MVP battery obesity!

pdabrowski

Hi all,

I'm trying to work out what component of the MVP8400i / MVP-WDS combination is doing the actual control for charging the batteries.

In the last 3 months I've had 2 sets of MVP batteries expand in size and become unservicable in 2 different touchpanels.

In the first instance I also needed to swap the touchpanel (corrupted CF card). The second set discovered today were in a different touchpanel and I don't have a spare to swap with this time.

The batteries always stay in the touchpanel (they are never removed for charging in the dock) & there are 2 docks that the panel moves between in each room.

I don't mind having to replace the batteies - I can justify that cost to my boss - but it'd be nice to know where I should be looking at for the root cause in either the touchpanel or dock.

Cheers,

Paul.

ericmedley

If the batteries are around or more than 2 years old, then it's just the natural lifespan of the batteries. They all eventually fail and the plumping effect is the sign of the end. We call them Ballpark Franks batteries. They plump when you charge them.

TurnipTruck

ericmedley wrote: »

We call them Ballpark Franks batteries. They plump when you charge them.

BAHHH HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!

I call them overpriced Chinese junk. Not all Li batteries plump when you charge them!

ericmedley

TurnipTruck wrote: »

BAHHH HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!

I call them overpriced Chinese junk. Not all Li batteries plump when you charge them!

My comments were not intended in any way to be factual, just truthful.

DHawthorne

Batteries "plump" when one of the internal cells shorts out causing it to overheat. This, in turn, is generally caused by the breakdown of internal components ... usually because of age. It by no means happens every time a battery gets old and worn out, and as far as the MVP batteries are concerned, I can't see I have seen it happen in more than 10% of the old batteries I've had to replace. But you really ought to get at least two years out of an MVP battery.

That said, I think your panel has a problem in it's charging circuit and the batteries are getting too high of a charge voltage. This can cause them to break down prematurely. So, in answer to your question, there is a circuit in the panel itself that regulates charging. Sounds like it is bad.

pdabrowski

Thanks for the comments guys, thinking a little more it might just be a combination of age (been in use for nearly 2 years) and duty cycle. Techs (or I should say glorified button pushers) here have the panels are regularly on and off the power without any regard to the wellbeing of the equipment.

I'm surprised that the panels themselves have survived this long!

DHawthorne wrote:

That said, I think your panel has a problem in it's charging circuit and the batteries are getting too high of a charge voltage. This can cause them to break down prematurely. So, in answer to your question, there is a circuit in the panel itself that regulates charging. Sounds like it is bad.

Any thoughts on how I might be able to confirm this?

DHawthorne

pdabrowski wrote: »

Thanks for the comments guys, thinking a little more it might just be a combination of age (been in use for nearly 2 years) and duty cycle. Techs (or I should say glorified button pushers) here have the panels are regularly on and off the power without any regard to the wellbeing of the equipment.

I'm surprised that the panels themselves have survived this long!


Any thoughts on how I might be able to confirm this?

Not really, it's all internal to the panel. There may be a way, but I sure don't know it. My rule of thumb is that if a new battery dies way too quickly, send it to AMX to be checked. But if they are several years old, it's far more likely it's just an aged battery that failed.