Arriflex battery charger
 

Not exactly household, but I've been asked to look at an Arri battery pack and charger. Unfortunately it's in bits and the connector (12-pole lockable) makes no sense. It doesn't help that they are probably Italian made third-party accessories, and may never have worked together!
There are four new 4-volt 3A NiCads in the belt pack, which makes sense as Arriflexes are 8v machines. However there are only two pins (1 - and 10 +) connected to the charger's output, which don't correspond to any connections in the unit. Can anyone help?

Re: Arriflex battery charger
 

There have been NiCd camera batteries that charge blocks of cells in series and discharge them in parallel, and vice versa, but most charge at the same voltage as the pack output. There may be some relays / switches missing!

Old ARRI motors were 8V but there have been 12V and 16V motors used since, prior to 24V becoming standard for ARRI film cameras. I wouldn't make any assumptions at this stage.

Re: Arriflex battery charger
 

The batteries pictured are sealed lead acid, not NiCad. The charging requirements are very different.

Re: Arriflex battery charger
 

Apologies - of course they are. Slip of the brain!
I suspect Lucien is right, and there are bits missing, or else the charger is meant for a much simpler single battery pack. I shall contact the owner and see which camera he has. I think he's sourced these parts from various places which would explain things.

Re: Arriflex battery charger
 

I was wondering how you got a 4V NiCd pack but put it down to a devalued post-Covid volt. Should have looked at the pics closer. All the battery belts I've ever handled were NiCd or NiMH.

Re: Arriflex battery charger
 

Looking at the photo makes me think that there is some switching going on with the physical insertion of the connector via links in the free plug.
It looks like 4 4V SLA batteries connected to 4 pairs of pins in the battery pack connector.

Re: Arriflex battery charger
 

Sonnenshein is a very reputable maker of sealed lead acid batteries, and the label has Pb under the not-wheeliebin symbol.

Lead acid will be charged with a fixed voltage and a current limit just in case.

David

Re: Arriflex battery charger
 

They are the big reputable European manufacturer of SLA batteries like Uasa are for the east.

Re: Arriflex battery charger
 

I think the owner sourced the batteries and hoped all would work. However I expected shorting links in the free plug which there never have been, just + and -.
I'm waiting for more info from him.