Cordless SCOPE charging current

[Dave]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anybody has a Cordless SCOPE soldering iron charger lying
around. The big orange gun-shaped one. I picked one up at a garage sale
but it has no charger. It just has a couple of standard NICADS inside but I
don't know what rating they are or if they can be fast-charged. It heats up
fine even though it hasn't been charged in who-knows-how-long. I rang up
SCOPE but the guy on the phone didn't know (or he wanted me to buy one a new
one from them instead of telling me!)

Until I hear otherwise I'll charge it at 200mA for 14 hours which is pretty
standard for C and D cells.

Thanks!
Dave

 

[Clifford Heath]

Dave wrote:

Until I hear otherwise I'll charge it at 200mA for 14 hours which is pretty
standard for C and D cells.

Do that first and you'll find out whether the cells are dead,
which is a fair possibility. If you have to replace them, you'll
know what charger to use.

 

[cory]

Just wondering if anybody has a Cordless SCOPE soldering iron charger lying
around. The big orange gun-shaped one. I picked one up at a garage sale
but it has no charger. It just has a couple of standard NICADS inside but I
don't know what rating they are or if they can be fast-charged. It heats up
fine even though it hasn't been charged in who-knows-how-long. I rang up
SCOPE but the guy on the phone didn't know (or he wanted me to buy one a new
one from them instead of telling me!)

Until I hear otherwise I'll charge it at 200mA for 14 hours which is pretty
standard for C and D cells.

I'd be interested to know who you rang. I've lost track of who owns
scope nowadays. My grandfather started the company in about 1950 but
sold it in the seventies.

As far as I remember, they have an internal diode and limiting resistor
and are designed to charge directly off a scope iron transformer (3.3 -
4V AC). I don't remember what the resistor is, but I think it was for a
normal 14hr charge. I think you can fast charge them to about 70%
capacity fairly safely.

There's nothing special about the batteries inside though. Replace em
with nice new high capacity ones if you like. NiCd are best for very
high current discharge, I believe.

hope this helps,
pie

 

[Phil Allison]

"Dave"

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anybody has a Cordless SCOPE soldering iron charger
lying
around. The big orange gun-shaped one.

** On the side of the handle - Scope refer to 3 chargers, a 240 volt
powered one, a 12 volt car adaptor and a 4 volt AC source (ie standard
Scope tranny).

I picked one up at a garage sale
but it has no charger. It just has a couple of standard NICADS inside but
I
don't know what rating they are or if they can be fast-charged.

** The Ni-Cds are 4 amp hour.

Any Ni-Cd can take a 1 hour charge if you SWITCH OFF before they get
hot - ie use a timer switch.

It heats up
fine even though it hasn't been charged in who-knows-how-long.

** Very lucky - I was given an old but never used Scope 60 Cordless and
found the cells inside to be useless.

Until I hear otherwise I'll charge it at 200mA for 14 hours which is
pretty
standard for C and D cells.

** Try that and see how long it takes the cells to get a little warm.

I replaced the cells in mine with Sanyo N4000R "fast charge " cells -
rated for up to 6 amp charging.

Still only gives a 5 to 10 minutes of soldering.

Butane powered soldering irons piss all over it for portable use.




........ Phil

 

[Dave G]

Thanks Phil,

Inside there is no limiting resistor as somebody suggested, but there is a
piece of fuse wire instead, to provide a 'hard limit'! I was going to hook
it straight up to my MiniScope transformer but since it can belt out about
30 amps or so it may not be the best idea without some sort of limiting
resistor. Hooking it up to 12V would obviously be a no-no without dropping
it first. The original owner had blown the fuse wire trying to charge it
directly from his car battery, so I replaced it with a bit of wire, probably
soon to be a current limiting resistor (I'd rather it overhead than blow if
I'm on the road.)

You're right about it being crap for portable work. It's very unwieldly and
completely the wrong shape and weight. Unfortunately the tip has had it on
my old Portasol and I don't use it enough to justify a new $35 tip, but this
cordless SCOPE was good value for $5 plus I can use the tips and accessories
from the MiniScope.

Dave


On 1/5/06 1:13 PM, in article 4blcngF12948gU1@individual.net, "Phil Allison"
<philallison@tpg.com.au> wrote:

Just wondering if anybody has a Cordless SCOPE soldering iron charger
** On the side of the handle - Scope refer to 3 chargers, a 240 volt
powered one, a 12 volt car adaptor and a 4 volt AC source (ie standard
Scope tranny).

Any Ni-Cd can take a 1 hour charge if you SWITCH OFF before they get
hot - ie use a timer switch.

