KJINTF wrote:
Please do not toss them in the trash
Yes they can very easily be repaired
Open it up and take a look close look at the large Capacitors
If any signs of anything abnormal replace the part
Parts available at DigiKey and typically less than $5.00
Replacing "caps" does not "fix" everything, the charger is falsely seeing/sensing a battery voltage higher than it should.
That error is most likely the "processor chip" and or other ICs in the unit and no amount of caps you throw at it will fix that. Seriously doubt that you are going to buy an off the shelf processor for that device.
These chargers super impose high frequency voltage spikes into the DC voltage of the output, chances are those same high frequency voltage spikes are causing the false high voltage detection.. The question becomes why and how. Chances are you would need an oscilloscope to view the waveforms and voltages but without any diagrams or notes on what you should see it is going to be a guessing game. It would take a lot of detective work to reverse engineer the how and whys of that device and even then the question of the possibility of a repair being successful is not assured.
Sometimes you can make a device so smart, it becomes dumb.
Those "smart chargers" are basically a throw away device, they are not built very robust nor designed to live a long life.
Chalk up another win for the old school tried and true "dumb" charger, they just plain work.
