OF
Well-Known Member
Quick update. I had to scrub the battery test, one of the batteries is trash. The beat up one.....
Funny kind of failure, I think it might be a common one. It charges 'normally' or what could pass for it I think. Shows step 7 on the battery meter, but six or seven minutes into the first 'full blast, open top' session it starts to get a little erratic as it shuts the heater down. A minute or so later I noticed the 'charger' LED is flashing just as it shuts down. I'm color blind, but I think it's 'the wrong color' for charging. IIRC it also lights up (red?) when the battery seriously needs charging?
At that point, restarting it shows one or two lights.....way to low for a partial session. Letting it go further, the 'charge' flash gets stronger each heating cycle then suddenly it went dark. No lights, I couldn't turn it on again. Stone dead. A few minutes charge got it on again, but still in deep trouble. I think the protection PCB locked it out (as it should) when the weaker cell dropped to 2.5 Volts (the usual trip level). The other cell should be more or less full charged still, so the total is probably something like 6.5 Volts?
Anyway, I have a spare pack from my rebuilding adventures a while back. I put it in and it ran a full blast session just fine. It's now fully charging for another run.
BTW, this one unit has had a tough life. 3 more bits of the bottom fell out changing the battery, one of them 1/8 or so square and an inch long. It ran across the back between the screws. Now one edge of the S/N plate is hanging in space. After this test, I'd better get hot with the epoxy or I'm going to end up with no bottom at all. Character? Oh, yeah, it's got that in spades.
Anyway, looks to me like someone beat one up, ran the battery into the mud then swapped it out before the two years was done? I has enough battery life left for a single normal session at step 4 but that's about it.
OF
Funny kind of failure, I think it might be a common one. It charges 'normally' or what could pass for it I think. Shows step 7 on the battery meter, but six or seven minutes into the first 'full blast, open top' session it starts to get a little erratic as it shuts the heater down. A minute or so later I noticed the 'charger' LED is flashing just as it shuts down. I'm color blind, but I think it's 'the wrong color' for charging. IIRC it also lights up (red?) when the battery seriously needs charging?
At that point, restarting it shows one or two lights.....way to low for a partial session. Letting it go further, the 'charge' flash gets stronger each heating cycle then suddenly it went dark. No lights, I couldn't turn it on again. Stone dead. A few minutes charge got it on again, but still in deep trouble. I think the protection PCB locked it out (as it should) when the weaker cell dropped to 2.5 Volts (the usual trip level). The other cell should be more or less full charged still, so the total is probably something like 6.5 Volts?
Anyway, I have a spare pack from my rebuilding adventures a while back. I put it in and it ran a full blast session just fine. It's now fully charging for another run.
BTW, this one unit has had a tough life. 3 more bits of the bottom fell out changing the battery, one of them 1/8 or so square and an inch long. It ran across the back between the screws. Now one edge of the S/N plate is hanging in space. After this test, I'd better get hot with the epoxy or I'm going to end up with no bottom at all. Character? Oh, yeah, it's got that in spades.
Anyway, looks to me like someone beat one up, ran the battery into the mud then swapped it out before the two years was done? I has enough battery life left for a single normal session at step 4 but that's about it.
OF