My Solneil charger, a 2409 series if memory serves me correct, cost about $90, quit working.
I don't have time to check any connections as I am off to work.
Charger is 8 months old, was supposed to last 10,000 cycles.
There is a batteryplus next to where i work, all they have are werker little tiny chargers, will pick up 4 of those for my 4 battery pack made up of pc625 odyssey batteries.
Some concern about the, what several have mentioned, isolated chargers.
Suggestions on what I should buy for the long term are appreciated. I need a charger that can be left hooked up on my bike, no alligator clips for me, is portable since my charger must be permanantly mounted to my bike.
The solneil met the above requirements, just did'nt last too long
Thanks,
chuck
I am off to work
If I had a charger that only lasted 8 months I would believe it was defective. If the place I bought it from would not replace it here is what I would do. Order a new charger, when it arrives switch the guts from one to the other because they have serial numbers on the case, send the defective charger back and get an immediate replacement. I believe everything electronic should have at least a 12 month full no questions asked warranty, past that I would not use this method of replacement.
Chas S.
My Bicycle Pages
`echuckj5,
If you do have problems with the vendor, let us know. As a Community we need to begin to make our voices heard, what they have done to one of us, they will do to all of us eventually.
Mass emails will get there attention very quickly.
All for one, one for all is our rallying cry, We've taken all we're going to take of this type of bad service.
V is also for victory you know.
Peace Out,
Gman
Now that we have clarified our beliefs, your invited to join us as we begin building on them to define our Community Mission Statement
Peace Out, <img src="http://tinyurl.com/ysafbn">
Gman
I have no faith left in Soneil with my experiences. I had a 3605S and it ended up over charging a brand new set of of lead batteries and completely cooked them until it popped its own capacitor from too high of voltage. I sent it back and got a new one and tried to get them to cover damages but they wouldn't. I then in 4 months sold the charger to a guy on ebay and recently got a email basically describing the same situation as I had earlier (overcharge and then didn't work). There chargers in my experience had cooked close to 4 times their value in batteries so for me it really not worth it.
`magudaman,
Thanks for providing the correct spelling, we have made the correction.
Stleride
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I am thinking of getting 2 of these, made specifically for the oddyses batteries, I am finding it hard to find any information on making sure that the chargers are electrically isolated,,help
http://www.batterymart.com/p-odyssey-optimizer-12v-12_5a-battery-charger.html
I'll be out all day, gotta run, will probably order these tonight unless I here from you guys and gals otherwise
Dave, mb1e, great that you are up and running, looks like now you have the speed necessary to clear that chain link fence
chuck
[b]AGM BATTERIES[/b]
The two "Soneil" chargers (one for each scooter) I bought for my separate booster batteries are these:
http://www.batterystuff.com/battery-chargers/12-volt/0-4amps/Son1206S.html
They are now sold under the brand name "ACI" - a Canadian company. So far, with a couple months of near daily use, they seem to work well, although the float voltage will rise to 14.0 volts if left on, which seems a bit high for float-maintenance, particularly in warm weather - So I don't leave it plugged in, and I don't leave it connected to the battery if unplugged.
The case also gets hotter than I'd prefer during the cc charging stage, so, taking a lesson from the e-max chargers, I drilled cooling holes in the case (yes - warranty was voided) which otherwise is sealed virtually airtight.
When the the manufacturers won't help us by producing quality products, we just have to help ourselves. Screw-'em.
Thanks for the replies everyone!
From my extensive reading on the soniel chargers, one problem that seems to crop up is that the charging voltage is tied to air temprature, ie ambient temparature, and that the soneil chargers do no compensate for this.
I think the reason that this charger went down is that I had depleted my battery pack of 864 watt hours down to about 11.8 volts, the charger was on almost 6 hours. It probably was not sized large enough for the pack. It always took about 3 hours to charge my pack after a 6 mile ride. I still have not disconnected it from the battery pack, tomorrow I will do that, I have read that some chargers will reset by unplugging them from the pack.
My pack is made up of 4 batteries, 18 amp hour odyssey agm batteries. I have 2 pairs of batteries. Each pair is 24 volts wired in series. Then I run the pairs in parallel. Thus the reason for the 24 volt charger. I used the charger to charge all 4 batteries at the same time. All 4 batteries would charge evenly, stay balanced, rarely was a battery more than one digit different when I checked their voltages. If the charge ended, usually each battery would read 13.2 or so. Some times one battery might read 13.21 and the other 3 say 13.19 volts. Even on discharge there was rarely a difference on the voltage reading of the pack.
I built the bike to be as reliable as could possibly make it, and, to be as easy to maintain as possible. I bought the soneil 2409 charger. Why, main reason was that it can be left connected to the batteries all of the time. That meant that it was hard wired, never disconnected.
