Topic: Walmart Li-Ion shat the bed...

[Tall Adam]

so at moe. tonight i go to plug in my UA-5 to the wallyworld bat i use. I notice a small spark while plugging it in. When i go to turn on the UA-5 it is dead, won't turn on. I try powering it with someone elses Li-Ion and blam, turns on. Test my battery on his M-100fx, wont turn on. test my cable with his batt, still works. so the moral is...my walmart li-ion shat the bed. it was fully charged. the LED lights died when it did, now it just wont work. Has this happend to anyone else? does anyone know a customer service number for initial (thats the maker i believe) i could call? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[caymanreview]

wal-mart wil take these back. im about to buy an extra just because of this!

i kept everything that came with it originally intact so that taking it back would be less painful....

i havent heard of this happening to anyone, i think everyone else problems were different and it shat after so many cycles

[sickrick43]

So I guess the moral of the story is to keep that old Eco-Charge SLA and cables in the car - JUST IN CASE!!!

The Wally-Lion is probably fused internally, and that's what pop'd - but what could have made it go pop?  Since this batt has it's own cable & adapters, and we're making modified cables, I'd suspect it's not going to be very forgiving of loose connections, shorts, etc.

Sorry to hear of your troubles - this definately is a demonstrative of why we should have a spare on hand...

Rick

[caymanreview]

definantly have a spare on hand!

one thing that would totally screw me would be my V3 batt shitting at a show (cause my power cable is rigged to only accept the  adaptaplug setup for the wally l-ion pack)

i guess i need to buy another before my next show like ive been planning too!

[Tall Adam]

problem is theres no walmarts in new york. so i dont know if ill even be able to get to one to replace it anytime soon :-/ maybe i should invest in an RC battery or something as a back up

[caymanreview]

problem is theres no walmarts in new york

seriously? i saw the same thing in sears today... maybe check that out, buy a new one and take the old one back in that package??

[Tall Adam]

well if im gonna do that i should probably get it at circuit city where its most expensive so i can at least make a profit 
but yes, seriously there is no walmart in new york city. closest one is in jersey. city property is wayyy to expensive for them plus, city people arent their clientel really.

[caymanreview]

it was just an idea gotta dop what ya gotta do to get that tape

[sickrick43]

definantly have a spare on hand!

one thing that would totally screw me would be my V3 batt shitting at a show (cause my power cable is rigged to only accept the  adaptaplug setup for the wally l-ion pack)

i guess i need to buy another before my next show like ive been planning too!

I hacked the DVD end off the wally-cable and put a 4 pin XLR-F on mine, pin'd to match the Eco-Charge cable I got with my EC-90's, so it'll work either way (yeah, found a local electronics place that stocked the XLR-F's).

Again, from your inital description, it sounds like you have a questionable cable.  In the future (after checking your cables of course), I'd plug up everything and plug the cable into the battery LAST - with all the gear power OFF.  Then power the gear up...

Rick

[Tall Adam]

nah cable works fine. my error does lie in the power off, the ua-5 was on and i pluged into the battery first, and then the ua-5 when i saw the spark. i know thats what did it. i didnt realize it was on. wasnt thinking. oh well, we all do dumb shit. good thing it was the $50 bat that blew and not the $200 ua-5

[F.O.Bean]

yep, bet that surged it for sure

[Tall Adam]

oh well, goin to circuit city/best buy right now to look for a new one.

[F.O.Bean]

hey, live and learn right?

[Tall Adam]

well...after learning that no one sells this anymore other than walmart and getting frustrated, i came home and plugged it into the charger. miraculously the LEDs lit up again, showing full charge. so i plug it into the UA-5 (properly) and power up...battery works again! very weird. i guess its fine for now, but i will certainly be investing in a back up...and never having the UA-5 on when i plug it in 

which radio shack RC batts work as back up for a UA-5? 9.6v?

[Crumbo]

FYI....you can get it online:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=2350787

 

[Tall Adam]

and as i discovered, theres a bunch of them on ebay for cheap...i never planned to spend 50, im gonna get a cheapo on ebay as a back up (and only one that is NIB or warranteed, no ITEMS COMES AS IS crap...)

[sickrick43]

I've heard of these coming "back to life" again, after appearing to be dead.  Perhaps they have a protection circuit that resets when you plug the charger into them.  I haven't had an OOW dead one to split open yet.

BTW - I wasn't accusing you of having "shitty cables", just running down the possibilities...

Rick

[Tall Adam]

oh no, i wasnt insulted. anyone whos seen my rig in person its a behemoth which is half duct tape. i have no problem admitting that things i own are shitty. but as long as it sounds good, im happy.