Faulty Bravo BST Batt?

[Patrik]

Hi all
I just got a brand new Bravo BST HP Batt, and I wonder if there's something wrong with it. The battery doesn't seem to get charged.

It worked well out of the box, but I have not been able to recharge it. At least that's how it seems, since it wont start more than for a few secs when I press ON, and if there's any pressure it turns off, the piston mode won't start.

So now I wonder, can I connect it to a car battery 12V instead, or has it got too much ampere (I don't know anything about electricity...)?

If I do so, I expect that I have to remove the battery and put some crocodile jaws on there. Any ideas why it's not working properly, am I doing something wrong?

[Leapy]

Are you sure it's not turning off because it needs to? What are you trying to inflate? If it's through a valve, is the valve open? At this stage I would be assuming the pump is good and what you're trying to inflate is the culprit.

[Dino89]

does it run when its not connect to the boat , when you put slight resisitant over the outlet pipe does it switch to second mode

[Patrik]

Originally Posted by Dino89

does it run when its not connect to the boat , when you put slight resisitant over the outlet pipe does it switch to second mode

No it turns off even without the hose...

How is it supposed to act when the battery is low?

On the first charge from the factory it ran great and pumped the floor and all crazy stiff. Like it a lot. However, since it kinda discharged (or at least got very weak, it's not completely discharged) it hasn't inflated almost anything.

[matt h]

Patrick, The charger that came with mine failed with in days.Now using a12 v 500 mah wall charger that you can easily get on line, just solder the connector over if reqd , the batteries in your pump are used for starting model aircraft and so the batteries and charger are available from thos type of places.they cost around £10 uk pounds and a replacement battery around £20.00
I got mine from Machine mart do you have a equivalent type of store, (garage and DIY store) ?

[Patrik]

Hm I will take a look, we have a couple of huge and cheap places like that. I saw something about the car charger getting done in just 4-5 hours, while the wall charger takes 12 hours. Why is that? something about ampere?

What do you mean by solder the connector? You mean that I should take it from the car charger and put it on the wall charger?

[matt h]

patrick, cut the connector off the old charger (the end that slides into the pump) and re solder or rejoin the connector onto the new charger.
you want a trickle charger, NOT a 4-5 hour car charger, 500 milliamp max trickle charger!!

[Leapy]

What's brand new here...the battery or the whole pump?

[Patrik]

Everything is brand new, I've only used the pump once on it's initial charge. I understand now that I could put the connector on another charger.

But why don't I want the car charger that came with the pump? :o isn't it good that it charges fast?

[Leapy]

Originally Posted by Patrik

Everything is brand new

Then don't cut anything, solder anything, connect it to any other charger or fit any non-Bravo parts unless you're happy invalidating the warranty.

If you're convinced the pump is faulty - and you haven't convinced me it is - take it back from whence it came for repair or refund.

[Patrik]

No it feels like it's more like a really stupid error here, that I've missed something. I hope so of course, it'd be annoying to have to get it back to the store, 2 hour drive..

But I wont solder or cut, I promise However, it's so annoying that there's not even a light or something to indicate whether I'm charging.

I also wondered if I can connect the flat connectors (and bypass or remove the battery) to some crocodile connectors and run straight from a car battery? Or will that hurt the pump? So that I at least could pump the boat with it.

[Dino89]

if its brand new contact the shop where u purchased it ,its there problem

[matt h]

Leapy your totally right but the charger that came with mine was naff and i didnt want them to swap it for another naff charger, so i did it myself and paid a tenner for a better quality charger, i just havent got the time to P-ss around if you know what i mean!
the chargers are such good quality that come with it you actually have no idea when it it charged, no light or indicator!!
if its a 4 hour round trip to the store,is it ever worth it £35 in fuel??
go on line a get a bloody 500mah 12v trickle charger!!
Do not connect a car battery to it , it will blow it up!! actually it would be quite entertaining really

[Patrik]

So how is the no-battery-BST working, the one with the clamps.. What are they supposed to be connected to?

Yeah it actually seems weird that the pump is so good, when the charger is utter crap. And no it would not at all be worth going back to the store, but perhaps they could send me something.

[Leapy]

Can I go back to where I was earlier...what are you trying to inflate and through what? Is there a valve? Is the valve open? How do you know? Can you inflate the whatever-it-is with anything other than the Bravo to check the valve?

My problem is that the original post states the battery is flat. I haven't got past the question of whether this fact or assumption?

[Patrik]

Originally Posted by Leapy

My problem is that the original post states the battery is flat. I haven't got past the question of whether this fact or assumption?

It's just an assumption that the battery is flat. However, I'm trying the pump by pressing the on button when it's not connected to the boat too, and just partially hold a finger over the blow hole (?) and then it totally stops instead of starting the piston. And I'm not totally blocking the hole at all.

[Dino89]

that sounds like a flat battery to me

[Patrik]

That's exactly what it is! I went today and bought a multimeter and a multi connector charger that you plug in the wall. Luckily one of the connectors fits in the pump.

If this will work is yet to be revealed, I've just started to charge the pump so we'll see later.

However, I most likely found the problem. I measured the voltage in the cigarette lighter with the multimeter and it said 12v. I also tried it on the connector of the new charger just for reference, and it said 12v. But on the cable that came with the pump, it said 0. So, easy locating with that tool, I wish I got one earlier, as I've often wondered if there's cream in my batteries and stuff.

So my rating of the charger cable is one big thumb down or a middle finger up. It lasted for less than a day OR was dead on arrival. Crap. It looks crap too, like some DIY or something, really thin weak cable and so on. The other crappy thing with the pump and charger is that there's no indication what so ever if there's charging going on. You'd think that a small LED or something would be easy for Bravo to install.

[Patrik]

The new charger works fine! Now the pump is well powerful again. I called the shop and they will be sending me a new car charger, although my hope that it will last longer isn't big. But that doesn't matter much right now, as long as I can pump the boat!!

I might do some experimenting with this cable to make more use of the pump. Ideas? If I don't come up with anything I'll try to fix it by cutting the cable, in case it's not the connectors that's faulty.

I still wonder how it works, why can't I connect the pump to a car battery instead of the built in 12V 7A? Why will it blow up? Because the car battery has 200 A? I thought ampere was "at least the same or more"...

[Dino89]

i have used a car battery with no issues before i sorted my lead acid battery setup and it actually originally came with crocodile clips and stated to connect to car battery !