Chargemaster Combo Power Supply

C

C.L. Peterson

Active member
I would like to see an approved battery pack power supply for those conditions where 110 electricity is not available enabling us to load at the ranges with our Chargemaster Combo's.

If you agree contact
RCBS.com
Customer Service Dept.
1-800-533-5000--Ask for Charlie, he is looking into the fesibility and need/demand for.

If you disagree forget this post

Rational--Dont want to ruin the Chargemaster or void the warranty by doing something
not approved by the company.
--They now have 2 power options (110 and 220) why not battery option?
CLP
 
Any 12v dc supply will work

I have used 2 6 volt latern batts, my black and decker power supply etc for 2 years now with no problem. You just hane to get the right jack to fit the CM
 
I have one of the older models where one is AC and one is DC.
So I can use just a battery. So I bought a large battery and a power converter and a power strip.
Now I can load all day at the range without any problems.
I would think doing it this way it cant void the warranty.
 
Jerry Dailey said:
That came with mine puts out 12.3 vdc
Click to expand...

That is typical of an unregulated DC supply if you measure the output without the load (the Chargemaster) attached. If you were to measure that voltage with the load attached, you will find that it is very close to 9vdc, which is why it is rated at 9vdc output. If you use a 12v battery (or two 6v batteries) you will not see that drop to 9v when you attach the Chargemaster.

The Chargemaster probably has interal voltage regulators that regulate the voltage to the electonic components to 5 vdc (typical for microcontrollers and related circuitry and you need a few volts more input to the regulator than the regulator's output to get the desired result). The problem with using a hard 12v (battery) vs the RCBS 9v supply is that the internal regulators have to dump the extra volts as heat (with a greater difference between the input and output voltages on the regulator, more heat is generated ), which can, in time, damage the internal regulators. Heat is the biggest enemy of solid state components. And depending on the failure mode of the internal regulators, you could end up with no internal voltage or 12v on the circuits that should only have 5v.

While you can get away with using at 12v battery supply for a while, sooner or later you are going to pay the price.
 
The Chargemaster wall wart supply supplies about 12.7 V when the unit is on but not dispensing. When the dispenser runs, the voltage drops to about 11.8V. This means that the internal circuitry is always exposed to at least 11.8 volts. Consequently, a standard 12V gel cell does not stress the circuitry any more than the factory supply. I have used a 12V gel cell ( with a 1A in-line fuse) for months without problems and I don't expect any. BTW there are two different 5.5 mm coaxial power connectors. One has a a 2.1 mm ID and the other is 2.5mm ID. They look identical. The Chargermaster uses the 2.1. You can find a connector with a long cord attached if you Google around a bit.

RWO
 
I looked at a 1009 Town & Country the other day with the ugly thought of trading for it and noticed that there is a 110v outlet beside the second row seats. Apparently newer utility type vehicles, at least have us covered.
 
An option for those who want to use a car battery, motorcycle battery. or 12 gel cells, is to get a DC-AC power inverter. Radio Shack has a 75W unit that is more than adequate to power a Chargemaster for $29. If you look around, you could probably find one for even less. Once the inverter is attached to the battery, it will provide a 110vac source for you to plug in the RCBS supplied wall wart.
 
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