Has anyone tried to use an other (than 8887) 10VDC charger for the 8878 rechargable battery? Results?

If your referring to the PF rechargable battery then I have used a universal 9v charger and seems to work fine

More specific, what does the 8887 charger actually contain? Is it a regular 230VAC -> 10VDC adaptor or does it contain any "intelligence" for charging?

If it has any intelligence, it is hidden.

Nothing special.

If it has any intelligence, it is hidden.

Nothing special.

The only intelligence is the 700mA rating at 10VDC.

I would recommend not using a device with more current capability than that.

Mark

I digged out this old thread, as I seem to have a problem charging the 8878 Box.

I just got it last week, and search function brought me here when I was looking for a charger other than the 10V Lego one.

From what I understood in a post in the train tech forumt, the 12V 500mA powersupply that came with my eneloop charger should do the job.

It charges for over 8 hours now, and is still blinking. The Box itself came from bricklink, but it was bought as new and came sealed, so it should not be broken.

Anyone else had trouble with the initial charge? or with a 12V charger? what should the normal time be with 12V and 500mA?

thanks in advance...

Any DC power supply with at least 700mA and in 9.5V to 11V range should be OK. Charging "intelligence" is in the battery itself. But there is no charging below 9.5V (voltage too low), and going too high might be unsafe for some components in the battery - though 12V is most probably OK. At least, charging circuit in the battery (a TI BQ24123) is 16V rated.

8 hours charging time is definitely too long, as this battery charges in about 2 hours:

Note that this curve was done at nominal 10V, current is proportionaly lower at 12V - but the 500mA rating of your supply might nonetheless be the cause of your problem at the end of the charge.

Some more details here.

I found a similar chart at the train tech forum, so I guessed 500mA at 12V would be ok. But it seems it is to low than, probably not charging at all.

Thanks.

I still refuse to pay 25€ for the 10V Lego charger, when an adjustable at local whatever-electronics store costs only 11€, beside that the shipping date on shop.lego.com is currently end of november.

I just checked the homepage of the local store, they have only 600mA and 1000mA. Wouldnt 1000mA at 12V be to much?

As I said, 12V might be too much (but I don't think so). To be on the safe side, you might just add two silicon diodes (1N4001..7) in series, they will drop around 1.5V off the 12V suppply. There is no problem using a higher current rating, a supply only provides what it is asked for!

Edited October 14, 201311 yr by Philo

ah you are right, my physics class was quite some years ago.

then the the to low amp is the problem, thanks again... I will go for the 1A version then

I found an interesting article in the train tech forum as well, where some more testing was done with the 8878 link here. (it's even possible to use it as uninterruptable power supply in trains that go over powered tracks)

so the final conclusion after phils answer and the infos in the train tech forum:

9V-12V is totally ok to charge, if the power supply provides 700mA or more.

any charger with 10v and 700ma. but the charger should have the same interface of the original lego charger.

i bought a MIC 3rd party charger and it worked fine.

I have found a 10v 700mA charger on ebay:

http://m.ebay.ie/itm/201551910005?_mwBanner=1

My only concern is, if it will have the right diameter (i am the biggest noob at electronics as i am attending 7th grade).

This is a very old post and i hope to see an answer, so i wouldn't spend my money and time.

Edited March 1, 20178 yr by RoosterTheBuilder

Any charger with 10V should work.  If the plug is wrong, you can always put on a new one from Radio Shack.