Was all set to fly today and MZ-24 said nope.. I turned it on and a fairly fresh battery conked out while I was calibrating.. I pulled it out and put my backup-- nope, voltage low.. These batteries were charged! What's the deal? Where's the EASY button?
How were the batteries charged, Justin? That sounds like the prime culprit -- or you've got some bad batteries. Flying copters does not have an Easy button, I'm afraid. The only one I've seen recently was on a TV remote. Andy.
Charged in the Graupner.. Andy, I love you by the way.. Have your videos and you rock.. I read that turning it on could do bad things while charging. Would that damage the transmitter or batteries? Why in the world would they make a charger that could do any damage?? Makes no sense !!??
That's not good. It should charge up the batteries properly. I've not seen that problem before. That's very kind of you to say so. I appreciate the feedback. I'm really not sure other than perhaps the additional current pulled by having both the transmitter and the battery being charged might pull too much out of the charger? I noticed that for both the MX20 and MC32 I have and scratched my head.... I made up a charging harness for the Hyperion SuperDuo so I can charge transmitter batteries when they're not in the transmitter. Andy.
Andy you are a wealth of information beyond what you could possibly imagine! Do you think the transmitter could fry itself by being turned on while charging?
Just FYI there's a sign in my office that says: "There has been an alarming increase in the number of topics about which I know absolutely nothing." Not so much the transmitter as the charging circuit in the transmitter. Andy.
Justin: I have inadvertently left my MX-20 on while charging. Nothing bad happened, but I know you are not supposed to do it. Sometimes I just leave the Graupner on the shelf, and turn it on when I'm using MKTools, to avoid the constant beeping. I had a similar problem with a Spektrum, one of my Spektrum Tx wall chargers (brand new) was not putting out the correct voltage (4v and not 6v). No clue why. I'd check the voltage output on your charger.
Thanks Gary, I'm going to head to RadioShack today to try to see if I can get any sort of charger that will work. Thank you. And I really hope it's just a charger.
Andy, could you tell me how to adapt a cable so I can charge it on my big charger. I would love to be able to do this today. Im grounded until I can find a way to charge the battery. So aggravating! But, I guess the good thing is that this has happened before a job. Thanks again for all of your help, I will keep you guys updated.
Justin: Sure.... You've got a make or buy decision. If you want to go with "buy," buy one of these: http://www.rcplanet.com/LRP_Chargin...LRP65824.htm?gclid=CMPHnfj5xL4CFZFufgodPYcAwg If you want to go with "make," I'm not sure which charger you have, so I'll assume that you have Hyperion Superduo 720 (Why? Just 'cos I have one. ) You need to get some fairly substantial wire, not super-heavy as the currents are not that great. One end will need to have banana plugs attached, and the other will need the opposite gender from the connector on the Graupner battery. So it will be something like this http://www.progressiverc.com/jst-charge-cable.html except the JST connector will need to be a JR connector. EDIT Sorry. I wrote this paragraph before I found the rcplanet.com product! I just searched for: charging banana JR In the case of the SuperDuo, you can use Radio Shack banana plugs like these http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2991085 or, if you have the time to wait search on amazon.com -- you don't need to buy the Monster size (and price) banana jacks. As for the battery end, you will probably need JR connectors -- they are three wire connectors, but only two are used and you will need a crimping tool to make the connections. Let me know which way you want to go: make or buy. Andy.
I do all of my TX batteries outside the TX. In my case with a couple of Powerlab 8's. Better data and probably a bit better charge time. And don't worry if your battery doesn't have a balance connector.
Thank you so much! Went to local hobby shop and they hooked me up with the cable!! Few things and lessons learned-- 1- the batteries are fine 2- the transmitter is fine 3- I have a NiMH battery and a LIPO when your NiMH battery goes under voltage (disabling all menu functions) you CAN NOT put the LIPO in the transmitter without charging the NiMH then selecting "LIPO" as the TX battery type.. It does however work the opposite for some reason.. It will auto detect the NiMH. You can put a fully charged LIPO inside but it will always say LOW VOLTAGE until you put the NiMH and change the battery type to LIPO ----- Lesson learned-- ONLY USE LIPOS!!!! 4- always have a secondary way to charge batteries. 5- buy an octopus or "squid" with all the connections. Also, not sure of this one-- I have the Graupner charger and a beefy 50amp power supply.. At my house I can charge two 10000mah 6s batteries simultaneously no problem.. At my friends house I can not. Had to charge them signally or the unit would shut off... Any ideas??
To much power on the same circuit powering the outlet you are connecting to. Probably has other stuff, computer, monitors on the same 15a circuit.
Glad you got it sorted, Justin. Your lessons learned are good ones. As to the Graupner charger: 1. What charging current are you charging the 10,0000 6S Lipo's at? 2. What voltage does your 50 amp power supply output? 3. Do you take the same 50 amp power supply to your friends house? 4. Any reason why the AC wall voltage at your place and your friend's might be different? 5. Any other differences you can think of? I think the charger is hitting a limit of current, voltage, or temperature, and doing a self-protection shut down, but I don't know why. Andy.
Hey Andy-- 1- 10amps 2- 15-30v 50amps. At my house it does 14.5-15.3v (says the display on the power supply) and my friends it seemed like it didn't break 12-13v 3- yes I did 4- its possible his AC power into the house is less then mine. I have an "upgraded" 240 power (i think) when they installed a new AC. 5- not really? The charger I have is the Graupner Polaron EX - http://www.quadrocopter.com/Graupner-Polaron-EX-DC-Charger_p_1213.html The power supply is - http://www.quadrocopter.com/eFuel-1200W50A-Power-Supply_p_1246.html Few Question for you- 1-if I plug into my car battery, and turn the car on, should I be able to charge two of my Lipo 6s 10000s at 10amps? 2- what do you think the best and safest charging amps for this type of battery would be? Thanks guys!
Justin if you are running the Polaron at 24V, according to the specs, the max you can get out of it is 400W/16.6 amps which would be a 1.6C charge rate. I have always charged everything at a 2C rate. Lots of opinions of 1C, 2C, .5C rates, a rate for every opinion The eFuel has more than enough power for your charger. If you use the car battery then the specs say 220W@12V, so about 18.33A. If conditions were perfect then you would have two batteries at 9A.
Ok, stupid question, what are 1C. 2C etc? Also, if I can charge at 10amps with 2 batteries in my house is that bad? Lucky? Stupid?
C is the capacity of the battery in Amp Hours. So take a 10,000 milliAmp hour battery, divide the number by 1,000 to get to Amp Hours and you get 10. That's the C. Now you know that to charge it at 1C you can charge it at 1 * 10 (or 10Amps), or 2C (2 * 10, or 20 Amps). If it's rated as maximum discharge of 25C, then that's 250 Amps. Andy.
I forgot to answer your second question: Charging any LiPo, any time runs the risk of a LiPo fire. Is it stupid? No. Is it without risk? No. Is it really likely to catch fire? Don't really know. Is it best done when you're in the room to keep an eye on things? Yes. I use a Hyperion charger that has small temperature sensing "pucks" that I rest on the LiPo when I'm charging. If the temperature of the LiPo gets too hot (which is a precursor to a fire), then the the charger shuts down. I also keep a small metal trashcan to hand into which I plan to dump any burning LiPo should the opportunity present. Andy.
A correction. Looked at your manual this morning. It is 400W per side at 24V. So you should be able to charge each battery at 10amps without issue if the power supply will supply the amps needed. You should be able to do that with the eFuel.