We're off camping on Tuesday and got our rechargable Outwell Tornado pump out to recharge for the trip.
There was no life in it at all (last used about same time last year..) so I plugged it into the mains charger but the green led on the charger stays green and doesn't change to red (as the manual says it should to indicate correct charging). Same happens when trying the 12v charger in the car.
I don't remember having to charge it last year as it worked out of the box ok, so was wondering if the thing is actually charging or not. According to the book it can take a min.15 hours to fully charge but even after an hour of charging there's still no life in the pump.
So back to the original subject/question, is our pump or maybe charger knackered..? Also anybody know what warranty Outwell give on their pumps..?
All rechargeable items come partially charged but should be charged fully prior to use and charged when low rather than completely dead. You may have to force charge it and as you have already given it an hour try again but leave it 24 hours.
I have resuscitated a few items by poping on charge briefly then giving a good charge so hopefully that will work, otherwise are there any screws you can open and see if you can replace just the batteries?
I've left it on charge for around 5 hours now and just tried it again and the pump kicks in a little but immediately starts to die.
As suggested Tynxuk I'll leave it overnight and hopefully it might have taken a better charge. There are screws visible so should be able to open it and replace batteries if necessary. I am a bit miffed if I have to replace the batteries after only 12 months, especially when Outwells instructions say to allow battery to discharge fully before recharging the unit.
Think I'll have words with the retailer, Outdoor Mega Store in Liverpool, first if it doesnt charge to see if they'll replace the pump.
We took the pump on our recent trip to Forest of Dean but as suspected it died after only a minute or so. We bought a 4D battery pump as backup just in case.
Full marks to Outdoor Megastore though as we took the pump back to them the other day and they offered us a replacement Coleman one (same type) but as they had none in stock gave us a credit note instead.
Think I'll keep an eye out for the next time Lidl's do their battery chargers and rechargable 'D' cells.
Like mobile phones, anything that comes with a re-chargeable battery must be charged fully before use or you will simpoly kill the battery. They do come with some charge but that is to do with manufacture and not really to allow immediate use.
Best thing you can do is to charge for 24 hours. Then leave 'ON' until the battery drains completely. Then repeat 2 or 3 times. That may revive your battery, especially if relatively new.
This also works for 'dim' lanterns and similar items (including mobile phones)
not sure batteries have a memory effect since nicads although i have found nihm ones seem to have one in certain chargers which is strange
the worst thing is new batteries being charged in timed version chargers where they were fine with the batteries of the time but only partially charge modern high capacity batteries and shorten their life
I have the same Tornado pump and experienced the same thing. brought it in from the shed after nearly a year, and even after an overnight charge there was virtually no life.
However, after a weekend the inflater has come back to life - tried it out today to test performance and gave up after 20 mins with the pump still going strong.
Good kit but very slow charging so thinking well ahead is required.
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Topic: Is our pump knackered..?
