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Discussion
Faulty PL8 or user Error...??
I think I may have a faulty PL8 - However before I raise a service request etc, I thought I'd run this through with the guru's as I may have missed something obvious...
I actually own 5x PL8's with the most recent one purchased in Dec 16. This particular unit seems to be playing up and I have only noticed it playing up when charging/discharging some AA and AAA NiMh cells. The problem is that it seems to have very erratic charge and discharge ramps and it sometimes it even fails to reach the set discharge current. I suspect that it has been faulty since day one as Lipos seem to charge OK and I only noticed this when playing around with inconsistent bump controller results when charging my NiMh cells (Sanyo Eneloops). Things I have tried so far:
My other 4 PL8's seem to behave as expected when charging and discharging the exact same battery - I have attached some jpgs to compare with one of my good PL8's Vs the suspect unit. Tests carried out charging 3x AAA NiMh cells in series @ 200mA and discharging the same cells @ 300mA. The exact same cells were used in these tests to generate the graphs and highlight the problem. BTW - One other irregularity I noted is that when testing/discharging at a relatively low current of 200mA (3x AAA cells), my 4 good chargers do not have the fan switch on at any stage - which is as expected. The suspect charger however runs the fan pretty much as soon as I start the discharge cycle...??? Any ideas? - I reckon its kaput but may have missed something...! Attached thumbnails show total current in order of 'Good PL8 Charge ramp' - 'Suspect PL8 Charge ramp' - 'Good PL8 Discharge ramp' - 'Suspect PL8 Discharge ramp'. Note how the charge/discharge curves for the suspect unit are all over the place as compared to one of my 4 'good' chargers. |
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Last edited by Costas_; Apr 10, 2017 at 06:33 PM.
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Good detective work. I'd recommend opening a support ticket:
http://www.revolectrix.com/support_options.htm |
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All my older units have a number stamped on the bottom of the case which I casually thought was the serial number.
Upon closer investigation today, the number is the same (1222) across multiple PL8's that I own, so I guess it is not a serial number... Anyway I have raised a 'case' number/request with Revolectrix for them to have a look at my findings and initiate a return/repair etc I have pointed them to this thread in the case notes - I wonder if they will refer to it as I could not attach pics in the case notes? I will submit my detailed findings with the unit when I return it anyway. Always handy for the repair tech to have more info than required for prompt fault diagnosis rather than the standard 'It's Faulty' label attached to equipment.... |
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Costas, how did you go with the PL8 fault?
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