Hi (newbie here). I recently went to recharge my Cyclotricity battery. On plugging it in I noticed that there was no output from the charger (No LEDS and plug fuse OK). Thinking that the problem lay with the charger, I sourced a (albeit cheap) replacement .As soon as the charger was connected to the battery (without mains power) there was an explosion, with smoke. It now looks like the problem lies with the battery pack. Any ideas, anybody? Thanks
Battery Appears to Blow Chargers
- Thread starter simonzz
- Start date
You should have the charger powered when you connect it to the battery. If you dfon't, you can get a spark and a snap noise, which is normal and generally fairly harmless, but it erodes the contacts in the battery's charge socket. That inrush current can be enough to blow the fuse in the battery or charger, which is probably what went wrong in the first place. In the worst case, it can weld itself to the blade in the socket, and when you pull out the jack, it pulls the blade out with it and shorts the blade to the central pin, which gives a big bang and lots of sparks.
The only way to see if there's anything wrong with your charge socket is to check it with a meter. You have to be careful not to short the blade to the central pin when you do it, so be careful. The safer and easiest way to do it is to use a spare jack plugged in to the socket. That gives you more separation for your probes.
The only way to see if there's anything wrong with your charge socket is to check it with a meter. You have to be careful not to short the blade to the central pin when you do it, so be careful. The safer and easiest way to do it is to use a spare jack plugged in to the socket. That gives you more separation for your probes.
Thank-you for your quick response. I had never realised that there should be power on the charger before connection ( I thought I was playing safe LOL).
Yes, I did very carefully measure at the socket and got 41v . I then delved no further. Maybe I should try (yet another charger). Any ideas what may have blown on the original (I was hoping to find an internal fuse but alas no).
If you don't get any lights on the charger, it's probably the fuse in the mains plug. Some chargers have hidden fuses.
Whenever you get a new charger or battery, you should always check the polarity with a meter.