Charging VISAR battery with SABER charger - is it OK?

[g8tzl2004]

I have recently acquired a VISAR handheld but don't yet have a charger.

Will it be OK to "pad out" a SABER fast charger pocket so that the VISAR battery fits? The VISAR battery pins seem to correspond to the SABER charger contacts. However, I don't actually have a SABER radio/battery to check polarity , sense pins etc.

I presume SABER batteries are 7.5V? ie same as VISAR batteries.

Thanks

[Grog]

The batteries are 7.5v, that's about all I can add except visar chargers are cheap enough on egay most of the time. I have no comment on if it would work, but I have wondered the same about a jedi battery in the old saber rapid charger.

[VE9MP]

Contacts are the same... it does indeed work....

[g8tzl2004]

Thanks for the info.

One other question - my Visar battery is NiMH not NiCad - will ALL Saber chargers do NiMH batteries? I'm guessing that original Saber batteries were NiCad but most of the "after market" Visar batteries now seem to be NiMH - but I've seen no mention of not to use original "NiCad" Saber chargers.

I had previously checked out Visar chargers on fleabay - most sellers will not post to the UK The one that did asked for $39 postage - 4 times cost of charger!!

I originally thought about using my Jedi charger (GP900/HT??). I think the Visar is basically a Jedi in a smaller case - BUT the battery "indents" are reversed - so you cannot "pad" a Visar battery into a Jedi charger without filing away the battery indent slots on the charger.

[g8tzl2004]

The Visar battery is now charging in the Saber charger!!! I'm timing the charge just in case there is a problem with the "end of charge" sense.

I placed the top of an old 35mm film plastic cannister in the bottom of the charger pod so as to raise the height of the Visar battery and used two AAA batteries to wedge the Visar battery against the Saber charger pins!!

I'm now also looking for a "right angled" power lead for the Saber charger!!! I don't think I've ever seen one although I've probably not been looking!! Its probably easier to stand the Saber on a cardboard box and cut some holes for a "standard" power lead. Maybe I could cut out a "V" shape in the end of a standard power lead so that its possible to bend the cable to fit?

[Grog]

Easy enough to make a little stand for the charger and use a straight cable as you likely won't have to buy one. It's a little redneck, but so is charging a visar battery in a saber charger

Oh, didn't realize you were across the pond, would make a big difference.

<filing away in case I pick up a visar>

[g8tzl2004]

After exactly 2 hours the "red" charge light went out and the flashing "orange" (I think) light came on ie. light in bottom right hand corner - its got a line through the battery picture.

After the 2 hour charge, the battery measured 8.36v with no load.The starting voltage was around 4.6v (ie very flat). I placed a wireless temperature probe next to the battery during charging and it showed a gradual increase in temperature over the 2 hours. The battery was definately not hot after the 2 hours.

What does the flashing orange light (bottom right) on a Saber charger indicate?

I presume the Saber charger should indicate green (top left hand?) when the charge cycle has completed?

Maybe the Saber charger automatically stops charging after 2 hours? - even though the Visar battery might not have been fully charged? Maybe the Visar battery is duff (or needs to be cycled)? Maybe the Saber "fast" charge process never started and the Visar battery just received a trickle charge which stops after 2 hours??

[Grog]

The orange light means a battery fault, or something like that. Only had it once so I might not be 100% sure on the wording. I'll double check and be back in a few.....


Edit, yeah, the green light comes on when the battery is complete.

[Grog]

My search-fu is weak tonight, can't find for sure what that light is but I think is a battery fault light. Might be it sensed the temp of the battery and didn't like what it saw? Hell, I don't know

[g8tzl2004]

The only info I could find on the Saber charger was that it charges a "Nicad" battery in 2 hours.

This corresponds to the 2 hours that the Visar battery was charging (red light) until the flashing orange light came on. If the battery was duff you would think that the orange light would start flashing before 2 hours??

I will do a new posting with a "saber charger light" question.

[Terry_Glover]

The only info I could find on the Saber charger was that it charges a "Nicad" battery in 2 hours.

And that's probably all it's going to charge, a NiCD. Your Visar NiMh battery belongs in an appropriately designed charger.

This corresponds to the 2 hours that the Visar battery was charging (red light) until the flashing orange light came on. If the battery was duff you would think that the orange light would start flashing before 2 hours??

I have a JEDI IntellIcharge II rapid charger with red/green/yellow LED. I only put batteries in it that it was intended for. When all goes as intended, the red LED initally comes on, and when the battery has reached sufficent charge it turns green and the battery is ready for use.

If the yellow LED lights, proper charging can not occur. Yellow LED can mean a variety of things, like the battery is no good (same as duff???), the charger doesn't support the batterys chemistry, improper polarity detected, incorrect contact configuration and etc...