Grrrrr- very frustrated with batteries and charging with Trend AirPro

[Ken Glass]

Hey fellow turners,
Today I went to use my Trend Airpro Shield and it started beeping in about 8 minutes. I realized it hadn't been charged, so I went to the other spare battery I have and again after 15 minutes., that warning beep sounded It did last until I finished 30 minutes later. Now I have two batteries that need charged. I plugged in the internal charger and thought, maybe I better get a new remote charger to keep both up and at the ready. I called Inviro safety products and was told that I needed the cradle and the charger for a total of $111.00 to charge my existing batteries. Holy Cow! I could use my present charger and not have both charging at the same time, but after a while the batteries don't last a full 8 hours anyway. Now finally my question: I know several have made battery packs and chargers for the original Trend shield, but has anyone successfully made a battery pack to fit the Air Pro Shield or even a charger to use with the existing batteries?

[Doug Herzberg]

I hope so. That beeping drives me nuts (once every 30 - 60 seconds would be more than plenty) and I'm too cheap to buy a second battery, let alone a charger. Do you have a Batteries Plus store around? They can recondition ni-cads, but they're starting to charge almost as much as the replacement battery.

Without knowing anything about it, I don't think the charging system is very high tech. No automatic shut off, etc. It may be as simple as getting the right voltage to the terminals for the right amount of time, but again, I know nothing.

[Ken Glass]

Doug,
I guess I'm not alone. I am sure someone can find a Class 2 Transformer Battery Charger that is 120V input and 4.2V out at 300 ma at 1.26V. I am sure there will be someone with some knowledge coming along soon....

[Roger Chandler]

I don't know if I have this right........and I do not have a lot of knowledge in the area of batteries.........I do have a Trend pro.

That being said, I heard or read somewhere that over charging will shorten the life of the battery in a Trend [or most ni-cad packs] unit. I have 3 battery packs, no cradle, so I just plug the charger into the helment and let it charge for about 10 hour or so, usually overnight.........I have not had a diminishing of the run time at all..........I have only charged two of the 3 packs, but I let them run down to the beeping sound, then change out to finish my turning. I will continue to use the one I changed to until it beeps...........then recharge the other sometime between when I am not using the unit for turning.

I think when we try to keep a battery pack fully charged at all times, what we do is create a memory which shortens each successive run cycle. Not true of lithium ion, but true of ni-cads..............hope this helps!

[Ken Glass]

Roger,
That's what I do also, but it does take overnight to charge the one that's down, which leaves me with only one charged battery the next morning and not a charged one waiting. I think the most time I ever got out of a fully charged battery pack was 6 hours. I still want to have a fully charged battery at the ready when the warning beep comes calling. That's why I want to make a new remote charger. Where are you Electrical geniuses lurking?

[David E Keller]

I'll be following this with interest as a recent Trend recipient... I don't know nothing' about electrical stuff!

[charlie knighton]

i have the old style trend, i bought very reasonable a battery pack holder from Ed McDonnell, he is out of south florida holds 3 AA batteries, use renewable or regular batteries

my old stlye i have 2 battery packs, since i hardly ever turn more than several hours, i keep them charged, i have never run all the way down, i have the homemade ed mcdonnell as a backup

this was his email address a couple years ago, he posts on AAW board spinningwood@comcast.net



(spinningwood@comcast.net)

[Roger Chandler]

Ken,


I have gotten the 8 hours run time on several occasions. I can tell when it is beginning to fade, as the fan seems not to force quite as much air as a fully charged one......then the unit begins to beep..........time to change packs or if I am through turning, I will just plug in the charger and let it charge overnight or about 8-10 hours.

[Ken Glass]

Charlie
I think the old Trend had just a rectangular area for the batteries that lent itself well for a fabricated battery pack, but the new Pro is shaped differently and has prongs that engage the battery, so it may be a little harder to fabricate a battery pack that will fit properly, but at the least, I want a way to charge batteries outside the hood. (no pun intended)

[Roger Wilson]

the solution is easy. Go with a Resp-o-rator. No batteries, two Hepa filters. no heavy helmet. AND very cheap, $50.

Company site:
http://www.resp-o-rator.com/

222363

Youtube on how to use it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR9BAB8k9dI

[Ken Glass]

Roger,
With the crazy risks I take , most days, I would feel like I was playing Russian roulette without strong headgear on too. It would be good for some small turning though, but I am not sure I would want the piece in my mouth for that long.

[Eric Gourieux]

I had the same problem with my Trend AS Pro. Bought a genuine Trend battery for $36 and now get 15+ hours with it. May not be the solution you wanted, but I couldn't find a different solution either. PM me if you want details. I'm NOT selling them or benefiting in any way. I got it online from a major retailer.

[Jim Burr]

I ran mine out of the box...let it die and hit the charger. This is the same for ANY Nicad battery operated device if you read the instructions. I charge mine at night and use it in the morning, ran it for 10 hours toady with no issues what so ever.

[Alan Zenreich]

The Trend AirShield pro battery is NOT NiCad... it is NiMH

[Doug Herzberg]

You're right! I could swear I read somewhere that it was NiCad, but I just looked at the battery. I feel better now. Sorry for the misinformation.

[Jim Burr]

You can still yell at the top of your lungs...Nickel hydride...spelling sucks, sorry...still requires the same conditioning.

