Instructions for the Mascot 2415 smart Nickel Metal Hydride
(NiMH) battery charger (3 Amps or about 50 Watts peak)
- To charge the 15 Amp/hour 13.2 Volt Impact Televideo battery
belt (model NiMH1315), just plug the 4-pin XLR end of the charger
into one of the XLR connectors on the battery & the VAC power
cord into power mains, the rest is automated.
- With Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries, there is no need
to charge the battery immediately after use, as long as it hasn't
been totally drained. Charging the battery no less than
12 - 24 hours before the next use, will ensure that it has maximum
capacity. After charging it is recommended to allow the
battery (model NiMH1315) to cool to room temperature
for several hours before using on heavy Amperage uses.
- This "switch mode" charger will automatically work
from power mains from anywhere in the world that are 90-264 VAC
& 50-60 Hz. Just use the applicable power cable or adaptor
plug (no transformer or switch required).
- This is an intelligent (smart) charger with 3 automatic power
level stages of charging, so it will cut off the "fast"
(main or bulk) charge (20% rate or 3000 mA), when it sees that
the battery is almost full & switch to the "top-off"
charge (2.8% rate or 420 mA) for about 30 - 60 minutes, then switch
to "trickle" charge (0.66% rate or 100 mA) indefinitely.
- There is no harm in leaving the charger plugged into the battery
for several days, as the trickle charge isn't enough to damage
the battery (model NiMH1315).
- There is no harm in leaving the charger plugged into the battery,
but not into the power mains for several days, as the current
leakage from the battery back into the charger is less than 1
mA, so it wouldn't seriously start to drain the battery unless
it was left in this condition for over a month.
- This intelligent (smart) charger uses two different methods
to sense when the battery is almost full. It senses the -dV (negative
delta Voltage drop when charged) & through a NTC-thermistor
(temperature sensing device in the battery) it also senses the
dT°C/dt (Temperature rise time per minute) as the battery
nears it's full state & starts to heat up. Whichever one happens
first, triggers the charger into switching to the "top-off"
charge stage. Having two methods of determining almost full state,
ensures you don't need to worry about overcharging this battery,
even if you should disconnect & reconnect it part way through
the charge cycle.
- On a totally empty 15 Amp/hour battery, this Mascot 2415 charger
will take up to 5:20 hours to deliver the "fast" (main
or bulk) charge. If the -dV or dT°C/dt circuits haven't switched
off the "fast" charge by about 5:35 hours, there is
a safety timer built in that automatically switches to trickle
charge (bypassing the "top-off" stage).
- The charger has a 3 colored LED (yellow,
orange & green)
that flashes 6 different conditions (see printing on charger)
which indicate what the charger is doing. When you first plug
the charger into the battery, the LED will come on
orange for several seconds (while it gives a short charge
to the battery), then it will switch to
yellow for several seconds (while it does initialization
analyses of the battery condition, how many cells it has &
whether it is within the proper temperature range for charging),
then if everything is ok the LED will switch to orange
again for the "fast" (main or bulk) charge & stay
there until the battery is almost full (up to 5:20 hours) (exception
is the green LED
will come on for a few seconds at the 3 minute mark when -dV becomes
enabled). When either -dV or dT°C/dt is detected to indicate
the battery is almost full, the LED switches to green
with short flashes
of yellow for up to an hour (top-off charge). Once the
top-off charge is complete, the LED will switch to
solid green (trickle charge), indicating the battery is
as full as it can be & ready for use.
- The thermistor in the battery, will not allow the charger
to charge if the battery is not within the charging temperature
range of 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F).
If after the analysis phase the LED goes
green with short
flashes of orange, the battery is outside the charging
temperature range & will automatically go into charge mode
when it cools or heats as required. Leave the charger connected
to the battery at room temperature as it will trickle charger
the battery & warm it if too cold.
- If after the analysis phase the LED alternately
flashes equally between orange
& green, this indicates some kind of error with the
battery, or that the battery temperature is excessively high (>60°C,
or >140°F), or that the battery isn't equipped with a thermistor.
To reset, unplug the power mains cord & cool the battery for
several hours if hot. After cooling, plug power main back in to
start charging.
- It is ideal for longer battery life to start the charge
when the internal battery has cooled to room temperature (about
25°C or 77°F or less). If you start the charge
just after the battery received extended heavy duty use (which
heats up the battery), or where the battery has been in a very
warm environment just under 40°C (104°F), the charger
will start to charge, but as it heats up the battery during charging,
if the battery reaches the 60°C (140°F) temperature, the
thermistor will trip the charger into error mode as a safety precaution
to prevent overheating the battery. The charger LED will indicate
error by flashing equally
between orange
& green & it will not quite completely charge the
battery (skips top-off & trickle charge stages). In such error
LED situation, unplug the charger for several hours & let
the battery cool down to room temperature, then plug the charger
back in so it may finish charging the battery. You will not be
able to overheat the battery during charging (because it has both
thermistor & thermostat protection), but if charging doesn't
start about room temperature, you may not be able to fully charge
the battery either. For the technically inclined, if you want
to verify that the internal temperature of the Impact brand battery
is at room temperature or less (about 25°C or 77°F or
less), measure the resistance across the battery XLR pins 1 &
2 with an ohm meter (should be 10,000 ohms or higher) without
the charger plugged into the battery.
- When resetting the charge cycle, or when switching the charger
to another battery, allow the charger 15 seconds without power
(by unplugging power mains from the charger) so that the microprocessor
can reset itself.
- While it is not the ideal, you may actually plug the Mascot
2415 charger into the 15 Amp/hour 13.2 Volt battery (model NiMH1315)
while you are using the battery concurrently to feed power to
video equipment, as long as the power draw of the equipment is
25 Watts or more. This allows you to keep the battery topped up
until such time as you are not able to plug the charger into mains
power (thereby extending battery time). The charger is programmed
to ignore quick drops in Voltage that would result from the surge
of a piece of equipment powering up & only sees slow drops
in Voltage (like the -dV) to signal that the battery is full.
- Pins 1 (negative) & pin 4 (positive) are video industry
power standard. Normally pins 2 & 3 are not used, however
this Mascot charger uses pin 2 & pin 1 for temperature sensing
of the thermistor built in the battery. If the battery has no
thermistor built in, the charger will ignore this feature as long
as pin 2 is unused on the battery.
- This charger is programmable for different charging parameters
by Impact Televideo, to customize it to the battery being charged.
- While this Mascot 2415 charger is completely sealed, it is designed
for indoor use & should not be exposed to water (a waterproof
version is available). The charger is double insulated & it
meets stringent CE hospital environment & electrical requirements
EN60601-1.
For more information call (519) 657-4505 or e-mail Doug Hembruff.
Last updated August 28/2006
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