RC India

RC Equipments => Batteries and Chargers => Topic started by: asinghatiya on November 09, 2010, 06:57:19 PM

Title: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: asinghatiya on November 09, 2010, 06:57:19 PM
received today my esky 6 channel heli. but unfortunately it Li-po is not charging :'(. What is the possible reason?? its a 1800 Mh 3 cell LIPO and when charging both light of charger blinking! means its not charging.

Any way out??
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: findvikas on November 09, 2010, 07:03:49 PM
Red light flashing means the battery is faulty. Try charging any other battery if you have or charging with another charger.
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: asinghatiya on November 09, 2010, 07:09:33 PM
other battery is charging with this charger. Wot if the battery is faulty???
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: findvikas on November 09, 2010, 07:13:53 PM
if battery is faulty then I am not sure you can do much, I would not attempt to charge a faulty Lipo as it could turn up in disaster :)
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: anwar on November 09, 2010, 07:15:19 PM
You have to measure individual cell voltages, to take this forward.  If you do not have the right equipment or do not feel comfortable doing this, please seek help from local fliers.
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: findvikas on November 09, 2010, 07:23:04 PM
Anwar... could you tell me the process to check the volt. on individual cells... I do have the equipments but not sure how to use them :)
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: asinghatiya on November 09, 2010, 07:24:23 PM
yeah to mee also ... i dont have equipment but, want to know and what after that?
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: findvikas on November 09, 2010, 07:31:06 PM
Ok.. I think I found it. All you need is a volt meter.
for 2cell you have three wires for charging...

put the black (-ve) wire of meter on the first wire and red (+ve) on the middle wire, note down the volts - 1st cell
put the black (-ve) wire of meter on the second wire this time and red (+ve) on the third wire, note down the volts - 2nd cell

same way you can check the volt of 3cell as well..

put the black (-ve) wire of meter on the first wire and red (+ve) on the middle wire, note down the volts - 1st cell
put the black (-ve) wire of meter on the second wire this time and red (+ve) on the third wire, note down the volts - 2nd cell
put the black (-ve) wire of meter on the third wire this time and red (+ve) on the forth wire, note down the volts - 3rd cell


Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: SunLikeStar on November 09, 2010, 07:37:35 PM
Quote from: asinghatiya on November 09, 2010, 06:57:19 PM
....both light of charger blinking! means its not charging.

Any way out??
try this, turn your charger on, connect the battery balance port to the charger, then instead of directly connecting the power port i.e deans, just make them touch gently. repeat two three times until the charger goes in charging mode, when the charger goes into charging mode push the deans in to secure them.
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: anwar on November 09, 2010, 07:39:23 PM
Quote from: findvikas on November 09, 2010, 07:23:04 PM
Anwar... could you tell me the process to check the volt. on individual cells... I do have the equipments but not sure how to use them :)
Well, if you have a charger with an LCD display (like the common 50W 6s ones from any brand), they have the ability to show individual cell voltages. Otherwise, you will need a cell monitor like this : http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=8927

Those are the easiest options. 

Otherwise, you can carefully use a multimeter.  But take extreme caution when you measure cell voltages via the balance connector. 

This will tell you if it is an issue with a deep discharge, or one cell is completely dead etc.  Based on that, you can either try to revive the lipo, or discard it (some savvy people cut out the bad cells and use the rest, but highly discouraged unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing !).
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: asinghatiya on November 09, 2010, 07:47:57 PM
hey thanks dear ....it started working. Actually I conneted my old small lipo with it which was wroking fine and then i simultaneously connected this battery too and then removed the smaller battery and the charger keep the charging on.  {:)}... actually I make charger a fool that a OK battery is connected..........now after few minutes its now working perfectly fine.
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: findvikas on November 09, 2010, 07:50:01 PM
wow... do we have a sticky for all the Lipo issues... we could use this technique there :)
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: SunLikeStar on November 09, 2010, 07:56:24 PM
aaah.. i wanted you to use my method ;)
anyways congrats..
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: anwar on November 09, 2010, 07:58:34 PM
You connected two batteries at the same time ? :headscratch:  One should be very careful with such stuff.

In any case, it looks like the battery was deep discharged.
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: asinghatiya on November 09, 2010, 08:04:54 PM
yeah connecting two battries is full risk. Sunlikestar's way is safe and it worked well too, I think you are right Anwar it was deep discharged hence was not catching the charging current. But when I again tried the way Sunlikestar suggested it worked {:)}. A better and safe way to charge. Thanks all .
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: asinghatiya on November 10, 2010, 10:21:39 AM
What is the ideal time when the Li-Po battry is fully charged. Its a fresh battery so will it take a longer time to charge ?
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: prateek13 on November 10, 2010, 10:53:07 AM
is it charged ?
Title: Re: struggling with a new li-po battery
Post by: asinghatiya on November 10, 2010, 11:11:59 AM
yeah its charging (the green light is blinking appropriately). But havent charged it full as I dont know how long it will take and I was busy with other activities so I dont want to left it alone charging (heard a lot about the blasts :banghead: and burns of LiPos).