recharge ultra-guard

[tomatwalden]

The annoying thing I discovered last time I tried to buy one of those small 2 cell packs is that the postage was going to cost as much as the item itelf due to RM not taking LiPos.

Wasn't going to mention this until they arrived, but not only was Raj doing them cheap, but obviously nobody has told him about the Royal Mail and battery limitations. £1.15 royal mail postage and they both arrived this morning!

[Planehazza]

Do they not automatically charge off the flight pack? Yes, running it without any charge mean no backup, but a handful of flights would see it back up to full charge?

[Grumpy]

You can sometimes recover badly over discharged LiPos if they havent been flat for long, i've done it a few times. On the other hand if it was totally drained and left that way for months then it's toast, no point even trying to recover it, so you did right to replace.

In any case even if it had been recoverable do you really want a compromised battery in use as your backup? What's the point of having a backup it it's compromised by running a damaged and potentially unreliable battery?

[tomatwalden]

Do they not automatically charge off the flight pack? Yes, running it without any charge mean no backup, but a handful of flights would see it back up to full charge?

I tried a few flights, plus leaving it connected with a flight pack (motor disconnected) for some time. It never came back ...

[hunter_heli]

I tried a few flights, plus leaving it connected with a flight pack (motor disconnected) for some time. It never came back ...

I tried this too, but the board got untouchably hot! Got the replacement - all good.

One thing though, I have noticed after a few flights the pack does discharge, and can anyone tell me at what point does it start charging back up again? It does this on both my optiguards, fitted on a Trex 600e and 700e

[nkma]

An easy way to charge the UG LiPo
If it takes several flights to charge the UG LiPo I would feel safer
charging it in advance. If your charger like to have both balance
and main-power/charge connected, there is a easy workaround.
I always keep some LiPo balance lead extentions around, e.g.
for charging LiPos with short balance leads. I use mostly 3S and
6S, and the extentions are cheap on ebay.
Take an extension, add wires on the outer wires and connect to
a Dean or EC3 or whatever your choice is. Your LiPo still have
only a balance cable, but with the extension your charger will
see that both main and balance is connected. Isolate well after
you have modified the extension.
A word of warning: Since you now have a cable with main connector
going through balance cable into the LiPo, never use this cable
for charging or discharging with high current. The balance cables
are not intended for high currents. For small LiPos, charging
with 1C you are fine, though!

Here is an example of balance extentions:
10pcs JST XH 3S LiPo Balance Wire Extension Lead 22cm for R C Cars Boats Planes | eBay

Regards,
Bo

[tomatwalden]

minor update from me. New LIPOs arrived and fitted

In fitting the replacement to my Goblin 500 I realised why I had ended up in the boat in the first place. I had placed the optiguard in a REALLY NEAT location. Hardly visible, easy to access the button. Proud I was of the install!

Trouble was, there was absolutely no way to access the LIPO connector. So, in re-installing it, I've put it somewhere where I can easily remove the LIPO connector when the heli is not in use ...

Doesn't look as neat, but I won't end up with a dead optiguard again!

[KevDavies]

I had the same thing happen with a heli i wasn't using, in the end i connected a spare 2s lipo i had lying around.
You can buy replacement lipos from Fastlads etc.

Optipower ULTRA-GUARD 430 Replacement 430Mah Lipo Battery B4302S

Dan.

I did exactly the same, left it connected and killed the opti battery. I have a few 2s 500mah lipos knocking about so just fitted one of them.

[trillian]

Wasn't going to mention this until they arrived, but not only was Raj doing them cheap, but obviously nobody has told him about the Royal Mail and battery limitations. £1.15 royal mail postage and they both arrived this morning!

Yep, I got mine today as well and very pleased with that. A while back I had tried to buy one elsewhere and the only shipping option was UPS which was considerably more.