Charger no longer functioning after hatch

[4mygirl]

Hi everyone! We bought a Pleo for our young daughter (& ourselves :) ) and charged the battery for the baby dinosaur's hatching.
She hatched and remained awake and very responsive for about 35 minutes before going to sleep.
Our little girl Olivia was thrilled and very gentle with her!
When we removed the battery and placed it back on the charger it did not light up at all.
We are in Australia and using the Pleo adapter through a very good quality step down transformer (240v Aus to 110v US) that we have had no problems with and is still working fine, and worked perfectly well for the initial charge.
Hope you can help as Olivia is waiting patiently for her Pleo to wake up :o

[pleoguy101]

hmmm... whenthe battery is fully in the charger you will hear a "click " sound.. and heres a troubleshooting video about the battery on youtube:D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr707SYr9zs hope this helps:o:)!!!!

[4mygirl]

Thanks for the reply pleoguy101 :)
The battery is well seated in the charger - locking it in from front to back.
I watched the video prior to initially charging Pleo and tested it with my multi-meter after it failed to light up or charge the second time and there is no curcuit between the positive and negative terminals on the charger when plugged in :confused:
I can only suppose that a component has failed in the charger :(

[PleoWorldHostCami]

Thanks for the reply pleoguy101 :)
The battery is well seated in the charger - locking it in from front to back.
I watched the video prior to initially charging Pleo and tested it with my multi-meter after it failed to light up or charge the second time and there is no curcuit between the positive and negative terminals on the charger when plugged in :confused:
I can only suppose that a component has failed in the charger :(

Hi 4mygirl,

Sorry you are having problems. Please contact <a target="_new" href="http://pleoworld.com/support"><b>Customer Support</b></a>. They should be able to help you figure out what the problem is. :)

[PleoOz]

Hi, was there a solution to this? Because our Pleo has the exact same problem, no light on the charger. I sent a message to customer service but I was hoping if there's a solution this might be a faster way to it :) I would happily buy a replacement transformer / charger unit made for Australia if they're available, I just want Pleo to work :(

[4mygirl]

Pleo's warranty isn't covered outside of the US if bought through eBay it seems, though you may be able to reach an agreement with customer service like I was. I found the online chat method the best way to communicate.
I doubt they will have Oz compatible chargers as of yet though and you definately need a step-down transformer if you haven't tried that yet. Dick Smith's have them.
Our daughter was so eager to play with Pleo though that I decided to fix the charger myself. I found that in our case it was indeed faulty- the red wire had come away from it's terminal and short-curcuited the board. I bought a nimh compatable charger from a hobby store and wired it into the charger base without the board. The charger I bought has a red and green light built in indicating full charge but I monitor it anyway, never leaving it on charge for more than 4 hours. Any radio control specialist at a hobby store should be able to help you find the right one for the battery pack.
Pleo has been running fine since, often for several hours at a time! :)
Apparently Pleo's will be available 2nd quarter in Australia and hopefully spare batteries and chargers will be too!
Pleo's really are a lot of fun, I hope you get yours up and running soon! :D

[PleoOz]

Wow, thanks heaps! I'll be sure to try your method :)

Can I ask exactly what charger and transformer you bought for your Pleo? Just so we get the right one.

[4mygirl]

Hi PleoOz,
We bought an Ansmann ACT6T from Stanbridges Hobby store in Perth. It is a 240v~50Hz 12.8watt 600mA unit for 6 cell NiCd/NiMH battery packs. It has a red light for charge and a green light for when charged. It plugs straight into the wall (no transformer) and I have wired the positive and negative leads directly to the terminals inside my Pleo charger cradle after taking the curcuit board out. The third terminal is for a thermistor which is protection against overheating. The green light on the charger indicates trickle charge at which point it is best switched off to avoid overheating of the battery, hence monitoring it and never leaving it charging for more than three or four hours is advisable.
We have had no issues since and have charged our daughter's Pleo 'Teardrop' twice a day for a month now and she is running great :D

[bnhasnai]

I purchased my Pleo yesterday, and was very exited to use it! I unpacked the box, RTFM and started charging the battery. Unfortunately the cradle only lit up for the first couple of minutes, and then suddenly turned off! I tried to put the battery back properly and tried everything, but unfortunately the charger/cradle wouldn't light up or charge.

I went back this morning to the store and they found out the charger was faulty! The Pleo distributor was kind enough to replace it :D Thanks for that!

Now, with me charging the battery up again, I think I can somehow relate to the fact as raised by '4mygirl' that the charger might be shortcircuited... I've opened up the cradle, and it really didn't look properly build!! Some wires were easy loose, and I simply put proper tape around it and I guess that this might have caused the charger to fail at the beginning...

Ugobe: I suggest someone takes QA seriously for the cradles....