Unexpected problem with Turnigy Accucell 6 battery charger

[coupe1942]

Tonight I was charging a battery on my charger. I had plugged in all the current and amp information correctly and pressed the enter button to do the battery check. I confirmed the information and the charger started charging away as if everything was okay. However, after several minutes it suddenly popped and the screen showed nothing at all. I checked the wiring and all contacts, but nothing seemed out of place in any manner. I unhooked the power source and plugged it all back in, but only got a blank screen and no information at all is able to be viewed. I thought that perhaps the power to the outlet had kicked off, so I tried 3 different plugs in different rooms, but nothing turned back on. I don't see any reset button on the charger or the power source, so I am still wondering just what happened and how can I fix it? Is the charger dead for good or what? It is probably about a year or so old and has had no abuse that i am aware of, as it was new and not used when I purchased it.  Is there something I can do on my end to correct the problem with this charger and get it working once again? I thought I'd leave it off for a few hours to see if anything changed. It does not feel hot to me in the least. The battery didn't feel hot, either.

Anyone have this happen to them in the past? Any solutions to offer that I can try out? If it is something internal, what would that likely be and is it repairable?

I really do not want to have to pitch this unit and get another one, as the same exact thing may happen then, too. I hope it is simple to fix, but I have no clue and I don't have access to the owner's manual at present. It is probably stored away in one of our storage bins and will require some huntint to locate.  I don't want to have to open the unit up unless it is really necessary. Like say, nothing shows on the sceen at all, now.
 
Thanks.

[Knackered Sailor]

That's a bugger mate. I'm no electrician in fact it's my weakest point but if it 'popped' it sounds like something disconnected in a hurry. I'm sure you've checked but is there a fuse in the plug itself? Maybe also there is an internal fuse in the charger, there must be some safety cutout somewhere surely or it would be a fire risk and doubtless you have regulations same as us.

[flydiver]

Open it up and take a good look. It's pretty simple, just 4 screws on each end. I don't think there's a fuse, but maybe.....You can hope.

Chargers of this caliber are generally only replaceable. Not a whole lot else you can do. FWIW you are the first person with an AC-6 I've heard have that kind of problem. Now the fake IMAX B-6, bad stuff happens all the time.

[coupe1942]

I opened up the main box and I just don't see anything like a fuse or such, nor did I find anything that looked burned out or that had any smoke damage.  I tried to locate another charger outlet, but no such luck in all the different plugs and such that I had in storage. None of the 20 or so had the same type of bayonett fitting where the plug end hooked into the main box assembly. Just my luck to be the first to have this happen. They are not all that expensivee to replace, but just frustrating as I could not determine what caused it. Tried out a few different wall outlets, but the same result. Nothing showing on the screen to the box and no sounds at all in the main charger box. Looks dead to me, but the cord assembly is still something that may be the problem. Cheaper to order a complete new unit than to play about with purchase of another power cord to determine if that was the real issue. No fues on it, either. Looks like payday has a new charger assembly and power cord to be ordered. Lucky Wednesday (payday) is close at hand.

Thanks for the info. I certainly hope the new unit does not immediately fry like this one did. One other thought is that it may be the battery that caused the problem, but the battery check didn't expose any problems when I confirmed the settings and all. They were all done by the info included on the battery and this battery had been charged several times in the past.

I shot a couple of photos of the insides. My fingers shake too bad to try to play about with small screws like the four on each end that hold the unit together. It was easy enough to open up though. I'll put it together and when I order a new replacement and power cord, I can try the new power cord on it to see if that may have been the initial problem. I just hope I am not going to blow the replacement though. No fun in that at all.  :-(

Do you guys see anything obvious in the photos that I missed when looking at the inner guts of the charger unit?

[flydiver]

You can try checking the power supply with a voltmeter. Should be in the mid-teens but that's not a sure test of output. It's not impossible that is what is dead-just about as likely I think.

The blue capacitors > the top and bottom should be flat with no leakage. Those things can go bad in electrical devices (motherboards, LCD screens, etc). The top has an X engraved in them to act as a pressure relief instead of blowing up. If bulged > it's shot.

Now you can see how to get at the fan and lube it if necessary. I need to do that every few months. Crappy fan. If it got stalled the unit could have overheated. You need to check for function once in awhile. If it gets 'squeaky' then stops, chances are it's frozen up, not gotten better.

I also cleaned off the thermal paste on the 2 bottom contacts to the case and replaced it with better compound (same as computer CPU's) to help transfer heat out.

Check the solder joints where the balance ports come in. Sometimes that's an area that got sloppy work.
Good light and magnification are necessary to do a good job.

FWIW, if you are that shaky I doubt you could do much fine soldering work even if you could find something to replace or repair.

[coupe1942]

Yup, solder work and me, just don't go well. Tried to solder some piezo discs for some cigar box guitar amplification work and the end result was about the same as a third grader with a broken crayon trying to do touch up work on the Mona Lisa or the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

[Knackered Sailor]

Dec 15, 2014 22:05:27 GMT 1 coupe1942 said:

Yup, solder work and me, just don't go well. Tried to solder some piezo discs for some cigar box guitar amplification work and the end result was about the same as a third grader with a broken crayon trying to do touch up work on the Mona Lisa or the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

 Brilliant imagery, love it. 

[coupe1942]

Update: Well, I got in a replacement wall power cord late today. None of the about 20 or so other power cords I had on hand fit the fitting to the charger base, so I ended up purchasing another power cord. Use it on the charger that was dead and behold, everything immediately snapped back to life on the Turnigy unit. Haven't had time to do any battery charging yet, as the power cord arrived too late and I have company expected for the next few days. I have a new charger on the way, too. The power cord main box does not seem to be able to be snapped apart to examine and see if anything inside is burnt or disconneced in any manner. I'll likely just toss it and not worry over gaining access to it for curiosity sake. Hope the same thing does not happen when I try to charge up another battery using the new power cord. Can't wait to try it all out as soon as possible. A quick run through all the messages and settings on the charger with the new cord attached and all seems well at this point, but no load of a battery put on it yet. Keeping my fingeers crossed, for sure. :-)

[pug205]

I hope your problem regards battery charging go away Coupe. Elektrikery ain't my thing either. I'm under the impression that many manufactuers of these batteries and their chargers assume we all are experts. I have a transmitter for my RC Car that has 8 AA's in. The charger supplied says just connect and charging should be complete in about 10+ hours. 12+ hours later, red light still on, not green? It's not so simple as one might think. On top of that, we read that batteries catch fire etc? Worrying!

[flydiver]

Glad the charger is OK. Those PS are just laptop units. They do die. The so called AC/DC 'clone-type' chargers are just a DC charger with one of those laptop PS stuck inside. Trouble is it gets even hotter in there and is more likely to die. Swapping that out is a lot more complicated.

[coupe1942]

Yeah, I took some time and balanced charged one of the batteries and all was well with the new power cord. No problems with the new cord, so I am hoping that was the key to my original problem. Keeping my fingers crossed though. :-)