Bad NiMH Battery?

[Neil in West Jersey]

I think I need to call White's. The battery is only a few months old and the last two times it only recharged to around 10.1 volts. I also noticed that the red light goes out in two hours. I thought I remember it taking a bit longer to fully charge. After three hours of detecting the battery dropped down below 7 volts. I doubt it is the recharger, but is there a way to know which is bad?

 

[Larry (IL)]

Not without a spare battery to test. I bet White's will get a new battery right out to you. It sounds like a bad cell in the pack to me.

 

[Rob (IL)]

As Larry said, an extra battery make would make the test an easy one. hard to tell about charge time, it varies on how low the battery charge is at start. I can test mine but that doesn't help you. Time to call Whites.

 

[pulltabMiner]

Neil,

I am having the exact same problem. I am calling White's today!

 

[Imperio]

1. To buy accumulators 1800...2200 mAh; NiMH. 8 pcs
2. To open the battery.
3. To get old accumulators.
4. To insert new accumulators (polarity!!!).
5. To charge.
6. Nice hunt
!

 

[TC-NM]

There might of been a chance a worker at Whites dropped it on the floor before shipping and damaged it? Call Whites.

 

[burlbark]

There might of been a chance a worker at Whites dropped it on the floor before shipping and damaged it? Call Whites.

What? Are you serious? Do you know how many times I have dropped my battery on my Spanish tile floor.... No you dont, but I have dropped it countless times for one reason or another. They are built practically indestructible and it is either Neils charger, a bad cell or a thermister. This is not caused by dropping.:clsoedeyes:

 

[pulltabMiner]

There might of been a chance a worker at Whites dropped it on the floor before shipping and damaged it? Call Whites.

What? Are you serious? Do you know how many times I have dropped my battery on my Spanish tile floor.... No you dont, but I have dropped it countless times for one reason or another. They are built practically indestructible and it is either Neils charger, a bad cell or a thermister. This is not caused by dropping.:clsoedeyes:

Yes, it may be a thermister. My battery pack gets really, really hot when it finally decides to start charging. Then the charge only lasts 30 minutes tops.

 

[burlbark]

There might of been a chance a worker at Whites dropped it on the floor before shipping and damaged it? Call Whites.

What? Are you serious? Do you know how many times I have dropped my battery on my Spanish tile floor.... No you dont, but I have dropped it countless times for one reason or another. They are built practically indestructible and it is either Neils charger, a bad cell or a thermister. This is not caused by dropping.:clsoedeyes:

Yes, it may be a thermister. My battery pack gets really, really hot when it finally decides to start charging. Then the charge only lasts 30 minutes tops.

Discontinue use and send in immediately......

 

[mgtmadness]

Thermoresistoris bad in General in my opinion. I have many rc cars and they all use batteries, not a ONE uses a thermo-resistor. I use my RC car battery vharger to charge all my batteries and when I get a recharge one for my white's I will use that also.

 

[Rob (IL)]

The charger puts out 18+ volts and can easily be checked with a voltmeter. Now in either case a bad cell or a bad thermistor if under warranty the pack will still have to be send to Whites. It's fun to speculate but most people aren't going to fix it themselves.

 

[Neil in West Jersey]

Odd, but it seemed to charge fully last night. I will need to take it out for a few hours and see how it holds up. What if it is an intermittent problem? What would that point to?

 

[burlbark]

Odd, but it seemed to charge fully last night. I will need to take it out for a few hours and see how it holds up. What if it is an intermittent problem? What would that point to?

The first couple of charges could have been short cycled and you had a deep discharge condition on one of the cells. Make sure you are fully seating the battery every time when charging. It only takes spec of dirt unnoticed to cause an issue, and when I say speck I mean for all practical purposes invisible.

 

[Schultzie]

The charger puts out 18+ volts and can easily be checked with a voltmeter. Now in either case a bad cell or a bad thermistor if under warranty the pack will still have to be send to Whites. It's fun to speculate but most people aren't going to fix it themselves.

I just checked my charger. With the orange sticker facing me, the outside terminals test at 18.3 volts. The left and center tests at 16.1 volts, center and right tests at 2.2 volts. I checked the battery just as it came out of the charger and outside terminals are at 11.2 volts, left and center at 11.2 volts, and center and right at 0 volts. Can anyone explain why there are two charging terminals (at different voltages) in the charger? Just curious, that's all.

 

[Rob (IL)]

Not much except dirty contact surfaces. ( intermittent problem)

 

[kyledfx]

my drop in charger is funky sometimes, green light flickers,red light goes off too soon , one time battery got smelly hot, only works wierd sometimes,battery still charges up ok. i think some chargers might be a bit shakey. i just redrop my charged pack once or twice to be sure.

 

[pulltabMiner]

I sent the battery pack back and my dealer returned a new one. It was fully charged so I used it until it completely died (around 4.x volts). I put it in the charger and...nothing. No red light, only the green light. I left the pack in the charger for 8 hours and it never got warm and never charged. I unplugged the charger from the wall as it was suggested here by another member and started the whole process with same results. I looked at the terminals and they looked clean. The charger has been in the same spot since the day I bought the unit and has never been dropped by me.

At this point I suspect I have a bad charger and will be sending it back to Whites shortly.

 

[cypearl]

i am having similar problem with the battery and i just bought the detector three days ago.i worked a couple of hours and switched off by its self. the battery meter was showing half on 7 or something volts. it is been charged for the whole night before. But i guess thats how ni hm batteries are.

 

[burlbark]

i am having similar problem with the battery and i just bought the detector three days ago.i worked a couple of hours and switched off by its self. the battery meter was showing half on 7 or something volts. it is been charged for the whole night before. But i guess thats how ni hm batteries are.

Try charging it again and make sure its seated. If it does not take full charge after sitting for 4 hours on the charger contact your dealer.

 

[Rob (IL)]

The packs usually charge to 11+ volts (11.3V). Whites doesn't make the AA cells that go into a pack and rechargeable batteries go bad. Also the thermistor can also go bad and again come from a supplier. The charger puts out 18+ volts. I have packs that go back to the first V3's and they are still good, this not unusual.

If your pack is seated in the charger and the contacts are clean, just call Whites. They will take care of you. Just make sure you try to charge again. It is easy to not have the pack not seat all the way.[attachment 229566 Reading.gif]