Aquarium Co-op Air Pump

[Tamra]

Hello!

I have some Aquarium Co-op air pumps that seem to never get fully charged. They are constantly blinking like they are charging but never stop. I have one that shows fully charged, but the others do not. Has anyone else experienced this? 

[Cleveland M]

No, after charging fully mine show charged and do not blink.

[asondhi]

On 9/3/2022 at 7:03 AM, Tamra said:

Has anyone else experienced this? 

Yes, I don't think it's an issue. Sometimes mine shows fully charged, other times the last bar is blinking. 

I think it's just because it never reaches 100% since it is actively being used, and instead sits at 99%. If the pump is plugged in while on (which most users do) it will be repeatedly charging and discharging. If the power goes out, the battery does its thing and all is well! 🙂

[lefty o]

ive only had it for a few weeks, but mine always has the last bar blinking.

[rockfisher]

Has anyone talked to customer support. I had a problem with the power head and they were more than helpful 

Edited September 3, 2022 by rockfisher

[Katherine]

I haven't noticed mine doing that, but I have it in a cabinet, so I only see it when I get food out or have to unplug things.

[CT_]

It's because they don't have the right charge electronics so depending on load they either bounce back and forth from charging to discharging or get stuck not quite full or fully charged.  I think I made a whole post about this a while ago.  It's not the end of the world but it does shorten the lifetime of the battery.

[Tamra]

Is there a way to fix it so it can fully charge and doesn't shorten the battery life or it just is what it is? 

[asondhi]

On 9/5/2022 at 7:04 AM, Tamra said:

Is there a way to fix it so it can fully charge and doesn't shorten the battery life or it just is what it is? 

The theoretical solution would be to charge it to full while it's not being used, then unplug and turn it on until it's dead and repeat the cycle. 

Honestly, the shortened battery life will be negligible and mechanical components of the pump will likely fail before you even notice a significant battery life issue. I wouldn't worry about it. 

[CT_]

On 9/5/2022 at 4:53 AM, asondhi said:

The theoretical solution would be to charge it to full while it's not being used, then unplug and turn it on until it's dead and repeat the cycle. 

Honestly, the shortened battery life will be negligible and mechanical components of the pump will likely fail before you even notice a significant battery life issue. I wouldn't worry about it. 

With a lithium cell that's actually equivalent to what's it's doing now.  And worse if it over discharges.

 

In my experimenting it only bounces between charging and discharging under low load( high back pressure). If you let it pump max volume of air it uses the most power which makes the charge controller think it's not done charging so it will never shut off and never discharge the battery preventing it from cycling. 

 

So don't restrict the air flow and bleed of excess air rather than choking it off.  If you're running on battery then it's actually best to do the opposite as restricting the air flow uses less power in this kind of pump.

 

It's also worth noting that the battery this comes with is the lowest quality 18650 cell I've seen (I only see this low capacity in counterfeits) but it's still good enough to meet the specs they give so if you're handy I'd just let this run as is and replace the battery with a nicer one in a year or two.