Battery charger for the PUMA T2 hand-held radio
Technical Manual
Functional Description
Page 30
OTE Proprietary Information
P/N: 779-0357/02
Revision 04
Each slot (two for BCU2-1500 and BCU2-1500/B; six for BCU6-750) is designed to
take either a single battery pack or one PUMA T2 unit with its battery pack. When
the battery pack is inserted into the slot without the PUMA T2, the plastic septum
ensures a good electrical contact of the battery pack. On the contrary when
inserting a PUMA T2 unit with the battery pack, the plastic septum must be
removed and the PUMA T2 radio unit must be switched off during the whole
charging process otherwise some internal components can be damaged.
Every slot is provided with an information panel that shows the status of the
charging process by means of four LEDs with a different colour each. Every led is
provided with an explanatory label as shown in Tab. 3.1. The panel is divided into
two zones, in the upper one you can find the signalling related to the upper
charging slot while in the lower one there are those related to the lower charging
slot.
When the battery charger is in stand-by all LEDs must be switched off. As soon as
a battery is inserted, the charging process starts by checking the battery status and
LEDs are lit in the sequence “yellow-orange-red-green”.
If the battery condition is suitable for charging, the battery charger starts the fast
charging and the red LED is lit. Temperature and voltage control mechanisms are
activated as well to prevent any damage to the batteries. Infact if the battery pack
temperature is too high, the battery charger yellow LED is lit and the fast charging
is stopped until the temperature allows it: when the temperature is within the
working range again the battery charger restarts the fast charging.
If the battery pack is faulty, the battery charger stops charging and the orange LED
starts blinking.
The discharging button (S1, fig. 3.4) works if the battery is inserted into the upper
slot relative to each couple of charging slots (one couple for BCU2-1500 and
BCU2-1500/B models; three couples for BCU6-750 model). If during the fast
charging process of a battery, inserted into the upper slot (the one enabled for
discharging), you press the red button close to the slot then there starts the battery
discharging process and the red LED starts blinking. Once the the discharging
process is over, the battery charger switches back to the charging mode.
At this point, if you would like to make another charging-discharging process you
had to pull the battery out of the slot and then insert it into the slot again and finally
press the discharging button.
If you press the discharging button when the battery is inserted in the lower slot,
nothing happens.
If Lithium batteries are used, the discharging button is disabled.
The charging process is different depending on the battery type used (Li-Ions or
NiCd and NiMH).
