Mayday: Fix my Fixlight

[slingshot]

Greetings from Kona fellow Scubaboarders:

Having some nice dives this week, most recently today with DiveTek. I'll post more about this upon my return. However, I'm having a tough time with my Fisheye HG20DX fixlights. I know there has been a history of charger/battery/bulb issues posted on this and other forums such as wetpixel. I have two lights on this trip, and after one use the batteries no longer seem to charge. The red LED blinks twice in succession and then pauses when no battery is in the charger, and glows red steadily when the battery is in place. I've tried to make sure the contacts are not out of position, to no avail. If I leave the battery like this overnight, I find all five LEDs glowing green, but when I put the battery in the light it indicates the battery is not charged. Happens to both of my batteries, tried in both of my lights.

I'll contact Ryan when I get back (I bought the lights in August 2006, he's been helpful in the past and I'm sure he'll help put things right) but in the meantime does anyone have any ideas as to what I can try while on the road? I have the manual with me, but not the warranty info, am I still covered?

Thanks,
Slingshot

 

[BrantD]

When You run the batteries all the way down, it can take up to 7 hours for the charger to start the charge cycle. It it reading the condition of the battery. When it starts charging, it usually only takes about an hour or so. IF you don't run the batteries all the way down, the charger will read the condition, and start charging with in a few min. Trick is......don't run the batteries all the way dead, when the light starts getting weak, turn off the light.
When you leave it in the charger all night, it reads for a while ( up to 7 hours, and then charges the battery, that is why all LEDs are green the next morning, the battery is charged.....usually. I do, at times only end up with a partial charge when the battery has been run completely down. When you put the battery in the light and turn it on, the LEDs on the light are accurate, showing how much charge the battery really has. Be careful putting the battery in and turning it on to check the battery charge, as this is when I have blown the bulb in the light.
Hope this makes sense.... and helps.

 

[slingshot]

Thanks BrantD, I didn't run the lights dead, but did run them just about to the "fail safe" reserve light level (10 minutes of low light). I have twice tried leaving the batteries overnight, once per battery, and each time got the full row of green LEDs, but when placed in the light itself I get only one of four LEDs lit, and the light remains on the "reserve" level. I'll try once more tonight.

 

[mjh]

Having the same problem, with two batteries and will also try charging for +7hrs.

 

[slingshot]

Still no luck after a 23 hour charge attempt. Does anyone know if its the charger or the batteries that are likely at fault? I guess I'll have to fix this once I return to California. Too bad, saw a great little frogfish yesterday, first of the trip!

 

[Ryan]

The most common reason for what you describe comes from leaving the batteries in a cradle without a power supply attached, causing a cell to reverse polarity. This is a rather recent discovery, and they will be replaced under warranty, just be wary of the issue in the future.

If the green lights don't come on within 10 minutes, they never will. I think the 7+ hr issue Brant described came from a liveaboard with taxed power, and is abnormal.