FC40 camera Battery

Yep, I can verify that mine sat on RED during PC charging, but blinked RED then turned off after a while charging on an IPhone white square wall/USB charger...

Odd but true. And the PC method did not include a hub or anything that would have hindered the charging....
 
[/quote]
hi when i plug mine into the computor via usb it does not flash red it just stays solid red[/quote]

Mines doing the same. Anyone used their iPhone charger to charge it up? is it safe to do so ? I don't want to damage it
 
When you plug it directly into a computer, it is trying to read it like a mass storage device (thumb drive) and the light is solid red. I don't believe it charges in this configuration. I charge mine on a USB wall plug like the iPhone/iPad/Kindle/etc wall plug. It will not hurt it. I have been charging mine with a 2A Belkin unit (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ATZ ... UTF8&psc=1) and it works great. I have all my charge cables bundled into the one unit so it all together and can charge everything at once.
 
I've been trying to charge with the computer USB so glad to know about the Iphone charge method.
 
If you have a laptop, you can plug it into the usb slot while the laptop is closed and it will charge just fine. I can even open mine after it has been plugged in and it will continue to charge.
 
If you are trying to charge the FC40 camera on a PC USB port, the PC must be in a sleep mode before it will charge. The camera LED must be flashing otherwise no charge will occur.

1. Put Windows PC into sleep mode.
2. Plug in camera to USB and the camera LED will flash.
3. Wake PC and use normally and the LED will continue to flash.

Having said that, this works for me - sods law states it wont work for you.

Pete
 
I've been using my iphone plug for 4 months now and it works just fine. It blinks red while charging and goes out completely when done. No problems at all !
 
If I plug mine in to my computer it dont ever seem to charge or at least don't ever seem to stop I've had it plugged in for a full 24 hours and the red led just blinks the whole time and wil never shut of.

But if plugged in to USB wall charger it will go about 3-4 hours then the blinking led will stop and shut off. So my usb on my computer must just not put out enough power to charge it.
 
I charge my camera with my AC110V plug w/usb adaptor from my iphone It charges battery much quicker. Red light on camera should blink when charging then go out when charged. I charge my camera battery before using, it doesn't hold a charge for very many days.
 
Folks,

I believe what is happening is when you connect the FC40 to your computer, it is recognized as a hard drive. It is likely not charging the battery. I have noticed if I leave it connected for many hours, it is as good as dead when I remove it from my computer and go to use it.


I recommend using your micro usb phone charger to charge the FC40. This is what I do and have been doing ever since I noticed this issue.

Regards,

Mark O
 
If you are trying to charge the FC40 camera on a PC USB port, the PC must be in a sleep mode before it will charge. The camera LED must be flashing otherwise no charge will occur.

1. Put Windows PC into sleep mode.
2. Plug in camera to USB and the camera LED will flash.
3. Wake PC and use normally and the LED will continue to flash.

Having said that, this works for me - sods law states it wont work for you.

Pete

deltamike

Posts: 6
Joined: Mon May 12, 2014 5:09 pm


Tried that on my pc and when its in sleep mode it does actually charge. and I also tried it on an old lap top i was setting up so I can use it in the field when flying and that to would not even try to charge the cam but does if it put in in sleep mode. awesome.
 
I was unable to charge my FC40 until I installed the drivers and software for the assistant software. Apparently, the same usb driver for communicating with the Phantom also communicates with the FC40.
 
Had mine now for a couple of weeks. Always plugged in with the USB cable supplied with the Phantom to my PC.

It would blink red for a couple of seconds then stay solid red. Light never went out or changed colors, but did get fairly hot.

Just now tried a stand-alone USB charger I use for my LG phones. It is now blinking red for 10 min+ and assume it will stop blinking when it is charged.

I think my PC was seeing the camera as a storage device (whether I had the SD card in or not). Gets the same PC tone when it senses any other device plugged in (mouse, flash drive, SD card, etc.)

I'll post another comment if/when the red light stops blinking - which I'm going to assume is the full charge indicator.
 
the best way to charge your FC40 cam batt is to use a mobile USB wall charger with at least 700mA output .. i've been using a BB wall charger and it takes around 30-40 mins to fully charge the batt .. the red led will be blinking while charging and should go off when the batt is full .
 
.... about 2 hours later -- red light shut off completely and camera is cool to the touch.
So I'll assume it is now fully charged. Will use stand-alone charger from now on.
 
Has anyone ever replaced the battery? Mine will not except a charge. I've tried it with the computer and also a wallplug. The red light blinks and then goes off after a while but when I connect it to my phone it almost immediately says low battery. I've only had it about a week and it was charging and working good up until a day ago. Surely the battery can be replaced.
 
yes it can be replaced. You have to open up the camera by removing the front cover first, then remove a small screw at the bottom that holds the back cover. The battery is a 3.7v li-ion 700 mah. You need to get the same size. I am considering, but have not done yet, of powering the FC40 camera externally using the Phantom's power supply plus a step down converter. Either by using the USB port or by connecting to the battery terminals diretly..I will do this once I get the current internal battery life down to something that is no longer tollerable.
 
Thanx. I'm just now seeing your reply and now I have another question. I ordered two phantom batteries from Amazon that are factory identical looking to the original one that came with the Phantom but they measure fully charged 11.5 volts whereas my original measures 12.5. They all are listed as 11.2 on the batteries but the original one always measures 12.5. Any thoughts on this? Thank you.
 

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