Quick Voltphreaks Question

[katou]

1. What does the red/green solid/flashing light mean?

2. How badly did I damage the unit when I hooked a cell up in reverse polarity? A tiny wisp of the magic smoke came out, but not a lot.

Katou

 

[BMI]

Flashing LED = Bad
Smoke coming out of charger = Very bad

 

[katou]

Sigh, I was afraid of that. Just my luck it was a big A123 cell too, probably dumped 10a through the poor little bastard.

Katou

 

[manfred59]

Flashing LED = Bad
Smoke coming out of charger = Very bad

I too had problems with these single cell chargers. 4 out of 12 of these chargers made troubles and did not charge anymore, but I did not change the polarity. Some died on heat problems maybe, I don't know really. The last one was very curious, when I connected it directly to a multimeter it had an output of 3,65 V and near 2A of current and the red led was flashing. Then I connected it to a single cell, and there is no current charging and the led is flashing!

 

[The Journey Guy]

1. What does the red/green solid/flashing light mean?

2. How badly did I damage the unit when I hooked a cell up in reverse polarity? A tiny wisp of the magic smoke came out, but not a lot.

Katou

Hey bud. As we go:

1.) Red solid = charging Green solid = Charge complete Red Flashing = buy another VoltPhreak Green Flashing = ( I have not found the answer to that one yet)


2.) You toasted it. But there's still a chance you can repair the unit. You have nothing to lose at this point, so why not try?


Get a sturdy bladed knife, and carefully go around the seam of the case and tap the blade into the seam until it starts to separate. Repeat as needed around the charger until it comes apart. Then slide the pc board out of the case, and find F1, which is a 2a250v fuse covered with shrink wrap. If you have lived a good life, you'll be able to replace that fuse and be back in business. If you've lived a bad life, well, you're on your own.. :wink:

TJG