Dead battery? Cell error on Admiral 3500mah

[UltraVargen]

So I finally got myself one of those fancy SkyRC programmable battery chargers as I suspected the cheap Heng Long charger doesn't only take a a veeery long time to charge the higher capacity batteries - as a matter of fact it probably doesn't charge them at all!

Now I find that of the two Admiral 3500mah batteries I got from MRC last Summer it shows one of them having a cell without any voltage (0.0v). And when trying to charge it it gives a "cell error" in the display. The other Admiral 3500mah as will as the two 7000mah I received from MRC this week check out with all cells alive.

I only charged this defective battery last Summer. Then it went into storage. Last week I tried charging it again as I found it without power. All those times I used the Heng Long charger.
Now I'm wondering, could the cheap Heng Long charger have killed the battery cell? Or could there be an different cause? Perhaps because it was stored for such a long time? Or perhaps it came defective from the manufacturer?

[Hemidoo]

Anything can fail i guess , All i can say is i have a few dozen Admiral batteries and all have been really good .

[mshagg]

It can happen mate. In my experience it's more likely the internal wiring of the balance connector has an open circuit somewhere (as opposed to a single cell falling completely to 0.0v).

Unlikely it's within any sort of warranty period, so probabky time to take it somewhere for proper disposal.

[xviper]

In my experience it's more likely the internal wiring of the balance connector has an open circuit somewhere (as opposed to a single cell falling completely to 0.0v).

This. I have a couple of Admirals that don't check correctly. Shows "dead cells" - actually one or more cells don't register at all. They will not balance charge because the charger can't detect those "missing" cells. I have to charge them without the balance connector plugged in on a cheaper SkyRC charger. They will not charge on any of the 4 ports on my pricey, Revolectrix chargers because the balance plug MUST be plugged in order to work. After those batteries are non-balanced charged, they seem to work perfectly.
I discovered that it isn't that any of the cells are "dead". They just don't register because there is something weird about the pins in the balance plug. If I fiddle with the way I connect the plug to the pins of the battery checker, I can get ALL cells to show and they still charged up quite evenly via the non-balance charging. If I push the plug completely into the pins, it shows that there is one or more "missing" cells. So far, only those Admirals have exhibited this peculiar characteristic. They are the Admiral 4s, 4000mah LiPos. I have a couple of older Admiral 3800mah, 4s batteries, one of which has just started to show this weirdness. All of them still charge fully and evenly in a non-balanced mode. It's just that they can't seem to make a good contact with all the pins in the balance plug when fully seated and thus, "balance charging" can't be utilized.

[UltraVargen]

Thanks guys. I will try to fiddle with the balance cable a bit to see if that's it.
And I will see if there's an option to charge LiIo without the balance cable plugged in. Though I think that's not an option on this charger.

[xviper]

Thanks guys. I will try to fiddle with the balance cable a bit to see if that's it.
And I will see if there's an option to charge LiIo without the balance cable plugged in. Though I think that's not an option on this charger.

I have the SkyRC Ultimate 200W X2 dual charger. It has, among other modes, a "charge" and a "balance" setting. In the "charge" setting, you can charge a LiPo without the balance lead plugged in.
I just checked one of those Admirals again and sure enough, if the balance plug is fully seated, it reads 0.00 volts on two cells. If I angle the checker pins and just barely touch the tips of the pins onto the pins on the plug, it gives me all 4 cell readings and they are all fairly close, even after a non-balanced charge.

[UltraVargen]

I have the SkyRC Ultimate 200W X2 dual charger. It has, among other modes, a "charge" and a "balance" setting. In the "charge" setting, you can charge a LiPo without the balance lead plugged in.
I just checked one of those Admirals again and sure enough, if the balance plug is fully seated, it reads 0.00 volts on two cells. If I angle the checker pins and just barely touch the tips of the pins onto the pins on the plug, it gives me all 4 cell readings and they are all fairly close, even after a non-balanced charge.

Hmm, I just tried to check the balance while wiggling the balance plug, but it's still not giving me anything on cell 1. I also removed the heatshrink from the battery to visually check all the cables and solder points. All seem to be in order.

I could try the LiPo "charge" setting to bypass the balance, but this is a LiIo battery. I read online that this could be dangerous (immolate or explode the battery). Seems a bit risky for a 30 bucks battery?

[xviper]

I could try the LiPo "charge" setting to bypass the balance, but this is a LiIo battery. I read online that this could be dangerous (immolate or explode the battery). Seems a bit risky for a 30 bucks battery?

I did not know that tanks use a different type of battery. I have no experience with multi-celled LiIo batteries. If voltages are the same and you can charge at a lower amp, then use extreme caution with the charger set to LiPo in a non-balanced charge. Monitor it closely and be prepared to pull the plug on it. Do it in a fire safe box.

[UltraVargen]

I'm gonna dispose of the battery.

[xviper]

Best option of all. Not worth burning your house down.

[AirHead]

XViper has the "true safety aspect" in mind and it's really a good point not to muck with LiPos in the house. I once had one go up in smoke and I was lucky that's all it was. I ended up running out the back door with a smoking plane!...Never again! But, I couldn't resist to mention that back in the summer, I dropped some good coin on two 3700Mah 4S Pulse batteries, only to find that my HiTec D7 wouldn't recognize the batteries and said "Cell Count Error". I couldn't believe they were both duds. I tried a couple times, playing around with the balance connector. But to no avail, they wouldn't charge. I wasn't impressed. I went online and looked for possible fixes or analytics and then I found this method, using my old single battery HiTec X1 charger which let me do this. It did work and I was able to bring the batteries back to life.I performed all this outside so as to remove the house from any possible disaster.!. Here's the clip I followed. I'm sure I could be chastised for playing around with this, but it worked. If it's an actual cell wiring issue, then this probably won't work...Go to the address below....

https://youtu.be/vusc1BFJX40