Pulsar dome shutter battery replacement

[Tomatobro]

My Pulsar shutter control had begun to play up and last Friday refused to open the shutter fully. It had all the characteristics of the internal battery being unable to provide enough current so it was time to replace the internal batteries.

First unplug the power supply, put a marker on the limit switch connectors so you don't mix up the closed and open limit switches then unplug. On my installation its not possible to remove the motor plug without removing the two socket head screws that hold the controller onto the motor frame so that you can lift the box clear to allow the motor connection plug to be pulled out.

With the controller on the bench, turn it over and remove the six cross head screws and then pull the base board and pcb clear. The open close switch (see picture) is best disconnected from the board so the box can be set aside while the batteries are installed

Although the controller is advertised as having a 12 volt battery inside it has two 18650 cells connected in parallel giving a voltage of 4.2 volts with a combined capacity of about 5000 mah.

Two cells were ordered from a reputable supplier and fitting them was straight forward. Release the cable tie and lift each from its holder. Insert the new cells observing correct polarity.

Charging took about five hours at 670 ma.

[tomato]

There is always something waiting to deprive you of that clear sky.

[Oddsocks]

On 15/10/2024 at 10:26, Tomatobro said:

My Pulsar shutter control had begun to play up and last Friday refused to open the shutter fully. It had all the characteristics of the internal battery being unable to provide enough current so it was time to replace the internal batteries.

First unplug the power supply, put a marker on the limit switch connectors so you don't mix up the closed and open limit switches then unplug. On my installation its not possible to remove the motor plug without removing the two socket head screws that hold the controller onto the motor frame so that you can lift the box clear to allow the motor connection plug to be pulled out.

With the controller on the bench, turn it over and remove the six cross head screws and then pull the base board and pcb clear. The open close switch (see picture) is best disconnected from the board so the box can be set aside while the batteries are installed

Although the controller is advertised as having a 12 volt battery inside it has two 18650 cells connected in parallel giving a voltage of 4.2 volts with a combined capacity of about 5000 mah.

Two cells were ordered from a reputable supplier and fitting them was straight forward. Release the cable tie and lift each from its holder. Insert the new cells observing correct polarity.

Charging took about five hours at 670 ma.

 

 

 

Hi @Tomatobro

The lack of documentary records from Pulsar detailing the revisions and evolution of their dome systems is the only frustration with owning one (for an ex-engineer that is, probably not an issue for the vast majority of owners🤔), although Pulsar are always quick to answer questions by email.

My own Pulsar shutter box is an earlier revision of the same control box, revision - B, and the battery inside is an Ansmann 18650 4SIP Li-Ion pack, which is a four-cell 14.8V 2600mAh pack, (RS part #  811-4693) - - - (Ansmann part # 2447-3036-520).

The battery pack is connected to the PCB by flying leads and screw terminals, no on-board battery holders.

Another difference between my control box and yours is that between the motor socket and the power input socket on my system is a bayonet fuse carrier which isolates the battery supply, and is also the only way to reset the electronics, on your revision -D box there doesn't appear to be a fuse at all but you have an external reset button next to the USB socket.

Just idle curiosity @Tomatobro, if you have the Pulsar App open on the desktop and hover the mouse over the shutter battery symbol what voltage does it show?

Snapshot of mine shows 14.9V for an almost fully charged battery:

I'm curious too about the voltage rating for your shutter motor, unless the Pulsar shutter box has an internal voltage booster then presumably your shutter motor must be a lower voltage rating to match the internal battery pack? mine is a Micromotors E192-12-246 which is a 12V motor, I wouldn't ask you to look though as the motor part # is not easily visible.

On my shutter box there is an extra LED, top left, which is wired across the internal low-battery-voltage bleeper and was added under the directions of the developer since I'm deaf to high frequencies and couldn't hear the bleeper that was warning of a low battery condition, the LED just flashes along with the bleeps so that I could have a warning that the shutter battery was almost flat, not so relevant now that the Pulsar App has been revised to include the shutter battery voltage display and I upgraded the original solar panel and installed the Pulsar induction charger kit to keep the shutter battery charged in the winter.

William.

P.S. The tape over the USB socket on the left was put there because the USB socket was turning green with corrosion and the tape was applied as a *temporary* fix about four years ago, must get around to doing something neater....

 

 

 

Edited October 16 by Oddsocks
As it was raining with nothing else to do I added a picture on the box internals

[Tomatobro]

Voltage is 4.2 volts. The motor pulls 6.4 amps (peak) and drops off as the shutter goes over centre.

battery fuses are under the battery cells

[Oddsocks]

On 17/10/2024 at 16:51, Tomatobro said:

Voltage is 4.2 volts. The motor pulls 6.4 amps (peak) and drops off as the shutter goes over centre.

battery fuses are under the battery cells

Thank's for the reply @Tomatobro

That's quite a bit different to the older revisions of the shutter box, peak current on the revision - B box with the 12V shutter motor and internal Ansmann Li-Ion battery is ~750mA (with a series resistor added to limit the current).

My original 12V shutter motor burnt out after 18 months, the voltage on the motor terminals was around 15.5V when the shutter battery was fully charged, which was nearly 1.5 volts over the manufacturer's maximum rating for the motor.

I replaced it with a new identical motor but fitted a 3.3ohm 25W power resistor in series with the motor winding to limit the motor current, that was back in 2017 and the new motor has been fine.

The only recent changes I've made is to replace the chain sprocket, the original one was plated steel which had rusted badly and was shredding the composite chain, the new sprocket is all stainless.

I also needed to change the plain-plastic chain rollers, some of the original rollers had jammed in the carriers and the composite polymer/stainless-steel shutter chain was cutting tram lines into the stationary rollers.

I machined a complete set of new rollers with sealed bearings and side-spacers so that the rollers can't rub against the carriers and jam, the shutter chain acton during open and close is now much smoother.

Edited October 19 by Oddsocks
Spelling plus additional photos