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First post on this exchange, please do not delete it as a "request for shopping recommendation", this is close to, but not intended as one of those.

We have a Trimble DiNi 22 which runs fine, but we broke the battery charger. A repair is possible but impractical, so I am exploring my other options.

The original charger comes in three parts (mains cable; adapter; cable from adapter to battery), so we seem to have two general routes shown below. I've had no luck with my searches so far.

Find a generic replacement for the charger, keep the battery cable.

  1. The specs for the charger are in this extract from the manual. Please also see this photo: this photo
  2. The Trimble part number is 571 906 330. Used original replacements cost £100+ on ebay, this seems to be my best bet for now but I would prefer to have other options.
  3. The out port seems like S Video, but I don't have a real S Video cable to prove it, and it seems odd this port would be used on a battery charger. detailed view of charger end of battery cable

Find a replacement charger which would plug straight into the battery.

  1. I have not been able to identify the port on the battery, the distance between the outer pins is 8mm: Trimble DiNi 22 571 906 330 cable and battery

My questions are:

  1. I know it's unlikely, but does anybody on here know a direct replacement for this charger?
  2. Can anyone identify the port on the charger end of the cable so that I can try and find a replacement charger that will accept our cable?
  3. Can anyone identify the port on the battery end of the cable so that I can try and find a replacement charger charge our batteries?
  4. Can anyone think of a suitable battery holder/adapter which would allow us to use a different battery in this instrument?

I hope the questions are clear, but please tell me if I can improve my question.

pateksan
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    The round connector looks like a 4-pin mini-DIN. I suspect that the charger, and the pinout of the round connector, and the 4-pin inline connector, and it's pinout, are all proprietary. It's not clear if the charger is just a 700mA constant-current charger, or if it has some charge management functions (some NiMH charging schemes monitor the battery temperature, for instance). – TimWescott Sep 23 '19 at 16:44
  • Buy it used on the internet, ebay. – Voltage Spike Sep 23 '19 at 16:45
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    "seems like s-video"; actually, s-video just uses a standard mini-DIN connector, which is part of a series of connectors that were common in the 80s and 90s for a variety of things, including power. It's quite likely that this is the same connector as used in s-video cables. I would advise against plugging it into an s-video input as that will probably break things. – Hearth Sep 23 '19 at 16:45
  • The manual you linked to states "The charger changes the charging parameters depending on a code resistor in the battery." I can't see you finding a generic replacement for this particular charger. – Finbarr Sep 23 '19 at 17:04
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    I have a Nikon Nivo series which supports two batteries inside the unit so that one can be replaced without turning the unit off. It comes with a universal supply charger and a whole bunch of different adapters for different power jacks found around the world. This, then, connects to a battery holder used when charging the batteries. That holder has some modest electronics in it. I have an idea of your problem. I find it kind of surprising that you'd be willing to use a different battery in the instrument, though. Why are you willing to risk that? (These are not cheap survey devices.) – jonk Sep 23 '19 at 18:06
  • Jonk, good question. Two reasons. On one hand, from what I gathered, the instrument has very little value once the charger is broken, and the company is reluctant to spend time flogging old gear on eBay. On the other hand, my understanding is that an alternative battery is simply going to do one of three things: 1 not power up, 2 work fine, 3 burn the instrument. Or do you think we might get fake readings? – pateksan Sep 23 '19 at 19:04
  • @VoltageSpike I did read the article linked in the "reason for closing" above and really made an effort to ask my question "the other way" the article described. Have all "close voters" read all of my question including the start and end? Is my question really closer to the "bad" way the linked article describes? (BTW it seems I can only tag one user in a comment) – pateksan Oct 08 '19 at 17:25
  • @pateksan The question is not bad, it is off topic. We ask design and circuit questions here, so general repair questions are off topic. But if you reverse engineered the battery charger, and had trouble with the schematic, then we'd be more then happy to answer questions about it. – Voltage Spike Oct 08 '19 at 17:38
  • @VoltageSpike I'm not going to argue hard. Can you suggest a more appropriate stack exchange, or another forum? – pateksan Oct 11 '19 at 00:32
  • FWIM it was fixed for £35 by a nerd in a tiny shop at the back of a pet hairdresser. I would still love suggestions for a more appropriate stack exchange for this question. – pateksan Nov 25 '19 at 22:16

1 Answers1

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Purchase a programmable battery charger like this...

enter image description here

...and connect it directly to the battery output terminals with crocodile clips. Set the battery type and charge current to match your battery, with current set to half the capacity. eg. if the battery is a 1500mAh NiMH then choose 'NiMH' and 0.7A.

Bruce Abbott
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  • That looks promising. What I am wondering now is if it's worthwile investigating our batteries and the broken charger, so that I can setup the B6AC V2 to better imitate the broken charger. If I posted photos/details of the components in the broken charger, do you think someone on here might be willing and able to suggest how exactly we should set the B6AC up? Is that even worth the hassle? I gather that four pin batteries tend to be more sophisticated than three pin ones. – pateksan Sep 25 '19 at 23:00
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    Probably not worth the hassle. The broken charger's label tells you everything you need to know to imitate it - battery type NiMH, charge current 700mA. The B6AC has 'peak-detect' charge cutoff, and time and capacity limits too if you need them (in case peak detect doesn't work). – Bruce Abbott Sep 25 '19 at 23:13
  • OK, not marking as solution yet, guess I'll do it once I get the DiNi going (and I need to get authority to purchase first). I hope you don't mind another question: the port on the battery seems similar to the Balance Lead Socket (JST-XH Ports) on the B6AC. Naturally they serve different purposes. Now I'd prefer to use a proper cable for the battery rather than crocodile clips. The question is, are you able to identify the port on the battery? Is there a non-intrusive way to identify the roles of the pins so that we can modify our cable to match the out port on the B6AC? – pateksan Sep 27 '19 at 08:19