My charger flashes red 6 times and the info sheet on my charger says"There is a 300mv difference of voltage between battery paks". One pak=3.70V the sec one=3.17 and the third=3.59. This is an 11.1V 3S 1800mah lipo. Is the battery shot? Is the charger out of whack?(it is brand new)? Is it bad just to plug it in and let er go? I don't know what all this means???? Thank you for the help!!
-
-
RE: Charger??SkyRc e3
I think your charger is telling you that there is too much difference between the individual cells of your battery. If you have a way to equalize the cells, I would try that before giving up on the battery. Many of the LiPo voltage checkers can sense this delta, and will slowly discharge the affected cell(s) to equalize the cells to each other. Once that is done, you can then do a balance charge on the battery and see if it will come back. -
RE: Charger??SkyRc e3
It is also telling you that you used too much of the battery charge; one cell is completely flat, while the other two are just above that. Small variations in the cells can cause this, as the battery reaches depletion. Rule of thumb is to use no more than 80% of charge, so get a cell checker and time your flights, so that, a few minutes after landing, no cell is below 3.7V.Originally posted by LoneflierComment
-
RE: Charger??SkyRc e3
This is a safety feature. Your battery has two issues:
1) The cells are way to far out of balance
2) The 3.17V cell is dead
Both of these are serious safety issues. If the cells are that far out of balance, the charger cannot bring it back in balance and what can happen is an overcharge of the higher voltage cells (serious safety issue). This is why the charger will not charge this battery. The 3.17V cell is dead. The 3.59V cell is close to dead. I personally aim to land when my battery packs are 3.8V per cell (measured at rest about 2 min after landing). It is ok if you get to 3.75V per cell but I would not recommend going below 3.75V. When you go below 3.75V per cell, IR (internal resistance) can go up, C rating goes down, and cell damage occurs. This damage cannot be reversed. The battery pack will never perform like new again. Subsequent discharges can cause the cells to become more and more out of balance. I've run packs too long in planes and killed them after 1 use. The situation you have is now dangerous. Inferior chargers may attempt to charge that battery but make no mistake - it would be extremely dangerous to attempt this. Again, this is why the SkyRC charger will not charge the battery. Lastly, trying to charge a cell which is at 3.17V is extremely dangerous even if ALL the cells were the exact same voltage. When a cell's voltage is this low, we know IR (internal resistance) has gone up and the cell is damaged. Trying to charge a cell with high IR causes the pack to heat up and can be extremely dangerous. When you apply charge amperage (current) to something with high internal resistance, you will get heat which is not what you want for a battery. Again, these conditions are extremely dangerous. This battery should be disposed of properly (salt water bath to bring the voltage to zero and throw it in the trash).
This is why batteries should only be stored in fireproof containers and charged in fireproof containers.Comment
Comment