Charger not working correctly and prop questions

[ipatry]

I have had the dji phantom first generation since Christmas. My stock phantom batteries and stock charger seem like it's taking forever. Sometimes it never gets to the solid green light indicating fully charged. They never seem to fully charge and I'm not sure what the problem is, either battery or charger. Also what do you recommend for the best ready to go props for the phantom. Thanks on advance
Isaac

 

[DanCH]

I had a problem with the stock batter charger. It would charge ok, but then never balance the battery. So it would blink green/red for 4-5 hours before I gave up. After buying a volt meter, I could see that the 3rd cell was always much lower than the other 2, sometimes only half charged. This of course drastically reduced the flight time. Tested with 3 different batteries

It seems this is a fault with the charger. I bought a proper charger with cell info, and all 3 batteries now charge and balance fine.

So I'd get your charger replaced, or go buy a much better one if you can afford it.

 

[dkr77573]

Curious, what did you get as your new charger? I ended up getting a Thunder AC6. I can power it via AC or DC and it can also connect to a PC via USB for detailed information.

 

[joeflyer]

There's no need to buy a top of the line high capacity charger. I recommend the Cellpro Multi4 Charger if you have a 12v power supply, or you can run it off of a car battery. It's reasonably priced and will charge all of the popular battery chemistries at up to 4.0 amps and handles up to 4 cell Lipos. It charges through the balance plug but will not cycle or discharge them. Once you set it up for your battery chemistry it's plug and play.

This charger is very popular amongst those in my club that fly electrics. You would need to order it with the CP-GP/KO adapter to fit the Phantom battery balance plug (known as a JST XH).
http://www.revolectrix.com/m4_description_tab.htm
http://www.usastore.revolectrix.com/Pro ... pter-Combo
They also carry an optional power supply in case you don't already have one at home. http://www.usastore.revolectrix.com/Pro ... r-Supply_2

Joe

 

[DanCH]

Curious, what did you get as your new charger? I ended up getting a Thunder AC6. I can power it via AC or DC and it can also connect to a PC via USB for detailed information.

Guy in my local RC shop recommended the Hitec X1 MF multi charger. It wasn't too expensive, and it lets me see individual cell voltages while charging. It has options for balance charging (obviously ), discharging and storage charge. It might do more than that, but that's all I've cared about so far.

I think it's a good idea to have a charger that at least lets you see the cell voltages and has a storage program. It took 2 charge/discharge (storage) cycles to balance my batteries after my faulty stock charger messed them up, but they are fine now.