Eddie Robot Battery Charging

andyc75

I hope someone can help with this but I am having a problem with charging the batteries on my Eddie Robot platform. I have successfully used the robot with the charge that was in the batteries when I received it. But I can't add any battery life through the charger. The status display is showing green on the power adapter even when plugged into the charging input. According to the label it should turn red whilst charging and green when fully charged.

I have checked the wiring and everything would seem to connected and in place but it just can't seem to charge. Can anybody give me any ideas on this one? I was having great fun with the robot until the batteries have run so low it can no longer power the motors.

Thanks in advance .

Tom C

@andyc75,
Since the EDDIE robot is a US product, did it come with a battery charger designed for US 110 vac or did your supplier provide you with a 220 vac charger?
Regards,
TCIII

andyc75

Thanks Tom C for the post - it did come with a US plug - I just used an adapter for the UK plug socket. I thought that would work - obviously not .

I bought the Eddie from http://uk.mouser.com which I thought was UK based but in the end it was shipped from the US.

So I assume I will need to purchase a new power supply? Can this be a generic one with the correct power or do I need to get one specifically for the Eddie robot?
which w which I

namus

Hi,
the original battery charger from parallax is not really suitable for the eddie batteries.
I think you have the same problem i had: When the batteries run under a special level (i think it was under 10V, but I don't know it exactly), then the battery charger won't work anymore.
I found a workaround for this problem: You need to switch the charger at a battery that has at least 12V left, then the charger will work again. OK, most people doesn't have several full batteries at home
The second problem of the charger is, it gets really hot. That is propably because the battery charger is per manual only suitable from 7-12 AH. And the two batteries from the eddie has both 14 Ah together, but this is only an assumption.
The best thing is to buy a new charger that fits the needs.
And another thing is the number of cycles in your special case : If you let the batteries often go low under 12V then the cycles and the lifetime from the batteries will dramatically go down. It's a physical battery law ;-)
So my tip when you fixed the problem, always charge the batteries after every use of the robot. I know this is not very funny with the orginal charger, cause it takes a long time. But with a better charger it is no problem.
Ah, the new battery charger can be a generic one, yes, with the right specifications (My model is ac0212a)
Hope I could help

Matt Gilliland

Hi andyc75-
Yes, namus is right. The charger is for US only 11-120vac - sorry 'bout that. You'll have to get another charger that works on 12vSLA batteries over there. If you don't have an extra jack, then you could cut the one off the end of the Eddie charger and connect it to the leads of your new charger. The center pin is "positive".

Let us know how it goes :-)
-MattG

andyc75

Thanks for the information Matt and Namus. And it's no problem - if I need a new one I need a new one!

Could you confirm if this one would be suitable ->

Product Information
IDEAL POWER - AC0212A - CHARGER, 12V 2A, LEAD ACID IDEAL POWERAC0212A
Manufacturer Part No: AC0212A
CHARGER, 12V 2A, LEAD ACID
Battery Charger Type: Desktop
Battery Technologies Supported: Lead Acid
Supply Voltage: 240V
Accessory Type: Battery Charger
For Use With: 12V Lead Acid Batteries
Plug Type: UK
SVHC: No SVHC (18-Jun-2012)
Approval Bodies: CE
External Depth: 120mm
External Length / Height: 38mm
External Width: 62mm
No. of Outputs: 1
Output Current: 2A
Output Voltage: 12V
Power Rating: 24W
Power Supply Type: Desktop
Weight: 0.5kg

http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=1666329&CMP=KNC-GUK-FUK-GEN-SKU-ROBOTICS&mckv=sBG9Soh5K|pcrid|13359509589|kword|ac0212a|match|p|plid|

Not sure what connector it has but as you suggested Matt I could use the jack off the existing charger.

Am I heading in the right direction with this one?

namus

Hi,
yes this one seems to be OK. You then have to only rebuild the one end of the cable that fits into the eddie platform. The best thing is if you are familiar with soldering and shrink tube, then you will get a working solution, that won't brake down for the future

andyc75

Hi Namus and Matt - just a quick one to say thanks for the advice. I purchased the charger and soldered the jack onto the new charger and that did the trick. The batteries charged up perfectly and the robot it back in action. Great job guys - thanks for your help .

Matt Gilliland

Excellent andyc75! Keep us posted on your development progess :thumb: and thanks namus for jumping in too
-MattG

Code Chief

Hi I just wanted to say I had the same problem but found a way out... As a side note, my official charger is a 3A model CP1230 not 2A. Anyway, I happened to have a similar power supply (not charger) for an external hard drive which also had the correct 5.5mm/2.5mm connector, so I just plugged that in for 5 minutes to see what happened. And it worked; afterwards the Eddie charger worked as normal (red light on connection, going green after a full/overnight charge). I've re-charged it again since with just the Eddie charger, so it doesn't appear to have done any damage to the batteries. It's good to know there's a quick fix when you get stuck with a robot you can't charge. I've checked the shops for a proper replacement (e.g. search Amazon for "12v desktop lead acid charger 5.5 2.5") and they're not too expensive (15-30 euro) so I'll get a proper one anyway. I guess it may be dangerous to leave the wrong power supply (rather than a charger) connected. I found the replacements are available with the correct connector (no modification required) and up to 5A claiming they have no issues charging batteries with lesser amperage. I'll probably get a 4 or 5 amps charger then to make sure the robot has no "battery dead zone". Thanks for the tips here, I was worried that the charging circuit of the mainboard was broken.