Countdown-Timer for charging your wheel

[^tom^]

To protect my batteries from overcharging I bought a Countdown-Timer who cuts off the power after the time I set.

So I do not have to remember to unplug the charger and will not overload my battery.

 

[Gimlet]

It seems like a great idea but the only thing that might put me off is that some rechargeable items I've had in the past have gone flat by being left connected to a charger that was turned off.

It seems some items don't have a protection circuit on them to prevent them from energising the low voltage dc coil in the transformer and that will drain the charge  back out of the batteries.

[^tom^]

You are right.

The GotWay seems to use some electricity if not plug to the wall outlet.

I always plug in to the GotWay first and even it is not pluged to the wall outlet you can hear a spark running!

 

Anybody had the GotWay still pluged in without the wall outlet and knows more?

[Gimlet]

I believe the protection needed to prevent this is a fairly simple diode within the circuit to only allow the power to flow one way.

Unfortunately my knowledge of electronics is fairly rudimentary so I can't tell you exactly what diode is required but it should be a relatively simple job to fit it into the charger dc output circuit.

This would have the added advantage of preventing the notorious Gotway connection spark issue thus preventing arcing damage to the plug contacts.

[EUC Extreme]

I always have a charger in the wall, and I put a connector attached to Gotway.

[^tom^]

I am using it now every day and  I do not have any problem so far.

I can sleep better then ever, because if I forget tu unplug, the timer will turn of the charger!

[Gimlet]

Have you tried leaving it plugged in but turned off by your timer for a day and then turn the charger on again to see how long it takes to get back up to full charge (light turn green)?

It might give some idea of how much charge is being lost by the battery energising the transformer coils when turned off.