My father in law has one of those (deadly) electric buggy things for
getting about. He was stranded in the High St the other days - flat
battery. I took a look at the charger of course and it has a red led
that's flashing and sticker that says "If this light flashes, charger
is faulty". Inside is a control board (several transistors inc two
power devices on a heat sink and a 20A fuse (intact). Nothing
obviously broken or disconnected so without a circuit diagram there is
little I can do to fix it.

The charger is 24v @ 3 amps so I was wondering if there is anything
special about these chargers - I mean it terms of safety of use? Do
they revert to trickle charge if battery left on charge most of the
time? Do they have to be well regulated to satisy any electronics in
the buggy itself? Do they have to be short circuit output proof or
anything like that?

Anyone know where I can get a replacement? (The shop want £££ for a
new one apparently).

Of course it could be there is a fault on the buggy that has zapped
the charger...

Thanks for any advice.

ps the power output lead terminates in what I think is more usually
used for audio leads - an XLR plug.

"dave" wrote in message
...
My father in law has one of those (deadly) electric buggy things for
getting about. He was stranded in the High St the other days - flat
battery. I took a look at the charger of course and it has a red led
that's flashing and sticker that says "If this light flashes, charger
is faulty". Inside is a control board (several transistors inc two
power devices on a heat sink and a 20A fuse (intact). Nothing
obviously broken or disconnected so without a circuit diagram there is
little I can do to fix it.

The charger is 24v @ 3 amps so I was wondering if there is anything
special about these chargers - I mean it terms of safety of use? Do
they revert to trickle charge if battery left on charge most of the
time? Do they have to be well regulated to satisy any electronics in
the buggy itself? Do they have to be short circuit output proof or
anything like that?

Anyone know where I can get a replacement? (The shop want £££ for a
new one apparently).

Of course it could be there is a fault on the buggy that has zapped
the charger...

Thanks for any advice.

ps the power output lead terminates in what I think is more usually
used for audio leads - an XLR plug.

you can find the on ebay, normally looking in mobility scooters section.
around £30 +p&p. not had to buy one as my scooter is working okay but that
is the first place I would look after seeing prices shops charge.
Dave

In article ,
dave wrote:
My father in law has one of those (deadly) electric buggy things for
getting about. He was stranded in the High St the other days - flat
battery. I took a look at the charger of course and it has a red led
that's flashing and sticker that says "If this light flashes, charger
is faulty". Inside is a control board (several transistors inc two
power devices on a heat sink and a 20A fuse (intact). Nothing
obviously broken or disconnected so without a circuit diagram there is
little I can do to fix it.

The charger is 24v @ 3 amps so I was wondering if there is anything
special about these chargers - I mean it terms of safety of use? Do
they revert to trickle charge if battery left on charge most of the
time? Do they have to be well regulated to satisy any electronics in
the buggy itself? Do they have to be short circuit output proof or
anything like that?

Are you sure of that figure? These buggies usually have lead acid
batteries which can be charged at a much higher rate than that - 3 amps is
almost a trickle charge, and wouldn't surely do an overnight charge from
flat? And I'm not sure why it would have a 20 amp fuse if the rate is so
low. Sure it's not 240v @ 3 amps mains rating?

Anyone know where I can get a replacement? (The shop want £££ for a
new one apparently).

It can almost certainly be repaired. Has it a large transformer or is it a
switch mode device? If a large and heavy transformer the first thing to
check is an AC output from that. SMPS are more complicated but in a low
volume device like this still likely to be repairable at a lower than new
cost.

Of course it could be there is a fault on the buggy that has zapped
the charger...

Thanks for any advice.

ps the power output lead terminates in what I think is more usually
used for audio leads - an XLR plug.

A poor choice IMHO - any connector for this purpose should pull out, not
latch.

--
*To steal ideas from *one* person is plagiarism; from many, research*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.