Voltage on Sovereign charger & batteries

[JrowL]

Hi, I have been wanting to trade my sov for an explorer, but no offers yet. I got out the sov and checked the batteries with a multimeter, ok 0.9volts, I expect that after being in storage for a long time. I charged them up and they are reading 13.9 volts (abit up from claiming to be 12volt battery). Checked the charger, 17.1 volts. On the charger it says it's ment to have an output of 14.3 volts. Seems to be quite abit higher than the normal specs but thats ok since it should charge faster then. It's the old nicad charger that came with the orginal sovereign & the batteries too. The batteries worked great last time I used them. I'm wondering if I'm the only one or is this the same with everyones machines?

 

[Bob C]

I checked my XS charger.
It's a model 119 and the output is 17.15 V.
The label shows it should be 14.3 V
I also have the nicad plug-in pack but didn't check that.
Never had a problem, so far!
Bob

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Nothing wrong with it.

Everything sounds perfectly normal. You are checking "no load" voltages.

I would cycle the battery pack more often though. Would not let the pack run down in storage that far. Have had other nicad packs go to crap because they sat around too long and went all the way dead. Flat out ruined them.

I take mine out once a month during storage time and run it down until it needs recharged. Then give it a full charge and put it back in a cool place.

HH

 

[Cody]

It takes a very good Voltmeter to accurately measure the output of the charger. Recall that the output is not a nice clean DC voltage as that is not needed for a charger. It is fairly common to see a charger that has an output that is more than the rated value and in particular unless a pretty good Voltmeter is used to test the charger. I noticed both the battery supply and charger measurements are off and over a lifetime of working in and teaching electronics if I had taken the measurements would consider them normal as far as being nominal values. Where I would be concerned would if the charger's output voltage or current was lower by say about 10 to 15% of the rated value. A batter is not going to be higher to any serious degree due to the way a battery is constructed but if a couple of volts lower than rated when fully charged and under a load then they still would work ok. The power packs have a voltage rating that is regulated by the electronics so would work fine unless below the rather low voltages required for the digital circuits. If a voltage from a battery supply is down by the rating of a battery or more than one then it would be likely that one or more of the cells in the battery supply are bad. A bad cell is a resistance to the rest of the supply so will consume power and cause the supply to run warm as the power is consumed across the supply and will be felt as a heat loss. This can cause the power supply to run down rather quickly and a defective battery should be replaced.

However, for the charger and power supply to indicate high is not an accurate reading since they are not under the normal operating load. Although we check with a voltmeter with them not loaded this is going to give a higher reading that if they are under a load. As an example to check the charger it should be connected to the battery pack or appropriate test load. To check the power supply it should be connected to the electronics or an appropriate load.

HH, Cody

 

[Rick(ND)]

The battery always will show higher voltage when just charged and this is called surface voltage that will not be there when there is a load on it. To give a more accurate check as some say it to test it under a load and even wait for 10 minnutes after it has been on a load. Some battery checker will put it under a load when testing, but a Multi meter is made not to load down the curcuit at all, so you will see a higher voltage.
On the charger if you have any other charger or even adapter give it a test and you will see the voltage also is a bit higher than what it says on the charger or adapter as there is no load on it. with no load some of these charger the voltage will be quite a bit higher.
Many power supplies (chargers) will have a run away voltage if no load is on it, my alternator on my car had a broken wire supplying the voltage for the battery and when I tested the output of the alternator the voltage it was 65 volts, but once repaired it was putting out 13.7 volts which is what is needed to charge a 12 volt battery. This is where it needed the load of the battery on it to correctly give the correct reading.

 

[JrowL]

After reading the messages I tested the charger under load and it was spot on 14.30v!

Thanks