Notice for those using an MPA board with PL6/8's

[RcRotaryMadness]

I purchased my MPA board brand new from fast lads at AIR/weston park earlier this year, when purchased it only came wrapped in bubblewrap and no instructions. Which just being a charging board I thought was fine.

But I've been looking at my LiPo IR levels more just lately and noticed that cell 6 is always higher than the other cells, on all my lipos!

The reason for this is because of the "wiring mode" inside the PL8.

If you are using an MPA board you must set it to use JST-XH Node wiring NOT FMA mode. This is mentioned in these instructions here: http://revolectrix.com/support_docs/item_1401.pdf BUT obviously if your MPA board didn't come with such instructions then you may be running it in the wrong mode like me.

So just thought i'd point that out since theres been a lot of discussion on LiPos and Cell IR's just lately.

If you're using the parallel safe boards then you leave it in FMA mode even though the boards have JST sockets on them, this apparently is because the boards are wired to convert to FMA. Whereas the MPA board is a native JST-XH and so the wiring mode in the settings needs to be changed.

Matt

[PorscheBoy]

I have also found that my IR's are always worse on cell 6, but I only use the single balance board (£10) that I bought with my PL8 at AIR (Currently I only charge one pack at a time).

I tried changing the setting but the PL8 just fault alarms, it has to be in FMA mode (?) when using just the single balance board (JST balance plug), which is what I think you have suggested, but it is strange that all 8 of my 5000mAh LiPo's show cell 6 as the worst cell.... Maybe my previous charger corrupted the packs?

[Mark_T]

Maybe my previous charger corrupted the packs?

Your packs are fine I'm sure, it is the PL8.

I get similar results on mine, but no sign of a problem when tested with a Wayne Giles meter.

If I recall correctly the problems started soon after they released the MPA board. There were reports of incorrect IR readings when using the MPA and the firmware was updated.

I suspect that in 'fixing' the MPA problem they caused issues when not using the MPA.

[PorscheBoy]

Your packs are fine I'm sure, it is the PL8.

I get similar results on mine, but no sign of a problem when tested with a Wayne Giles meter.

If I recall correctly the problems started soon after they released the MPA board. There were reports of incorrect IR readings when using the MPA and the firmware was updated.

I suspect that in 'fixing' the MPA problem they caused issues when not using the MPA.

Ok, cheers, what I have noticed also is that I am now (just recently) charging my 5000mAh packs at 7amps (1.4C) and it seems to be bringing the finished IR much closer each cycle, still with Cell 6 highest but probably only a 5% differential across the 6 cells as opposed to at times failing the 10% differential figure and going into emergency charge mode.

[RcRotaryMadness]

I have also found that my IR's are always worse on cell 6, but I only use the single balance board (£10) that I bought with my PL8 at AIR (Currently I only charge one pack at a time).

I tried changing the setting but the PL8 just fault alarms, it has to be in FMA mode (?) when using just the single balance board (JST balance plug), which is what I think you have suggested, but it is strange that all 8 of my 5000mAh LiPo's show cell 6 as the worst cell.... Maybe my previous charger corrupted the packs?

I'm not sure why that is mate, with the normal parallel safe board it says to use FMA mode as those boards have the wiring conversion hard wired in. When I used to have those boards I had it in FMA mode as like you say it won't take it as JST-XH, however I wasn't paying much attention to IR's then so can't compare.

Its only recently I've been checking IR and noticed the 6th cell on all my packs was reading high so did some research and found that with the MPA board you have to switch it to JST-XH mode... maybe as Mark_T says perhaps theres a software issue with this?

Your packs are fine I'm sure, it is the PL8.

I get similar results on mine, but no sign of a problem when tested with a Wayne Giles meter.

If I recall correctly the problems started soon after they released the MPA board. There were reports of incorrect IR readings when using the MPA and the firmware was updated.

I suspect that in 'fixing' the MPA problem they caused issues when not using the MPA.

Out of interest Mark how accurate are the readings from the PL8 vs a real Meter? I'm curious to know wether its worth buying a proper meter?

[Mark_T]

Out of interest Mark how accurate are the readings from the PL8 vs a real Meter? I'm curious to know wether its worth buying a proper meter?

