charging problems

[zigro]

I tried to charge the 400's battery using a car battery and I left it on for three hours because the charger said it was still charging and I called Horizon and they said to keep charging it no matter how long it takes, as long as it's not getting hot. I just got the power supply yesterday to see if that would make a difference. The charger said all cells were balanced but still charging, about every 5 minutes the fan would shut off momentarily and the cell 1 LED would flash red once. My volt meter said 12.26V. Do you think my batt is fully charged? Sorry about the long post. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brandon

[Heli Jim]

Nope that battery's not fully charged yet.

Fully charged, the 3S battery will read 12.6 volts. (4.2 per cell)

If it's not charging in an hour or so, then either the power supply is
not up to the job or the battery might be bad. Have you EVER run
it WAY down......like to LESS than 3.0 volts per cell? (9.0 total)

That CAN and often DOES damage the battery.

[The_Russian]

I am running two batteries on my B400. One is the stock battery and the other is a Parkzone 1800 that came with my T-28. For some reason, the PZ battery takes an hour to charge while the E-Flite take two hours. Both were given the same break in procedure in the B400 because I didn't fly the T-28 right away. (did it today, it was fun!) I am using the stock charger, too.

:thinking Who knows?

[Newinflight]

Please understand a volt meter first!!! It is only reading a No-load voltage! To find out the true voltage in your battery you need to put it under load! Then either use an oscillscope or a properly sized resistor as a load! I suggest finding an all in one charger that will do this for you! But just remember that a volt meter can be dangerous...if you accidently put it in the 'current' selection you will create a dead short across your leads! Be careful and spend the money on the proper equipment for these new batteries!!!

[WizardKing]

As stated above,be careful. I found out years ago that Li-Po's will imitate plastique explosives if the opportunity of a short-circuit is present.

I was trying to put a curve into one (so it could be installed into another gadget) when it snapped in two . . . there were sparks and a slow-motion(ish) explosion as I threw it outside and slammed the patio-door closed. There was enough thick, black smoke to block out direct sunlight for the next couple of minutes :shock:

Sorry, back to charging.
I've found the stock charger to have the same design flaw as each and every so-called "balancing charger" I've ever examined, from various manufacturers. Following a self-claimed status of fully charged and balanced I have always found that only one cell reads 4.2 NLV (no load voltage) and the remainder are a tad lower . . . always!

It appears to be that, as one cell reaches capacity, charge to the remainder is cut. Which seems to mean that there's no point using any (at least of the few dozen or so I've examined) balancing charger.
The use of a good quality charger, ideally with a detailed display screen, has always proven to be a safe and reliable method by myself and many others at my flight-club and off-road r/c club.

[The_Russian]

What charger setup are you using?

[Heli Jim]

I use a DN charger and it charges thru the balance plug and therefore charges
EACH cell seperatly. It's like having (up to) 4 chargers hooked up to your
battery. each cell gets topped off and the charger finally quits when ALL cells
have reached 4.2 volts. I think this is much better than having a charger that
just charges thru the main plug.

[HeliMix]

I tried to charge the 400's battery using a car battery and I left it on for three hours because the charger said it was still charging and I called Horizon and they said to keep charging it no matter how long it takes, as long as it's not getting hot.
What did you ever find out here Brandon? I am having a similar problem. Cannot charge two batteries that have been in use for a while. Now, two of them will not charge. Lights are all staying green, with the charge status red as it should be when charging, but ti never charges. Fan comes on and off. Battery is not getting hot at all. Had on on for a good two hours. Any one have anya ideas? I am using the stock charger, power supply, never run them down to dead. When the heli needs move a lot power to stay up, I bring it down and shut it off. I have tried to my best to take care of them. They are $65 each. I hope that is not wasted money.

[carlo_the_wonder_frog]

As stated above,be careful. I found out years ago that Li-Po's will imitate plastique explosives if the opportunity of a short-circuit is present.


In no way does a LiPo anywhere near resemble plastic explosives ( C4), a comparable weight piece of plastic explosive will tear you limb from limb, you'll be lucky to get a 2nd degree burn from a LiPo. Contrary to popular belief Lipo batteries do Not "Explode", rather they shoot a jet of flame and smoke out, enough to cause the battery to move like a low powered bottle rocket. In no way should this be construed as an explosion.

[MaxKool]

What did you ever find out here Brandon? I am having a similar problem. Cannot charge two batteries that have been in use for a while. Now, two of them will not charge. Lights are all staying green, with the charge status red as it should be when charging, but ti never charges. Fan comes on and off. Battery is not getting hot at all. Had on on for a good two hours. Any one have anya ideas? I am using the stock charger, power supply, never run them down to dead. When the heli needs move a lot power to stay up, I bring it down and shut it off. I have tried to my best to take care of them. They are $65 each. I hope that is not wasted money.


honesly ill chock it up to the stock chargers are junk. If you are serious in the hobby do yourself a favor and get a decent changer. Im still using my dng2 from my cx2days but even it is miles better than the stock one. Somthing funny is I had to bypass the overvolt protection on the stock cell to get it to charge on the DN. With that lttle board wired in one cell would give bizzare readings. I resoldered the one wire from the board back to the cell directly and it works awesome. Just somthing to keep in mind.

I think you can get a DN for like $50 if you hunt around... somthing better or in the 120+ range if you want somthign realy good.

[HeliMix]

Moved it.

[Mon_t]

Hi everyone, I had the exact same problem a couple of weeks back
and the guys at the lhs said it was the charger, because it was the 3rd one that week.
I tried charging the battery on my friends swallow and it kept saying no battery.
Turns out it was the circuit in the battery that had died and the exchanged under warranty for a new dualsky xpower 2200...... which has so much more grunt, I had to dial down the throttle curve to keep the head speed to a sane rpm.