I have a Ranger “X” series data collector that is on the road with a crew right now, and got a call this morning stating that the battery will not charge. I just put a new battery on this Ranger less than a month ago for this same problem. I think it is the charger but I am concerned it could also be the charging program and/or unit in the Ranger itself.
This is what the crew described it was doing to me:
When the charger is plugged in the green indicator next to the charging port blinks very rapidly about 15 times then goes dark for about 2 seconds and repeats this cycle. The normal pattern is on/off about 1 second each while charging and steady green when charged 90% or more.
After being plugged in for over 4 hours the battery has enough juice to power up the Ranger but it will power down before survey pro loads.
I have tried to find a trouble shooting page on-line to see if this blinking is an error code with no luck. Does anyone recognize this problem or know of a trouble shooting guide available?
Second option does anyone know of an off the rack charger available from one of the big box stores my crew could go buy to try to see if it is the wall charger? I am not amp/ohm savvy enough to trust my decision on buying one off the rack and praying the salesperson was not blowing smoke at me to make a sale.
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions or help with this.
A universal AC adapter is not exactly a high priced item, so I wouldn't worry too much about someone just trying to make a sale. Do you have a multimeter that can check the readings on the AC adapter? If you are pressed for time then it's worth a shot to try a universal AC adapter, but it could just be a bad battery. Are all the battery contacts on the data collector and the battery clean and free of corrosion?
I should also add, if you do have a multimeter then I would check the readings on the battery as well, could help narrow down your problem.
I do not have the service manual with me. In fact, I am not so sure that is in there anyway. I can tell you that you can run to a radio shack, sometimes Walmart and get a Universal AC Charger. Radio Shack will also sell the end to match what you have now. Bring the old charger with you and they will match up the power settings.
The batteries are the Ranger X are problematic. Being that you just changed them though I would also think the charger is the problem. Keep in mind there is a car charger available in case something like this happens again. Just in care. It's worth the 100 bucks.
> After being plugged in for over 4 hours the battery has enough juice to power up the Ranger but it will power down before survey pro loads.
>
Aloha, John:
In addition to good suggestions above, try powering up the Ranger and launch Survey Pro while still connected to the external power. If it powers up and runs then it is not your charger...it could be something else.
Attempting to power the unit with the charger is a good idea. I did a brief web search on the batteries and the charger, and found that they appear to run on 11.7 volts, with the charger outputting 15 volts, so a Radio Shack or Walmart unit might not work. If you isolate the problem to the charger, you can probably cut the wire off it and hook it up to your truck battery and run the unit for days (forever if your guys are sitting in the truck with it running, listening to tunes on the pretense of "Charging the Ranger", lol.)
I did come across one post about a similar (but not identical) weirdness with the Ranger X: A stuck power button was causing very weird operation. If that has a membrane keypad, it might be an idea to give a good tap to all the buttons when powered off, to be sure that might not be contributing to the problem. Doesn't sound like it is, but thought I'd pass it along. Good luck.
Im pretty sure it is a 6-volt charger. You'll blow it up hooking it to a car battery.
cwlawley is right. My ranger X charger says output is 5V---5A.
It's been my experience that Rangers are very sensitive about the charger. We had several versions of Rangers/Recons/Nomads at my old job, and if you accidentally plugged in the wrong charger it would put notice on the screen that said something like, "Wrong Charger, unplug immediately", or some such thing. I checked the specs and they were very similar, but not identical, and the Ranger still didn't like it. I have to wonder if a generic charger would work well, unless the voltage/mah specs are identical. It appears the Ranger can detect a slight difference.
We had the exact same problem with our Rangers/TSC2s. The light should be blinking evenly while charging, not blinking and pausing. After fighting with it for a while it all came down to the charger. Luckily we had multiple chargers so we were able to work around the issue at the time. We never did find a generic charger and ended up ordering a couple new ones from our local Trimble rep.
Here is a charger for TSC2 (Ranger X series) on eBay
Here is a charger for TSC2 (Ranger X series) on eBay
Thanks everyone, it did turn out to be the charger. I used our state society web page to get the numbers of surveyors in the area and hit pay dirt on the second one. They had a spare wall charger they could hook our unit upto. 😀 They took it by on the way to the job site this morning and picked it up at lunch with a full charge. Got the new charge unit ordered, and a case of Sam Adams to deliver Friday afternoon.
I am still going to try to find a trouble shooting guide for the Ranger :pissed: just to have around. If I do find one I will post a link to it.
Here is a charger for TSC2 (Ranger X series) on eBay
:good: :beer: :party:
I just found this manual on-line.?ÿ Sorry to resurrect this ancient thread.?ÿ Just leaving this here for posterity.?ÿ Carry on.