What did you do with your Blade 230s today?

[scottdrumfish]

Thanks, ok cool, no sweat. I'll do as you advised tomorrow. Also, I'm gonna set the timer back to five minutes until I can test them a few cycles to see if I can go six minutes. And you are right its pretty cold out, but man not like Canada, WoW, -33, how do you do it? Anyways, thanks as always and may God bring you warmer temperatures and me a scale heli, lol.

[BJ450L]

@scottdrumfish, where do you fly?? I live in Gautier, MS.

[motoxxxman]

I hit LVC almost every flight in my 230s. I know it's not great for it, so they say, but my batteries are all still in excellent condition. So I wouldn't worry. I've never seen a cell below 3.6v when hitting LVC, which really isn't low at all when considering possible damage.

[jrman83]

Originally Posted by motoxxxman

I hit LVC almost every flight in my 230s. I know it's not great for it, so they say, but my batteries are all still in excellent condition. So I wouldn't worry. I've never seen a cell below 3.6v when hitting LVC, which really isn't low at all when considering possible damage.

Is this what you want? This is just poor battery management. By now you have to know how long of a flight you can get? Get a cheap stop watch and pay attention to the time, if your radio doesn't have a timer. If you ever plan to go a little bigger, hitting LVC consistently is not good for the health of the packs. These cheap $10 packs may be little issue there, but it is something you should be practicing now - before you go bigger.

[jrman83]

Originally Posted by scottdrumfish

I did the test hover in the garage last night after the power connector upgrade for about 3 minutes and now I think that I forgot to recharge it but can not remember, which may be exactly why it went to LVC after 4 minutes hovering around. I guess that means 6 minutes is max flying time. The second pack flew 6 min fine. Now I hope I did not ruin a brand new pack. Dam Dam Dam. I also forgot to test the cells before and after.
Crap, Hopefully lesson learned. That pack is still charging on the stock charger. I'm gonna time the other, that should tell me a little something. Its been over an hour. Also, is it possible these packs need a cycle or two before they peak? I'll test more tomorrow.

Do yourself a big favor and throw that thing in the trash - or emergency use only! There are many cheap balance chargers out there that will work miles above the stock charger. I have one that has made a few thousand charges all the way up to 6S and it still runs perfectly. Here is what I got back when I first started flying the 230s:

https://www.amazon.com/Tenergy-Balan...+charger&psc=1

The power supply died on me about a year into its use, but easily replaced for about $10. Going strong ever since.

[Lotus 7]

+1 to the above advise. Those stock chargers are so inconsistent and can be wildly innacurate. For me they are a temporary solution, just meant to get you started. If you find you enjoy the hobby and intend to go further with it, then a decent charger is a wise investement.

[scottdrumfish]

Yes a good charger is on the list. I tested both packs and one cell on both was a little out. Charge time too is another reason. I'm gonna test fly today and No I do not want to hit LVC. It was occuring on mine because of the jst's which I replaced with Deans, however I left it jst on the y adapter only to the led's. My timer is now set for 5 minutes.I'm also considering upgrading the tail motor wiring to a lttle larger wire. Have any of you guys done that? Since my bird has gained some holiday weight.

[Allan114]

I escaped for a 1/2 hour today and put three packs through the heli. The weather was nice here with still air. I practiced flying backwards. On the sim I can do backward circuits, but its never the same in real life, so I am just practicing going backwards in a straight line controlling side to side and keeping a steady speed and height..

As for battery chargers if you buy a "Battery Doctor" for a few bucks you can check the battery cell voltage and balance the batteries on the Doctor. Also check the charged voltage and balance. I find my charger says 12.6v as it cuts off but the batteries quickly fall back to 12.45v. At this they do around 4 1/2 minutes before they reach about 3.7v per cell.

[HateTheDrake]

Anyone have experience with the thunder power tp610c?

I was looking at the tenergy as well and need to get something sooner than later with new batteries coming next week. I'm not sure how far out of balance cells get before it's concerning.

They start at 4.19-4.20 then end up 0.04-0.08 difference after 5m of easy flight. Sometimes more.

[Lotus 7]

That's quite a difference in voltage. Personally I wouldn't trust a pack that had cells discharging at such different rates. All my cells come down within 0.01 of each other.

[HateTheDrake]

Originally Posted by Lotus 7

That's quite a difference in voltage. Personally I wouldn't trust a pack that had cells discharging at such different rates. All my cells come down within 0.01 of each other.

Thanks, I'll keep an eye on it, but I definitely know at least one cell is usually more than .01 from the others. Many times like 3.74, 3.77 then 3.78.

