LaCrosse charger problem or Eneloop problem?

[Erasmus]

Hi there,

I discovered something quite nasty this evening. I was charging some AA cells in a LaCrosse BC-900 charger. After a few hours I was checking whether the batteries were charged, but they weren't yet. I thought they were there for long enough to be charged so I pressed the 'display' button to get the voltage on the display. It didn't work, the charger's display always displayed the same, looked like it was frozen. Then I took up the charger and burnt my hand, it was incredibly hot! I immediately unplugged it and left it for some time to cool down. Then I discovered an Eneloop AA cell had been heating up and venting. Even the plastic wrap around the battery shrunk and exposed the metal can of the cell. Also the charger was so hot that the plastic 'case' was deformed.

I put all components (charger and every battery seperately) in plastic bags for now. My question is what went wrong here? The cells were charging at 500mA which is not a high current and could never heat up the batteries as much as this time. I have the charger for 3 years now and it always worked normally with all kinds of AAA and AA NiMH cells. The batteries weren't brand new either, but as I put it in a plastic bag I can not read the datestamp on it anymore (I have '06 and '08 stamped, so no matter which it is, it has been through some cycles).

I'm going to send an e-mail to both LaCrosse and Sanyo now.

Cheers
Raf

 

[Erasmus]

Eneloop pic : http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk61/Pallieter85/CPF/eneloopres.jpg
Charger pic : http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk61/Pallieter85/CPF/chargerres.jpg

 

[Mr Happy]

Bummer! I think you have experienced the infamous BC-900 meltdown problem. Apparently they have been known to do that, and the cause is usually traceable to a fault that develops in the charger. It is very unlikely the battery had anything to do with it. It is an innocent victim in the disaster.

 

[Black Rose]

Nasty.

Do you recall what version of the BC-900 you have Erasmus?

 

[Erasmus]

v32 (it's always displayed whenever I power up the charger).

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Erasmus,

I agree with Mr Happy. I think your charger was in the beginning of melting down.

Its a good thing that you paid attention to what was going on and caught it before it got worse.

Tom

 

[Bones]

It seems you have joined a not very exclusive club Erasmus.

I was struck by the similarities between the image you submitted on the left and the image submitted by snoofer on the right:

For additional information on your misfortune, see this post:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com ... post1224844

For lots more information, Google this search string:

bc-900 meltdown site:candlepowerforums.com

 

[hoarybat]

I had something weird TWO THINGS actually with my LaCrosse BC-900 firmware v33 purchased 2006. It overheated slightly with some eneloops but I caught it in time. I had set it to charge at 700 since I have been fearful of that 200 low setting meltdown issue. I felt the charger and the batteries way way too hot checking 5 hrs after putting them in. Since they were only half discharged this charger should have completed it far sooner but it was still charging! This is some kind of wacky lack of cutoff issue regardless of the charge setting. The batts were ruined. Before this I also had one new set of rayovac hybrids and one almost new set of eneloops killed by this charger. Strangely the charger never got hot, display said full/done, voltages and mah's display nice and high matching battery specs. I put them in my camera and 5 shots and 7 shots later per set the camera shut off saying low battery. I tried refresh on both sets but that didn't work to recover them either. Ok forgive me if below has already been posted here. The latest price for this charger from Amazon went up in price. It appears as of a week ago or so, they are now shipping the "new" replacment BC-9009. Same kit, charger Specs etc. except the color of the charger changed. AH would this explain the price increase! Someone at another forum sent an inquiry (below) to LaCrosse tech support:

Amazing--I got a response from La Crosse! Apparently there is no real difference between the two units. Here is the email I received:

LA CROSSE TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT INFORMATION

Dear XXX,

Model Number: BC900 Charger

Please Refer to case number XXXXX in all future correspondence.

The only difference between the BC900 and the BC9009 is the color of the units.

Regards,

Michelle

Technical Support Representative
LaCrosse Technology
2817 Losey Boulevard S
LaCrosse, WI 54601

AH the color of the units warrants a price increase! Maybe LaCrosse wants to distinguish the new charger from the old MELTDOWN one and charge a higher price although they are the same? Now I don't know what the firmware levels are up to since my purchase two years ago since the last I heard was F/W 35 but either way this smells like wrotten fish here NO? Looking forward to your feedback. Thanks...

 

[Bones]

...

The latest price for this charger from Amazon went up in price. It appears as of a week ago or so, they are now shipping the "new" replacment BC-9009. Same kit, charger Specs etc. except the color of the charger changed. AH would this explain the price increase! Someone at another forum sent an inquiry (below) to LaCrosse tech support:

Amazing--I got a response from La Crosse! Apparently there is no real difference between the two units. Here is the email I received:

LA CROSSE TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT INFORMATION

Dear XXX,

Model Number: BC900 Charger

Please Refer to case number XXXXX in all future correspondence.

The only difference between the BC900 and the BC9009 is the color of the units.

Regards,

Michelle

Technical Support Representative
LaCrosse Technology
2817 Losey Boulevard S
LaCrosse, WI 54601

AH the color of the units warrants a price increase! Maybe LaCrosse wants to distinguish the new charger from the old MELTDOWN one and charge a higher price although they are the same? Now I don't know what the firmware levels are up to since my purchase two years ago since the last I heard was F/W 35 but either way this smells like wrotten fish here NO? Looking forward to your feedback.

...

Sadly, it appears that you may be correct in your hypothesis.

From their respective images, it looks like all LaCrosse did to 'create' the BC-9009 was to simply transfer the workings of the BC-900 into the body of the BC-700, and they apparently did so without introducing any improvements whatsoever:



Sadder yet, they appear to have retained the original blue and white BC-900 power supply, probably because the color-matched supply from the BC-700 lacks the necessary output.

I say sadder yet because the power supply for the BC-900 has been blamed for causing spontaneous re-sets and other behavioural oddities:

Both of my v33 units had a tendency to reset spontaneously, or after you put in all four cells, wouldn't let you program the first two slots unless you unplugged the wall wart to reset. I had to do the capacitor mod to both v33 units (and of course my v32 also). Although the problem can be corrected within the unit itself by installing caps, if LaCrosse had used quieter power supplies (better filtering within the PS), it would not have been an issue in the first place, regarldess of what version the unit is. Consequently, as long as LaCrosse hasn't added any additional filtering within the BC unit, and they still use the same unaltered PS, I would expect the resetting problem to remain to varying degrees from unit to unit, regardless of version.

 

[tabetha]

I have recently purchased a TECHNOLINE BC 900, which is the same as your La Crosse.
I have no issues with it, but also later purchased a BC 700 unit for my pops, and found there IS a difference other than colour.
Where the BC900 can charge 2 cells at 1500 or 1800, the BC 700 is limited to 70ma.
Well they are by the time they get over here anyway(uk), interestingly the importers did temm me that they use slightly different circuitry to the usa market ones, how true that is I have no idea, can't see it would be needed other than the different power supply, which is different on the 700 to the 900 here.
I beleive the usa is on 60HZ supply ?, we are on 50HZ, so don't know if that is the difference ?
tabetha