[Ken Glass]

Come-on now. I know there are some electrical savvy people out there. 265 hits and no one with an answer yet? We need an answer. Step up and be the hero.......

[Josh Bowman]

Ken,
I have the trend pro with the cradle and spare battery. I've had the unit for over a year now. I keep the spare in the cradle, but it's connected to an 8 hour timer, that is when the battery is low (beeping) I put it in the cradle and turn the timer on for 8 hours. I'm fairly sure I get 8 hour or more from each charge. After charging overnight, does your unit not hold a charge?

[Paul Kennedy]

I recently had trouble charging my trend batteries. I called trend routing technologies and spoke with James Muraglia. I ended up send my air shield to them. Within one week, I had the helmet back. They found a faulty circuit board and replaced it at no cost. They were really great to deal with. Pk

[Ken Glass]

All,
Just when you think you need one thing, you find out that what you really need is something else entirely. Paul's post made me pause and consider that maybe my Airpro is having problems charging to begin with. I decided to call Trend and after they deduced my problem to be a circuit board preventing me from achieving a full charge, ( which by the way is a full 14 hours on the charger, for an 8 hour operating time), They are sending me a circuit board to fix my problem. The tech also stated that, no, you cannot over charge the battery by leaving it plugged in for a day or two, but to not leave it plugged in at full charge for weeks on end. I do like the idea of a timer with the charger to free my feeble mind form having to remember to unplug the charger when I am not turning every day. Thanks for all the input and information.

[Josh Bowman]

Ken,
That's great news. I felt that the battery just wasn't getting all it needed. Since I have the cradle, I don't use the onboard charger, and may need to try it to make sure mine is working right. As stated, with just 8 hours charge I get plenty of time, but would like a timer that goes longer than 8 hours. If you find one, post where you got it. It would be nice to have a 24 hour and stay off timer.

[Alan Zenreich]

Ken,

This is yet another case of great customer service from the folk at Trend. You will be surprised at just how fast your package from them arrives. They are wonderful to deal with, an really know their stuff.

[Ken Glass]

Josh,
I just started using a AC 120 24 hour timer with pins you pull for the time you want current to the device. I use them a lot at Christmas time for outdoor flood lights and indoor lights as well. They are $5-$10 most hardware stores. I set mine to start the charge at 5pm and to charge until 7am the next morning which is 14 hours as is required by Trend. mine has a bypass switch on the side in case you want charge all the time.

Alan,
They seem to really be receptive and knew my problem right away. He also told me he would get my circuit board out today. I was duly impressed.

[Jim Underwood]

I can't fault Trend for the customer service. They've always been helpful and promptly sent me new parts when my Airshield Pro broke.
I do wish the head straps and pivot were better made, and more adjustable. I have such a big head, that I just barely get the thing adjusted so that it won't mash my glasses onto my nose... As for breaking, when the nuts in the pivot stripped out, they sent me all new nuts, screws and washers. When the head strap broke, the sent me a whole new adjustable strap assembly.
I really wish the battery cradle and extra battery didn't cost so much.
I keep thinking that someone should design something that didn't weigh so much, was comfortable to wear, but still had the necessary CFM and filtering. I liked the Triton for comfort (batteries, fan, and filters in a fanny pack), but the bubble visor distorted the view, and the fan just wouldn't output enough CFM to keep it from fogging up in the winter.
One of these days I'm going to try out that 3M...

[Alan Zenreich]

Jim,

The original headband on my unit broke where the band meets the round pivot point. They sent a replacement right away, and the design had changed (added reinforcements). However that one broke a couple of months latet, and they quickly sent a replacement. My unit 'lived' on a large hook on the wall when not in use... Perhaps this exacerbated the strap breaking situation. So far, non of my 3M helmets have had any strap problems, but the also don't have room for the very handy ratcheting size adjustment found in the Trend (great if you share your helmet with your bride)

[Ken Glass]

Jim and Allen,
I too, had the strap break early on, but didn't know I could contact Trend directly and paid $45 for mine from a distributor. It Probably should have been covered, but I just didn't push it. Trends web site is well put together and here it is for anyone needing it. http://www.trend-uk.com/en/US/index.php

[Jim Underwood]

Well now that's interesting. All of us had problems with the head strap breaking. And if we had problems, you know there are lots of others... Sounds like a design or manufacturing fault to me. I really do wish they'd listen to us when we have complaints about a product... they have to know by now there's aproblem with it. Why not get feedback from customers and make those design changes?

[Ken Glass]

Jim,
I concur. Unfortunately, manufacturing will traditionally wait a good length of time before having to retool to make change. Sometimes the part was sub contracted and they must find another source because the sub contractor that manufactured the part can't absorb the retooling costs and will breach the contract rather than take the loss. I ran into that often in the HVAC field. Allen said earlier that they had changed the design at least once, so maybe they are working on it again.

[Alan Zenreich]

Jim,

They apparently did address the headband issue, they redesigned it. Mine was the first time they heard of the revised band breaking.

So a simple call to Trend got me a free replacement, with no warranty questions asked.

I can't ask for more than that from them.

[Ken Glass]

Allen,
The contact I had yesterday with them had the same outcome as yours. They never asked about warranty and I never offered. They don't monitor this forum, do they?