Charger-lipo problem

[Twisted]

I have got a X6 century uk lipro balance charger, and on one of my lipos I get a error connection break. The lipo works and powers up the heli... And I had Tecnex charge the lipo with no problems on his charger. On my JP cp gold batt (lipo 11.1v 1000mah) I get no issues at all, with 1 of the align 25c 11.1 2150mah lipos I get the same error but after disconnecting and plugging it back in cures the error, but with the 2nd align batt, no matter what I do the error stays

any one use the Century uk charger? or know whats going wrong here?

[Gav]

Could be the lipo charging connector / crimps not making contact. I get this problem on a couple of my lipos and normally I just spin the lipo 90 - 180 while connected to the charger so there is a bit of tension on the charging wire pulling the connector therefore creating a good contact on the pins. Not the best solution - which would be to chop off the connector and fit a new one.

Secondly the charging wires can break off the cell terminals under the heatshrink on the lipo itself - just need to cut open the heatshrink / foam padding on the end and resolder them back on. - Normally its obvious where they've cracked off from - and easy enough to strip the wire back again and re solder.


this is what I have found anyway with regards to having similar problem to yours. Good luck with it.

edit: You can measure the voltage on the charging connector to test this - one pin normally the black wire is Ground then the other 3 pins are the positives from the 3 cells. Measure it at the conenctor and waggle the wires to check the voltage doesnt suddenly appear/disappear - carefull not to short it out otherwise fat lipo syndrome and smoke.

[Twisted]

its a weird charger as you have to have the deans as well as the charging socket plugged up to the charger or it wont charge, both plugs seems to work ok, as it charged ok on Tecnex charger and the batt works ok when plugging up to the heli. but will give it a go on the tenshion thing.

I can get this error on my other batts by not plugging in the dean connector, so it looks like thats the issue! but the dean does work on the batt i am getting the error on, as i can power up the heli on it!

[Si Goodchild]

Yes, I found that "connection break" means that the main power lead (deans conenctor) is at fault. I've got a Turnigy charger but it sounds like the same kit inside. The charging lead you refer to is actually a balance lead - the real power goes in via the deans. Only the cheapo give-away chargers you get with micro helis charge the lipo via the balance lead.

Si G

[glen_j]

Yes, I found that "connection break" means that the main power lead (deans conenctor) is at fault. I've got a Turnigy charger but it sounds like the same kit inside. The charging lead you refer to is actually a balance lead - the real power goes in via the deans. Only the cheapo give-away chargers you get with micro helis charge the lipo via the balance lead.

Si G

the cell pro chargers charge through the balance connectors

[Si Goodchild]

I'll get my coat...

[sacko]

I'll get my coat...

Shut the door on you way out

[Twisted]

is it worth resoldering the dean?

[Twisted]

OK found a work around but oh my gosh talk about cables... Well I did not try using the balance part and just try to get it working via the deans and norm charging... The Century charger comes with lots of different cables for different batts, one of them are a crocodile clips.... So I clipped that in to the dean on the batt and plugged up to the chargers.. The funny thing is I still have to use the same cable from the charger to the batt, it just has a extra cable in-between the two of them now... BUT its now happy and is charging the batt... Just got to be real careful with the crocs clipping on to the dean don't touch.....eek

update:

picy with the added wire circled in red

[BaRoN30s]

the cell pro chargers charge through the balance connectors

i had a bit of a debate with my dad about this. we have the turnigy charger & he was saying the balance charge was through the deans connection & i was saying it was through the small white connector..

anyhow either way why does the deans connection have to be connected everytime if its only charged via the balance connectors.. ? whats the deans do..?

also is it better to balance charge every time we charge or just once every now & then... ?

thanks.

[Twisted]

Different chargers charge in different ways as far as I can tell, as my little 3 cell 1000mah batts for my twister cp on the default charger that comes with it charge though the balance connectors. The cellpro charge like that to I believe. The charger I am using to do a norm charge its though the deans but to balance I need to use both. You can not balance the batt though the deans alone so to balance has to be though the little white plug.

Balance charging do any harm, no I can't see this being a problem if any thing I can see it being a plus! I presume it just takes longer to charge this way. But don't quote me on that.

When I started flying helis..... You don't really know what you let your self in for.
1st the thrill of learning to fly the thing is just great.. Hard to beat, but then there's that "first" crash, and believe it or not I enjoyed my first rebuild as my first heli came prebuilt, and was the first time I got down and dirty with the workings of the heli, and this in turn really helped me with learning how it works and what things do in the air.

Next learning curve was different parts and quality issues on them parts and how that effects flight e.g Gyros and servos being the major ones I came across.

Now I am at that stage of learning about the batts and chargers and how it all works in the big cog of RC heli flying.

It seems no matter how much you learn there are tons of things to still take in, and to me that's a plus and attraction to heli flying

ops sorry gone a bit off topic.

[Tosh]

"It seems no matter how much you learn there are tons of things to still take in, and to me that's a plus and attraction to heli flying "

You are so right. l still feel that way after fifteen year in helis.

[Si Goodchild]

i had a bit of a debate with my dad about this. we have the turnigy charger & he was saying the balance charge was through the deans connection & i was saying it was through the small white connector..

anyhow either way why does the deans connection have to be connected everytime if its only charged via the balance connectors.. ? whats the deans do..?

also is it better to balance charge every time we charge or just once every now & then... ?

thanks.

Always balance charge if you can. The Turnigy charger insists that you connect deans and balance lead for a balance charge or deans only for an unbalanced charge.

[Dedcalm]

The safe way to charge multi cell (as they all are) Li-Pos and really any other battery TBH is each cell individually. This is why Cell Pro chargers use only the balance connectors for charging. This ensures that each cell is charged to a safe level and all cells are matched at completion.

[SRH990]

The safe way to charge multi cell (as they all are) Li-Pos and really any other battery TBH is each cell individually. This is why Cell Pro chargers use only the balance connectors for charging. This ensures that each cell is charged to a safe level and all cells are matched at completion.

Yes - and no! Chargers that have a built in balancer and also charge through the main leads should monitor each individual cell. Most work by bleeding current from the higher voltage cells through a resistance to balance all cells down to the lowest but if one cell is quite low and there is a danger of the higher voltage cells going over-voltage, the charger should reduce the charge rate, my Robbe Infinity 3 does this and can end up charging at 0.3A for hours when I've had a badly out of balance pack I'm trying to sort out.

The big advantage of the Cellpro chargers is that they charge each cell individually so the charge doesn't have to slow down as it isn't bleeding current away. It's certainly a more efficient way of charging but not the only way.