http://fastmac.com/ucharge.php
Has anyone got one of these?
I RMA'd the first one and I'm on my 2nd one now and I'm at a loss as to what I'm doing wrong.
I'm trying to charge either of my MacBook 13" batteries, I also have an old iBook G3/G4 12" battery that hasn't seen any action for a few years - I don't have an iBook to use it though so I can't exactly be sure of the results.
So, plug UCharge into the wall, plug it into the battery with the terminals face down (not at a right angle)
Watch the main charge light go orange for my depleated MacBook battery
Watch the main charge light alternate between orange and green and the charge light on the bottom of the MacBook battery alternate between charging flashes and charging status.
When the main charge light has alternated to green, the status leds on the UCharge light up but don't seem to work when it's 'charging'.
It seems to me that when the status led is orange it's charging or at least trying to. When the status leds are green it's not charging and the MacBook battery is giving me the charge status because it thinks I've just disconnected it from the charger.
I've only tested it on the one MacBook battery so far, but I tested the first UCharge on both batteries and got the same symptoms.
On the questionable iBook battery, the main charge led on the UCharge is constantly orange and so far the battery is showing 3 dots so far - it was totally dead to begin with. It isn't changing between charge statuses like the MacBook batteries were - it seems to be charging fine. The other 4 leds on the UCharge (charge indicators) don't seem to be doing anything like I think they should be.
This charger was apparently tested before it was shipped to me - looks like it has been as well because the sections of the packaging over the wall socket and battery socket were opened. If I go back to them and say it still doesn't work I think I may have difficulty persuading them.
I'm also having to pay import tax whenever a charger comes into the country from the USA which is about £15-20.
I can only think of two possibilities - 1. Both of my MacBook batteries are faulty - I find this unlikely because they charge fine in a MacBook, 2. It's because I'm on 220v - this is a possibility because the US is of course on 110v, they should be auto switching according to the website.
Something I just noticed & remembered - I've got it connected to the iBook battery - if I move the connector that plugs into the UCharge and connects to the battery, the status starts flickering, I remember noticing this on the first UCharge as well. It seems like a flaky circuit, but why should it test OK before being shipped to me?
So can anyone help (or make sense of what I've written)?
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