Got a brown envelope from solarforce-sales today containing amongst other things, a Deluxe charger:
First impression, cheap plastic housing, really cant tell much if any difference between it and any of the $5 models on DX.
2nd thing - No instructions with it at all.
Found on the web that green solid means no battery or fully charged. Charging is a progression of red, orange, yellow and finally green.
Ok, now that I know what it should do, lets test it. Plug in and put the multimeter across 1 set of pins to measure amperage - NOTHING! Tried the other side NOTHING there either!
So, I must be stupid, I'll pop a battery in - nothing, light is still solid green and the cell measures 3.89 volts on the meter certainly not a fully charged cell.
so what is wrong?
the rubber feet on the back each conceal a phillips head screw. When removed and the back removed the problem becomes immediately evident. The metal bars that pass through the circuit board to form the positive terminals are not attached to the board. Both show where they were torn loose either in transit or more likely based on the lack of damage to packaging or outside, it simply wasnt installed correctly to begin with.
5 minutes with a soldering iron and a few drops of solder and the connections are reattached as they should have been to begin with.
ok, lets try voltages and current again. Open circuit shows 4.28 volts on channel 1 and 4.27 on channel 2. Both show 502mA current.
Better.
It is charging a pair of cells as I write this and seems to be working. I think like any of the inexpensive chargers, it would be folly not to watch while charging and batteries should be removed immediately after charging.
It may work, but this is one case where I think the fake solarforce could easily out-do the real one. Sorry solarforce this was not your best effort.