Rechargeable battery not holding charge

Mike777 · Post by **Mike777** » 8 Nov 2008, 10:06pm

Hi all

I have a set of electron front lights 10 watts and 5 watts

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur ... n%26sa%3DN

Started using them last winter and all ok so stored away and have just got out today. After charging for 14 hours I set them up and but when I switched on recharging red light can straight on. Plug back into mains and green light came on ...switched on red light again !

Also most review refer to upgrading the blubs to ones supplied by Maplins !

Any ideas on which ones .....many thanks for your time

Regards

Mike

7_lives_left · Post by **7_lives_left** » 8 Nov 2008, 11:34pm

The link you provided says that the battery is nickel metal hydride. If you haven't used the
lamp since last winter, then the cells with all be flat (self discharge), but that shouldn't
damage them. If the battery was a lead acid on the other hand , after that long without
recharge it would be dead and only fit for throwing away/recycling.

Strange that it is not holding a charge. Do you have a volt meter? Can you get at the
terminals of each cell? If you measure each cell individually, maybe you can tell if one
of them is 'bad'.

Edit: be very careful not to short anything. The cells (when charged) have a very low
resistance. If you short them out, you could burn yourself, have the wiring go up in
smoke, or over heat the battery causing it to explode.

Chris Clode · Post by **Chris Clode** » 10 Nov 2008, 10:22pm

I don't have an answer, but I have exactly the same problem with my Electron 10w/5w set. When it is fully charged the red light (low battery) indicator displays as soon as I put both lights on. This is the 3rd set I've had under warranty and I'm getting fed up with them. On the first set one light failed on the first ride, and the connector cable to the battery had a very poor connection. The second set lasted about 6 months before the battery refused to charge at all, now the third one doesn't seem to fully charge. Now I know I'm not the only one with the problem I'm tempted to see if this one is still covered under warranty.

reohn2 · Post by **reohn2** » 11 Nov 2008, 8:15am

There is a company called Recell (based in Southampton I think) who will replace NiMetal Hydride batteries,you send them your old ones and they fit new ones in the old casings.
I Googled Recell and got the mother company's address in New Zealand but there is a co.uk address.

Hope thats of some help.

kwackers · Post by **kwackers** » 11 Nov 2008, 8:51am

It's all down to the quality of the batteries. A lot of people use cheap Chinese cells and up to now every one I've seen/had has been rubbish. In fact not just rubbish but RUBBISH.

On the other hand Japanese cells seem great. Trouble with branded products though is it isn't obvious were the batteries come from.

I've stuff here with rechargeables over 5 years old that are used all the time and still seem as good. On the other hand I've had stuff that been lucky to last a few months.

In general anything cheap and rechargable, reckon on getting new cells put in it (there's no point in my experience buying a new battery - they're always as bad). If you can't do it yourself there are companies that can, check they use decent cells though.

Buying expensive stuff sadly doesn't guarantee good batteries though.

meic · Post by **meic** » 11 Nov 2008, 4:04pm

I agree with that, the last load of cheap AAA cells from Lidl only hold a fifth of the charge of similar rated memorexes from 3 years ago.
The Maplin ones were OK but I see that their appearance has changed and I wonder if they found a cheaper manufacturer.