My GKL 211 Battery Charger is not acting normally with the GEB 211 Battery. Both are for the Leica TCRP 1203. Yesterday the gun shut off without the normal BATTERY LOW warning. When this battery is put on the charger the middle light shines a solid red instead of a blinking green. Blinking green has always been the previous condition which has always worked.
Are there any Leica users out there who are familiar with this scenario? Is my Battery toast?
Stephen Zitkovich
No..I don't think so
"..Is my Battery toast?"
I had seen that once. Relatively new batteries and charger, so something didn't jibe.
Unplugged the charger for one night and let it cool down. It worked fine after that.
You could try a different charger, as a check.
ZLS,
This could be something that might be corrected. In the GEB211 (now the GEB212) and the GEB221 (now the GEB222) there is a small circuit board inside that helps to monitor battery temperature and capacity. I have seen many times that this circuit board inside the battery gets "confused" for the lack of a better word. When the battery needs to be recycled you may see things like you know the battery is fully charged but when placed in the instrument it shows no charge or once in the basic charger you may see this red light indicating that the battery is dead. The battery will probably act normally after being recycled. These are Li-Ion batteries and do not build a memory like older batteries... The recycle will just "rest" the circuit board in the battery.
You have the GKL211 basic charger which charges the battery and also monitors the temperature of the battery. The GKL211 charger will not recycle the battery. If you have access to a GKL221 Pro Charge for these batteries you can see if this will solve your issue. To recycle the battery in the GKL221 Pro Charger place the battery in an available slot and wait for the charger to recognize the battery. There is only only button on the charger which looks like an box and a triangle to the right. Push the buttoon until the charging light by your battery blinks. Then hold down the button until it flashes red and then let go. The charger will drain the battery rapidly and then do a quick charge on the battery. This will reset the curcuit board. If the battery shows steady red on a the GKL221 charger or your charger after this ... the battery is bad.
Thanks Mark,
I suspected something of this sort.
The Leica manual indicates that a red light means that the battery is defective. This failure is unexpected and unexplained. I guess that I will just have to buy the more expensive charger.
Stephen