Trend Airshield Pro power question

[Jeff Clode]

New here and hope I am doing this correctly. Have Trend Airshield Pro and unhappy with rechargeable batteries (seems to be a common complaint). Have read all the posts and answers here and will build replacement NiMH battery pack and get Tenergy smart charger (which seems to be out of stock everywhere at the moment). My question is - the Trend runs fine with battery pack out and charger plugged into the port on the back of the helmet. Other than the annoyance of being “tethered”, as one person here referred to it in older thread, is there any reason to not use it this way?
Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, I did not see it...
thanks in advance
Jeff

[Roger Chandler]

New here and hope I am doing this correctly. Have Trend Airshield Pro and unhappy with rechargeable batteries (seems to be a common complaint). Have read all the posts and answers here and will build replacement NiMH battery pack and get Tenergy smart charger (which seems to be out of stock everywhere at the moment). My question is - the Trend runs fine with battery pack out and charger plugged into the port on the back of the helmet. Other than the annoyance of being “tethered”, as one person here referred to it in older thread, is there any reason to not use it this way?
Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, I did not see it...
thanks in advance
Jeff

I made the Tennergy smart charger modification, and it works well. I would like to suggest to you what I have had as another thing that will help you immensely with the Trend ASP battery packs. I have had four of mine rebuilt at the local Batteries Plus, where they put in NiMH batteries that do not take a memory, as the original NiCad batteries did, and they rebuilt mine for $19.99 each, which is a steal compared to the $70 for new ones!

I have two Trend ASP units, with one being about 8 years old, and one I purchased new about 15 months ago. I am using the charger that came with the newest one now with my rebuilt battery packs and I can leave them charging for days on end with no issues at all. I still have the Tennergy unit if I want to use it, but the newest Trend charger has a red/green light on it, which when fully charged, changes from red to green, and on the green is simply a trickle charge, so no problem there either.

I wouldn't like being tethered to a cord, as I move all over the shop to one of my 3 lathes, and other equipment. To me that is enough to utilize the battery pack rebuild to improve the old batteries that came with my original unit, which they seem to be better cells than the original equipment and much cheaper also. If I were you I'd get the battery pack cradle and have one pack charging and have the other in the helmet. I could not be happier with this new arrangement for both my Trend ASP's.

[John K Jordan]

The device uses a certain DC voltage and draws a small amount of current. Any way you supply the correct voltage will work (at least for the older Trend model I have). Unless the new models include some kind of fancy electronics or have built-in lithium ion battery monitors/chargers the power requirements are pretty simple.

You could gang AA batteries together and put them in your shirt pocket, use more batteries in a belt pack, or use an external battery pack or DC power supply and connect with a cord. The important thing with the little motors in these things is to keep the voltage about the same as the original battery pack. To determine the voltage you need, charge the pack and measure with a DC volt meter then use it until the batteries first start to run down then measure again. This will give you some idea of the range of voltage the thing will accept, just don't exceed the max number by a significant amount and make sure the polarity is right. The run time with batteries depends on the capacity of the batteries, often expressed in mAh (milliamp hours), larger is longer.

If you don't have experience with these things ask a geek. A local Maker's club is a perfect place to find one.

JKJ

New here and hope I am doing this correctly. Have Trend Airshield Pro and unhappy with rechargeable batteries (seems to be a common complaint). Have read all the posts and answers here and will build replacement NiMH battery pack and get Tenergy smart charger (which seems to be out of stock everywhere at the moment). My question is - the Trend runs fine with battery pack out and charger plugged into the port on the back of the helmet. Other than the annoyance of being “tethered”, as one person here referred to it in older thread, is there any reason to not use it this way?
Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, I did not see it...
thanks in advance
Jeff

[Jeff Clode]

New here and hope I am doing this correctly. Have Trend Airshield Pro and unhappy with rechargeable batteries (seems to be a common complaint). Have read all the posts and answers here and will build replacement NiMH battery pack and get Tenergy smart charger (which seems to be out of stock everywhere at the moment). My question is - the Trend runs fine with battery pack out and charger plugged into the port on the back of the helmet. Other than the annoyance of being “tethered”, as one person here referred to it in older thread, is there any reason to not use it this way?
Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, I did not see it...
thanks in advance
Jeff

Thanks so much for the prompt replies and useful info !
jeff

[Randy Heinemann]

Just curious . . . Have there been a lot of reports of battery/battery charging problems? I've used the same battery for at least several years. Recently I did buy Trend's "smart" charger and an extra battery because I now spend more time in my shop since retirement and I wear the Trend for much longer periods since I started turning. With the new charger from Trend, I get a very long life from the batteries I own. I don't know if I get 8 hours but I go a long time from the time I put the battery in to hearing the beep. With the new charger I can be a little more certain the battery is fully charged, but never really had any longevity problems before either. Do batteries just suddenly fail? Or, after time, do they not charge fully? Just wondering . . .

[Jeffrey J Smith]

I did the battery rebuild and switched to the tenergy charger about 4 years ago - it has worked very well ever since. I will say that Trend really sticks by their products. Talked with their marketing guy Jamie at the AAW about the headband and face seal fabric. Told him they were about 8 years old and finally failing. Not complaining, rather stating that the unit has served me well for nearly a decade.He told me to contact him after the symposium. Within 3 days a new headband and face seal arrived at my home.
Completely disassembled my old unit, cleaned it up and replaced the headband and faceseal. Its like new and continues to work great. Good product fully supported by the company. Can’task for more - well maybe I could ask for some assembly instructions on their website. Rebuilding isn’t very intuitive and I lost the original instructions somewhere along the line...

[Randy Heinemann]

Trend is very responsive and they have had some problems with the plastic bands that hold the liner inside and are kind of the heart of the whole unit. They have broken a number of times and Trend has always replaced them. The last one they sent lasted so they problem must have been fixed. Still would like to know what the problems are with the batteries since I've never had any.

[Rich Aldrich]

I have two battery packs and they might last an hour each. I did make the change to the Tenergy smart charger but it was probably too late. Other than battery life, I really like the Trend Airshield Pro. I think I will take Rogers idea and have the battery packs rebuilt. Nearest Batteries Plus is 2 hours away.

[Roger Chandler]

I have two battery packs and they might last an hour each. I think I will take Rogers idea and have the battery packs rebuilt. Nearest Batteries Plus is 2 hours away.

Rich, the thing I did was to unsnap the battery pack case apart, so that they could see the inside, and see how easy it was to add new cells to the pack. The first time I mentioned it to an employee at Batteries Plus, I did not have it with me, but was there getting a watch battery. They looked at something online and said the pack was sealed and could not do it.....I knew better, so when I took a couple of packs with me, I already had the pack partially apart with the tabs that hold the cover in place out of the holes where it would show the wires........worked like a charm, they went to the back to see if they had the cell, which they did, and then fixed them with new cells.

I did the same thing to a couple more packs about 3 months ago, and they really work great, and the guy at BP said they would not get a memory if left charging. I take no chances, and use the newest charger from my newest unit, but for you I would still recommend you use the Tynnergy unit.