Emag Battery Problems...

[Strider]

Ok, last night I charged my battery on the way to the field. About 2 hours of charging... Lots of time, and it had some charge left to start with.

Got there, powered up, crono'd and played the first game no problem. Second game though, I find e-mode isn't firing so I play on with Manual Mode. (Ah, I love that feature!)

I got off the field and found that there was no power reaching my emag. I dissasembled, checked the wiring, checked the ground etc. No power. We used a voltmeter to check my contacts, and the marker is without problems. I then checked it with my buddys battery, and everything works.

We checked the battery with the meter and didn't get anything out of it. At this point we notice that the battery is warm to the touch. As I really didn't know what to do, I left it as was.

3 hours later, I get home and the battery is still warm. About another hour later it is finaly cooled...

So, I guess the question is, is my battery cooked, or do you think a long charge might bring it back? (Haven't tried yet, I want to be close by when I do it)

[athomas]

Usually a battery that is hot indicates current draw. Either the heat was generated during charging or it was generated during a high current discharge.

Check for shorts in the battery case and battery pack. Check the operation of your charger. If your charger has a blown regulator it could fry your battery pack. also check for shorts in your Emag wiring. Even though it worked with another battery doesn't mean that there wasn't extra high current draw on that battery as well.

How old is your battery pack? Maybe a cell has gone bad. try a deep charge/discharge cycle. Do this several times. It can bring new life to old battery packs.

[Strider]

Usually a battery that is hot indicates current draw. Either the heat was generated during charging or it was generated during a high current discharge.

The heat was present for almost 4 hours...


Check for shorts in the battery case and battery pack.

We measured across the leads. How would I go about checking for shorts in the caseing?


Check the operation of your charger. If your charger has a blown regulator it could fry your battery pack.

Hmm, will do.


also check for shorts in your Emag wiring. Even though it worked with another battery doesn't mean that there wasn't extra high current draw on that battery as well.

I believe we checked the wiring for proper resistance, and it checked out. (As you can probably guess, I wasn't the one doing the tests, as I'm not very electronic knowledgable anymore) Is there other tests we might try?


How old is your battery pack? Maybe a cell has gone bad. try a deep charge/discharge cycle. Do this several times. It can bring new life to old battery packs.

Unfortunatly I bought it used. The counter had 13k on it before I got it, and I've put another 10k on it. Of course, the counter could be VERY wrong. *S*

Either way, I'll go about doing the charge cycle.

[athomas]

Originally posted by Strider


The heat was present for almost 4 hours...



We measured across the leads. How would I go about checking for shorts in the caseing?



Hmm, will do.



I believe we checked the wiring for proper resistance, and it checked out. (As you can probably guess, I wasn't the one doing the tests, as I'm not very electronic knowledgable anymore) Is there other tests we might try?



Unfortunatly I bought it used. The counter had 13k on it before I got it, and I've put another 10k on it. Of course, the counter could be VERY wrong. *S*

Either way, I'll go about doing the charge cycle.


The battery was hot for about 4 hours? That's a long time. I would definately check the battery pack for bad wiring or corrosion. The fact that the battery pack didn't cool down when not in use probably means that it was discharging through leakage of some sort.

You'll have to do a visual inspection. Chances are that the leak is between cells or across the leads, maybe due to a pinched wire. In order for the short to be to the casing, both leads would have to be shorted to the case. Aluminum anodizing is a pretty good insulator, so I doubt both leads are shorted to the case.

Totally discharge you battery to zero. Then do a full charge. Let it sit without any load. Measure the output voltage periodically and see if it discharges while it sits. Check if it gets hot just sitting there.

If it passes this test, deep cycle it to recondition the cells.

If its bad go to local battery rebuilder and have them build you a new one. It'll be cheaper than ordering a new battery pack.

[Strider]

Ok, update...

I took the battery out again tonight, and did a better inspection. I don't know how I missed it before (Guess I wasn't looking for it...) but the problem is definatly in the wiring between the battery and the leads.

http://64.26.169.95/Paintball/batterysml.jpg

Larger Version (http://64.26.169.95/Paintball/batterybig.jpg)

The first one is bare to the wire, the second is only about 10% of the way there...

Now, the question is... Is the battery still good? If I were to reinforce the wiring (Black Tape) will everything be back to normal? Would it be safe to charge/use? :(

Opinions?

[BetaMax]

It should still be good.. I had a friends mag with the same situation. We just put some electrical tape on it for the time being and charged it up and was working fine. (quick fix)

You may want to try that just to see if the battery is still good or not before you send it in.

[athomas]

Glad to hear you found the problem.

Check the quality of the copper. If some of the copper strands are cut or burned off then you will have a weak spot in the wiring that may cause problems in the future. Also, heat may have caused electrical degrading of the wire. You probably should cut the bad spot out of the wire and splice the two cut ends together by twisting the leads together and using a good solder joint. Make sure you use good electrical tape to provide an insulated finish.

[Strider]

Ok, update time...

I took some of the sourounding insulation off, and inspected the wiring. It was fine. However, I goofed, and managed to cut a few strands a bit up the wire. :mad:

No problem, I took it to a teammate, and had it soldered back together. Black taped and left.

Charged it for 2.5 hours tonight. (ONly 1/2 hour before it went green)

Brought it in, as I only have a low level tester, I was only able to test it to 9V. It slapped that up quickly. So its above 9v, but thats all I can tell.

When I remove the key, it boots up ADG 1.37 as usual, full brightness. 1/2 second later, it dulls to 1/2 brightness, and then does random things. Sometimes it scrolls the lettering away, sometimes I get gobblygook...

Recommendations? I'm kinda afraid to leave it on to suck the battery dry so I can recharge from empty, but I'm afraid for the board...

[bgdaddy599]

i had the same problem with the "gobbely-gook". i could never get mine to take a full charge. but i could test it with the multimeter, around 12v. after i put it on the gun and pulled the pin, lights on-lights off. i pulled the battery off and tested it again, 4.5v. you might want to check yours after its been on the gun for a minute or so. it should test low, the creep back towards the 16v range. i spoke to jon at tech, mine is on its way to him.

good luck

[Strider]

How much are they charging for the work? (Or do you know yet?)

If you don't want to say openly, PM me.

Another question, does anyone know if any warentees would be cancelled if I disasembled the battery? (REmoved the wrap so I can check for shorts inside the battery)

[Paintballer86]

Originally posted by Strider
How much are they charging for the work? (Or do you know yet?)

It will most likeley be free of charge. You just pay for shipping there.