The PL8 is rather optimistic and reads lower than it should.

This doesn't really matter though as long as you are only using the numbers to monitor the change over time on your own packs.

We did a little test a while ago, put the same pack on two different PL8 charges and got two different results. We then tested the same pack with two different Wayne Giles meters and got the same result on each meter.

We concluded that the Wayne Giles meter was calibrated to a common standard where the PL8 chargers are not.

So don't compare results between chargers, just use them to look for changes.

[RcRotaryMadness]

The PL8 is rather optimistic and reads lower than it should.

This doesn't really matter though as long as you are only using the numbers to monitor the change over time on your own packs.

We did a little test a while ago, put the same pack on two different PL8 charges and got two different results. We then tested the same pack with two different Wayne Giles meters and got the same result on each meter.

We concluded that the Wayne Giles meter was calibrated to a common standard where the PL8 chargers are not.

So don't compare results between chargers, just use them to look for changes.

Thanks for that Mark!

It was what I was expecting to be honest but my main need for it is just to monitor any IR increases on my packs, for which the PL8's built in one will do the job.

I am thinking of running a comparison test between some lipos over a period of time but again, as long as I only use my PL8 the tests should be fair.

Cheers
Matt

[Jamin_00]

Mark, another question if I may more related to the IR's than the PL8.

How should they be read when charging more than 1 pack?? They will not give a true reading then will they? I would love to know how accurate my 4010 charger is?

[keithspurs2000]

When I was charging my last pack on my PL6 I checked the IR and cell 6 was more than double however it became much closer to the rest the longer the charge went on. I'm only using a cheapo parallel adapter too.

[RcRotaryMadness]

...I only look at the IR once the charge has finished, it can change a lot from start to finish..

[AliHumphrey]

I purchased my MPA board brand new from fast lads at AIR/weston park earlier this year, when purchased it only came wrapped in bubblewrap and no instructions. Which just being a charging board I thought was fine.

But I've been looking at my LiPo IR levels more just lately and noticed that cell 6 is always higher than the other cells, on all my lipos!

The reason for this is because of the "wiring mode" inside the PL8.

If you are using an MPA board you must set it to use JST-XH Node wiring NOT FMA mode. This is mentioned in these instructions here: http://revolectrix.com/support_docs/item_1401.pdf BUT obviously if your MPA board didn't come with such instructions then you may be running it in the wrong mode like me.

So just thought i'd point that out since theres been a lot of discussion on LiPos and Cell IR's just lately.

If you're using the parallel safe boards then you leave it in FMA mode even though the boards have JST sockets on them, this apparently is because the boards are wired to convert to FMA. Whereas the MPA board is a native JST-XH and so the wiring mode in the settings needs to be changed.

Matt

With my PL6 it wouldn't let me charge in FMA wiring mode when using the MPA bored. It would come up with an alarm.

[RcRotaryMadness]

With my PL6 it wouldn't let me charge in FMA wiring mode when using the MPA bored. It would come up with an alarm.

lol thats weird.. mine was working in FMA mode but the IR readings were off... switched it to JST-XH and all is working spot on.. running the latest 3.31 software iirc

[keithspurs2000]

...I only look at the IR once the charge has finished, it can change a lot from start to finish..

Yeah when it came down I wasn't bothered about it.

[AliHumphrey]

lol thats weird.. mine was working in FMA mode but the IR readings were off... switched it to JST-XH and all is working spot on.. running the latest 3.31 software iirc

That is strange. If my PL6 hadn't let me charge in FMA wiring mode, it wouldn't have occurred to me that I had to change it. Mine is on V1.10 firmware.

[RcRotaryMadness]

That is strange. If my PL6 hadn't let me charge in FMA wiring mode, it wouldn't have occurred to me that I had to change it. Mine is on V1.10 firmware.

Thats why I thought mine was ok on the FMA mode because it never moaned at me that it was wrong.. its only because I noticed all my lipos were reading high 6 cell IR readings. Now switched it to JST-XH and it still charges it the same but now the IR readings are all similar.. 1.8 1.8 2.0 2.1 2.1 2.1

Perhaps worth updating your firmware too? Although you do lose your presets when updating.