Have I charger problems.

[ants]

Hiya Cambs

what batteries are they? Are they in series or parallel, this may be the problem as well

http://www.brchobbies.co.uk/?page=sh...ditem&item=157

looking at the charger above it says it will only charge 2-5s (series) So they will not then charge or will have problems charging series/parallel together or parallel batteries.

Motor cycle batteries are no good for charging they do not hold their charge that well. If I dont use my bike for a couple of weeks I will come back to a dead bike. The battery is only used for kicking the bike over.

regards

ants

[cambs flyer]

I'm in the process of reading and taking in all the great advice in the above posts and before I do please let me say many thanks for taking the time to help me, most kind.

OK my 12V batt has been on charge all night and is topped to the limit, I have a maxpoly charging now at 2 amps and the green charger is as hot as hell just as it should be, (just a tad warmer then when charging at 1,5amps).

So far so good, what I think has been happening over the last week is I'd been charging the 2100mah's say 5 times a day and only leaving the batt on charge for a few hours, hence it was only getting a little of the voltage needed to replenish it's full capacity.

For about 2 hours last night it was drawing 4 amps from the Gunman mains battery charger, and for about 4 hours it was still drawing 1amp, so she was really thirsty for a good charge.

Its taken a week of charge abuse for my 12V M/C batt to say enoughs enough, plus at times I've also had the BCX2's charger clipped to the bat terminals and been charging those as well! I really have been asking for trouble now I look back at things.

Just quickly before I have a good read of the replies, the mains power source in Andy's thread for around £30 would be idea at this time, as I don't really want to spend more on charge equipment, and if that means I can take the croc clips off the charger and plug that straight into the power supply (as I do the balancer into the charge unit) that would be idea, as I'd be in no need of a battery and concern over charging it enough, in essence I could always take the M/C batt with me for the field for a few 2100mah charges at 2amps so to gain a few extra flights.

Right now for a serious read.

[cambs flyer]

OK just a quick recap, excellent the charger is fine, it was the battery causing the trouble as mentioned above by you guys.

I brought yesterday another Prolux charger which has up to a 2amp charge, this is also a 12V charger, so taking in the advice about the power supply I've just ordered this one

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/?CallFun...1&ItemID=25356

This way both chargers can be used and I'll get more flight time each day.

I'm obtaining with just simply flying, and nothing taxing on the Li Po's around 10 minutes and over per batt, and checking the voltage there's always around 3.40 -3.25 volts left in each cell pack, which is well within the safe zone, as I say the throttle never goes further then half way, or just little quick bursts of power if needed in windy conditions and the Maxpolys are rated at 30C so there not even getting in a sweat with what I'm doing right now.

Ants, cheers mate, my batts are just simple 2100mah's I'm not quite sure what you mean in your reply as I'm still a green learner, but all being said everythings seems to be fine now, and when the power supply arrives tomorrow I'll have no probs, plus in a while when I buy a dandy charger the 12v PS will be a most usefull piece of kit.

Phil, thanks mate, that charger funnily enough was the one I was thinking of buying in a while, if you use it and recommend it then that's good enough for me.

Cheers bud'.

David thank you too, your advise has been very helpful, I think I'll be going the power supply route for indoors and use the 12 M/C for some simple field charging, as I know I'll get four good charges on my 2100mah's before she starts to struggle, and with four Li Po's that'll give me loads of flight time as I'm only doing very simple stuff right now.

[AndyThilo]

Hi Wayne

Here's my 2p worth.....

I use this set up: http://www.brchobbies.co.uk/?page=shop&item=186 with http://www.brchobbies.co.uk/?page=sh...ditem&item=157

Great charger for the money - tells you all you need to know about your LiPo, is easy to use, will charge just about anything, and comes with a good selection of leads that enable you to make your own to suit

Re trimming I think it could very well be linked as I've noticed my heli starts to have a mind of its own as the battery gets close to exhaustion.

(Remember with LiPo's you mustn't let the voltage drop below 3V per cell. I did once, and although my battery is still useable, it's never been as good since)

Phil

Looks like a good charger, but that PSU is pants, sorry. I had one and it lasted a few months then the voltage started dropping to the point where I couldn't pull over 5amps off it.

[cambs flyer]

Bugger, how will I know if my one goes down, as the most I'll be pulling from it is 4amps tops?

[AndyThilo]

No not the one you've bought, thats a good PSU, the one that Phil recommended.

[cambs flyer]

Thanks Andy, my heart went in my throat for a second there. Phew.

[robgt]

I have that Ripmax dual output power supply - it has worked well for me for quite a while now (couple of years so far).

It's never really been stressed though - I don't fly 50 size electrics so no huge batteries to charge.
To date it has been used to charge Trex450 packs, and now sI'm tarting to get some larger packs for the 500...
Cheers,
Rob

[cambs flyer]

Thank you Rob, that's a comfort to know.

[cambs flyer]

Oh I'm half way through finishing off my third Li Po on a 2amp charge and all's well.

After that's finished I'll put the M/C batt on charge to see what the drain was.

At least I know it's good as a field unit when needed.

[cambs flyer]

OK after three 2amp 2100mah batt charges all of which was a complete success they took there toll on the 12V 12amp hour M/C/B.

My Gunman charger is quite a heavy duty model, and after these three charges the MC battery was drawing 6 amps for around one hour, and after around 3 hours of continuous charging the MCB finally regained its normal level of charge.

This makes me now realize just how much this poor battery has been through in the last week, and hats off to it being poorly charged she stood up well but finally gave up.

If your out for a few hours its perfect for charging with two charge and balancers for extra flying, but as a main source to power 450 batts it's well out of it's depth.

Luckily I'll have the twin outlet Ripmax PSU tomorrow so that problem is over.

So I'll use the MCB for charging the BCX2 batts only, as that's well within it limitations.

[163phil]

Looks like a good charger, but that PSU is pants, sorry. I had one and it lasted a few months then the voltage started dropping to the point where I couldn't pull over 5amps off it.

You may well be right! The first time I put a banana plug into it I pulled the female off the board!! Quick dab of solder sorted that and it's been good since. I guess I'll probably be pulling it apart to fix it again in a few months - time will tell

As always I guess you get what you pay for, so if you want to be hassle free, I'd go for the best you can afford

[cambs flyer]

Well you wasn't to know mate, trouble is in this hobby it's "all learn the hard way" I fear.

Your help was valued regardless bud'.

[163phil]

Well you wasn't to know mate, trouble is in this hobby it's "all learn the hard way" I fear.

Your help was valued regardless bud'.

Cheers Wayne. Very true!

[AndyThilo]

it's "all learn the hard way" I fear.

Crashing yes, equipment no, thanks to forums like these