "fixed" charge to see if it actually charges at the rate you input. "Auto" can and will overide your input selection. I'm not saying to "set it and forget it" try these options and monitor closely to help trouble shoot.

 

[themaxx69]

Man where do I start. What's a, b and c? It's doesn't say anything about what those mean. I see the little "a" appearing now and then next the the charging rate.

And why was it only charging at 250ma before and now it's charging at 2.5A?? And why did it say 7.2V brfore and now it says 10.2V?? On a 7cell pack?

 

[BVH]

The little "a" you refer to, is the one I was talking about. It indicates about 80% charged. When it changes to a "b" it's 90% and "c" is near done. It does mention this in the manual but it's really, really "buried" in there. Try a "fixed" charge to see if it charges at the rate you selected. (assuming the pack is not near full)

When in "auto" does it display the correct number of cells in your pack?

 

[themaxx69]

Whoever said this was one of the best chargers was smoking crack!

I can't remember dealing with something so confusing and contradictory in a while.

Filing taxes is easier than this! Geez. Radical equations were easier than this. :sick2:

 

[themaxx69]

The little a keeps going on and off. And how could it be 80% charged after 20minutes or so at ~2A after it said it was empty. 4600ma pack. And why does it say 10.2V???

 

[BVH]

It really sounds like there's a problem with your pack. Once the "a" shows up, it usually stays on until the "b" shows up. But if it's sensing constantly changing (up and down) voltage from the pack, it will do just as your are describing. How are all the wire connections, etc? Have you verified pack capacity (whether empty at .9V per cell or full at about 1.45V per cell?) with a Voltmeter