I may contact HH for good measure as there's only 10 flights on it. It also does seem to have a little more give to it after flights, then is solid in 15 minutes. Certainly not puffed, but still it's kind of squishy.

[JonJet]

Until the difference gets to more than .2 volts I wouldn't worry about it...

I have seen packs come down at 3.808 - 3.812 - 3.808 - 3.795 - 3.804 - 3.808 on a 6S battery

Nothing to be concerned with unless it's 3.800 - 3.599 or more difference

Probably just the balance circuit in your charger...try slowing down the charge rate toward the end to see if you cannot balance the pack a bit closer and check the cells before the flight

[HateTheDrake]

Thanks, I don't think it's gone that far. I still use the one included which I know sucks. The pack for up to 4.25 after r last charge. But seems to balance itself out after a bit.

[JonJet]

Individual cells do not "balance out" with the other cells in the pack...

After the pack has rested a bit the total voltage may drop

If you use a parallel charging board you might notice if you leave them connected for 10 minutes after the charge cycle stops that all #1 cells are equal...all #2 cells are equal...etc etc

The individual cells in a pack cannot balance to each other...they simply combine to form the total voltage

Your charger is responsible for balancing each cell to create the total voltage after the charge is complete...and the slower you charge the better it can balance

A few charge cycles at a slow rate may balance the pack out better

[scottdrumfish]

I got to fly 950 packs in the srx/s, and 2 1300's in the 230s. It was a bit breezy, and my flying was rusty on the sticks but both flew well with no LVC occurances. I still think the tail motor on the 230 could use some better wiring, no problems though, just insurance paranoia I guess. I got the full 5 minutes out of them all. So, it was my fault for not remembering that I test hovered a few minutes on the new pack that went into LVS. So far so good. I met BJ on here. He is awesome and gonna try to come meet me tomorrow. Were gonna go fly at my aunts field and have a little fun. The 230 is heavier now but flew fine in the breeze that would gust hear and there. The 200 didn't like the gust, but flew fine. Oh yeah, the 200 flys way better with the stock TX too. Go figure, Go Fly

[jrman83]

The stock charger is not a balance charger. I think it would not be uncommon to find large disparities between cells when they are not being individually charged. The stock charger will push the batteries beyond what they should be charged to also, which hurts your packs in the long run. Before I bought a single new pack and charged it, I would have a solid balance charger to charge with. Otherwise, you're potentially damaging your brand new packs and tossing money in the garbage.

[Allan114]

Originally Posted by jrman83

The stock charger is not a balance charger. I think it would not be uncommon to find large disparities between cells when they are not being individually charged. The stock charger will push the batteries beyond what they should be charged to also, which hurts your packs in the long run. Before I bought a single new pack and charged it, I would have a solid balance charger to charge with. Otherwise, you're potentially damaging your brand new packs and tossing money in the garbage.

You should really have a charger that charges in "Balance" mode or use a Battery Doctor or equivalent to balance the batteries.

[net wurker]

Originally Posted by Allan114

You should really have a charger that charges in "Balance" mode or use a Battery Doctor or equivalent to balance the batteries.

Or both!

You can pick up one of those battery doctor gizmos for 10 or 12 bux at hobbyking. Great little tool to have.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbykin...tem-2s-6s.html

They are also good for discharging, like if you have all your packs charged, and then crash or something on the first flight and need to discharge all your batteries the 'non-fun' way at the end of the day..

[FloridaAKM]

I pulled out the 230 this morning & checked the battery since I have not flown it in a month or so. The BG-8s showed 3.85-3.84-3.45 in that order. This battery has probably 50 cycles on it & is never flown below 3.60 as a rule. After hooking it up to a computer charger, it spent 10 minutes trying to bring the low cell up to match the other two; after achieving the equalization of voltages, it continued charging @ 1c till the battery was fully charged. The elapsed time was 35 minutes for the complete charge & I always charged this Zippy battery @ 1c for a 1000 mAh 25c 3s pack. Sit Rep will continue after a flight in 40 degree weather.

Update: An 8 minute flight of puttering around the back yard (6 acres) in the 15 mph winds let the battery come down @ 3.70-3.69-3.69. I'll charge it up again & see how it holds a charge. If I was using a supplied charger that comes with the bird, I would not have a clue as to a possible problem.

[Lotus 7]

@Florida, I doubt it's anything you have done wrong - those Zippy packs tend to go that way sometimes, no matter how well you maintain them or look after them.