BVH
Flashaholic
One of my N30's started providing only 6 or 7 minutes of run time. I did full discharges and recharges 4 times to be sure the issue would repeat itself. After a full discharge, the light would recharge "fully" in less than 15 minutes at which time the led would turn green. I use all my N30's equally so this has not happened as a result of non-use.
Well, since the pack seemed dead, I decided to experiment with my Schulze charger. I popped out the battery and inserted some drill bits into the discharge port holes in the pack. I assumed charging on the discharge side of the pack would bypass the built-in charging logic.
I began by charging at a rate of 2 Amps hoping to slightly "shock" the batteries with more current than the wall wart provides. The Schulze charger display shows a lower-case "a", then "b" and finally "c" when it is near the end of charging Nimh cells. This usually happens over a 15 or 20 minute process. It took about 25 minutes and .6 Amps before the "a" appeared and I thought I was not going to be successful. However, for the next 25 minutes, the "a" would come and go - something I have never seen it do. So I figured I was getting somewhere. About 10 minutes later, the "b" would come and go. The charge finally terminated at 15.82 Volts and 1.41 Amps. Quite a bit more charge than with the wall wart. Just finished running at 34.5 minutes. So it looks like I may be able to revive the pack significantly. I'll do more full discharges and charges with the external charger and see where I end up.
I curious to see if "backside" charging has done any damage to the charging logic in the pack. Once I finish reviving the pack, I will see if the wall wart works. The battery meter is working normally so maybe no damage.
EDIT: Update. Started the second external charge at a rate of 2.5 Amps. Charger provided this current for about 5 minutes and then backed down to 1.7 Amps and has been stable there.
EDIT: 2nd external 1 hour, 40 minute charge yielded 2.75 AH and a termination Voltage of 16.20 Unfortunately, I reached the time limitation and charging stopped. I started it up again and added the two sessions together.
Final 2nd charge tally: 2 hours, 09 minutes, yielded 3.58 AH and a termination Voltage of 16.66. Battery case was 102 degrees. Ambient temp was 65 degrees.
EDIT: Run time was 68 minutes.
EDIT: First charge from wall wart yielded 68 minutes of run time. (I gave it two wall wart charge cycles. IIRC, there is a time-out circuit in this pack that sometimes terminated charge too soon)
EDIT: (final) Second wall wart charge with just one charge cycle until the led turned green. Run time: 68 minutes. Looks like the pack is back to normal specs.
I think I'll "PM" my other two packs from the Schulze to hopefully prevent what happened to this pack.
Well, since the pack seemed dead, I decided to experiment with my Schulze charger. I popped out the battery and inserted some drill bits into the discharge port holes in the pack. I assumed charging on the discharge side of the pack would bypass the built-in charging logic.
I began by charging at a rate of 2 Amps hoping to slightly "shock" the batteries with more current than the wall wart provides. The Schulze charger display shows a lower-case "a", then "b" and finally "c" when it is near the end of charging Nimh cells. This usually happens over a 15 or 20 minute process. It took about 25 minutes and .6 Amps before the "a" appeared and I thought I was not going to be successful. However, for the next 25 minutes, the "a" would come and go - something I have never seen it do. So I figured I was getting somewhere. About 10 minutes later, the "b" would come and go. The charge finally terminated at 15.82 Volts and 1.41 Amps. Quite a bit more charge than with the wall wart. Just finished running at 34.5 minutes. So it looks like I may be able to revive the pack significantly. I'll do more full discharges and charges with the external charger and see where I end up.
I curious to see if "backside" charging has done any damage to the charging logic in the pack. Once I finish reviving the pack, I will see if the wall wart works. The battery meter is working normally so maybe no damage.
EDIT: Update. Started the second external charge at a rate of 2.5 Amps. Charger provided this current for about 5 minutes and then backed down to 1.7 Amps and has been stable there.
EDIT: 2nd external 1 hour, 40 minute charge yielded 2.75 AH and a termination Voltage of 16.20 Unfortunately, I reached the time limitation and charging stopped. I started it up again and added the two sessions together.
Final 2nd charge tally: 2 hours, 09 minutes, yielded 3.58 AH and a termination Voltage of 16.66. Battery case was 102 degrees. Ambient temp was 65 degrees.
EDIT: Run time was 68 minutes.
EDIT: First charge from wall wart yielded 68 minutes of run time. (I gave it two wall wart charge cycles. IIRC, there is a time-out circuit in this pack that sometimes terminated charge too soon)
EDIT: (final) Second wall wart charge with just one charge cycle until the led turned green. Run time: 68 minutes. Looks like the pack is back to normal specs.
I think I'll "PM" my other two packs from the Schulze to hopefully prevent what happened to this pack.
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