Moved and packed up everything almost 2 years ago, engines were packed away and now getting them out, Dash 9 just charged so far looks like it might be good, my sons USA Mighty Moe engine seems to not charge, everything dead, charger light stays green never gets red, when charging the light goes from red to charge to green to done, anything to help it or do I have to replace battery?
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Tom h
Can you measure the actual battery voltage somehow?
Tom,
Try a “Smart Charger”-dump the “idiot lights” charger. The charging cycle is computer controlled and seems to bring back batteries from the edge. I have done it with my NiMH and Li-ion batteries. I have a Tynergy B6S smart charger.
Don - I will have to take engine apart , guess I might have to do that.
Gary - I bought a charger from Don Sweet about 4 years ago, dont have any settings on it.
tom h
tom huisenga said:
Gary - I bought a charger from Don Sweet about 4 years ago, dont have any settings on it.
tom h
The Tenergy B6s has buttons to set the rate of charge. The computer kind of “bumps” the battery and monitors the temp of the battery and adjusts to the “condition” of the battery. I’m not an electronics geek, so can’t really explain how it works. But this is what I have.
Would be good to know what the battery chemistry is.
If it’s lithium or nimih, probably no hope.
If it’s nicad, you might get SOME of the charge back by zapping it, but the battery is almost certainly damaged.
Greg
Duh, should of said Nicad, sorry, it is from Rick Isard at Cordless Renovations, in series.
Tom H
In the old days, where every charger was “dumb” nicads often developed internal shorts. We would get a BFC, charge it up and discharge through the battery (as in trying to charge it, plus to plus)
The high inrush current basically will follow the path of least resistance, i.e. the internal short and vaporize it.
Again, the battery is already damaged, but you can often extract some more life.
DANGER! A fully charged BFC will cause sparks, arcing and you can indeed sometimes blow stuff up.
I’d just get new batteries.
Greg
Give Rick a jingle. I’ve got one of his packs here (Li-Ion) that’s brand new, but discharged below where the PC protection board will let me charge it. He suggested some hoops to jump through, so all may not be lost. (I’m not equipped to jump through those hoops myself, but he’s got a local dealer north of town who can help. I’ve just got to get together with him yet.)
It could very well be dead, also. NiCads are strange that way. One cell goes kaput, and the pack won’t take a charge for love or money. In those cases, it’s replace/recycle.
Later,
K
Nicads don’t have the same circuitry at all Kevin.
Nicads are no more strange than any other battery, in fact less strange than most, easier to deal with, less danger of explosion, easier to handle overcharge, etc.
In any multi-pack setup, if one cell goes out, it affects the overall pack, but that does NOT mean the pack won’t take a charge, it depends on how that particular cell has failed: open, short, reversed polarity.
Seriously, all of your comments are pretty much wrong except call Rick.
Greg
Your not going to believe this, turned it upside down to start taking the screws out that hold the hood down to take battery out, turned it back over to check something else out, just for the heck of it turned the switch on and lights went on, put it on the charger and its taking a charge, did have some juice left because ran the motor and the wheels turned.
Now I am really nervous that there is a loose connection some where and I still have to take it all apart, but for now holding my fingers crossed!
tom h
Tom, congrats! Fingers crossed it was a loose connection that stays connected now.
Greg, since “Call Rick” was my only suggestion, I guess I did okay then.
In 30 years of using batteries of many different chemistries to power my trains, I’ve had packs fail in many ways. Sometimes they can be revived (and Rick would be one to have suggestions for doing that), sometimes they’re recycle-bin fodder. I’ve had my share of both, hence my suggestion to call Rick, with a hopeful spirit, but know that it may be toast. (That whole “hope for the best but plan for the worst” thing…)
But since it’s merely a bad connection at fault, Tom should have continued luck with the pack provided he’s got a good peak-detection charger for it.
Later,
K