Problem with Nitecore i4 charger

[McTully]

My friend gave me a nitecore i4 charger without a power cord. I found a 12v cord from my piano that fit into the charger and it turned on and began charging I was like "ok cool". Then the unit shut off and stopped charging my battery. I looked at the back of the charger and it said the input was for 12v DC and then I looked at the cord and realized my mistake; the cord was 12 AC output. ..... So now I am considering trying to buy an AC cord for the AC side of the charger but I want to know. Do you think I just busted the charger? And if I do get it to work again, would it be safe? Or did I just .... it up. An opinion from someone with more experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Sir2fyablyNutz]

I don't have an answer as to whether you, umm broke it. But for a few dollars more than a cord will cost you can probably get a new i2 charger which you know would work.

 

[speedy_r6]

There really isnt any way to tell other than to get the proper cord for it and try charging some cheap nimh batteries or something in it. Like sir said, you can probably just get a whole new charger for a little bit more than the cord will cost(unless you can find one of the figure-8 plugs laying around the house...they really arent that uncommon), and that will come with all the parts and you can be sure it will work. A new Nitecore i4 is only about 18 bucks. If you only charge two batteries at a time(I have a dozen batteries and get by just fine with a charger that can only charge 2 at a time), the i2 is even cheaper at under 15 bucks(though I would go to the d2 instead of the i4, simply because it gives more information and costs the same as the i4),

 

[suprtrkr]

Yeah, unfortunately, no way to tell without either knowing the electronics inside or trying it. It might have fried, or not. +1 on the new charger plan.

 

[Bunnykiller]

most likely trashed it.... the AC cord probably feeds into a diode set to make it DC which most likely runs the unit, since you pumped AC into the DC side of things, the DC portion of the board is not good anymore.... I would go ahead and get a new charger and do an autopsy on the non working one just to see what happened... to understand the mistake

 

[Rsunderl]

Hi @McTully and welcome to ECF!

At this point, I wouldn't trust that charger to charge batteries safely. I agree with the other suggestions re: getting a new charger.

Hope it helps and Happy Vaping!

 

[opticruby]

I'd go with the new charger plan. Sounds the best bet to me.

 

[dcfluegel]

howdy -and welcome! yeah - i am thinking something that charges other somethings that have the potential for safety issues is not something you really want to roll the dice on... well worth the less than $20 for a new charger that you should not have to worry about...