charger question - electricians??

[Nitroaddict]

okay - not sure if this is the rigt forum for this question, but couldnt think of anywhere else to put it. i have 3 different chargers for my nicad packs that run my starter boxes. 1 i have had for about 8 years, it still works great, but it only works off a car battery, an i wanted something for home too.

last year i bought a duratrax intellpeak charger. never worked once. lost the receipt so couldnt return it. as soon as u would plug it in, it would blow the fuse. i even upped the ams on the fuse, and it would pop that one too.

well, the other dya, i got a hobbico 400? charger, basic ac/dc charger. well suprise suprise, it pops fuses like popcorn. i returned it, and got another one. same problem. so now i have decided that it must be me. what am i doing wrong? i tried hooking up on my car too, thinking that maybe my house wiring was malfunctioning, but it popped fuses there too. any ideas?

 

[Candyman]

Well, I'm no electrician, but that doesn't sound good. Do the fuses blow after you hook your batteries to the charger? Are they hooked up backwards? You said this happens on both AC and DC? Gotta be in the charger. I'd check to make sure the batteries are hooked up right and that there's nothing that could be shorting the charger....

 

[Nitroaddict]

even without the batts hooked up - if i , say, use it in the house, as soon i plug the charger in, i see a quick spark at the outlet, and pop, there goes the fuse. also happens the exact same way when i hook it up to th car battery. i attach the neg clip, all okay, but as soon as i get near the pos terminal i see a spark jump to the connector and the fuse blows. i am not super-knowlegable about electricity, so i am baffled

 

[Maxxcrazy88]

try connecting pos+Neg at the same time on your car batt. (how I have to hook up my 12V car batt charger or it overloads and I have to wait 10 mins before it works again...

 

[Nitroaddict]

I've been hooking up the neg lead first, which does nothing, since it is just a grounding wire. then i hook up the pos lead, and it pops immediately. i dont see how hooking them up at the same time would help? how does that work? explain, ill give it a try.

 

[Maxxcrazy88]

are you putting the fuses in backwards????? (don't know if it matters but it's worth a shot...)

ahh I just thought about it disregaurd my first post I'm hooking it up to the batt I'm charging....

 

[Nitroaddict]

Originally posted by Maxxcrazy88
are you putting the fuses in backwards????? (don't know if it matters but it's worth a shot...)

it doesn't matter which way the fuses go in, does it??? i thought they just made a path for the electricity to flow through, only at a small amperage, that way, if there is a surge, it blows before the surge makes it to the device it is protecting. is that correct?

if it is used as a "bridge" for the current flow, there shoudnt be a + or - side, right?

I dont really know too much about electrical theory, so i am just doing my best ro remember my Navy electronics training

 

[militarymaxx]

To clear up a few things. It doesn't matter which way a fuse is installed, at least not the type you are using. Attaching the positive or negative leads to your battery in any order or at the same time makes no difference. I have been working on electronics in the Navy for almost 20 years and I like to eliminate the simple things first. We have a saying in the Navy - KISS.
Keep It Simple Stupid. Not calling anyone stupid, by no means, it's just an expression - try all the little quick fixes first before you spend more money on another charger. Take your charger, with the proper size fuse (voltage/amp and slow blow/fast blow) over to your neighbors house. Try it there. Maybe there's something squirrely with the power in your house. Nothing you would notice with normal equipment, but sensitive enough to affect your charger. If the condition remains, try taking the units cover off, making sure power is secured. I have found that 90% of all problems I have ever encountered you could actually see, a loose wire, something cracked or broken, something shorted out possibly touching the chassis itself. Give everything a good look.
If nothing still pans out, take it back to your LHS and have him open another unit just like yours and plug it in right there. See what happens. I hope this helps some. Let me know what you find out.

 

[Nitroaddict]

thanks milmax - r u still in?

ex-navy here. CTi2(ss/dv)

 

[LarryA]

If it has any bearing, could a house circiut wired backwards (improper ground or whatever), short a charger? Just a thought. Our house is old and one of the first things I did was to check all the outlets with a circuit tester for polarity and proper grounding.

 

[Nitroaddict]

LarryA - i thought it might be the house, but the fuse pops when i hook it to my car too. That leaves the problem being either with the charger, or the operator.

 

[LarryA]

Just trying to help. Hope you find the problem. It seems strange that it happened with several chargers though.

 

[Nitroaddict]

yeah, I'm baffled. bout to give up through tthem in the trash, and just keep using my old one.

 

[Candyman]

Ahhhh...but just think of all the satisfaction you'd get if you found the problem. Hey, at least take it to your LHS and have them have a go at it.

 

[Nitroaddict]

i guess. i hate electronics. i feel as though i am fairly intellegent. Hell, I even have a collge degree. Yet when it comes to electronics, i just get aggrivated, because i can never simply figure out whats wrong.

Most people that work at computer shops, electronic stores, are no better though. If u take something electronic to a repair shop, they dont know how. They say "your blah blah is broken" - so I say "fix it" - and they say "can't, got to buy a new one." I have grown up around mechanics, and am pretty adaquate myself at diagnostics, and in my opinion - ANYTHING can be repaired. By saying that u have to buy a new one, that just means to me that they dont know how to fix it. sorry about the rant, just getting aggrivated

 

[Candyman]

So just think of the satisfaction you'd get by beating the piss out of it with a 10 pound sledge........

 

[Nitroaddict]

now thats better. lol

 

[RobH]

NA, why not take it down to the LHS and show them what it's doing? If you can make one charger work and not this one, it can't be user error.

-Rob