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- Jun 6, 2014
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Okay, so like many other people, I'm also experiencing the battery issues with my transmitter. I'm out of warranty so decided to try some things. Before I get to that here is my specific problem. See this thread (Thanks for your help and comments there!)
It does appear that after firmware update I started having this issue as well, however I'm not sure as I did leave the controller at 80% for many months. *Oops* took care of the phantom's batteries, but forgot the controller.
- Press power button, 4 blinking lights
- Start up sequence, normal, shows 3 lights as the charge. App states around 70%
- Let it drain (happens extremely fast maybe within an hour in RTH mode)
- Charge controller, will charge to 2 blinking lights then shut off
- Check battery levels, 40%
- Let it drain again (again, happens fast)
- Let it sit, check batter levels. Noticed % was 0% up to 13% without charging it. This would happen many many times.
- Repeat the attempted charge process (I have let it sit for days) to no avail
Thing's I've done since then:
- Taken apart controller and checked battery Voltage. When it had stopped charging on its own, battery was at 8.2V. Okay, thats a full charge, but lights indicate at 3.
- Let it drain for an hour until app reports 0%
- Check voltage again, 7.8V. Okay so that's still above the nominal voltage, it's charged.
- Hooked up to charger, LEDs indicating charging, check voltage. 8.3V, okay so it is charging appropriately.
- Removed battery and thanks to a few Youtube videos, specifically the one where the guy disassembles his battery pack (I do NOT recommend to anyone but LiPo experts) the two red and two black leads from the battery are actually soldered together.
- I have removed 1 back and 1 red wire from the JST connector and hooked up to my Thunder AC6 battery charger/discharger
- At this point it is also reading 8.2V (I had let it charge for 24 hours prior to this point)
So I suspect the actual battery pack is the fault here, and possibly I do have a bad cell from letting it sit at 80% for months, as I've observed some interesting things while discharging the battery. First, the battery cells are connected to a circuit board, likely controlling each cell for balance, charging, discharging, and possibly even a voltage regulator. As previously stated, I had connected the battery with it having 8.2V, however I did run the controller in RTH mode for an hour and the lights and app reported it being at <10%. As soon as I started the discharge mode (.5 amp) the voltage steadily dropped to 7.93V then continued downward from there at a steady rate. To this point I have roughly discharged 3500mah worth of the battery taking umpteen hours and the Voltage is 7.34. Great! Possibly the board was just uncalibrated. This is still in process, but I haven't seen or read anywhere of anyone else doing this so I thought I'd put my two cents in while the battery continues to drain. I'm monitoring estimated mah discharge because if the battery is voltage regulated, then it's possible that even with the battery at 15% charge, the regulator will push as much voltage as it can safely until it's very dead and I could also damage the cells that way.
*Just a note about the regulator comment. I'm not certain on this. I'm not an electrical engineer, and don't know the circuitry very well, nor am I about to take apart my lipo pack to inspect it. I'm not sure of the discharge capacity (ie. 5C or 25C) of each cell, which would be necessary to calculate the voltage as the battery levels drop.
I will update this with info as things play out. It will take days, as I am not leaving the battery connected while I'm not home. Then I would like to fully charge it (at least 8 hours, ideally 24) in the controller once I'm finished discharging, then of course testing battery life and attempt to recharge again.
It does appear that after firmware update I started having this issue as well, however I'm not sure as I did leave the controller at 80% for many months. *Oops* took care of the phantom's batteries, but forgot the controller.
- Press power button, 4 blinking lights
- Start up sequence, normal, shows 3 lights as the charge. App states around 70%
- Let it drain (happens extremely fast maybe within an hour in RTH mode)
- Charge controller, will charge to 2 blinking lights then shut off
- Check battery levels, 40%
- Let it drain again (again, happens fast)
- Let it sit, check batter levels. Noticed % was 0% up to 13% without charging it. This would happen many many times.
- Repeat the attempted charge process (I have let it sit for days) to no avail
Thing's I've done since then:
- Taken apart controller and checked battery Voltage. When it had stopped charging on its own, battery was at 8.2V. Okay, thats a full charge, but lights indicate at 3.
- Let it drain for an hour until app reports 0%
- Check voltage again, 7.8V. Okay so that's still above the nominal voltage, it's charged.
- Hooked up to charger, LEDs indicating charging, check voltage. 8.3V, okay so it is charging appropriately.
- Removed battery and thanks to a few Youtube videos, specifically the one where the guy disassembles his battery pack (I do NOT recommend to anyone but LiPo experts) the two red and two black leads from the battery are actually soldered together.
- I have removed 1 back and 1 red wire from the JST connector and hooked up to my Thunder AC6 battery charger/discharger
- At this point it is also reading 8.2V (I had let it charge for 24 hours prior to this point)
So I suspect the actual battery pack is the fault here, and possibly I do have a bad cell from letting it sit at 80% for months, as I've observed some interesting things while discharging the battery. First, the battery cells are connected to a circuit board, likely controlling each cell for balance, charging, discharging, and possibly even a voltage regulator. As previously stated, I had connected the battery with it having 8.2V, however I did run the controller in RTH mode for an hour and the lights and app reported it being at <10%. As soon as I started the discharge mode (.5 amp) the voltage steadily dropped to 7.93V then continued downward from there at a steady rate. To this point I have roughly discharged 3500mah worth of the battery taking umpteen hours and the Voltage is 7.34. Great! Possibly the board was just uncalibrated. This is still in process, but I haven't seen or read anywhere of anyone else doing this so I thought I'd put my two cents in while the battery continues to drain. I'm monitoring estimated mah discharge because if the battery is voltage regulated, then it's possible that even with the battery at 15% charge, the regulator will push as much voltage as it can safely until it's very dead and I could also damage the cells that way.
*Just a note about the regulator comment. I'm not certain on this. I'm not an electrical engineer, and don't know the circuitry very well, nor am I about to take apart my lipo pack to inspect it. I'm not sure of the discharge capacity (ie. 5C or 25C) of each cell, which would be necessary to calculate the voltage as the battery levels drop.
I will update this with info as things play out. It will take days, as I am not leaving the battery connected while I'm not home. Then I would like to fully charge it (at least 8 hours, ideally 24) in the controller once I'm finished discharging, then of course testing battery life and attempt to recharge again.