Seriously considering buying a reviver

[serrow]

There seems so many that have opinions on it, but who has actually purchased or had one used on a dead lithium?

[jgbackes]

I do not personally own one but Segway of Oakland had used the one they own to revive a "forgot to charge" set of batteries for me. Worked like a charm.

[serrow]

I bought one, but it looks like my batteries were probably too dead. I had them off for two years, but I was encouraged by the seller to go for it and try. I figured worth a shot. I'll try looking for a couple other batteries or help some folks here in Hawaii since it's so hard to ship here. Otherwise, this baby is going up for sale for a good price. If anyone is interested, just let me know. I did my due diligence and this should work for batteries that are not damaged, not worn out and those that may not have been sitting off charge for too long.

[HugoBoss]

Originally Posted by serrow

I bought one, but it looks like my batteries were probably too dead. I had them off for two years, but I was encouraged by the seller to go for it and try. I figured worth a shot. I'll try looking for a couple other batteries or help some folks here in Hawaii since it's so hard to ship here. Otherwise, this baby is going up for sale for a good price. If anyone is interested, just let me know. I did my due diligence and this should work for batteries that are not damaged, not worn out and those that may not have been sitting off charge for too long.

I am advised that I have a problem with my batteries in that they have built up too much resistance and when the segway is looking for power the batteries shout "Nay Captain... the dilithium crystals are dying " and I get a latched fault and the whole thing has to be reset at segay Inc. . So being from a small green island and cant ship lithium Ion batteries I have bought ( on ebay ) two "dead" batteries in the hope that they are not really dead . My question (before I make "Serrow" an offer for his reviver ) is should I attach the "Dead" batteries to the segway and see if they will charge or is there another way of testing them ?

[dgbint]

Hi

I suggest that you download a product datasheet from www.dgbint.com and see if the nature of your fault matches the nature of fault that this equipment is designed to fix.

If your machine is latching, it 'sounds' like you have a different ( non battery ) issue.

Cheers
Michael

[GLIDE4FUN]

I think this is a basice Analyzer / Trickle Charger that has been customized from an off the shelf instrument company. Probably the base unit is $40 to $70 and probably worth the Gamble. Be careful of resellers telling you it's a Magic Box developed soley for this purpose and it is worth $200 dollars or more. That just isn't the case. AS P.T. Barnum said "There is a sucker born every minute" I heard of one desperate sole who paid almost $400 for the reviver so watch out !

[KSagal]

Originally Posted by HugoBoss

I am advised that I have a problem with my batteries in that they have built up too much resistance and when the segway is looking for power the batteries shout "Nay Captain... the dilithium crystals are dying " and I get a latched fault and the whole thing has to be reset at segay Inc. . So being from a small green island and cant ship lithium Ion batteries I have bought ( on ebay ) two "dead" batteries in the hope that they are not really dead . My question (before I make "Serrow" an offer for his reviver ) is should I attach the "Dead" batteries to the segway and see if they will charge or is there another way of testing them ?

Whatever else you do, you should consider that the longer you take to do it, the longer the dead batteries are dead, and that translates directly to potential to revive them.

It is kind of like Magic Mike in the movie the Princess Bride. He had a dead hero who he deemed to be not dead, but "Mostly Dead" and he said there was a difference.

The longer a battery is dead, the more the "mostly" part slips away.

I wonder how difficult it would be to take a questionable battery and do a simple voltage test with a multi meter. I suspect that the absence of voltage means dead, and a low but readable voltage (but still below the segway charger's bottom limit) would translate to "mostly dead".

[HugoBoss]

What I meant to say was that I bought two seperate "dead" batteries . The first one has arrived and I am still waiting on the second one. The question is wheter to wait for the second one and replace the two batteries at the same time ( as recommended) and see if the luck of the Irish holds or do I go ahead and try the one I have.

Here is a picture of a voltmeter that was on the ebay site . Will I have any luck ??
segway battery.jpg

[KSagal]

Originally Posted by GLIDE4FUN

I think this is a basice Analyzer / Trickle Charger that has been customized from an off the shelf instrument company. Probably the base unit is $40 to $70 and probably worth the Gamble. Be careful of resellers telling you it's a Magic Box developed soley for this purpose and it is worth $200 dollars or more. That just isn't the case. AS P.T. Barnum said "There is a sucker born every minute" I heard of one desperate sole who paid almost $400 for the reviver so watch out !

The revivers that I have seen and heard of are not as described above, but I cannot speak for all on the market. The ones I have seen and heard about are actually made from components of course, but made specifically for segway batteries, and this particular application.

I suspect that an engineer or technically knowledgeable person who knows how, can make one from the device mentioned above, but if they have that technical knowledge, they should also know of the dangers involved in playing with these very dense batteries. There is a lot of stored power and potential for danger and damage even in batteries that are below the segway charging thresholds, and even without the danger, the damage could be expensive.

Still, the warnings are good advice in general anyway, and buyer should beware of both what they are buying and from whom, but also where their advice in advance of the purchase comes from.

[MTOBATTERY]

Originally Posted by GLIDE4FUN

I think this is a basice Analyzer / Trickle Charger that has been customized from an off the shelf instrument company. Probably the base unit is $40 to $70 and probably worth the Gamble. Be careful of resellers telling you it's a Magic Box developed soley for this purpose and it is worth $200 dollars or more. That just isn't the case. AS P.T. Barnum said "There is a sucker born every minute" I heard of one desperate sole who paid almost $400 for the reviver so watch out !

I would like to buy one of the $40-$70 units if you can stear me in the right direction. I just invested thousands into engineering and software development for our reconditioner and my raw material costs by far exceed the amount you indicated.

As Karl said many things can be done with a lesser product if your well educated, informed, skilled, and careful. The #1 priority of our company is making the process as safe as possible for everyone regardless of technical background (or lack there of).

Not all batteries can or should be reconditioned. The unit must be able to detect shorts and be able to monitor the batteries condition or things can escalate rapidly and produce a very unsafe condition. I was unable to determine a genuinely safe way to do construct a unit for anywhere near such a low price point and refuse to sell a product which is substandard or potentially dangerous. This is why we have a processor in our unit which has a custom software flashed on it which is constantly monitoring and changing the reconditioning process based on currently obtained information. No magic in this box, just a custom made PCB, DC power supply, aluminum enclosure, and custom made plug to allow direct plug into the battery.