PS Magazine - TB 43-PS-564
PS, The Preventative Maintenance Monthly
ISSUE 564
NOVEMBER 1999
The dock or charger is waiting for a battery, or
there is no power to the dock or charger.
The battery is about to begin charging.
The battery is charging.
The battery is charged and ready.
The discharge button has been pushed and
the slot is waiting for a battery to discharge.
The battery is discharging.
The battery did not charge in the allotted time.
The battery may be damaged.
The battery has poor contact with the battery
slot contacts or the battery may be damaged.
(Discharge and Ready LEDs flash alternately.)
A battery has been inserted that is not
supported by the dock or charger. (All three
LEDs flash in order.)
The battery temperature is out of range.
(Discharge and Ready LEDs flash alternately
with Charge LED).
A battery has been inserted that may be
damaged. (All three LEDs flash together.)
=
off
=
on
=
flashing
NOTE: When an LED flashes, it is either a strong,
slowly flashing light, or a dim, rapidly flashing light.
DISCHARGE
CHARGE
READY
PS 564
50
NOV 99
Once the battery pack is discharged,
the discharge and charge LEDs start
flashing and the charger begins charg-
ing the battery pack.
You should discharge and charge
every battery being actively used at
least once every two weeks.
If you don’t, you’ll shorten the life
of the battery.
When a battery pack is fully charged,
you can leave it in the battery charger
until needed. It won’t overcharge.
After fully charging, the battery charger
automatically transfers to trickle charge
mode, and can be left indefinitely.
Each battery slot on the charger is
individually controlled. You can charge
a battery, maintain a charge on a bat-
tery and discharge a battery at the same
time.
Always keep a charged battery pack
in the BCLST and keep it set to Sus-
pend mode or Storage mode. If you
don’t, you’ll drain the lithium backup
battery.
Check & Clean—
While
you have the battery pack in
hand, check the plastic cas-
ing for cracks.
It is important to keep the contacts
on the battery charger clean. Dirty con-
tacts may mean a poorly charged or
discharged battery and can shorten bat-
tery life.
CECOM recommends using a pen-
cil eraser and a dry, lint-free cloth
to clean the contacts, but do it care-
fully.
It’s easy to bend and break the
contacts and to remove the gold and
silver plating.
To discharge a battery:
1.
Press the discharge button on the
back panel of the battery charger or
communications dock.
Once the
discharge LED
turns on, you have
15 seconds to insert a battery pack. If
the discharge light goes out, press the
button again.
2.
Insert the battery pack into any
empty slot on the charger. The dis-
charge LED flashes and the charger
begins discharging the battery. Allow
several hours to completely discharge
the battery.
Here’s how to charge a Ni-Cad battery in the
battery charger:
1.
Insert up to four batteries into the battery
slots on the battery charger. Make certain that
each battery
is properly
seated in its
battery slot.
2.
Look at the
battery charger
LEDs to verify
that the battery
packs are
charging correctly.
Contacts clean?
Look for signs of moisture
or corrosion damage. Make
sure the contacts are clean and
dirt-free.
Clean them if they’re dirty
to maintain good contact with
the reader. Use a cotton swab
and some rubbing alcohol to
clean the gold contacts on the
sides of the battery pack like
the manufacturer directions
tell you.
Charging—
When the
BCLST displays the battery
symbol, the Ni-Cad battery
pack has 15 to 45 minutes of
operating power left.
You should also hear a
warning “chirp” every five
seconds for one minute.
These are signs that
the BCLST Ni-Cad is de-
pleted and must be replaced
immediately.
Battery
pack
cracked?
always
keep
me
loaded
with a
charged
battery
pack.
Discharge
button
is here
PS 564
51
...and
eyeball
LEDs
Seat each battery
properly in charger
Use these codes
to interpret LEDs
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