replacement parts ripoff

I got a Coleman camping lantern a year ago, and it no longer works on
the rechargable battery. It will with alkaline D cells.
When recharging, the green LED quickly comes on, and voltmeter shows
just over 7 volts. When the charger is unplugged, it rapidly drops to
3.7 volts. This happened with both 240 V and car 12 V chargers.
So I deduce the SLA battery is fuggered.
I have lost the receipt, so looked up cost of a replacement part.
Coleman only sell the battery in a package with both chargers,
costing $39.99
Hence Coleman have lost me as a customer.

Now the user instructions have a page on disposing of the battery.
It tells user to prise the battery pack open with a screwdriver and
disconnect the red and black wires, then take battery to recycling depot.
Like who is going to do that?
I thought perhaps I can get a matching SLA battery from Jaycar.
The thing is ultrasonic welded. I tried 3 different small screwdrivers
and can't open it without major damage.

 

[Sylvia Else]

On 30/10/2014 10:03 PM, bruce56@topmail.co.nz wrote:

I got a Coleman camping lantern a year ago, and it no longer works on
the rechargable battery. It will with alkaline D cells.
When recharging, the green LED quickly comes on, and voltmeter shows
just over 7 volts. When the charger is unplugged, it rapidly drops to
3.7 volts. This happened with both 240 V and car 12 V chargers.
So I deduce the SLA battery is fuggered.
I have lost the receipt,

Do you have other evidence of the purchase, such as an entry on a credit
card statement or EFTPOS transaction? Either of those will do if you are
seeking a repair or replacement. Don't let anyone tell you it's receipt
or nothing.

Sylvia.

 

[Chris Jones]

On 30/10/2014 22:03, bruce56@topmail.co.nz wrote:

I got a Coleman camping lantern a year ago, and it no longer works on
the rechargable battery. It will with alkaline D cells.
When recharging, the green LED quickly comes on, and voltmeter shows
just over 7 volts. When the charger is unplugged, it rapidly drops to
3.7 volts. This happened with both 240 V and car 12 V chargers.
So I deduce the SLA battery is fuggered.
I have lost the receipt, so looked up cost of a replacement part.
Coleman only sell the battery in a package with both chargers,
costing $39.99
Hence Coleman have lost me as a customer.

Now the user instructions have a page on disposing of the battery.
It tells user to prise the battery pack open with a screwdriver and
disconnect the red and black wires, then take battery to recycling depot.
Like who is going to do that?
I thought perhaps I can get a matching SLA battery from Jaycar.
The thing is ultrasonic welded. I tried 3 different small screwdrivers
and can't open it without major damage.

If you give up on the warranty / consumer protection laws, it might be
worth trying Mikeselectricstuff's way of opening things (like
plug-packs) by hitting they with a screwdriver handle. I tried it and it
works very neatly on plugpacks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3YksbvYnKY#t=393

Closing the case securely after the repair is the remaining problem,
which might be solved using adhesives, depending on the type of plastic
involved.
Chris

 

[Bob Milutinovic]

<bruce56@topmail.co.nz> wrote in message
news:38cb36d3-7398-4b66-bebe-b685449d2cbe@googlegroups.com...

I got a Coleman camping lantern a year ago, and it no longer works on
the rechargable battery. It will with alkaline D cells.
When recharging, the green LED quickly comes on, and voltmeter shows
just over 7 volts. When the charger is unplugged, it rapidly drops to
3.7 volts. This happened with both 240 V and car 12 V chargers.
So I deduce the SLA battery is fuggered.
I have lost the receipt, so looked up cost of a replacement part.
Coleman only sell the battery in a package with both chargers,
costing $39.99
Hence Coleman have lost me as a customer.

Now the user instructions have a page on disposing of the battery.
It tells user to prise the battery pack open with a screwdriver and
disconnect the red and black wires, then take battery to recycling depot.
Like who is going to do that?
I thought perhaps I can get a matching SLA battery from Jaycar.
The thing is ultrasonic welded. I tried 3 different small screwdrivers
and can't open it without major damage.

If Coleman are selling a replacement battery, then surely there must be a
way to get at the existing battery (in order to replace it)?

What are the part numbers of the lantern and the battery? You'd be amazed at
how many helpful sources there are in China.

