California Surveyors Forums

I've been having some trouble with these lately. When the gun is on, the power meter has fluctuated significantly, even when it's not performing a measurement. They also seem to drain fast. I know they don't perform well in colder weather, but this has been happening in mild temperatures also. I'm wondering if the contacts on the battery and/or gun are the problem. Can you put rubbing alcohol on these to clean them? These batteries are only two months old. Does anyone have an idea what the problem could be? Thanks.

Mike,

A couple quick suggestions: (1) clean the contacts on the battery and in the gun with a pencil eraser (mild abrasive); (2) deep cycle the batteries, assuming your charger has that capability.

The batteries are almost new - did you fully charge them before use? If not, they probably need deep cycling. Most other options require a trip to the reapir shop!

Stan

Hi Stan. I've tried the pencil eraser thing. I'll try it again and see. I'm not sure what you mean by "deep cycling" though?

I did fully charge them when I got them.

Some chargers have the capability to fully DISCHARGE the battery before charging it. This was very important with NiCad batteries, not so with Li-ion. It does not hurt the batery and usually helps.

It is hard to fully discharge the battery in the instrument, but give it a try. Then fuly charge - then discharge - then charge again. It might help.

It could also be a bad charger - only gives a partial charge - happens more than you think. It could be a bad component or board in the instrument - big bucks to fix.

Stan

If the charger was bad and was not giving a full charge, then the meter on the gun shouldn't show a 90-100% charge?? The meter shows a full charge on my gun.