I think I am about to learn an expensive lesson........

[Gazzer1uk]

So after my last flight a few weeks ago, I forgot to recharge the batteries to store level...... These being 2 x 6S optipower 5000mah batteries for my Trex 700.....

Got interesting errors on attempting to charge with my emperon this morning...... First problem on battery one was a cell type warning, the second on battery 2 was too low voltage to charge. I took the battery checker, the first wont recognise as LiPo, but Nixx and the second one has battery voltage at max 1.7 and down to 1.5 on the cells.

I've just done a bit of reading...... these are buggered aren't they?

PS 8 flights so £25 a flight..... grrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhh

Gaz

[waveydavey]

They're not sounding good. The first one make sure none of the balance taps have come off or it's broken. Your charger I'm not familiar with but my pl6
would coax the second one back to life but it will be damaged

[r4nd0m]

I had packs left for weeks as I didnt use them at all, didnt bother them at all - put them on charge and flew them without issues, as Dave suggests check the charger and all leads properly again

[Ross Northcott]

Not putting on staorage charge wont make a blind bit of differance, BUT if you ran them say down below 5% then left them that may well cause a problem, i always leave mine at 20% for up to 4 weeks and no problem, i found this the best way now rather than trying to store charge them after every flying session.

[Raving Jim]

What sort of level did you take the batteries down after you flew them?
Try just plugging the balance leads in the board along with another battery that has atleast 50 percent in it an let them equalize, the charger should then recognize them an sort the cells out on an accurate charge , they may all ready be damaged tho

[SaneAdam]

What sort of level did you take the batteries down after you flew them?
Try just plugging the balance leads in the board along with another battery that has atleast 50 percent in it an let them equalize, the charger should then recognize them an sort the cells out on an accurate charge , they may all ready be damaged tho

Yeh, don't worry too much about storage charge…….. especially for 2 weeks… I doubt that will be anything to do with it unless you ran em down past 5% as Ross says

[Raving Jim]

As above no need to put them in to storage if there have atleast 20 percent life in cells an your going to cycle in a week or 2 ,3 volts per cell is the danger level!

[Gazzer1uk]

I'll go double check the leads but pretty sure due to the low voltage I have screwed them...... charger is Emperor L172b no loose wires or similar, it would be I guess a coincidence if I had a broken cable and one skewed battery, given they are treated the same, I guess it's appropriate to presume its a slight worse discharge on one of them..... bugger, was going to go flying, now all depressed!

Gaz

[Gazzer1uk]

This does prove my naivety on electric, this being my first foray into the dark arts.... I have just thought post flight I have to date not checked the discharge level, I flew the model for about 7 1/2 minutes then hovered until the Esc showed a marked decrease.... I am sadly betting this was a considerable discharge. However, previously I have charged to store mode or full charge on return, or at least recharged within a week. I am literally into circuits and the odd loop with a few fast climb outs and stuff, no massive strain to the heli like the 3d guys...... in fact if you go on YouTube and seek gazzer1uk, you can see the last flight with an on board camera..... in fact just checked that and lasted about 10 minutes.......

I am fairly sure, sadly, and totally my fault, that I have discharged further than I should have done...... beating my head against the wall now.....

Gaz

[Ross Northcott]

This does prove my naivety on electric, this being my first foray into the dark arts.... I have just thought post flight I have to date not checked the discharge level, I flew the model for about 7 1/2 minutes then hovered until the Esc showed a marked decrease.... I am sadly betting this was a considerable discharge. However, previously I have charged to store mode or full charge on return, or at least recharged within a week. I am literally into circuits and the odd loop with a few fast climb outs and stuff, no massive strain to the heli like the 3d guys...... in fact if you go on YouTube and seek gazzer1uk, you can see the last flight with an on board camera..... in fact just checked that and lasted about 10 minutes.......

I am fairly sure, sadly, and totally my fault, that I have discharged further than I should have done...... beating my head against the wall now.....

Gaz

Does your charger offer a trickle charge? i'm sure that these can be brought back, had it a few times myself, just put them on to a trickle slow charge until at 20% then charged them as normal

[Gazzer1uk]

A friend of mine with more knowledge suggests we can have a look, worth doing but one has to consider the cost of future failure at a less opportune time!

thanks for input and thoughts, I guess I was more ranting over my stupidity than anything else lol!

Gaz

[Gazzer1uk]

My friend is now owed many beers...... As suggested above, try a trickle charge, which we did on both (royal we, it as Allan really!) and got to 19 and 20%. They are now being charged at 2amps, the charger recognised them, and we will see where we get too, but it would appear.... OPTImistic on the Optipowers!

I have learnt a bit more, so hopefully this will never happen again!

I'll update in a few hours time!

Gaz

[Gazzer1uk]

Cheeky little flight post charging, batteries got to 99% capacity, flight went well no issues...... charging again... woo hoo!! So far, so good!

Gaz

[electricsceadu]

now set the tx timer to a max of 5 mins
and don't discharge them that low again
or i'll get lipo rob (formal known as nitro rob) to sort you out
by selling you lots of new batteries

[Gazzer1uk]

Out of interest... what is the typical flight time of a Trex 700 E, 2 x 6s 5000mah, when pootling? Mine has a BEC attached too.......??

Gaz