Hi,
The sales of the Ripvan 100 Lightning 4000N charger is on again after the exchange from the manufacturer. However my gut feeling that there might be certain concerns from prospective buyers. So I hope this thread will clear up some of the questions.
Technical Background: There are three cut off techniques used by this charger. -dV, thermal and timer cut off. The -dV cut off is the main way of cutting of the charge and the other two are back up. The thermal cut off will occur when the temperature reaches 52 degrees before a charge time of 1hr 45min. The timer cut off is set at 3 hours.
The charger should go into trickle charge once the batteries have been fully charged (slow blinking light). If you do not see any blinking light, it means that the thermal or timer cut off has kicked in.
Q1. What happens if my charger does not go into trickle charge?
A1. Let the batteries cool down, make sure the charger is in mode 2 then switch on the charger again. Make sure that the cover of the charger is removed or open prior to charging to help keep the temperature lower.
Q2. The batteries get very hot during charging, is this normal?
A2. Yes, I believe it is normal. My recomendation is the remove the plastic cover when charging. You will realise that the GP and Sanyo quick chargers do not have covers. Eastgear told me that Maha also recomended that the cover of the Maha charger be removed during charging to facilicate heat loss.
Q3. Is it recomended that the plastic cover be opened or removed during charging?
A3. Yes, it is highly recomended.
Q4. The LED on one / both banks do not light up or lights up for only a while (<1min). What is wrong.
A4. Please contact Eastgear for a one to one exchange.
Q5. The charger still does not go into trickle charge. How?
A5. It is highly unlikely that there is a defect in the charger and we will conduct our own test. If there is a defect, there will be a one to one exchange.
Q6. Can the charge charge 2100mAh NiMH batteries?
A6. Yes it can.
Q7. Does this charger have individual terminals?
A7. No, the RipVan charger has two charging banks which takes in two batteries of the same chemmistry. This means that you can charge 2AA and 2AAA or 2NiMH and 2NiCD. The Maha chargers have individual terminals.
Q8. The charger claims to have 'cool' charging. How come it is still hot?
A7. In our opinion, most manufacturers claim to have a cool charging charger. However in most cases, there is a significant amount of heat being emitted. There is no harm to the batteries though.
Q9. One of the banks goes off after charging for about 15min to 1hour while the other bank is still charging.
A9. It is very likely that the batteries are not placed properly. Please ensure that the batteries are place snuggly and the batteries are not popping out.
Extra notes: Please realise that this charger is a highly advanced charger and it tries to give as much information to the end user as possible through different LED signals.
You will realise that the GP and Sanyo chargers do not let the user know if the batteries go into trickle charge. The LED for those chargers just cut off and hence the user will not be sure if the thermal or timer cut off has kicked in.
If there are any concerns or questions, please post so that there will be sharing of information.
The sales of the Ripvan 100 Lightning 4000N charger is on again after the exchange from the manufacturer. However my gut feeling that there might be certain concerns from prospective buyers. So I hope this thread will clear up some of the questions.
Technical Background: There are three cut off techniques used by this charger. -dV, thermal and timer cut off. The -dV cut off is the main way of cutting of the charge and the other two are back up. The thermal cut off will occur when the temperature reaches 52 degrees before a charge time of 1hr 45min. The timer cut off is set at 3 hours.
The charger should go into trickle charge once the batteries have been fully charged (slow blinking light). If you do not see any blinking light, it means that the thermal or timer cut off has kicked in.
Q1. What happens if my charger does not go into trickle charge?
A1. Let the batteries cool down, make sure the charger is in mode 2 then switch on the charger again. Make sure that the cover of the charger is removed or open prior to charging to help keep the temperature lower.
Q2. The batteries get very hot during charging, is this normal?
A2. Yes, I believe it is normal. My recomendation is the remove the plastic cover when charging. You will realise that the GP and Sanyo quick chargers do not have covers. Eastgear told me that Maha also recomended that the cover of the Maha charger be removed during charging to facilicate heat loss.
Q3. Is it recomended that the plastic cover be opened or removed during charging?
A3. Yes, it is highly recomended.
Q4. The LED on one / both banks do not light up or lights up for only a while (<1min). What is wrong.
A4. Please contact Eastgear for a one to one exchange.
Q5. The charger still does not go into trickle charge. How?
A5. It is highly unlikely that there is a defect in the charger and we will conduct our own test. If there is a defect, there will be a one to one exchange.
Q6. Can the charge charge 2100mAh NiMH batteries?
A6. Yes it can.
Q7. Does this charger have individual terminals?
A7. No, the RipVan charger has two charging banks which takes in two batteries of the same chemmistry. This means that you can charge 2AA and 2AAA or 2NiMH and 2NiCD. The Maha chargers have individual terminals.
Q8. The charger claims to have 'cool' charging. How come it is still hot?
A7. In our opinion, most manufacturers claim to have a cool charging charger. However in most cases, there is a significant amount of heat being emitted. There is no harm to the batteries though.
Q9. One of the banks goes off after charging for about 15min to 1hour while the other bank is still charging.
A9. It is very likely that the batteries are not placed properly. Please ensure that the batteries are place snuggly and the batteries are not popping out.
Extra notes: Please realise that this charger is a highly advanced charger and it tries to give as much information to the end user as possible through different LED signals.
You will realise that the GP and Sanyo chargers do not let the user know if the batteries go into trickle charge. The LED for those chargers just cut off and hence the user will not be sure if the thermal or timer cut off has kicked in.
If there are any concerns or questions, please post so that there will be sharing of information.
