Bizzare battery pack

[bigblackken]

Bought two 3S1P 11.1V/2200mah CHEAPO packs to try out. One of them seems to work great on my blade400.

the other one is acting tottally goofy. I get about 4 min of hover and then the heli starts to die.
i think the first time i checked it, after a charge everything was ok, close to 4.20 V (all 3 cells). After the flight, 3.42v, 3.78v, 3.81.

charge it up to 4.22, 4.16, 4.15V i get another crappy flight and the pack reads (3.59, 3.81, 3.81).

i have just put 850 ma back in and get a reading 4.22,4.16, 4.15

So is this pack salvageable? It seems to be improving but am not really sure. It seems like Cell #1 is always the problem cell. it is the first to get discharged, and i think it is triggering the low voltage cutoff, but it is also the first to get charged up triggering the peak voltage cut off on the charger. It seems like it charges and discharges the fastest. Can someone please explain what is going on, why, and what i should do?

thanks!

[redgiki]

Looks like you have a low cell in your pack. Welcome to the world of poor-quality, non-matched-cell packs. Get a replacement.

With these cheap batteries, it's really the luck of the draw. The cells are balanced to one another then slapped into a pack. With higher-quality batteries, the battery discharge curve is graphed, and similar-discharge batteries are matched to one another into packs.

One of your cells is functioning like a 1000mAh cell. If brand-new, your pack should still be under warranty. If it was from HobbyCity, they really do honor their warranty... you just have to be persistent, polite, and patient.