Rant, Rant

I suspect we all run into these types of problems more often than not.

Mine started with wanting to repair an older battery charger. I called the company who manufactured it, wanting a service manual or at least an electrical schematic. Company informed me they sold that part of their business years ago to another battery charger company and they will forward my call. Customer service at the later company says they don't provide service manuals or schematics for liability reasons. (WHAT?) But they will send me an operator's manual (which will be worthless to me since I'm an engineer and need the SERVICE manual or schenatic) They do send me the operator's manual anyway via email attachment and it is 52 pages of which only 15 are in english and even those 15 are of no help. To top it off the "customer service" lady who sent the email is in St Thomas Virgin Islands and that company is called PMM - Perpetual Motion Management, whatever that means.

I tried searching for this manual and/or schematic via google and the internet and that turns out to be like a "dog chasing his tail" and no results.

I'm frustrated enough to "climb the wall".

Ron

55 50 ron,

I, too, see a wealth of info in a schematic. I understand your frustration.

D.

Schematics imply that the machine could be repaired with common knowledge. None such knowledge exists, It is knowledge like you and I (as well as many others) with electronic know how are a serious minority. If people actually fixed them, the market would disappear. Look inside and if it looks burnt, replace it. Jim

See it's a conspiracy between the lawyers and the manufacturers, the lawyers hit them up with frivolous law suits so the manufacturers have a reason to make sure you don't have the information to diagnose, repair or copy their product.....so when it quits you have to buy a new one and the cycle starts all over, and with some of this new digital stuff I'm not to sure their isn't a timer that quits so you have to buy another one.

Hello 55 50 Ron,

Now that your rant is over, have you tried here or on tool talk? Someone here maeby has just what you need, including me,

Guido.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've had to manually trace circuits, making my own schematics because "we don't provide that information". For something as simple as a battery charger, it isn't rocket science. The circuit boards are generally old tech (discrete components on boards with single side traces), and the parts are almost universally "off the shelf", even when they put a "proprietary" number on say a transistor. The tough part is when a banded resistor smokes and you can no longer read the colors. Sometimes an online search on a major component electrically nearby can yield a 'standard circuit' which at least gets you in the ballpark for a replacement resistor, or capacitor, or even an upstream or downstream transistor.

Most of these charger boards are simply voltage controls to turn off the charger when the battery is fully charged, to keep it from overcharging - a common problem with standard transformer only chargers where as the current decreases, the voltage can creep to well over 8v on a 6v charger, or over 15 on a 12v charger.

I've worked on a few. If you can list a make and model, I may have already drawn out a circuit. If I can find one useful to you in my workbench paper pile, I'd take a picture and send (post) it.

You haven't said what the problem is. Battery chargers really aren't that complex. In the last couple of years, I've bought a couple of them on consignment auctions for a few bucks that proved to be inop. (Imagine that!)

One had a broken wire and the other had a loose connection. Both problems stood out like the proverbial sore thumb when I opened them up.

http://www.drviragopete.com/charger_repair.php

Email sent and thank you. This is a NAPA unit model 85-3000.

The unit is a NAPA 85-3000. Manufactured by Midtronics Willowbrook, IL Thank you for your willingness to help.

Liability, because if they give you the schematic, and you screw up fixing the charger and it blows up a battery in your face, or burns your house down, you can sue them.

(quoted from post at 11:46:31 01/27/17) The unit is a NAPA 85-3000. Manufactured by Midtronics Willowbrook, IL Thank you for your willingness to help.

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Sorry, Ron. Haven't had to tinker with one of those. Yet. Been through a few Schumachers with VR problems, and a wheel around unit I forgot the name on that simply had blown rectifiers. Got a Century 6/12V with 100A boost on the list to get fixed - the basic charger works great, but the 'automatic' settings don't - its the VR board. Haven't fixed it yet because I got rid of my 6v systems, and it mostly gets used as the 12v 'boost' when needed (rarely).