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M10 Lipo issue; advice?

Discussion in 'MōVI M10' started by Ben Huddleston, Nov 1, 2013.

  1. Ben Huddleston

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    I'm having a problem where a used-once lipo doesn't register anything on the little voltage checker, isn't accepted by the Freefly charger and appears dead. I ran it in the movi for several hours first, and a little while after there was only one green light left, I pulled it off. An hour later when I went to charge it it appears totally dead.

    No evident damage, no swelling, etc. I perplexed. I'm also a little stressed now, as I'm on a weeklong shoot out East where we're using the movi extensively. I am down to 2 lipos now, which leaves no room for error in my charging pattern.

    Any suggestions? Maybe I can get Freefly to overnight me a couple, but I can't understand why it may have died....

    Thanks for any help.
     
  2. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Ben do you access to a voltmeter? Some of the lipo checkers didn't work very well and they are no longer included in the kit. Let us know what voltage you are seeing with the volt meter. Anything less than 13.2 becomes questionable. Less than 12 it is likely DOA.
     
  3. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    The sneaky trick to revive it is to charge it up on a different LiPo battery charger as a NiMh, but with a charge rate of 0.1Amps (very slowly), until you can get the voltage up to around 13 volts. If you do it quickly after it appears to over-discharged, you can usually recover the battery.

    If you don't have a second battery charger, send it to me and I'll try and revive it using a Hyperion Super Duo 720i.

    I had the same thing happen to me, but (I confess), I went out to lunch and left the MōVI on....

    Andy.
     
  4. Ben Huddleston

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    Thanks for the offer Andy; I don't actually have another Lipo charger. I'm getting our key grip to track me down a multimeter to check the actual voltage, but I have 3 different Lipo voltage testers, and all of them don't recognize any voltage. The charger from Freefly just blinks red, alternating "1S" and "Charge Status."

    Very bummed; needed that extra battery....
     
  5. Wolfgang Armin

    Wolfgang Armin Active Member

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    Ben,
    first of all I'd check the balancer connection. I once had a problem with another lipo and it was that particular connection that caused the problem.
    Second: don't worry. As a last resource you could always go to a hobby store and buy ANY 4s Lipo that you think can be somehow attached (velcro?) and balanced with the System. They are really affordable. Attention: you need the right jst connector and balancer connector, or an adapter plug. As a last resort you can find somebody who is able to solder a connector, so you should at least buy some of those, they are cheap.
    Hope thet helps not to panic.
     
  6. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    The specific connectors you need are a JST connector (for the main power lead) and a JST-XH for the balance connection.
    Wolfgang's correct, just about any hobby shop will sell a 4S LiPo (except, of course, the one I would go into were this to happen to me!) :)

    Andy.
     
  7. Ben Huddleston

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    Thanks for the info. I have a method for leap-frogging batteries to keep me going, which worked all day today, but if I were to lose another one, I would be in real panic mode. Just need to make it though 2 more shoot days....

    Ben
     
  8. Ben Huddleston

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    So the battery leapfrogging worked fine; we just had to be on top of it.

    I got home and tested the battery, and sure enough the total voltage was (is) at 10.3v. This means that the battery dropped from 12.8v down to the danger zone extremely rapidly. I was monitoring it quite closely with the included tiny voltage tester and and it started at 16.7v and dropped to 13v at a very constant rate. The drop to below 12v must have been way more than twice as fast, especially considering it ended up at 10v.

    Ah well, live and learn. I'll switch out at around 14v from now on.
     
  9. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Ben safer to do it at 14.4 under load. That's 3.6 per cell. Nice safe number and you will have consumed about 75-80% of the capacity. Guidance is that LiPo's shouldn't go below 20% remaining.
     

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