Bringing a battery pack from near death?

[FloridaMike]

Hi,

I misplaced my rechargeable battery pack for quite a while.
I found it and it measures 4.58 volts.
I am going to start charging it but it may be gone.

I just got an AA battery pack, loaded it with energizers and it at 12.92 Volts.

Anyone have any thoughts to pass along?


Mike

 

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[FloridaMike]

Okay
2 hours later I checked the voltage.
It was in the 14 v range and after a few minutes then to 13.9 v
It appears to be holding at 13.88
25 minutes later the battery is at 13.80
It's alive!

Mike

3 hours and its at 13.74 volts

 

[FloridaMike]

Shoot,
4 knobs stripped and came off.

 

[cudamark]

That's two drawbacks on the Excals......the stock battery and the cheesy knobs they use. If the battery still works, use it. If it quits, get an RNB battery and never look back. There's all sorts of sources for better knobs. I just went to my local electronics surplus store and got some with better pointers, excellent set screws, and won't break.

 

[FloridaMike]

I purchased a set of the stock ones from KellyCo.
They are not what I expected.
The grasping piece has to be removed from the knob by removing a nut on the top.
There is no room for anything but a pair of needle nose pliers.
I ordered a set of the other ones with set screws off the web.

When I was working with the knobs I noticed the potentiometers are stiff.

The O ring on the Disc/Pin point was sticking out of the top of the retainer.

I used a number of different non pointed instruments and carefully got it back in place.

I ordered some silicone lube from the web and will try and inject it into the retainer.

I was thinking of using something like a hypodermic cylinder to push it into the area.
(obviously without the needle)

Any thoughts?

Oh the Battery pack was on the charger all night and it was 14.91 volts right after I unplugged it.
I found that there are some Y tube videos on rebuilding the power pack .
I should have looked there before bothering OBN, but that man has knowledge!

TTYL
Mike

 

[cudamark]

The shafts on all the switches should be fairly stiff to turn. The seals need to fit tightly around the shafts or they'll leak under pressure.

 

[FloridaMike]

The RNB batteries are tough to find. There are some NiMH available on ebay but no Lithium packs, to be found.

.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

NiCad and NiMH come back from low levels. But it's not good for them. You can count on about 1,000 charge cycles before they get tired (depleted).

LiPos "die" if a cell gets below 3.0 volts (3.7V/cell).

 

[FloridaMike]

NiCad and NiMH come back from low levels. But it's not good for them. You can count on about 1,000 charge cycles before they get tired (depleted).

LiPos "die" if a cell gets below 3.0 volts (3.7V/cell).

Thanks! Good stuff to know.

Does NiMH have a memory issue?

Does NiCad have a memory issue?

I think one of them does.

Mike

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

NiCad yes, NiMH no, at least prectically none. Best defense is a discharge/recharge charger that cycles the pack if you use NiCad.

 

[FloridaMike]

Thank you

 

[FloridaMike]

Hi folks,

I have been looking at smart NIMH chargers to replace the dumb wall wart charger.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Mike