13 replies to this topic

[scanbran]

My new-ish charger has just given up the ghost!

I've only had it a few weeks, and tonight the lights just went out on it.

Anyone else had problems with these? Are they known to conk out?

Bummer...

[Snow]

Yeah they seem poorly made. Some cause a screaming sound during charge and some are silent. I've also seen a few articles that show how bad the innards of them are. Stuff like the wiring being dangerously close and even, in some cases, touching and causing shorts in batteries and mains. I have two of them as they only hold two batt's at a time. As you know of course. Anyway, if you're really stuck I could spare one for while if you need a lend? : ) Or could trade I guess. I won't be held responsible for it's poor behavior though : )

[Snow]

PS, could it be the fuse? So easily forgotten with electrical goods.

[Screwdriverer]

My brothers did a while back. He must have had about 8 or 9 months use out of it though. I was lucky enough to find a 12v mains adapter that fit in the little hole and it worked on for a few months more. Might be an idea if you have one.

[scanbran]

Thanks for that generous offer, Snow.

I have another charger that works, so I'm not left in limbo just yet, but I was just a bit miffed that it wimped out so quickly.

I'm a bit happier now I know I'm not alone though.

Good idea about the 12V adaptor, SD. If I can find one I'll give it a go.

Edit - it's definitely the charger 'cos I tried it with a different power cable too.

Edited by scanbran, 05 February 2012 - 12:48 AM.

[Snow]

They're cheap and easy I guess but we should all probably be searching out quality chargers and paying that little extra for them considering how much we use them IMHO.

I wonder if anyone has any suggestions.

[daveinleics]

I've got the Trustfire too and it works, though I don't use it much now. Considering how dependent you are on a charger though I agree it is worth getting a decent one - there are several out there. I got a good deal on a Pila which is well regarded.

[Chillibob]

My first TR-001 died within days of receiving it. Happily, the fantastic people at Liberty Flights replaced it straight away and the replacement has been going strong ever since (8 months now).

I keep a few eGo batteries spare just in case though :-)

[Trog]

cheap chinese sold state electronics.. most of it works the odd one fails prematurely .. keep spares.. it is very cheap..

i think the weak spot is the mains power supply side with these things.. in the old days a huge wire wound (expensive) transformer was used.. now its a little cheap as chips solid state gizmo..

paying a little more for a better one isnt possible because "better" ones cost 10 x more..

keep spares..

trog

ps.. its in the nature of solid state electronics to fail quickly if its going to fail.. mostly..

Edited by Trog, 05 February 2012 - 10:59 AM.

[capnhack]

My ones a screamer, but seems to charge one battery at a time okay so far. The reason I'm only charging one is because the sprung negative pins were bent far too much on arrival and wouldn't actually make contact with the batteries at all, so I had to bend them back to a 90° angle, and of course they're cheap so one just snapped in half entirely. I'm waiting for a new soldering iron to arrive and then I'm gonna crack the thing open, solder the broken pin back in place, and give the rest of the internals a quick once-over. The springs do seem a bit too angry too so I might stretch those out. Hopefully with a bit of care and attention this one won't die until customs let go of my next.

[Screwdriverer]

Inevitably all cheap chargers pop after a while. Some quietly... Others with a large BANG!:

[Trog]

they do not set fire to things though. if they did the planet would be ablaze.. i have a box full of "popped" chargers collected over the years i have been testing and flogging these chinese chargers..

the scare mongering part and its always there is that if i wasnt present when they went pop my house would have burned down.. they ether die quickly with a pop or quickly in silence.. they dont as a matter of course set your house on fire..

maybe they could but them again maybe a lightening strike could.. and sh-t does happen to me.. my house has been struck by lightening.. it took out all the neighbours tellies connected up to the communal aerial on my roof top and scared the shit out of me but it didnt set my house on fire....

trog

Edited by Trog, 05 February 2012 - 05:06 PM.

[Screwdriverer]

I didn't say they did. I've accidentally blown caps in the past. Soldering without heatsink tweezers whoops and with reflow stations.
Never seen or heard of fire coming from one although they do make a bloody loud bang.

Cheap enough to replace though so not really too much of a problem.

[capnhack]

I managed to open mine up and had a poke around. Not much to it really, but you can tell it's not made with care. There was a bit of a short in there and separating the two components stopped the screaming on charge (probably a good thing) and the corner of the PCB was bent from assembly. Thankfully none of the metal on the board was damaged by that, but I was unable to solder the broken pin on the spring back together again. It's coated with something that just didn't want to allow my solder any purchase.

If you've got a TR-001 and it screams when you charge things, it's probably worthwhile to open the thing up and check nothing's touching anything it shouldn't. Better safe than a face full of exploding battery.