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Dead battery?
This thread has 10 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Saturday March 3, 2007 at 22:41
Michael Chapman
Lurking Member
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4
Just hoping others that have experienced dead batteries on Pronto remotes can give me a bit of feedback...

I have a RU 950 (TSU 3000) and a few days ago the remote stopped working unless it was placed directly on the base. Since base sits next to the TV, this isn’t much good as we had to get up and walk to the TV everytime we wanted to change the channel or whatever, and frankly my poor 30 year old bones are not up to that kind of physical exercise.

I have since put regular old fashioned AAA batteries in, and all is fine, but obviously want to get it back to it's previous rechargable glory.

I'm presuming that the rechargable battery has died and isn't holding a charge anymore, but in my previous experience, batteries have slowly lost their abillity to hold a charge, rather than happening overnight. Up to that fateful day, no loss of battery life was noticed.

I’m more than happy to buy one of the 3rd party replacement batteries if it's a simple fix, but wanted to check before paying postage to Australia.

Have others had the same or a different experience?

Any advice as to which battery to be buying?
Post 2 made on Saturday March 3, 2007 at 23:04
froolap
Long Time Member
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June 2003
24
I have the pronto TSU6000 and the battery needed to be replaced. The unit always needed to be charged daily, but it got to the point of NOTHING happening. The TSU6000 takes a 4 cell NiMH battery pack. After much going to the store I could not find any 4 cell battery packs. I then went to radio Shack and purchased some 2 cell AAA battery holders. I then discovered that the battery holders would not fit into the pronto battery compartment. So I took the metal clips out of the battery holders. Took apart the original battery to see how it was constructed, and then soldered wires to the metal clips so I would still have 4 LIVE wires on the battery plug. I reused the original battery plug (where it connects to the pronto). I then glued the metal contacts into the back of the pronto (don't use hot glue for this or you'll be sorry.) Once I had the clips in place I then purchased 4 high capacity NiMH AAA rechargable batteries. The new NiMH batteries have a much greater capacity than the originals which means they last longer between charges. Since you are using the same TYPE of rechargable battery you can still recharge using the docking station. (Don't try using Nickel Cadium or LiPo batteries where NiMH are called for, as they have different charging requirements). With this type of setup you have the advantage of being able to use the docking station to recharge as well as being able to swap out with standard AAA batteries as need arrises. I have a second set of NiMH AAA batteries as stand by so I can swap batteries between charges and don't lose anything. Hope this helps.
OP | Post 3 made on Sunday March 4, 2007 at 00:03
Michael Chapman
Lurking Member
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4
Thanks for the fast response.

If I do need a new battery, I'm going to go for the lazier option of buying a ready made rechargable battery from prontowizard.com or prontobattery.com.

My main question now is whether my problem is with the battery or something else.

Do you recall did your battery stop working immediately or did it gradually occur over a period of time?

Do you remember if you still could use the remote on the base while the battery was dead?
Post 4 made on Sunday March 4, 2007 at 00:03
mtgriff
Long Time Member
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July 2002
289
[Link: remotequest.com]
Harmony One
Post 5 made on Sunday March 4, 2007 at 07:03
Nisei
Long Time Member
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February 2007
27
On March 3, 2007 at 23:04, froolap said...
Took apart the original battery to see how it was constructed,
and then soldered wires to the metal clips so I would
still have 4 LIVE wires on the battery plug.

Does the TSU6000 battery also have 3 wires attached to it? I was wondering where the third (yellow) wire goes. Red and black (or white) are for the + and - but what does the yellow wire do?
Pronto TSU3500
Post 6 made on Sunday March 4, 2007 at 09:26
froolap
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
June 2003
24
Yes, the TSU6000 also has three wires. The white and black wires both attach to the negitive terminal (on MY remote, I don't have the original battery pack any longer, but I'm looking at my remote and that is how I have mine wired, no ill effects after a year). While I do not KNOW, I do suspect that one contact is used to supply power from the battery to the pronto while the other wire is used for charging the battery. This would allow protection to the pronto when supplying a higher voltage to the battery during charge. That makes sense to me, but I do not know that's what it actually does. I do know that there was voltage present on all three wires of the original battery.
Hope this helps.
Post 7 made on Sunday March 4, 2007 at 11:38
Nisei
Long Time Member
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Posts:
February 2007
27
That's odd, when 2 wires are attached to the same point they could as well be 1 wire...
Thanks for checking though. When my battery ever dies I'll also replace it with 4 1200 mAh NiMH batteries which are only around $10
Pronto TSU3500
Post 8 made on Wednesday March 7, 2007 at 11:20
London
Long Time Member
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January 2003
102
On March 4, 2007 at 09:26, froolap said...
Yes, the TSU6000 also has three wires. The white and
black wires both attach to the negitive terminal (on MY
remote, I don't have the original battery pack any longer,
but I'm looking at my remote and that is how I have mine
wired, no ill effects after a year). While I do not KNOW,
I do suspect that one contact is used to supply power
from the battery to the pronto while the other wire is
used for charging the battery. This would allow protection
to the pronto when supplying a higher voltage to the battery
during charge. That makes sense to me, but I do not know
that's what it actually does. I do know that there was
voltage present on all three wires of the original battery.
Hope this helps.

The battery packs include a blade-type circuit breaker . They are also constructed with the proper diode to interface with the remote’s charging circuit (you’ll notice there are three wires on the battery pack – one for positive, one for negative, and one for charge-control which is what the diode is for) Installing rechargeables without this protection could pose a safety risk in the future. Just a thought....
Post 9 made on Wednesday March 14, 2007 at 22:35
docrings
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
October 2005
19
I thought I had a dead battery pack, because the unit screen showed the "charging" battery animation.
Unfortunately, a new battery pack did not fix the problem... it is a dead charging unit.

I now noticed the blue lights do not illuminate anymore when I dock my TSU3000.

The philips website does not carry the charger any longer (the charger part #)

matthewrings at yahoo dot com.

Cheers!
Doc

EDIT: My docking station had a blown fuse ($1 - $5 part). I will post a pictorial on replacement soon. If the blue lights don't illuminate on your dock when the unit is in the cradle, you probably have a blown fuse on the inside. Easy fix if you can handle a soldering iron!

Last edited by docrings on March 15, 2007 11:40.
Post 10 made on Thursday March 15, 2007 at 00:39
Constantine
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
January 2007
10
There is a thread discussing this problem where the pronto shows a discharged battery but it is not the battery, unfortunately I can't find it again.
They were talking about a "cold solder joint" and because I have the same problem with my TSU6000 I opened it up and looked for a cold solder join in witch I have plenty of experience how to find it and how to solder it properly, I found nothing that looked bad, no one said where the cold solder join was, it might be in the battery or in the charger.
If any one can point out the thread I will appreciate it
Don't buy a charger before you read this thread and get some help.
Tune them for maximum smoke
Post 11 made on Thursday March 15, 2007 at 11:41
docrings
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
October 2005
19
thread on fuse replacement here:

[Link: remotecentral.com]


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