My new Soneil charger died, Help!

[recumbent]

Charger model is 4808sr 3.5 amps out put.

Charger was working fine for three days then just stopped in the middle of a charge, no smoke, but completely dead.

Checked power cord, looked inside, all is fine.

On the side panel it says to use "input fuse 4A/250V output fuse: 10A/250V".

The input fuse is burnt, and is stamped, 15ah/250V, or T5Ah/250V. Changed it with spare fuse supplied and it burnt instantly. However I checked the voltage from my power outlet in my condo and it reads 124volts, not 115 volts as charger says it should be.

What do i do now? get a slightly bigger fuse? the charger does'nt get hot or anything.

I opened it few days ago to "up" the charge voltage from 57V to 59.8 Volts to match my BMS, so the warranty is probly gone.

edit: to make it clearer to understand

 

[dnmun]

the fuse is blowing up because something is shorted.do you have a voltmeter and can measure resistance?

are there black smoky spots? shellac on the transformer look like barbeque?

 

[Deepkimchi]

I had mine go bad and repaired it. You can probably find it on previous post. It was one of the large resistors and the SCR power transistor.

If you get it fixed check to see if the amps are correct. There are 2 screws at the end that adjust amps & voltage. Sometimes they have the amps up too high, which causes it to overheat and burn the SCR. Not expensive to fix.

DK

 

[recumbent]

I had mine go bad and repaired it. You can probably find it on previous post. It was one of the large resistors and the SCR power transistor.

Thanks "deep" found your post and your charger looks just like mine.

You mentioned about the plastic sheet and the end plates grounding board issue, could this be what I'm doing wrong? because i didn't pay attention to where exactly the plastic sheet went.

Basicly the plastic sheet has to seal the bottom of the circuit board from the flange, or end plate.

Thanks for the write-up.

Edit: double checked plastic issue and assembled properly, still blows fuses.

 

[dnmun]

where is the post?

can you measure resistance? is this a switching power supply or does it have an input transformer?

 

[recumbent]

where is the post?

can you measure resistance? is this a switching power supply or does it have an input transformer?

Post is under "smoked soneil charger repair" sorry i don't know how to link.

The charger is indeed a switching power supply.

Where do i start measuring resistance? It blows fuses like flash bulbs, in the input section, or high power area.

I'm little reluctant to pull it appart till i hear from soneil but i already breached warranty, so i think i will anyways. I always sleep on decisions I'm not sure about.

 

[recumbent]

Here are some pictures couldn't wait.

 

[dnmun]

found the original, he blew up the rectifiers with high voltage, reversed bias across rectifiers?

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4727

i don't think you have violated the warranty, just by tweaking the voltage output. did you try talking to soniel to see if they would replace it? is it fairly new?

this is over my head but interested in how to diagnose it also. but maybe your best option is to ask soniel to replace it and see how far that goes.

can you also take a picture of the traces from underneath?

 

[recumbent]

i don't think you have violated the warranty, just by tweaking the voltage output. did you try talking to soniel to see if they would replace it? is it fairly new?
can you also take a picture of the traces from underneath?

I spoke with the supplier same day it failed and he made it clear that Soneil wont warranty any charger that has been opened. So now i'm relying on an old Chinese charger to keep me going, and i think i'm going to replace the Soniel with another Chinese one

I'll take a picture of the traces but they look perfect, however the blue wire seen best on #3 photo is burnt on the bottom, including on the white goop that was placed there afterwards. It's a main wire that goes to the plug also.

 

[dnmun]

that sucks, you did nothing by opening it. gary and drbass are the only people i have seen show any knowledge of them. maybe there is knowledge in the rcgroups.com forum. send them a note asking for advice.

look for shorts between the input and output of the transformer, but that seems unlikely. the rectifiers should show a diode bias when you check them with the diode tester on your voltmeter, just seems like the short has to be in the input section.

 

[recumbent]

FIXED IT! The circuit board shorted to the frame because i didn't tuck the insulating plastic sheet properly.

Took the charger to a TV repairman and he said it was a few diodes that shorted.

 

[AndyH]

FIXED IT!

WAY TO GO!

 

[dnmun]

where on the board did it short to the case? which diodes? that's great though. congrats.

 

[Deepkimchi]

Sorry I didn't get back in time. Been distracted with preparations to move. Glad you got it fixed

DK

 

[recumbent]

where on the board did it short to the case? which diodes? that's great though. congrats.

The "AC" part of the board had the damage, Kevin the TV repairman, had to order parts so i won't have it back for another 5-6 days, ack.
I'll have to rely on my 56volt chinese charger to keep me going till then.