La Crosse BC-1000 Resetting Issue

[BAreEhD]

Hi Everyone,

This weekend I tried to charge some Eneloops on my BC-1000 and found that it appears to be constantly resetting. Has anyone ever experienced this and/or know what to do?

I've searched around a bit and I did see that someone had a similar issue however I'm not sure if or how it was resolved. I've contacted La Crosse and am currently waiting to hear back.

Here's a video I took of what's happening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD9JU8KWCEM

Thanks!

Brad

 

[hiuintahs]

If it's under warranty, I'd see about getting a replacement.

If not and you want to get adventuresome, the first thing to rule out is the power supply. If you have a digital volt meter, you could check the power supply to see what its doing as it resets so you'd have to take the bottom cover off. Best if you had an oscilloscope to check for ripple or oscillation. That would be the first area.

 

[BAreEhD]

If it's under warranty, I'd see about getting a replacement.

If not and you want to get adventuresome, the first thing to rule out is the power supply. If you have a digital volt meter, you could check the power supply to see what its doing as it resets so you'd have to take the bottom cover off. Best if you had an oscilloscope to check for ripple or oscillation. That would be the first area.

Thanks.

I'm lucky that it's still within the warranty period (10 days left!). Hopefully La Crosse will take care of it, but I thought I should check in with you all to see if this is a common issue or if it's otherwise easily fixable to save me the hassle of a warranty exchange.

 

[hiuintahs]

Thanks.

I'm lucky that it's still within the warranty period (10 days left!). Hopefully La Crosse will take care of it, but I thought I should check in with you all to see if this is a common issue or if it's otherwise easily fixable to save me the hassle of a warranty exchange.

I don't think its all that common as there are probably a lot of those units out there but I have seen others complain about it. I think a fix for one of the LaCrosse chargers was to add extra capacitance to the board where the power comes in........but that is an unnecessary hassle that shouldn't have to be done with a new piece of equipment. It's hard to know for sure where your problem is.......without first eliminating the power supply. If La Crosse doesn't get a replacement, post back............you could look for another charger, say the BC-700 and do a power supply swap as a trouble shooting means. I think they all use a 3.0v DC power input........its just that the BC-1000 would need a little more power than the BC-700 when charging at the higher rate. But with no batteries being charged, any 3.0v power supply would work (connector is 5.5mm x 2.1mm barrel).

I have two of the LaCrosse chargers, the earlier BC-900 and the BC-700. I love the BC-700 and use it exclusively and the BC-900 when needing to charge more than 4 batteries at a time.

 

[BAreEhD]

La Crosse just got back to me. Here is their response to my issue. I provided them with the same youtube video as in the first post above.

MULTIPLE CHARGING MODES:

Your BC700/900/9009/1000 smart charger provides the flexibility to change functions for individual batteries at any time. Charge 2 batteries and condition 2 others if needed.

CURRENT adjustment is time sensitive and must be completed immediately after installing batteries or inserting the a/c cord into the charger.

To begin, insert all batteries into the charger and plug in the a/c cord.
Select compartment #1 button to change the action for the #1 battery. Press and hold the

CURRENT button to change the Current or charge or discharge. Repeat for battery compartments #2,3, & 4.

NOTE: Slot one will have the fastest charge rate.

NOTE: If no current is selected the charger will begin charging all 4 compartments at 200mA.
The MODE option for individual battery compartments may be changed at anytime in the charging process. Select the compartment number of the battery to change the Mode. Press and release the
MODE button to select your option for that battery:

CHARGE: Will charge the battery at the rate selected on startup.

DISCHARGE: Battery will be discharged completely first then charged one time.

REFRESH (Condition): Battery will be discharged then charged up to 20 cycles to reach maximum capacity.

TEST: Battery will be charged then discharged then charged again to determine actual capacity of and individual battery.

NOTE: Batteries age differently. Actual capacity will vary based on used and disuse. If you feel your battery is not reaching full capacity try the refresh cycle.

For efficient processing when responding to this e-mail please use your email program's "Reply" option to maintain the email thread. Please do not change the subject line of your email.

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see how this even addresses my issue???

 

[hiuintahs]

Looks like a "canned" response by customer service where it looks like no one even took the time to consider that it might actually be a problem beyond operator error. I'm sure they get a lot of operator error inquiries, and as such it looks as though yours was treated the same. Be a little more persistent. Maybe you need to get someone on the phone...........if that is even possible?

Customer service pretty much disappeared decades ago simultaneous with the gutting of manufacturing in the U.S!...........I find similar frustration with all sorts of products.