Chargemaster 1500 - no more scale drift!

[uncle-buck]

Just wanted to give a shout out to Evan in Golden, CO for helping get my RCBS Chargemaster 1500 working so well.

He walked me through the process of converting its power source from AC adapter to battery power and it now works perfectly. No more scale drift!

Spent $50 on a Duracell 12V 12 amp hour battery and used the cord from an old AC adapter to connect the unit. Well worth the money.

 

[garandman]

"Scale drift?"

 

[uncle-buck]

"Scale drift?"

That's when the weight display on the electronic scale varies during a reloading session.

For example, my CM reads -157.7 gr when the powder pan is removed after it had been zeroed. That's what it should read every time the pan is removed to charge a case. If it varies, it's drifting.

 

[Dicko]

Ok sounds good would you be willing to share the mod with me?
I've been running mine on DC 12v for a few years now but I'd be grateful for any extra tips you have!

 

[Tom Jones]

Yes, please share. I believe most suffer this drift problem with the unit. I am running a “conditioned” AC line to mine but still suffer a drift.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

The circuit board is probably not humidity sealed,under AC power the heat of resistance and slight changes in humidity and voltage doesn't play well in weighing devices. Sometimes rare earth magnets can "clean up" outputs, I have used them between loadcells and boards and between power supplies and boards. Cold solder connections can also be an issue.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Cell phones nearby and cfl or fluorescent lights along with ac power of any kind will make you hate a chargemaster. Fix these 3 issues and you can move on to other fires to fight and never worry about your scale again.

 

[Snuggie]

I’ve never had a scale drift problem but the other day I turned it on and the display lit up but no characters on it. It beeped as usual after the count down but nothing on the display. Tried turning on and off several times to no avail. Called RCBS, they never heard of that. I guess it’s toast....

 

[TheOtherZilla]

I bought a Line conditioner/battery UPS from Staples for mine. That pretty much cured things. I also installed an old school incandescent light over the bench for when I am using the Charge Master. I turn the fourescent off and just use the incandescent. FWIW if you are using those "LED" light bulbs, or the curley ques, they will cause interference just like a Flourescent light. Ya gotta get a real incandescent bulb. Old school.

 

[uncle-buck]

Ok sounds good would you be willing to share the mod with me?
I've been running mine on DC 12v for a few years now but I'd be grateful for any extra tips you have!

Here are a couple of photos of the battery and connection. I cut off the original AC 'wall wart' adapter and used its cable and crimped on some battery connectors purchased from Home Depot. You can certainly go with a smaller battery, but I wanted one that would need charging less frequently.

IMPORTANT: Pay attention to polarity. The black wire with the gray hash marks is Positive.

 

[ChrisNZ]

From what I've read, drift is due to it being a load cell design, nothing to do with the power supply. You need to go to a magnetic restoration force design to get round that.

 

[A j shooter]

this


This will do the Same thing and works great.
Will plug rite up.

 

[338 dude]

Cell phones nearby and cfl or fluorescent lights along with ac power of any kind will make you hate a chargemaster. Fix these 3 issues and you can move on to other fires to fight and never worry about your scale again.

Also any Wi-Fi or Bluetooth signals

 

[uncle-buck]

View attachment 1174218
this


This will do the Same thing and works great.
Will plug rite up.

I almost bought that one. It's very nice and would be great for travel to matches, out of town, etc.

 

[A j shooter]

I almost bought that one. It's very nice and would be great for travel to matches, out of town, etc.

Charge last all week end too.

 

[nated]

Been there done that, let the magic smoke out of a charge master, expensive mistake; double check polarity before connecting a battery to a charge master!! Otherwise you'll make the same expensive mistake I've already made.

Ferrite core, I have the electricity lead wrapped around a ferrite core and that settled my drift problem. in fact I've been know to do both a battery and a lead wrapped in a ferrite core.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002MQGEK/?tag=accuratescom-20

 

[Big Mc]

Just wanted to give a shout out to Evan in Golden, CO for helping get my RCBS Chargemaster 1500 working so well.

He walked me through the process of converting its power source from AC adapter to battery power and it now works perfectly. No more scale drift!

Spent $50 on a Duracell 12V 12 amp hour battery and used the cord from an old AC adapter to connect the unit. Well worth the money.

I use two snap caps from Radio Shack has worked for years. Just my two cents Tommy Mc. And good luck finding a Radio Shack store.

 

[sunnyfisher]

My Chargemaster 1500 is designed to run on 9 Volt DC input, aren't you taking a chance of damaging the unit by running it on 12 volts ?

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I use two snap caps from Radio Shack has worked for years. Just my two cents Tommy Mc. And good luck finding a Radio Shack store.

Theres one in my town. I think its the last one.

 

[vargetman]

Steve Thye at Benchrite sells the wiring set up to convert to DC battery power. You could call Steve and ask him about the battery.

John