I flew my drone for the second time the other day and didn’t notice the low voltage. The battery hit like 7v as the minimum according the the flight summary pop up but at my charger one was like 11.8 and the other was 10.9 or something like that. I tried charging them up and the both got to around 14.8 or .9 but they arent going past it or gaining mah
#two of my batteries are not charging, am I able to fix it
hollow lava
The first time I flew I thought 14.8 was lowest a 4s should go but second time I knew like 12.5 was safe and expected the osd to have an obvious warning but the battery symbol was just flashing some so I didn’t notice it
rich crystal
The first time I flew I thought 14.8 was lowest a 4s should go but second time I...
14V is the lowest for 4s
hollow lava
i thought 3v per cell before damage
tame falcon
there is very little battery left below 3.5V
hollow lava
yeah
rich crystal
does your charger autodetect the cell count, or did you set it manually?
tame falcon
does your charger show the individual cell voltages?
hollow lava
no
tame falcon
what charger is it?
hollow lava
its a imax b6 but one of the better versions of it
tame falcon
still a bomb
anyway
it shows the individual cell voltages
during charging
iirc you have to click > or <
check those
hollow lava
yep
tame falcon
and send a photo of them
hollow lava
tame falcon
That's not the better version of thhe B6
that's the version of the b6 that tried to blow up my flat 🙂
do you have a multimeter or a cell checker?
The B6 has a very curious way of failing
hollow lava
No, I need to get one
hollow lava
US
tame falcon
ah, alright
Thought these were hard to get in the US
anyway
show a photo of the charging settings that you're using on the B6
hollow lava
I got it like 3 years ago if that matters
tame falcon
I got it like 3 years ago if that matters
How many lipos have gone through it?
tame falcon
You should be using Lipo Balance charge
tame falcon
Like maybe 15-30
mine failed after about 100, maybe a bit more..
but I was doing a lot of balancing of shitty lipos
which accelerated the death of the balancing circuitry
hollow lava
I didn’t balance for a while with mine
tame falcon
I didn’t balance for a while with mine
hollow lava
They were just like 2 cell 300 mah things for my plastic battlebot
The I went to 3 cell 450mah and I think I started balancing then
tame falcon
Balancing is not optional
lipos naturally go out of balance over time
and eventually you'll overcharge a cell
and it will explode
hollow lava
Yeah
tame falcon
it's not a question of luck, it's a certainty
hollow lava
I know more now
tame falcon
There is a finite number of charges, with good lipos it's a bit over a dozen, before they tend to blow up
well anyway
you should be using balance charge..
however
the fact that it can't charge anymore is extremely worrying
I would store the lipos safely and get a multimeter/cell checker before continuing to use that charger
My B6AC started to have real issues with finishing charging. It would take longer and longer, before eventually its sensing circuitry glitched the firmware and it tried to overcharge one cell to beyond 4.5V
the readout on the B6AC still showed 4.1V or something like that
hollow lava
Would I be able to plug it into my drone to check what it reads the voltage as being
tame falcon
Your drone will only show you the total voltage
not the individual cell voltages
unless you do some ugly wiring hackery
hollow lava
No thanks
tame falcon
so, since you have a charging issue, and you have a charger that's a known bomb... I would be very careful.
Also, your charging cable doesn't look very nice
Please tell me that those connections under tape are soldered, not just wrapped around... @hollow lava
tame falcon
hm, so it's not a resistance issue
the charger charges the lipo by having a higher voltage than the lipo
if there is too much resistance in the wires, the charger won't be able to go high enough..
but that doesn't seem to be your case, if they're soldered
yeah idk
to me it smells of a faulty B6AC
hollow lava
I didn’t do the best job soldering it so I’ll redo that and get a multimeter before I do anything else
tame falcon
@rich crystal any ideas on something I could've missed?
mostly talking about this:
I tried charging them up and the both got to around 14.8 or .9 but they arent going past it or gaining mah
hollow lava
Actually the solder was a pretty bad job, the solder didn’t slide into the join
One of them went up to full after I made this post
hollow lava
Yeah
I just got $75 in amazon gift cards, are there any good chargers on that. Or any chargers that are the real ones
tame falcon
The standard recommendation here is the HOTA D6 Pro
it's expensive, but it has a pretty spotless reliability record
hollow lava
Is that on Amazon
tame falcon
idk
can also be sometimes found under the brand Hobbymate
Other HOTA chargers should also be okay
hollow lava
I’ve only heard recommendations for the hota, never complaints beyond price
tame falcon
Below that sits stuff from ToolkitRC and ISDT
most of it requires an external PSU, so add that to the price
(some have AC variants)
a common recommendation is something like the ToolkitRC M7
or M7AC
hollow lava
There are like 8 amazon sellers for the hota d6 pro
tame falcon
You can't really go wrong with the Hota D6 Pro, I can't remember when was the last time I saw any issue with it.
I have seen one on which one of the outputs died, and another on which the XT60 melted down.
But that's it, over all the years.
Meanwhile, a bunch of faulty ToolkitRC and ISDT chargers, and A LOT of faulty B6's..
hollow lava
the hota d6 pro is the same as the hobby mate d6 pro right
Because hobbymate has an Amazon storefront so if it is I can get it off that and know it’s a real one
tame falcon
the hota d6 pro is the same as the hobby mate d6 pro right
as far as I know, yes, but verify.