Chauvet wells

[Carl75]

I bought the Chauvet Wells Six about a year and a half ago and they seemed like a great investment for my rental shop. I had a lot of requests from Dj's and Wedding Planners for battery operated up lighting. The problem I am having is they sat for about 4 months and now only two of the lights will take a charge. Now, I have read, understand and followed the directions on how to store them and how to charge them. my question is doea anyone else have these and have you had the same issues? Please understand I am not looking for suggestions on what I should have bought, just if anyone has had any issues with this light. Thank you for your help in advance.

Carl75

 

[MikeJ]

Are you sure that the charger is working right? We have had a lot of issues with the flimsy contacts in the charging bases getting smashed down and not making contact?

Ours have never sat for long, they tend to go out every week. It is a 12v gel cell battery inside of those, they are deep cycle and should be recoverable. If you take off the silver shell, you will find the battery and a couple of wires screwed on to it. I would try remove it so it is not connected to the fixtures circuitry, and use a very small trickle charger, like a battery tender for a boat or motorcycle.

Leave it for 12 hours or so, and see if it has taken a charge, then move it back to the built-in case charger. Hopefully this will work, but it is just my best guess. If not, new batteries may be in your future, I'm sure you can get them from Chauvet, but you might find the same part number on mouser or somewhere, but I have never looked.

Overall, with exception of the charging bases, I have been very pleased with the wells. They are expensive, but Ironically they start saving you money when you have a lot of them. The time saved on running power and data cables to fixtures really starts to add up. Not to mention saving a roll of gaff.

 

[MikeJ]

Harbor freight has a float charger that is $6.00 right now, so I think its worth a try.

 

[JD]

Batteries and lack of use can be a much bigger problem then batteries and overuse. They can go inert. They may require a deep discharge cycle. Also note: Never keep batteries on the charger 24/7. Even though the chargers are designed not to overcharge the battery, there is a dirty little secret- Anything below 20% or above 80% damages the battery! Keep them between 20 and 80% and you'll get 8 to 10 years out of it. keep it between 80 and 100% and you'll get 2 to 3 years out of it. Keep it at 0 to 20% and it can go inert at any time and you may not be able to fully charge it!

This information and new understanding comes for the auto industry pushing batteries to their limit via hybrids and electric cars. It holds true for lead-acid, nickel metalhydride, and Li batteries. That's how they get 8 to 10 years out of batteries, and why the cell phone you have plugged in all the time only gives you 2 to 3 years.

 

[Carl75]

Are you sure that the charger is working right? We have had a lot of issues with the flimsy contacts in the charging bases getting smashed down and not making contact?

Ours have never sat for long, they tend to go out every week. It is a 12v gel cell battery inside of those, they are deep cycle and should be recoverable. If you take off the silver shell, you will find the battery and a couple of wires screwed on to it. I would try remove it so it is not connected to the fixtures circuitry, and use a very small trickle charger, like a battery tender for a boat or motorcycle.

Leave it for 12 hours or so, and see if it has taken a charge, then move it back to the built-in case charger. Hopefully this will work, but it is just my best guess. If not, new batteries may be in your future, I'm sure you can get them from Chauvet, but you might find the same part number on mouser or somewhere, but I have never looked.

Overall, with exception of the charging bases, I have been very pleased with the wells. They are expensive, but Ironically they start saving you money when you have a lot of them. The time saved on running power and data cables to fixtures really starts to add up. Not to mention saving a roll of gaff.

I checked all the contacts and none of the pins are crushed, and there are no foreign objects in the charging input. I may try to remove the battery next depending on what the boss says. Thanks for the Suggestions.

 

[Carl75]

Harbor freight has a float charger that is $6.00 right now, so I think its worth a try.

I have a little charger I use for my airsoft guns, I may try that. I still have some investigating to do first. Thanks for the help

 

[Carl75]

Batteries and lack of use can be a much bigger problem then batteries and overuse. They can go inert. They may require a deep discharge cycle. Also note: Never keep batteries on the charger 24/7. Even though the chargers are designed not to overcharge the battery, there is a dirty little secret- Anything below 20% or above 80% damages the battery! Keep them between 20 and 80% and you'll get 8 to 10 years out of it. keep it between 80 and 100% and you'll get 2 to 3 years out of it. Keep it at 0 to 20% and it can go inert at any time and you may not be able to fully charge it!

This information and new understanding comes for the auto industry pushing batteries to their limit via hybrids and electric cars. It holds true for lead-acid, nickel metalhydride, and Li batteries. That's how they get 8 to 10 years out of batteries, and why the cell phone you have plugged in all the time only gives you 2 to 3 years.

I have never left them for 24 hours. I don't trust that the charger will not blow everything up. Thanks for the Info, Good to know.

 

[StNic54]

So here's something that may get a rebuttle on this forum, but I'll go with it anyway. I've always been told to not allow batteries to rest on concrete. Concrete will kill a battery's life pretty quickly, so I've always seen batteries in shops up on shelving. I would say the same for these units - store them in the case for extended periods with the battery switched off.

 

[llburg]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but do you have any facts on why that could be true? I found this, which seems to debunk your claim - http://www.thebatteryterminal.com/TechTalk_Batteries_on_Concrete.htm

 

[JD]

So here's something that may get a rebuttle on this forum, but I'll go with it anyway. I've always been told to not allow batteries to rest on concrete. Concrete will kill a battery's life pretty quickly, so I've always seen batteries in shops up on shelving. I would say the same for these units - store them in the case for extended periods with the battery switched off.

I have heard that too but I don't believe it. The reasoning that I heard was "calcium breathing." The concept there is that vented batteries somehow manage to "inhale" air that is close to the concrete and may contain some calcium which will neutralize the acid in them. Well, most all batteries these days are sealed. Then there is the "osmosis theory" same basic concept, but here the calcium is somehow making it through the bottom of the battery. In any case, I have never seen a study that shows any of this happens for real, and don't believe it. Still, when I drop a couple of hundred for a battery, I find myself storing it on a piece of wood, just in case!

 

[MikeJ]

The chargers in the cases were revised a couple of times, you might call your chauvet rep and see if there were any changes since your purchase. Sometimes just the IEC coeds that plug into each base come loose. Probably not you'r issue, but worth mentioning for future reference.

They do say to recharge within 3 days of use, so maybe the chargers don't cope well with completely dead batteries. I have had success, using a trickle charger on a car batteries that sat on a garage floor for over a year, so I hope the same will work in your case.