Need help with Airshield Pro battery pack and smart charger

[Mark Detrick]

After reading several threads about replacing the batteries in the Trend Airshield Pro I decided to give it a try.
I ordered 3 4/3A NiMH batteries and a Tenergy 01006 Universal Smart Charger for Nimh battery Pack (2.4V - 7.2V) from battery junction.
I removed the old batteries and installed the new ones. I plugged in my original Trend charger and all is well.
I then used the alligator clip adapter on the smart charger and touched the two contacts on the battery pack. The smart charger light turned red to indicate the battery is being charged.
I then wired the plug from the original Trend battery charger to the smart charger so I can charge the battery pack without removing it from the Airshield.
When I plug in the charger in the AC circuit the light flashes twice to indicate AC power is connected, but when I plug the Smart Charger into the the Airshield I get no lights to indicate the battery is being charged.

Has anyone else tried using a Smart Charger with a plug attached to charge the batteries in the Airshield?

[Jeffrey J Smith]

Mark: I bought the same setup, but since I had the Trend battery cradle for charging a second battery outside the AirShield Pro, I wired the cradle to the charger by wiring in one of the connectors that came with the Tenergy charger. It works fine. Sounds like you may have the polarity wrong on the connector.

As a side note - both my Trend batteries were giving me less than 2 hours use charging with the charger supplied with AirShield Pro. When I got the Tenergy smart charger setup, just for comparison, I charged both my old batteries. Suddenly I was getting a consistent 6 hours from both of the. I'm still using the original batteries - it's been nearly a year since buying the replacement battery cells to rebuild them, but there's no need yet. They're still sitting in a drawer waiting. I hope they're still good when the original batteries finally die...

[Mark Detrick]

I should have mentioned that I have tried swapping the two wires just to be sure it wasn't a polarity problem.
The smart charger User Manual ( 1 page ) does not mention it but the charger has two sets of leads coming out of it.
One set of leads has the inline fuse in it. This is the set I'm using.
Does anyone know what the "non fused" leads are for? Is this a temperature sensor?

[Dave Fritz]

The non fused lead is a temp. sensor I'm told. I cut mine off and don't use it. I too had trouble and it was the contact points. I cut off the clips and direct wired the connections. I made the cradle to hold the battery with moderate pressure from a clamp to hold it in contact. The electrical guru that helped me suggested using small springs to push the contacts up from the base. I also used corian for the base.

Dave F.

[Mark Detrick]

Thanks for the info Dave. I may end up making my own cradle for charging the battery pack but I would really like to be able to charge the battery pack in the Airshield ( unless there is a good reason not to ).

[Mark Levitski]

My experience echoes Jeff's. I replace my batteries and charger like he did and have had great results. Trend, get with it!

Oops, not exactly as Jeff. I never did try recharging my old batteries, and they're gone now. They never lasted worth a ..... Still, shame on Trend.

[Matt Mackinnon]

I find that interesting as I have a pair of Trend batteries and they give me a god 7-8 hours of time with a charge and have not had any problem with them for the past year and a bit. Perhaps they had a run on bad batteries and I was lucky enough to get a good set.

[Mike Goetzke]

I sent this in a PM to Greg Kentell about an issue with the Tenergy charger and then found this post. Maybe it would be best to post here to help others (& me).



Greg - I bought a Trend face mask. I also purchased a second battery. I spotted your post and bought the subject charger and have a few questions. Trend says to charge the first time for 24 hours. On the backup battery I did not do this. I went to the Tenergy first. It charged but only took maybe 45 minutes. Then I used it on the respirator and it only lasted about 20 minutes. Do you think the battery needs a first charge of 24 hours on the OEM charger? Also, I see the battery is 3500mAh and the Tenergy charger manual says to charge at 1.8A setting - is this the setting you used?

Maybe the battery just needs the deep charge the first time (I hope). When the charger goes on I think both lights blink and then it shows red for charging.

Thanks,

Mike

[Mark Levitski]

Mike,

I had no trouble w/ the initial charge for the non-Trend replacement batteries using the Tenergy charger. Both replacement battery packs worked and are still working fine for me. Maybe the Trend batteries are different, or maybe your new Trend battery is not a good one.

Mark

[Mike Goetzke]

Mike,

I had no trouble w/ the initial charge for the non-Trend replacement batteries using the Tenergy charger. Both replacement battery packs worked and are still working fine for me. Maybe the Trend batteries are different, or maybe your new Trend battery is not a good one.

Mark

I charged the backup battery through the helmet and it's gone about an hour so far. Maybe bad charger?

Do you charge on 1.8A or 0.9A?


Thanks,

Mike

[Mark Levitski]

The helmet is just another cradle for the contacts. It doesn't change how the charging goes. Maybe you need to go a couple charging cycles to get that battery going?

.9 for all my charging on this system.

[Mike Goetzke]

The helmet is just another cradle for the contacts. It doesn't change how the charging goes. Maybe you need to go a couple charging cycles to get that battery going?

.9 for all my charging on this system.

Sorry - should have made it more clear. When I charge it in the helmet I do that to use the OEM wall wart. I've now used it for over 4-hrs on the backup battery so the battery is good. When it wears down I'll try the Tenergy again at 0.9A (I used 1.8A the first time).

The Trend manual said 24 hour charge the first time and 12 hours thereafter.

Mike

[Mike Goetzke]

Thanks for the responses. I found something in the Tenergy charger manual about not charging batteries below 2.5V and I think the brand new never charged battery was close to this. I charged it through the OEM wall wart charger through the helmet for 24 hours per manual. I just used it enough to drain it and successfully charged it with the Tenergy. So brand new batteries may need an initial charge from the Trend charger.

Mike

[Mark Levitski]

OK, never charged the new non-Trend replacement batteries except for overnight w/ 0.9A. I remember charging the original Trend batteries for the 24 hrs. Brand new Trend batteries might need the 24 hr treatment, but not the replacement ones I used. They are still going strong.

Bottom line for me: Trend batteries don't cut it, especially for the price.

[David G. Jones]

I know this is an old thread, but I found a smart battery charger that plugs directly into the Airshield pro or the battery cradle without modification, and it's less than 10 bucks.

Here's the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ni-MH-Ni-Cd-3-6-4-8-6-0-7-2V-Battery-Charger-Intelligent-Smart-Auto-control-USS-/320716675698?hash=item4aac341a72:g:-yMAAOSwNSxVIiTb

David Jones

[Steve Peterson]

I know this is an old thread, but I found a smart battery charger that plugs directly into the Airshield pro or the battery cradle without modification, and it's less than 10 bucks.

Here's the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ni-MH-Ni-Cd-3-6-4-8-6-0-7-2V-Battery-Charger-Intelligent-Smart-Auto-control-USS-/320716675698?hash=item4aac341a72:g:-yMAAOSwNSxVIiTb

David Jones

Hi David,

That looks like a perfect replacement charger to keep plugged in all the time and still prevent over-charging the batteries. I am usually skeptical about the quality of cheap electronics from overseas. Have you tried using it?

thanks
Steve

[David Delo]

I bought one of these on Dec. 21 and took delivery last week. Not to bad delivery, didn't expect it until mid or late month but for 10 bucks......didn't matter. My Airshield is the old style (non Pro version) so the plugs didn't match up. Just clipped the wires from old dumb charger and slice into new charger. Worked like a charm. Charged a completely depleted battery in 2.5hrs. Works great.

[David G. Jones]

I've been using it for about a week. Seems to work fine.