It heats up
fine even though it hasn't been charged in who-knows-how-long.
** Very lucky - I was given an old but never used Scope 60 Cordless and
found the cells inside to be useless.

Until I hear otherwise I'll charge it at 200mA for 14 hours which is
** Try that and see how long it takes the cells to get a little warm.
I replaced the cells in mine with Sanyo N4000R "fast charge " cells -
rated for up to 6 amp charging.
Still only gives a 5 to 10 minutes of soldering.
Butane powered soldering irons piss all over it for portable use.

 

[Dave G]

No idea who I talked to Cory, but he just seemed to be a regular
'salesperson' - asking for the technical support section resulted in a
confused 'uhhmmm...'

I charged it up overnight and it's heating up even better than yesterday, so
the slow charge definitely worked. Not sure if it is worth me cycling the
cells, somebody once suggested completely draining their cordless nicads
every couple of months by dunking the tip in a bucket of water and putting a
clamp on the 'hot' trigger. Sounds like a lot of work! Just so you maybe
get an extra year or two out of some NICADS that cost $6-8 each.

BTW it doesn't seem to have a dropper resistor but has a piece of fuse wire
which can burn out. This was burnt out on mine and I had no idea what to
replace it with so I just used a piece of wire. Again, the guy on the phone
had no idea what value it was, but could sell me a replacement bit!

Dave

On 1/5/06 11:26 AM, in article
1146446800.262151.222280@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com, "cory"
<coryms+google@azazel.eng.monash.edu.au> wrote:

I'd be interested to know who you rang. I've lost track of who owns
scope nowadays. My grandfather started the company in about 1950 but
sold it in the seventies.

As far as I remember, they have an internal diode and limiting resistor
and are designed to charge directly off a scope iron transformer (3.3 -
4V AC). I don't remember what the resistor is, but I think it was for a
normal 14hr charge. I think you can fast charge them to about 70%
capacity fairly safely.

There's nothing special about the batteries inside though. Replace em
with nice new high capacity ones if you like. NiCd are best for very
high current discharge, I believe.

 

[Phil Allison]

"Dave G"

** Arrrrrggghh - DO NOT TOP POST !!!!!

Inside there is no limiting resistor as somebody suggested, but there is a
piece of fuse wire instead, to provide a 'hard limit'!

** No fuse wire inside mine.

I was going to hook
it straight up to my MiniScope transformer but since it can belt out about
30 amps or so it may not be the best idea without some sort of limiting
resistor.

** No need.

The Scope tranny is rated for 3.3 volts AC under load - or about 4.6 volts
peak.

The series diode loses about 1 volt when conducting 10 amp pulses PLUS some
voltage loss in the cables making the voltage peaks on the two cells about
3.1. volts .

Close to ideal.


.......... Phil

 

[Dave G]

On 1/5/06 3:55 PM, in article 4blm5mF128ihiU1@individual.net, "Phil Allison"
<philallison@tpg.com.au> wrote:

The Scope tranny is rated for 3.3 volts AC under load - or about 4.6 volts
peak.

The series diode loses about 1 volt when conducting 10 amp pulses PLUS some
voltage loss in the cables making the voltage peaks on the two cells about
3.1. volts .

Close to ideal.

Nice! I'll just add a couple of screw terminals to the transformer and I
won't need anything else! Couldn't be much easier.

Still can't find a dropper resistor in mine but I'm guessing it was removed
by somebody who replaced it with a bit of fuse wire. Very odd.

Thanks again Phil!
Dave

 

[cory]

Dave G wrote:

Still can't find a dropper resistor in mine but I'm guessing it was removed
by somebody who replaced it with a bit of fuse wire. Very odd.

It might have been resistance wire. If it burnt out, it's likely
someone tried to charge it off 12V directly. The 12V charger from Scope
often had a light bulb in series to limit the current. Perhaps a 12V 5W
globe? I forget.

Phil is right in saying a butane powered iron is heaps better. The
Scope cordless iron is ok for a few odd jobs though.

cheers,
cory

 

[Jasen Betts]

On 2006-05-01, Phil Allison <philallison@tpg.com.au> wrote:

"Dave"
Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anybody has a Cordless SCOPE soldering iron charger
lying
around. The big orange gun-shaped one.

....

** The Ni-Cds are 4 amp hour.

Any Ni-Cd can take a 1 hour charge if you SWITCH OFF before they get
hot - ie use a timer switch.

If you don't know how full they are how do you set the timer?
do you mean use a charger with a heat sensor?


Bye.
Jasen