I plan to re-wire my battery pack so that each pair is buddied up, Thanks Fechter for this information. Each pair will be charged with a 12 volt charger. I will buy 2 chargers, one for each pair.
One problem that some chargers have is that they cannot be plugged into the same circuit that another charger is plugged into. The chargers sense each other and get false information that can lead to battery charging issues. I keep reading about how easy it is to determine if a charger is isolated, this is the term for this. I have never read how to determine this, other than it is easy. Soneil clearly states that multiple chargers can be used on a battery pack, and that soneil chargers are electrically isolated.
I will buy these 2 chargers tomorrow, unless someone tells me that they are not isolated.
This charger is ambient air temperature sensitive, it is solely, the only charger endorsed by odyssey to charge their batteries, the charge profile is set up solely for the odyssey battery.
I just need to know if they are electrically isolated!!!!!
Anyone?
chuck
[b]AGM BATTERIES[/b]
Hi Chuck,
I'm very pleased with my IQ4 smart charge controller and IOTA, DLS battery charger.
I've got a 12V 15A DLS but they make 24V, 36V etc. and various higher Amperage.
I've monitored the 3 charging stages and it is right on spec for AGM batteries.
The only drawback I can see with these is that they are fairly large. (rough guess, 6"x6"x 3")
I did some searching but could not determine if the
xenotronix model sx 150-1 is isolated or not.
As for the fence jump ...
... I don't have a video camera, so I definitely won't be trying it. (also, for some reason the term "lead balloon" comes to mind) ... :?
Dave
MB-1-E
Electric - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike
Dave B
MB-1-E
<a href="http://visforvoltage.org/book-page/996-mountain-bike-conversion-24v-3-4h... - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike</a>
This all sounds familiar, as I detailed in the "Soneil Cooked My Batteries!" thread.
Soneil never replied to me at all, neither did they reply to the dealer I'd bought the charger from.
I was thinking about permanently wiring in each 12V charger, but I decided not to. Right now I have four Vector 2-6-10 chargers glued together. My concern is that a charger failure would not be detected until it had ruined the pack. Since my four are wired into two pairs, each using a common lead between chargers and pack, there is some alternation between charge levels. I have had only minimal interference between the chargers in a pair, usually when there is a bad connection in the wiring.
Verifiying basic output isolation is pretty easy: check for any continuity between line voltage and output voltage side. If there is no continuity between any terminal, it is isolated, AFIK.
MarkF
I purchased 2 of the optimizer 12 amp chargers. Won't be able to check for the continuity until they arrive, should be the end of the week when they get here.
Opened up the soniel, without more magnification, I could not tell if this was some glue or if that part melted, otherwise, everything looked good inside.
In the upper left on these pictures, it looks like glue on that gizmo, but it also looks like it has melted, there is a thin hair glued to the aluminum from that part, I guess that is some type of static ground, there is four or five others glued to the aluminum elsewhere inside the case. Without real strong magnifying glasses, I am unable to tell if that is the culprit, does not really matter, I won't fix it.
Fechter, you want it?
chuck
[b]AGM BATTERIES[/b]
Sorry to hear about the charger going down Chuck!
Sounds like you'll be back on the road soon though.
Now you'll have to find two Tupperware containers.
Dave
MB-1-E
Electric - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike
Dave B
MB-1-E
<a href="http://visforvoltage.org/book-page/996-mountain-bike-conversion-24v-3-4h... - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike</a>
Nope, no more tupperware, these new chargers are basically made for the marine enviroment and are meant to be mounted to jet skis. I really am starting to think it will never stop raining here in Dallas, probably has rained 3 out of 4 days for the last 3 months. We needed it, has been on the dryer side of average for the past few years, usual wet months are fall and again in early spring, never rains in July.
Fenders are next
chuck
[b]AGM BATTERIES[/b]
Now that's starting to sound like Washington ...
... it's warm and drier than usual here, go figure :?
Sounds like those chargers are some good ones!
Dave
MB-1-E
Electric - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike
Dave B
MB-1-E
<a href="http://visforvoltage.org/book-page/996-mountain-bike-conversion-24v-3-4h... - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike</a>
ACI chargers do not have a good history of quality or reliability
It would wise before purchasing ACI Charger to check the BBB rating
http://www.bbb.org/kitchener/business-reviews/battery-charging-equipment/aci-advanced-charges-in-mississauga-on-1138114#ratingde...
I wonder if the 12V charger uses a 12V transformer the 24V a 24V and so on. other parts such as voltage references, will also be tailored for the intended use?
Thanks in advance, Andreea Brasov