It doesn’t make any sense to plug in a fully charged pack but we want to know what current state of our battery charge level is before we try recharging it. The 40V one you grab has quick status button so I hit it and there’s the current charge level right away in the bars.
Know the battery isn’t charging? It needs some love. Take a moment to check things before you move forward, such as seeing if your battery need a recharge. After verifying the need for charging, you’ll get out your charger and line up the pack on the charging station. It doesn’t snap on from just anywhere. Line it up correctly and press firmly down until it clicks into place with a distinctive sound that lets you know it’s in place.
Understanding Indicator Light Signals
If it isn’t in place firmly, it won’t begin charge. This is why it’s important that it fits snugly, as it ensures it can’t accidental pop off while being charged.
Once you confirm the battery needs charging, you prepare the station by lining up the pack with the charger carefully.
However, it keeps the battery snugly in place throughout the entire process to prevent accidental disconnections during the charging cycle. Once you have inserted the pack completely, you don’t need to mess around with any connectors or cables, just wait until the charger do its thing.
The system is designed for simplicity, but the charger won’t start without a tight connection. This is intentional; the unit needs a tight connection to work. The status lights kick in immediately upon locking the battery into place. This gives you a visual indication of what’s happening. Which light do you spot first?
The green LED blinks indicating it’s charging. See that? It’s pulsing with life… meaning energy is being pumped into the cells; rest assured, the battery’s awake. Watch for the blinking light; its rhythm show you it is working. Battery charging times vary greatly depending on which battery pack you choose. The smaller 4.0Ah cells will charge in about three hours, but they also recharge faster. For their size, this isn’t bad at all.
Again, there’s no instant gratification here, but the wait won’t take long, unless you need them right away, then plan accordingly. The charging duration depends on capacity of the pack you’re using, so adjust your schedule based off the battery size.
You can switch to a larger pack to see how performance change, since an 8.0Ah battery holds significantly more energy.
The larger 8.0Ah capacity battery will extend your runtime due to the additional charge storage and you should of consider switching if you’re finding that you aren’t getting enough run-time from your smaller batteries.
Although the larger battery takes approximately 6 hours to fully charge, it provides extended run times; and for those bigger projects, that’s an acceptable compromise. When using the bigger battery, patience does pay. This makes sense, since once the device reaches full charge, the indicator will change completely and let you know that it’s done. No more guessing, just pull it out when the light goes solid green, the battery is fully charged and good to go. It removes any guesswork in your workflow.
It’s like that at the beginning and the end of the process. Pressing the indicator button once more on the battery shows that state, with the gauge displaying a full level equal to the status light on the charger. That means everything lines up; both devices agree and you feel confident about trusting them.
There’s nothing ambiguous about what the lights are telling you; you know you can trust ’em. It’s reassuring to see those readings match up and know it’s right. Both indicators also show you a full charge because all of the blue bars light up on the pack. This means if the charger says “Full,” you can verify it by checking the battery. That way when you head out to do some work you’re not wasting any juice. The indicator shows a full level on both screens so you’re assured without question that the unit is charged and ready to go. Still, things don’t always go as planned with a charging session, as there are environmental factors that can interfere. A blinking (but regularly repeating) red light on the charger means there is an environmental problem. Either your battery is too warm or too cold. Because of this, the battery protection kicks in to prevent thermal stress to the battery.
Charging will stop if the temperature is extreme, so it won’t resume until conditions improve. Good for you, good for your investment. But what about when the battery itself has a fault and the lights do something else? If it’s not a temperature related issue, but instead a hardware problem, then you’ll notice the irregular red blink pattern.
This is a definite warning sign that something is wrong and you must pay immediate attention to resolve it. It’s like an irregular blinking red pattern saying “there’s something wrong here”.
You should distinguish between these two red light patterns clearly, because one means you must wait for the battery to cool down or warm up, while the other mean something is broken internally.
To be clear, there are two types of red lights; One says “wait” and the other one tells you something has gone wrong internally with your battery. You don’t want to change a battery unnecessarily. Knowing the difference between these codes will save you some troubleshooting time.
These codes help understand how to maintain your battery and in the event of an error, they explain it immediately. Charging
Clear indicator lights make charging less a guessing game, making the whole process go smoother then you’d expect. If you have an issue with heat or just want to know when it’s fully charged, you get that information right away.
It performs exactly as expected throughout testing without any complications. This gives you the assurance that you know how to use the HART 40V system and can operate it confidently.
