Making my own battery charger, some help?

user1690 · Post by **user1690** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 7:46 am

Hello!

I somehow figured this would be the place to go to ask for help with this.

A device that i have, a thermal printer (Known as a O'Neil MicroFlash 2), the internal charge circuit appears to have blown, so i cant charge the printers battery pak anymore. According to the manufacturer it is not repairable and now the devices internal spike-protection will kick in whenever i attach the adapter, Soooo... my question is this;

Can anyone assist me in making my own battery charger for such a battery? The battery pak is made up of 5 AA Batteries, and 3 wires, 2 appear to be negative (Black wire, and White wire) and 1 positive (Red wire), as well as what appears to be a small fuse or capacitor. The connector appears to be that of what you find on the end of a computer power supply, i havent seen such a battery connection anywhere else. a picture is linked below. Feel free to correct me if im wrong but as far as i can tell i'll need some form of circuit board, some capacitors, a regulator, a DC-IN jack and the connector for the battery to fit into.

The battery: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/14 ... 20copy.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - Image tags removed, image never appears when tags are used.

If such a charger does exist commercially, feel free to point me in the right direction

seanmacdonn · Post by **seanmacdonn** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 4:28 pm

For some reason I don't think that those are AA batteries (although it still is possible)... I'm pretty sure that they are lipos or something similar. If there's writing on the cells, that might help. If you can see if they are wired in parallel, or series, or if you can't tell take some more pictures of the connections and I'm sure someone can help you. There is a way to charge them, but now the question is with what. If I'm right about the battery type, you can use a smart charger from batteryspace.com and someone can help you find the right one, or if you're right about the battery type you may have cheaper options. I'll check back later and maybe I can help you.

user1690 · Post by **user1690** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 4:43 am

Only writing i can find is on 3 of the batteries. 2 Batteries have BC, and 1 has BB. Other writing is on the back on this black piece of plastic and it says: 550019-000 REV1 6V KR800AA 5097

As far as i can tell the batteries are connected like this: - + - + - thats just what i see on the front of the batteries, where the connector is, the backside is probably the opposite. I've taken more pictures, hope it helps.

Front of battery: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/82 ... 22copy.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Sides of battery: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/508/img0123j.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/56 ... 25copy.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bottom/underside of battery: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/84/img0124sk.jpg/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

seanmacdonn · Post by **seanmacdonn** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:26 am

I'm pretty sure that they're either NiCd or NiMH which means you could use one of those 6v chargers for an RC car. If someone could confirm this that'd be nice.

user1690 · Post by **user1690** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 2:52 pm

I think this is a NiMH battery pak, but i cant really tell :S

I was thinking, as to save time, can i simply get an NiMH battery charger, solder wires to the necessary battery terminals on the charger (From my perspective it'll be 2 Negative wires and 1 Positive) and simply add a female version of the battery connector i need to the other end of wires? Seems to easy to work but thought I'd ask just in case its possible.

seanmacdonn · Post by **seanmacdonn** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 8:46 am

That's what I was saying, also I think that this is what you are looking for http://www.amazon.com/Tenergy-Universal ... B003MXMJX8 but I don't want to be responsible if I'm wrong.

user1690 · Post by **user1690** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 8:55 am

I might get that if i can find a UK version as the plug is obviously different here and then solder the connector i need onto the end of one of those spare cables.

Rohan The Wind Waker · Post by **Rohan The Wind Waker** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:08 am

diff voltage or actual plug apeerence

If diff voltage hopefully you guys have radio shack

Just get a voltage regulator.

If diff plug just strip the correct plug from something broken and sodder them together

If both do both

user1690 · Post by **user1690** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 9:38 am

Cant find a UK vendor for the product above, so i guess i have some choices; Buy it, as well as a US-UK plug adapter, or my previous suggestion of getting a wall charger and soldering the necessary wires. Or i could find someone to make it for me. I'll decide in the next few days.

weaponepsilon · Post by **weaponepsilon** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 9:01 pm

doesnt Mouser.com ship to the UK?

user1690 · Post by **user1690** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 6:34 am

They seem to, the currency is even in GPB, i'll take a look some more, see if i can find anything useful.

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