Brand New Blade 400; battery won't charge

[Splatercash]

My Blade 400 arrived this morning and I immediately red the instructions and set about charging the battery. I was gutting to find that it didn't include a mains adaptor and came with nothing more than some croc clips! A visit to maplin and £22 later I had an AC to DC 3-15v general use adaptor. I plugged the eflight balance charger it and it indicated it was ready to charge and so I plugged the battery in. Cell 1 alternates between flashing green and red and the charge status light flashes red indicating a charge fault. I feared maybe my universal power adaptor was no good so I tried plugging it directly into the car battery with the croc clips and the result was the same.

The heli, battery and charger are all brand new today! Does anyone know what might be wrong and what the solution is? I took a trip to my local model shop (not where I bought the heli) and they tested the voltage on the battery. There was 3.75v on cell 1, 7.5v when cell 2 was added and 11.25v overall. Unless I'm mistaken that means the battery has approximately half charge?

Suggestions/advice.

Gutted I can't get set up and flying

[maderdog_1024]

you need to buy another battery and a proper charger

one battery wont last long when your learning.

lipos are half charged from the factory.

[andylinney]

Maybe give it a try on a car battery. Just to see if that works, it sounds like the pack is ok so it's a case of finding the fault now either in the charger or in the psu.

I wonder if the adapter can provide sufficient current also?

Oh yeah, this is my 1000th post too, crikey!

[Splatercash]

Tried it on the car battery directly with the supplied croc clips and the outcome was the same!

[maderdog_1024]

the eflite charger does not work well at 12v dc. really needs 13-15v

try with the car engine running as the altenator takes it up to 13v

[sacko]

You have a web link to the maplin website of the power supply that you bought, as my power supply from maplins for my eflite charger that I bought works fine.

Maybe a dodgy PSU, or charger?

[est1976]

a common thing overlooked is you need a 5amp power supply

[Splatercash]

The universal pack I bought says it'll supply 5amps at 12v and besides, it didn't work off the car battery. I was so paranoid that the car battery might be weak that I also tried running the engine at the same time so that if need be power could be drawn from the alternator!

[Boggy]

it sounds to me like you have a duff cell or charger connection! plug it into the blade and gently spool it up a few times. and then try charging it again after,it may settle. leave the charger plugged in a while even if it shows an error

[Holst]

The universal pack I bought says it'll supply 5amps at 12v and besides, it didn't work off the car battery. I was so paranoid that the car battery might be weak that I also tried running the engine at the same time so that if need be power could be drawn from the alternator!

If you hadnt tried the car then I would also be blaming your PSU.

But it does sound like you have a fault somewhere.

Do you know anybody nearby with a lipo charger, at least that way you can test the battery.

[Splatercash]

Local model shop (5 min walk away) I suppose but they have just reopened after a re-fit and it's carnage in there. Guy couldn't find a charger but he did find a 12v battery and hooked my charger/battery up to that...same fault. I guess in a week or so they might be back to normal and have charger knocking around but I don't really want to wait that long.

[matty65]

yeah i had that trouble when i bought mine. just turned out to be a duff battery which the lhs replaced. never had a problem with the eflight charger and have been using it for six months. direct from the car battery with no problems.so it has to be either battery or charger.

good luck mate!!

[Splatercash]

Wow, all and all this has been a pretty miserable experience!

I spent a few hours today trailing all over town to get a power adaptor that would power the eflight balance charger and when I finally got one the battery wouldn't charge. Then whilst crawling through this site I find a product recall for the Dx6i and...shock, horror my build number is listed!!

So, this morning at 12:30 my Blade 400 arrived and I was excited as could be. I've not flown it at all and now I have to phone the model shop and presumably send the battery and charger back to them and the transmitter to god knows where. It's anybody's guess as to when I'll be ready to go with a fully working Blade 400 but I'm guessing it won't be anytime within the next week Gutted!

[maderdog_1024]

If the weather is good on sat then you should come over to the farm and we will get you all set up. i have a good charger that we can plug into the computer and double check the battery.

we can get your blade set up and hopefully see you enjoying the hobby rather than hating it !

[machasm]

Sounds like you've had your fair share of bad luck there Splatercash.
It does also sound like the charger/battery is at fault.
With regards the DX6i at least you have done some reading and found the recall bulletin before your model was doing the funky chicken on your lawn!
You could look at this from a glass half full perspective as it could have been alot worse.
Good luck and stick at it. Once your flying this will seem a distant problem.