Battery tester

[5hane]

Hi. As a relative newcomer to RC heli's, I am slowly getting to grips with my MSRX.

It is my understanding that the batteries need looking after and that the charge should not be allowed to drop below a certain amount. It is also my understanding that as long as I stop the heli before the LED flashes by way of using the TX timer, everything should be fine.

Anyway I started to worry that perhaps the batteries would slowly lose power when stored as I am often unable to use the heli for long periods of time, so I decided to buy this funny little cheap handheld battery tester which has something like 10 prongs down one side that would allow me to test the capacity of the batteries from time to time.
The problem is have now wrecked 2 of the batteries by trying to push them on to the device. I think the batteries in question are called 1s lipos, and according to the testers instructions 1s lipos should fit it (no diagram unfortunately).
I have no idea if: the tester works / I've been lied to about it working with 1s lipos / im trying to attach the batteries incorrectly (I see no other way).
I can upload a picture of the tester but you may already know which type I am talking about.

Thanks for any help.

[tomatwalden]

1S LIPOs will work, but you'll need a converter for the mSRX connector type ... I'll see if I can dig out a link

[5hane]

1S LIPOs will work, but you'll need a converter for the mSRX connector type ... I'll see if I can dig out a link

Tom to the rescue again

[tomatwalden]

Can't for the life of me find an off the shelf adapter. The connector type on the checker is a JST-XH. This the standard connector used by almost all LIPOs for their balance port. The mSRX connector type is known as a "pico" or "uM". The nearest I found was this : OV-2529 | E-Flite to JST-XH Balance Conversion Lead for 130X and Beast

But even that isn't quite right .. Sorry!

[myxiplx]

The tester you have sounds like a standard battery tester, keep hold of it, they're a great thing to have in this hobby. Unfortunately the micro helicopters like the mSRX use smaller pins to save weight, so while that tester can probably check a 1S LiPo, that doesn't mean your batteries will necessarily fit.

In all honesty, for these small packs so long as you're fairly careful with them don't worry about it too much. If you do run them too low they'll lose a bit of power, or not last as many cycles, but when the battery costs under a fiver, getting a few less flights out of it isn't the end of the world. It's good you're reading up on all this, but I don't worry about any pack that costs me under £20. When you really want to start being careful is when you're flying a pair of 6S packs in a 700 size heli costing around £130 per pack!!

Go buy yourself a few spare packs, and have fun with your mSRX :-)

[myxiplx]

Can't for the life of me find an off the shelf adapter. The connector type on the checker is a JST-XH. This the standard connector used by almost all LIPOs for their balance port. The mSRX connector type is known as a "pico" or "uM". The nearest I found was this : OV-2529 | E-Flite to JST-XH Balance Conversion Lead for 130X and Beast

But even that isn't quite right .. Sorry!

No, you won't find many at this size. With these being 1S cells, you don't even get a parallel charge board with the balance lead type of plugs, they usually just have the banana leads.

In the past I have used a charger adaptor board to test packs like this. I think it was a thunder power adaptor board, which went from a high density 6S plug on the charger to the standard JST-XH pins. I just used it backwards, plugging the little lipo into the small pins and using a lead from a JST-XH port to connect to the tester.

A series charging squid cable would probably also work, you do find some out there. But if you don't already have the bits lying around it isn't really worth the expense and hassle of trying to work all this out :-)

[dillwhacker]

Both of my balance-port type battery checkers will not work on 1S.
I guess 3.8 V isn't enough to power up the internal micro / LCD display.
HTH

[Jez N]

1-8S LiPo Battery Voltage Checker Indicator Tester Alert f RC Battery Quadcopter | eBay

I used to use one of these and it worked with my 1s batteries for my old mcpx

[myxiplx]

1-8S LiPo Battery Voltage Checker Indicator Tester Alert f RC Battery Quadcopter | eBay

I used to use one of these and it worked with my 1s batteries for my old mcpx

Yup, I've got one of those, but the pins still use the JST-XH spacing, so you'd need to bend the pins in and force it a little to work with the OP's packs.

[5hane]

Lots of very helpful replies, thanks guys.
It sounds like the answer is to just look after these batts as best I can without a tester. I'll just have to live with losing a few every so often during long absences.
Due to my stupidity I actually wrecked 4 lipos trying to force them onto the tester, leaving me with just 2 to play with over easter grrrrr

[5hane]

The tester you have sounds like a standard battery tester, keep hold of it, they're a great thing to have in this hobby. Unfortunately the micro helicopters like the mSRX use smaller pins to save weight, so while that tester can probably check a 1S LiPo, that doesn't mean your batteries will necessarily fit.

In all honesty, for these small packs so long as you're fairly careful with them don't worry about it too much. If you do run them too low they'll lose a bit of power, or not last as many cycles, but when the battery costs under a fiver, getting a few less flights out of it isn't the end of the world. It's good you're reading up on all this, but I don't worry about any pack that costs me under £20. When you really want to start being careful is when you're flying a pair of 6S packs in a 700 size heli costing around £130 per pack!!

Go buy yourself a few spare packs, and have fun with your mSRX :-)

sounds like a plan. Cheers