Help With Battery/Charging

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Hey Folks!

I'm a total n00b to the hobby and looking forward to getting a bit better. Here's my current issue that's keeping me from enjoying my new fc40.

I flew the Phantom right out of the box until it wouldn't lift off the ground. I assumed the battery was too low. Plugged it in (I did NOT plug in the small grey "side wire") for about 9 hours while at work. I returned home from work, took the copter out to fly and rotors turned on, but wouldn't lift off the ground. I did some searching and found instructions in a YouTube video about charging, and saw that my mistake was not plugging in the side wire with the grey piece.

I did plug it in, and only the S1 red light lit up. According to the video, all of the lights for S1, S2 and S3 were supposed to be lit up. After a couple hours, the S1 and "charge status" lights were blinking red. I know it should be green if it's charged, and didn't think it would take so long.

What am I doing wrong here??
 
The manual is like reading sterero instructions. The charger has two switches. The left switch should be set to "LiPo". The right switch should be set on 2A. Plug in both wires to the charger. When charged, the light will be solid green. Also, if you use the camera that is supplied, then recharge the camera using a wall plug. Do not use the USB connector on your computer.
 
2A you say, huh? Alright, I'll give that a try. I am now plugged in with those directions, and still only get a blinking red light under the 1S. Is that a problem?
 
It is.

I just read another thread where someone had a similar response from their charger to what I'm seeing. They seem to believe it's the result of the battery having entirely depleted before giving it a new charge, which mine also had.
 
I've never flown till the quad won't lift off the ground.. I read a few times that when the fail safes start to show, to stop and take the batteries out to charge. I didn't think you were supposed to let the batteries get that low as the charger can't charge a fully depleted battery.

I did read something about taking a 9v battery and touching the bigger plug to see if that would be enough to jump start the battery.. not sure how they did this, guessing with two wires touching the leads to each.. unless someone can confirm, I DO NOT recommend doing this as I don't know if it will fry the battery.. Just something I read.
 
I got my FC40 last week and after less than a day of flight the charger wouldn't charge properly. I don't recall the exact combination of the LEDs but it may have been a solid red and the charger couldn't detect any of the cells. It was set to LiPo and 2A. When we plugged in the battery to the phantom it would start beeping indicated irregular voltage (bb-----bb-----bb), and the beeping would quickly fade away. Tried charging the battery again but still got the same results with the charger, and after some research we couldn't determine if it was the battery that went bad or the charger. Was kind of upset that it would fail within 24 hours of receiving it.

So I let the battery sit overnight, and the next day for the hell of it I hooked it up to the charger...detected all 3 cells and a solid steady blinking red status light. left it plugged and a few hours later... Red---Green---Red---Green---Red---Green. Not too much longer....solid green. Took it outside and it flew fine, and has been fine ever since.

No idea what or why.
 
thanks guys. though, not the news I was hoping for. maybe I need to start looking in to where I can buy a new battery and count this one trashed?
 
I went to several LiPo battery web sites, nothing covered about a depleted battery. Let the battery sit for a few hours then try it again. That may work. If not, the battery may be toast.
 
I believe you can charge using 2 batteries - one for the power lead and a new charged battery to the balance plug - BE VERY CAREFUL as this can be dangerous - 5 - 6 minutes maximum then remove the good battery and plug in the balance plug of the old battery and it might charge up ... Cover the batteries when doing this just in case ..
If you don't like that idea then buy some new batteries - As said above you should never drain the batteries fully ..
 
If you have a charger that can charge in nimh mode do that for 5min and put it back on the lipo charger and it will be fine. The cells prob got below 3.2v some how. Not sure how unless you changed settings in the "voltage" in the Naza program. Good luck.
 
For those stumble across this thread at a later time...

Each cell had less than 1 volt left in it. The local hobby shop sold me two brand 3000mah batteries for $50 a pop and recycled the one that I killed. Kind of an expensive lesson, but I definitely learned that you don't let the battery drain.
 
So by recycled I'm pretty sure that means they are just going to charge it and then they have a almost perfectly good battery again.

All you needed to do was to get the voltage up enough for it to start taking a charge from the charger using any of the other methods mentioned.


How big are the 3000mah batterys they sold you? are they going to even fit inside the FC40? I have some 2700s that were to fight to be able to even get the plug stuffed in and I had to mod my door and cut some slots on the side to even be able to use them.
 

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