jcjrogers

I just purchased a Thunder A6 charger from Hobbypartz. Last night, I was messing with it and connected to a 7.2v 3800 mAH NiMH battery. All seemed to be going well. I left and came back maybe 10 minutes later and the LED was filled with boxes and there was no response to pushing any buttons. I unplugged and left for probably 30 minutes or so and then plugged back in... still an LED filled with boxes. I tried again this morning and right after I plugged in, I get the message: Charger HOTA for maybe a second, and then the charger seemed fine. The Charger HOTA message popped-up and went away again when I pressed a button in program mode and came up and went away again when I wasn't pressing a button. The odd thing is, the manual gives error codes and such, but doesn't list "Charger HOTA". Anyway, I figured I would try charging again. I connected the battery and all seemed well. I got the checking battery message, but then the LED was filled with boxes again, and I heard a faint "sizzling" noise. I got scared and unplugged the charger and battery.

I don't know if NiMH batteries typically give a "hum" or "sizzle" when charging, but I didn't want to risk it. Is the charger just DOA?

chuckk2

It sounds like the charger is not working properly. Sizzle and pops are not normal. The display presentation is an indication of abnormal operation.

trax de max

The chargers is a HOTA Thunder, the sign you see is the welcome screen i guess. Looks like the charger is broken for it to keep coming up when already powered on, or there was a problem with input supply and damaged the charger.

BillS

Never heard a pop or sizzle from my Thunder A6 Charger in three years use but also don't charge 3800 mAH batteries. Mine is used mostly to charge A 123 batteries. Other chargers are used for NiCads. NiCads are being fazed out in favor of A 123's.

Bill

jcjrogers

When I say "sizzle" it was coming from the battery, not the charger. Some might call it a "hum". It wasn't really popping and was pretty faint. I've heard similar with 12v batteries on a trickle charger.

trax de max

The only nimhs i charge now are the AA's for the Tx and can't remember my old sub C's made a noise while charging. Either way with the screen being full of wierd box like charactors I'd think it's had it.

jcjrogers

I figured that the charger was just DOA and put in a service ticket to Hobbypartz on Friday night after the boxes popped-up. However, I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something or if there might be some sort of firmware issue or even some sort of reset. The device connects to a computer so one could theoretically download new firmware, patches, etc. Nobody mentioned this as a possible fix, and I haven't seen anything making me think this is possible so it probably isn't an option. Even if it was, it wouldn't fix a hardware problem, which is probably the issue.

trax de max

firmware update would be the last option, old versions would still work. On some forums the charger is known as a battery cooker.

jcjrogers

I got the RMA #.  Unfortunately, Hobbypartz doesn't pay return shipping when their crap doesn't work.  Therefore, I get to pay return shipping for an item that didn't work out of the box.  $61 for a $40 charger...I guess that is my punishment for using an unknown online retailer.  At least i know to avoid them now.

trax de max

there's alot of businesses like that. Some are more helpful and give you money back after they test it. But it also pays to buy a good charger first, I got my money back on an old lipo charger but still had to pay return costs, but they offered me discount on another charger. lol I went somewhere else and bought another charger.

jcjrogers

They do state this in their policies, but who reads that stuff?... I guess I read it now. It just takes a lot of gall for a vendor to accept payment for something, ship it, it doesn't work, and then the customer has to pay to send it back. This can also be easily abused. There is simply no financial reason for the vendor to avoid shipping damaged goods out the door. In fact, it might be lucrative in that many customers won't fool with the return shipping, knowing they have to pay for the return. Hence, the vendor just continues to re-sell broken items.

kwblake

Really!!!!??? I have never heard this before. I use Hobbico LiFe batteries for my Rx, and had a strange thing happen to one of mine a couple of weeks ago. I purchased this charger, because it would do LiFe bats. and it was inexpensive. I have to say, this is not the norm for me, as I believe that you only get what you pay for. Anyway, I noticed that one of my batteries had a stain on it, and when I looked closer, it was slightly puffed, and soft. I did wonder about the charger, but kind of figured it was just life. OK, so a bit of a pun there. I have followed these forums for a few years now, and have never heard of anyone having problems with LiFe batteries doing this. I did honestly think this was just my "bad luck". If anyone else has had this problem, please comment.