--
Bob Milutinovic
Cognicom

 

[F Murtz]

Chris Jones wrote:

On 30/10/2014 22:03, bruce56@topmail.co.nz wrote:
I got a Coleman camping lantern a year ago, and it no longer works on
the rechargable battery. It will with alkaline D cells.
When recharging, the green LED quickly comes on, and voltmeter shows
just over 7 volts. When the charger is unplugged, it rapidly drops to
3.7 volts. This happened with both 240 V and car 12 V chargers.
So I deduce the SLA battery is fuggered.
I have lost the receipt, so looked up cost of a replacement part.
Coleman only sell the battery in a package with both chargers,
costing $39.99
Hence Coleman have lost me as a customer.

Now the user instructions have a page on disposing of the battery.
It tells user to prise the battery pack open with a screwdriver and
disconnect the red and black wires, then take battery to recycling depot.
Like who is going to do that?
I thought perhaps I can get a matching SLA battery from Jaycar.
The thing is ultrasonic welded. I tried 3 different small screwdrivers
and can't open it without major damage.


If you give up on the warranty / consumer protection laws, it might be
worth trying Mikeselectricstuff's way of opening things (like
plug-packs) by hitting they with a screwdriver handle. I tried it and it
works very neatly on plugpacks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3YksbvYnKY#t=393

Closing the case securely after the repair is the remaining problem,
which might be solved using adhesives, depending on the type of plastic
involved.
Chris

Methylene chloride (dichloromethane)will solvent weld most together
again, just put a couple of drops along crack line.

 

[Peter Howard]

On 30/10/2014 9:03 PM, bruce56@topmail.co.nz wrote:

I got a Coleman camping lantern a year ago, and it no longer works on
the rechargable battery. It will with alkaline D cells.
When recharging, the green LED quickly comes on, and voltmeter shows
just over 7 volts. When the charger is unplugged, it rapidly drops to
3.7 volts. This happened with both 240 V and car 12 V chargers.
So I deduce the SLA battery is fuggered.
I have lost the receipt, so looked up cost of a replacement part.
Coleman only sell the battery in a package with both chargers,
costing $39.99
Hence Coleman have lost me as a customer.

Now the user instructions have a page on disposing of the battery.
It tells user to prise the battery pack open with a screwdriver and
disconnect the red and black wires, then take battery to recycling depot.
Like who is going to do that?
I thought perhaps I can get a matching SLA battery from Jaycar.
The thing is ultrasonic welded. I tried 3 different small screwdrivers
and can't open it without major damage.

I have such a Coleman lantern with the same issue. A red SLA battery
pack with a black base where the LED and charger connector are. I used a
hacksaw to cut a couple of millimeters deep along the join on both sides
of the pack. This provided entry for a broad bladed screwdriver and it
was then easy to crack the joint apart quite cleanly all the way around.
I think it was originally chemically welded with MEK or the like.
There's a flange on the inside of the black part which positively
locates the red part. There's a charge control PCB screwed inside the
black base and the SLA battery is a 6v 2.4Ah cube. It was down to 0.7V
and would not charge again. I looked around for a battery of same
dimensions with no luck. The charge control PCB is all through-hole
components, not an SMD in sight, so if I'd found a new battery and if
the PCB turned out to be faulty it might have been easy to trace out and
repair. However, no replacement SLA battery of same dimensions could be
found. Instead, I stuffed the case with five NiMh 3300mAh sub-c tabbed
cells, plenty of room, and added a second DC connector attached to a
thermistor bundled with the cells. I re-glued the case with silicon RTV.
I recharge the new pack using a NiMh charger design originally published
in Silicon Chip that detects end-of-charge by monitoring temperature rise.
PH

 

[Jasen Betts]

On 2014-10-30, bruce56@topmail.co.nz <bruce56@topmail.co.nz> wrote:

Now the user instructions have a page on disposing of the battery.
It tells user to prise the battery pack open with a screwdriver and
disconnect the red and black wires, then take battery to recycling depot.
Like who is going to do that?
I thought perhaps I can get a matching SLA battery from Jaycar.
The thing is ultrasonic welded. I tried 3 different small screwdrivers
and can't open it without major damage.

Use a bigger screwdriver and whack the seam with it all the way round. then just pull on
the halves, this works great on wall warts and power bricks. it might work for you.

--
umop apisdn