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Brinkmann Battery Transplant - pics inside

442K views 99 replies 49 participants last post by  CherryAR1 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi guys

Well, after many months of squinting in the sun, borrowing lamps or using dodgy torches etc I finally got my Brinkmann through on a group buy. I had always assumed dodgy Brinkmanns existed but were rare and tales of 'buy 3 to get 2 that work' were an exaggeration. How wrong I was!

Now what you are about to hear isn't a complaint, as group buys are generally selfless acts with a bit of pocket money thrown in, and forums would be lesser places without them. But to cut a long story short, the beautiful, brand new and sealed Brinkmann I ended up with didn't work. In went the wall charger with the correct adaptors and not a blink of the charging LED. In went the car charger and it flickered briefly. In went a spare universal charger I have and much the same.

Knowing what a shower of sh1t rechargable batteries can be, I took an educated guess that this was the cause. I ruled out the potentially flaky charger (often a culprit!) because the other chargers showed the same problem.

So instead of ranting and raving as I would if I had bought it at Dixons (remember it wasn't really the Group Buy person's fault as it was supplied brand new and he had no way of knowing it was dodgy), or pursuing the warranty (as the US is too distant for me to deal with on something like this) I had a choice of binning it or fixing it. I decided to fix it.

So out came the screwdriver and after popping off the rubber end cap (lens end), undoing the screws (two hidden under the end cap) then carefully prising off the top cover... put a small flat head screwdriver in the middle of each horizontal section between the body of the torch and the cover, and prise gently... I had it in pieces.

I then double checked it was the battery by connecting a 6v power source to the circuit from a mains adaptor. The Brinkmann worked and lit up the Xenon bulbs as intended. So it wasn't a fault with the lamp as a whole.

Therefore, project 'Battery Replacement' was given an official green light.

A few points to note.

1) Alan from samplesrus is right (see one of the other 'dodgy Brinkmann' thread). These chinese made units show some of the shoddiest circuit board soldering and generally woeful build quality I've ever seen. They really do look like they are made by chimps. Sony would have a good chuckle at these!

2) Taking them apart is pretty simple but you can damage the top cover if you aren't careful. It has tabs that go on one way easily but could break easily when the cover is removed.

3) You can't buy a genuine replacement battery, as has been discovered on another thread. But then again, when you see it, you wouldn't really want to. It's an un-ecologically friendly lead-acid behemoth that weighs 337g.

So taking the battery specs (6v voltage, 2500mAH capacity) and dimensions, I set about finding a suitable alternative.

Now one chap from DW found one that would fit but it involved a bit of dremelling, and the battery had almost half the charge capacity. It was a cheap lead acid equivalent from Maplins, for about 4 GBP. It would also be very heavy as it was larger.

I pressed on with my search and found this lovely item made for an RC control unit:



As you can see, it is much thinner and shorter but a tad wider. It weighs 142g - so under half the weight of the old battery. Spec wise, it is 6v and fractionally lower capacity at 2100mAH, but I doubt you'd ever notice.

The best news is that you don't need to dremel anything. Because it is so thin, it can rest within the moulded cradle. OK, it rattles around a bit if you shake the lamp, but you could mount it more securely if fussed. Chopping one of the four internal tabs would lock it in diagonally, and a blob of clear sealant would do the rest.

Because I didn't know if it would work, I twisted the wires together and used insulating tape. For a longer term fix, now that I know it works, I would use solder and heatshrink.

And here she is...



Moment of truth was that she fired up like a good 'un... worked a treat. And then I put her on charge and the paltry flickering LED glowed bright red. All working and all fixed.

Total cost was 8.35 GBP which was the cost of the battery pack delivered from the ebay reseller. Search 'Flat Futaba 6v' if the url doesn't work. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RX-Pack-6v-NEW-Technology-Nimh-Flat-Futaba-VAPEXTECH-/221425040125

The battery is their 6v 2100mAH RC battery pack... I'm pretty sure they only do the one, but check out the pictures.

Hope this post is of some help. Brinkmanns ARE a bit cr4p, but they are cheap and do the job admirably well. At some point I may try and source a nice detailing inspection light, but I will investigate strength and type of light source to see what kind of a bearing they have on swirl spotting. Also, people seem to like the Brinkmann for its TJ Hooker gun handle design and rubber nose cone (good for placing on paintwork without scratching or rolling off). Much better 'tube' torches are easy to find (I found one that was about 5x as bright as a Brinkmann!) and some cost hundreds. But the overall design is important, so I'll keep an eye out. Until then, happy fixing if you need to repair a dodgy one!

Regards
DF
 
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#35 ·
Just a quick bit of info. If you need replacement batteries then Multicell (www.multicell.co.uk) are pretty good. I needed a new battery for my Cateye cycle lights, which use a lead-acid battery, took it to them and they had one on the shelf for £6! Same spec, slightly smaller case but works the same! They do all sorts, cordless drill batteries etc so might be worth checking with them.
 
#50 ·
Well my battery arrived,had a voucher from ebay cs after a transaction went wrong that covered my new battery which was nice. ANd I have a working brinkmann that weighs half of what it did before! Good times :D I was careful with the top cover, but still managed to break one of the clips holding the centre top piece in, just wouldn't come out no matter what! well worth a go for those of you who have had this issue
 
#53 ·
Oh btw for those interested, there were a few for £5 but last min I changed my mind and bought a £10 one as the voucher I had was for £10 and didn't know if I would get any change so seemed silly to waste it. All feel free to pm me for a link though if you still want it.
 
#59 ·
Now my brinkman looks like its lost battery life. This is a great post and i'm going to buy a battery pack.

Now here's for the stupid question....my battery has 2 terminal posts but the battery pack has only one .. do you split the wires and what colour goes to which post. Sorry for the stupid question but if i'm going to plug it in to charge i want to make sure its right..

Oh and its the same battery pack as the OP..

Many thanks

Deeds.
 
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