Warnings And Safety Notes, Please Read And Observe - GRAUPNER ULTRA TRIO PLUS 14 Operating Manual

This product isn't designed for use by children under the age of 14, it isn't a toy!
Protect the charger from dust, damp, rain, heat (e.g. direct sunshine) and vibration. It should only be
operated in dry indoor conditions.
The case slots serve to cool the charger, and must not be covered or enclosed; set up the charger
with space round it, so that cooling air can circulate unhindered.
The charger is designed to be powered by a 12 V DC car battery or power supply or 100~240V AC
main socket only. It is not permissible to modify the charger in any way. Never use both inputs AC and
DC at the same time!
The charger and the battery to be charged should be set up on a heat-resistant, non-inflammable
and non-conductive surface before use. Never place the charger directly on a car seat, carpet or
similar. Keep all inflammable and volatile materials well away from the charging area. Provide good
ventilation. Defective batteries can explode or burn!
Connect the charger 12DC input directly to the car battery using the original cables and connectors
supplied. The car's engine must be stopped all the time the charger is connected to the car's battery.
Do not recharge the car battery at any time when the charger is connected to it.
The charge output sockets and connecting leads must not be modified, and must not be inter-
connected in any way. There is a danger of short-circuit between the charge outputs and the vehicle's
bodywork when the charger is connected to the car battery. The charge leads and connecting leads
must not be coiled up when the charger is in use. Avoid short-circuiting the charge output or the
model battery with the car bodywork. For this reason the charger must never be placed directly on the
vehicle's bodywork.
Never leave the charger running or connected to the car battery unsupervised.
Only one battery may be connected to the unit for charging at any one time.
The following types of battery must not be connected to the charger:
- Ni-Cd / Ni-MH batteries consisting of more than 14 cells, Lithium-Ion / Li-Mn / Lithium-Polymer /
LiFePO (LiFe) batteries of more than 6 cells, or lead-acid batteries with a nominal voltage of more
4
than 12V.
- Batteries which require a different charge method from Ni-Cd, Ni-MH, Lithium or lead-acid types.
- Faulty or damaged cells or batteries.
- Batteries consisting of parallel-wired cells, or cells of different types.
- Batteries consisting of old and new cells, or cells of different makes.
- Non-rechargeable batteries (dry cells). Caution: explosion hazard!
- Batteries which are not expressly stated by the manufacturer to be suitable for the currents which
this unit delivers during the charge process.
- Packs which are already fully charged or hot, or only partially discharged.
- Batteries or cells fitted with an integral charge circuit or charge termination circuit.
- Batteries installed in a device, or which are electrically connected to other components.
To avoid short-circuits between the banana plugs fitted to the charge leads, please always connect
the charge leads to the charger first, and only then to the battery to be charged. Reverse the sequence
when disconnecting.
As a basic rule always check that the charge quantity is approximately the same as you expected after
the charger has indicated that the pack is fully charged. This is a simple method of detecting a problem
reliably and in good time, should the charge process be terminated prematurely for any reason. The
likelihood of premature termination varies according to many factors, but is at its highest with deep-
discharged packs, low cell counts and particular cell types which are known to cause problems.
We recommend that you carry out a series of test charges to satisfy yourself that the automatic
termination circuit is working perfectly. This applies in particular when you are charging packs consisting
of a small number of cells. If the cells feature has a poorly defined voltage peak, the charger may fail
to detect the fully charged state.
Before charging please check: have you selected the appropriate charge program for the battery?
Have you set the correct charge or discharge current? Have you set the important cut-off voltage
when charging Ni-Cd and Ni-MH packs? Are all connections firm, or is there an intermittent contact at
any point in the circuit? Please bear in mind that it can be dangerous to fast-charge batteries. For
example, if there is a brief interruption due to an intermittent contact, the result is inevitably a
malfunction such as a restart of the charge process, which would result in the pack being massively
overcharged.
2. Warnings and safety notes
29