10X battery issues
 

I tried to charge my 10X today and the light on the wall charger did not come on so I tried it on my Accu-cycle same thing, then tried my Astro Flight same thing- Natta! Opened up the battery pack and checked the board and all seems great, voltage ok from battery to the charge jack, whats going on??? Thanks for you help guys. [8D]

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Does the TX turn on? Might have a blown fuse.

Sometimes the plastic insulator on the JR charging jack wears and allows the pins to short. Has happened to me a few times.

Barry

RE: 10X battery issues
 

There is a very small fuse on the circuit board in the battery case, it looks a lot like a resistor. If it has blown this is what you would expect to see. If you or someone you know is very good at soldering you can replace it. A replacement can be found at many of the larger electronic parts supplies (www.digikey.com). I am heading out of town this afternoon for the Lubbuck jet fly, so I can not look up a part number for you. I always carry several spares since I and a few of my friends have had these go out.

Steven

RE: 10X battery issues
 

It's a 5 amp Buss fuse......I blew mine shortly after getting my first 10X in 1999.....since then, I just removed the fuse and jumpered it......no problems in the last 5 yrs with both of my 10X's since then.......good point though, to check the plastic insulator on the charge plug for the tranny.....they often do crack and fragment out, thereby allowing easier contact between +/- sides of the battery and charger----->blown fuse......

Tom

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Sorry for missing information. Yes, the TX works just fine. I just can't charge it. Battery still has 10.4v in it. Now what??

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Remove the battery case form the TX, remove the small philips screws from the battery case in order to be able to open it up; on the small PCB at the end of the battery case where the charge jack is, you will see a component that looks sorta like a resistor, but is actually a fuse. Remove it, then replace it with a new one or with a jumper.

That will let you recharge the battery.

Now check the TX end of your charge lead to see whether you still have a nice "square" edge to the black plastic isolator. If not, pick up a new connector to replace it with, so as to prevent it being able to cause a short while you are inserting it into the jack in the battery case.

Gordon

RE: 10X battery issues
 

That Buss fuse only protects the battery and charger in the event of a short or polarity reversal, like using a Futaba plug on a JR radio......it doesn't fuse the tranny itself, that is why it is still working at 10.4 volts......Horizon did stock the fuses in the past....presumably they still do if you want to replace it yourself rather than jumper it.......

Tom

RE: 10X battery issues
 

You can get that fuse at Radio Shack or do what i did one year. Steal one from the plug on the xmas tree lites!! its the same one as the tx.
V..

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Jane and I are getting lazy Vin.....we now have one of those almost real artificial trees with the lights built in......no visible fuses anywhere....[:o]

But you are right, RS does stock those little Buss fuses...forgot about that....just did one for one of our local guys and he got his from Horizon......they actually sent it PP for free after he sent the dorked one back.....

Tom

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Thanks guys. I will give it a try tomorrow. I will let you know if it works, thanks again. [8D]

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Mike, fyi, If you use a wall plug charger to charge your batt. you can only use the 150mah charger that comes with the 10x. The old 50mah and 120mah. will blow the fuse in the batt. pack like everyone has been telling you.. Ray Blair

RE: 10X battery issues
 

I picked this radio up used from a RCU member a little while back and it did not come with a "10X" wall charger, so I have been using the one that came with my 652. It is rated for 50ma so how can this blow the fuse? Do I need to get a new wall charger now???[:o] Going to check fuse right now, will post findings soon. Thanks guys. [8D]

RE: 10X battery issues
 

I mix & match the batteries and chargers all the time without any issues. I don't see how using a LOWER rated charger would blow the fuse...

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Well you guys were right on the money, the fuse is blowen!! Is it safe to replace it with a wire instead of the fuse?? What is the fuse really protecting?? I am going to pull the fuse out in a minute and want to know if I HAVE to find a replacement or will the wire be ok. I understand the job of the fuse but it seems to only protect the charging system, so if i'm more careful in the future will it be safe? Thanks guys for all your help so far. [8D]

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Replacing the fuse with a wire is not quite as ideal as replacing it with another fuse, but its still ok to do. (In fact, it was Horizon who suggested doing that when I called them about the fact that the fuses on mine kept blowing at one point). In one case, I had a dead short develop after I had replaced one fuse by a wire, and what happened then was that instead of blowing the fuse, it burned a land off of the PCB. Still a simple fix.

Once I figured out what seemed to be causing the short (the charge plug being worn down such that it could cause a short while the plug was being inserted), and fixed that by replacing all of the worn pugs with new ones, I never had a problem again.

Gordon

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Gordon, I posted the advice on the wall charger because it happened to me 2x before I realized why I was blowing the fuse. I dont have the answer for why a 50mah charger would blow the fuse,but I havnt blown one since I started back to using the 150mah that came with the radio. Actually now I charge it as much with my Super Nova charger as I do the wall charger. If you havnt had a problem, possibbly Im wrong about what was blowing the fuse. Does seem like quite a coincidence though that when I went back to the 150mah I stopped blowing the fuse... . Guess I will call JR and see what they have to say.... Later, Ray

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Given that the reason I found for the fuses blowing was a worn plastic insulator on the charge plug, could it be that you too have a worn plug on your 50mah charger, whereas your 150mah one is still in good condition ?

