Rebooting a dead battery

maxi-model

maxi-model

UK/US/ROW steam narrow gauge railways 1:1
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A big hats off to Brian Jones. Went to recharge my one and only battery loco and noticed 1) I'd left it switched on since last used and 2) the batteries would not take a charge/the smart charger would not start charging. What to do ? Well he had been ever so helpful when I purchased all the bits so I contacted aforementioned vendor (from all of 5 years ago !).

Brian still had the details of my order - all is not lost your batteries are of a type that can possibly recover. Have I got an old 12v/1a DC transformer ? Well yes I have, that one I saved from my old Scalextric setup, "Just in case ". OK, rig it up to your loco's charging socket, checking correct polarity, and give it a 30 second burst of current then connect the smart charger. Bingo - the previously dead to the world battery pack had enough of a miniscule voltage to be recognised by the charger and let it start its work.

Sorry for any terminalogical inexactitude (I'm a total numpty when it comes to electrics) but I'm mighty impressed with this bit of customer service and how a redundant bit of kit can rescue the day. Max
 
Zerogee said:
Definitely a result, Max - was it a Nimh battery pack?

Jon.
Click to expand...
Yes Nimh. But apparently of the more recent type (whatever that is) that would react to this trick. Saved me a lot of messing around or even the need to buy a new set. Brian offered to try and resuscitate them himself if this little trick did not work. Max
 
All nicad and nimh can do this... basically it's not the pack but the charger. Newer chargers will not charge a battery when they "think" it is dangerous. When these batteries get fully discharged, it is possible for them to reverse polarity. Charging then is like pouring charge into something "stronger" than a dead short... bad stuff happens...

So, by "forcing" a bit of voltage at the proper polarity, you got enough there for the charger to go ahead.

Nothing really new here, pretty typical for any "automatic" charger.

That said, happy for you to recover your batteries... keep them "more" charged from now on??

Greg
 
Yes, I'd recommend Brian for your radio control needs, he certainly knows his stuff and very helpful.
 
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