X990 Charger

Is the stock charger that comes with this light a 'smart charger' or is the battery a 'smart battery'?
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

it is a 'smart battery'
however, i had one of my two packs going bad.
heard a little crack while it was charging /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

the pack of cells has spot welded tabs to connect the cells.

maybe one of the spot welds came loose on a cell.

Unfortunately it's not that easy.
At least one cell is leaking,
some more may be damaged already.

I was hoping that it would be a simple fix.

how new is the light ? contact the manufacturer and complain.

does it have a thermal switch or sensor(temp sensitive diode ?) to end the charge cycle ?
maybe one cell has a pressure switch.
if the pack is pretty new I would remove the obvious bad cells.

then re connect the remaining cells into a pack.

using a power supply and a sutible load I would charge/discharge the pack a couple of times.

then after a recharge I would put the cells under a 3 amp load .
after ten minutes or so I would measure the voltage of the cells(while under load) any cells that show a signifigant
low voltage are bad.

then I would buy new cells to replace the bad ones.

I bet the cells were not that closely capacity matched when new.

I think new 4.5 ah cells are a little over 3 bucks each.

at that price replacing them all would be kool - if they came with tabs.


button tops may not fit well into the battery case.