HELP BATTERIES AREN'T BALANCING

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HELP BATTERIES AREN'T BALANCING

Postby Bio Hazzard » Mon Mar 18, 2013 6:56 am

Oh the frustration, after all of my old batteries gave way due to witnessing too many crashes I decided to buy a new set. Originally I used 2 zippys and had no problems with them until I crashed them to death. On my second order of batteries I got some turnigy's instead because they looked a little bit nicer, I had no complaints with the turnigy's at that time. Now for whats happened to me, this time around I've bravely bought 6 turnigy 2200 mah 3S batteries seeming I go through them so fast - 4 of them from the international warehouse, the other 2 from the aus warehouse. So after charging the batteries I realised they aren't balancing, so then I tried the other batteries - still no luck. After painfully trying multiple times to get any of the 6 batteries to charge and balance I finally gave up. So I want to know if anyone has some ideas on what it could be and what I should do?

** SPECS **

Charger: Turnigy accucel 6

Battery balance info:

*************************************************
**BATT number** cell 1 ** cell 2 ** cell 3 **
*************************************************
** BATT 1 ** 4.17 ** 4.20 ** 4.15 **
** BATT 2 ** 4.20 ** 4.20 ** 4.11 **
** BATT 3 ** 4.19 ** 4.20 ** 3.86 **
** BATT 4 ** 4.19 ** 4.20 ** 4.06 **
** BATT 5 ** 4.19 ** 4.20 ** 4.18 **
** BATT 6 ** 4.20 ** 4.19 ** 4.14 **
************************************************

Is it safe to fly on any of these batteries? Is it worth returning them to HobbyKing? Could the charging be broken?
Note: battery 5 might still balance, I'll try a little harder to get it charged.

Thanks, Bio Hazzard
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Re: HELP BATTERIES AREN'T BALANCING

Postby BillGriffiths100 » Mon Mar 18, 2013 8:39 am

Note there's a pattern to the charging: cell three is down on all the batteries I would suspect the charger.
Try measuring the actual cell voltages on the balance lead with a multimeter, be careful don't short them!!
It's safe to fly on them you need to make sure you don't run them down to far, measure the voltages after a flight and see that the lowest cell is still above it's safe discharge value.
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Re: HELP BATTERIES AREN'T BALANCING

Postby cynr100 » Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:01 am

#3 definitely has an issue #4 maybe, my (1)Zippy 2200 and (1)Turnigy 2200 operate within +/-0.1v as I understand it this is acceptable. Apart from #3 & #4 your worst is 0.09v.
Have you tried using the Accucell to load a "storage charge" to your batteries , 3.7v +/- 0.1v is considered normal. Let them rest for a day then apply full charge.
An essential part of your kit with Li-Po's is one of these
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... rch=hk-010
I always use the balance function on this after each charge, it is generally finished with 2-3 minutes.

I fear that Bill is on the right track, just be carefull with the multimeter.
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Re: HELP BATTERIES AREN'T BALANCING

Postby Bio Hazzard » Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:03 pm

Used multimeter to check cell voltages through balance port as bill suggested, unfortunately its showing the same voltage as the charger is. Also normally I fly with a beeper alarm with a lvc function, atm I don't have mine so I'm using my dx6is timer in the mean while.
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Re: HELP BATTERIES AREN'T BALANCING

Postby cynr100 » Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:34 am

You should also be able to program your ESC for voltage cutoff (low, medium,high). All my ESC's are set for medium which gives control and a slowing throttle, the battery finishing with avg 3.8v per cell. I would never use low, this gives a hard cutoff to the throttle and most times no Tx/Rx control and leaves the cells with 3.0-.1v,below long life level.
Constantly discharging the Li-po's to 100% generates heat and shortens the life of the cells.
If you haven't grab, yourself a programing card for your brand of ESC. Most of them are a pinch of p*ss to operate and beats dicking around with thebeep beep method.
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Re: HELP BATTERIES AREN'T BALANCING

Postby Bio Hazzard » Tue Mar 19, 2013 4:03 am

Ok, I'm trying discharging to a storage charge then retrying balancing atm. For the mean while I'm going to keep flights to a 4 minute limit seeming I mostly fly at 100% throttle as we all do. When I get my lvc alarm back I'll use that instead. Also I had a *bump* with a tree a couple days ago, I think battery #3 might have been the one that banged into the tree and got damaged a bit more - it wasn't balancing new either though. At the moment I'm being very very cautious with my lipos, my last AXN was lost due to a lipo explosion after landing it at a 90º angle :P, now whenever I fly or charge my batteries I carry a small $20 extinguisher around with me! It was really painful though seeing a perfectly good AXN ever so slowly burn into a crisp, I know I could've saved it if I had that extinguisher :cry: Oh well can't keep playing the "what if" game.
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Re: HELP BATTERIES AREN'T BALANCING

Postby cynr100 » Tue Mar 19, 2013 4:23 am

Bio Hazzard wrote:For the mean while I'm going to keep flights to a 4 minute limit seeming I mostly fly at 100% throttle as we all do.

Hmmmmmm..... :lol: :idea: Hey Bio you might try gliding for a bit, power to height then glide down, doing what you want to do :lol: , gives your ESC and battery a rest. You might try 50% throttle with a 6x4e prop, that's good for 10-15min of just tooling around. I get 4-5 flights of about 10 minutes and only use about 40% batt and that includes rolls, loops etc (yep I'm getting really game now), the only reason I land is to have a rest :lol:If you are looking for something with constant speed and fun to fly try the SkyFun delta from HK. I get about 5min from a 2200maH on a 25ampESC, a 3500kv motor running a 5x5e prop. Again I use "medium" voltage cutoff and nothing is worse than warm on landing.
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Re: HELP BATTERIES AREN'T BALANCING

Postby Bio Hazzard » Tue Mar 19, 2013 4:44 am

I thought I had ordered a 6x4e prop but it was a 6x5e instead so for mean while switching back to stock prop. Oh and everyone tells me I fly to fast and should slow down every once and a while :lol: I guess inverted flying a meter from the ground at full throttle never gets old, that's what I love about the AXN it gives you those flights that really make you grip hard on your radio when you push the damm thing ;)
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Re: HELP BATTERIES AREN'T BALANCING

Postby cynr100 » Tue Mar 19, 2013 5:04 am

Bio Hazzard wrote: I guess inverted flying a meter from the ground at full throttle never gets old

Love to be at your field to watch you fly :o :lol: :lol: , got any vids to share :?:
The 6x5 is burning up your batteries.
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Re: HELP BATTERIES AREN'T BALANCING

Postby Bio Hazzard » Tue Mar 19, 2013 5:09 am

I only have 808 camera footage, but my new AXN seems to not be performing well. So I'm a bit hesitant to push it atm. Plus I'm learning the ins & outs of my new flying field.
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