Gordon

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Well thanks for everybodys help. I replaced the fuse with a wire for now. It is working great but would like to install a new fuse someday, so now I have to find one. Thanks again. RCU guys are the greatest!!! [8D]

RE: 10X battery issues
 

I read this thread last Saturday and thought "what a shame, such nice radio gear and to have something like this shut it down.
Well, my 10X arrived Tuesday. I read the instruction book on charging the batteries. I charged them for about 22 hours. The book said 20 to 24 hrs on the first charge. After they charged I turned on the transmitter and it read 11.2V. I plugged my digital voltmeter into it and it read about the same thing. Then I plugged in an analog voltmeter and again it read just about the same. After plugging these in and out a couple of times, all of a sudden the voltmeters read something like .03. I unplugged the voltmeter and turned the transmitter on. It worked for about a minute and then the screen went blank. Sorry to ramble on about this but it is very frustrating. Not even taken into account the harrasing I am getting from my wife after spending this kind of money on it.
I took the battery out and looked at the fuse you guys are talking about. It say "buss 10 amps".
My question is, how do I know if this is my problem. Looking at it I can't see anything wrong. Does it blow like a regular fuse?
Any suggestions would really be appreciated.

Thanks,

Wayne

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Guys, technically you guys are right, but in the 10X battery cassette, there is NO fuse. There is a DIODE, which prevents reverse pol. blowing up the enitre system. I should know. I recently graduated from college, majoring in EET. If the component inside the cassette is darker, quite possibly black and has a silver band around the component, then it is a diode. There is a fuse located just under teh battery compartment INSIDE the Tx, which is visible, once having the battery cassette removed from the Tx.

The only way you can blow that diode is if you plug a FAST charger into it, and crank up the current to charge your Tx. If you do decide to change out the diode to a jumper, you do void all applicable warranties with JR and Horizon, fyi. But, ever since I've jumped my diode on my 10X, I've been able to fast charge at will!! Plus I've upgraded my Tx pack to a 1650 NiMH from RadicalRC!! Best prices around, and a bunch of nice guys(shameless plug), since I work there. :) Tx batt's now upto 2100 mAh.

Enjoy!!!

Chris~

RE: 10X battery issues
 

College degree or not, it is a 10 amp fuse and not a diode. Futaba uses a diode.

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Nope. A few years ago I blew 3 of these fuses (inside the battery case) while just plugging the battery into the regular wall charger. (I have NEVER used a fast charger on my TX batteries). BTW, my college degree, together with many years working as an electronics test & repair technician for the military, taught me that when your AVO reads basically 0 ohms in both directions over the component, it aint a diode (unless it's bust), so try that test on a new 10X battery and let me know what the outcome is... ;)

Gordon

RE: 10X battery issues
 

It is not a diode, but a small Buss fuse that looks like a diode...fooled me the first time I blew one back in 1999 and had to order a replacement from Horizon.......originally they were 3 amps, then upped to 5 amps....sounds like JR upped them again to 10 amps according to Wayne's observation.......some of my SMT Amateur Radio gear also uses these fuses......as far as warranty goes, for a while, when the 10X first came out in late 1998, the service department was spending way too much time replacing these fuses, so when you called Horizon, THEY recommended the jumper......not sure what their exact position is now.....my 2 10X's have been jumpered for about 4 years with no problems.....I used to charge my OEM nicads always at 1 amp on peak detecting charger with no problem.....I now use 11.1v/1300maH Duralites which come off the charger at 12.6v......these have worked fine for the last 18 months.....I charge them at 1 amp as well......they use the original nicad circuit board.....

Anyway Wayne, why the voltage suddenly crapped out on the LED screen which went dark is something else..........do a little continuity check from the battery +/- to the output pins that connect with the male pins coming out of the tranny case....if the battery still shows about 10.6-11.0v, but nothing at the output pins, then carefully check the printed circuit board for a discontinuity.....blowing the Buss fuse does not break the circuit to the tranny, only to the charger.....if the battery voltage itself is flat, then you many have a nicad problem.......a fully charged pack should run the tranny for about 4.5 hours before the voltage starts to fall, since the tranny current draw is about 180ma......

Any of your friends have a 10X pack for a quick A/B test?


Tom

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Thanks for your input Tom. I will start with the battery. Hopefully all I have is a bad battery pack. I hope taking the battery pack out doesn't void my warranty.
I just can't believe my "brand new radio" is out of commission before I can even use it. I never had these kinds of problems with Futaba. I feel like packaging all my JR equipment up and sending it back. I am very upset and angry with JR.

Thanks again Tom for your time,

Wayne

RE: 10X battery issues
 

Wayne .... I see that you are in Milpitas - that's just a few miles from me. D'ya wanna come over to my place so that we can plug one of my 10X batteries into your TX to see if you just have a battery problem or something else ?

I have spare batteries if needed, and / or I can put a jumper in your battery for you if you want. If there is something more than the battery then we may still be able to deal with it. I might be mixing the 10X up with the other JR radios I own, but IIRC there may also a small glass-vial fuse inside the case, that isolates the battery pack from the TX if it blows.

I work from home on Fridays, so am available most of tomorrow (other than when I have to ferry my wife to / from work) in case you wanna come over. I'm on the Los Gatos / San Jose border, down where 85 meets 17.

Lemme know,
Gordon