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One of my Lipos is throwing out an error when set to charge (storage or balance charge). Screen just says "Error! Battery disconnect". 

I've had this occasionally before on various (maybe all of my) packs but with no consistency, and have unplugged and plugged then back in and carried on, so assumed it was just my fairly cheap charger throwing a wobbly. But not this time. 

The battery monitor shows a voltage on both cells at around 80%. So it seems it has an ok connection on both leads. But then if I try an IR check it again throws out the same error.

Both leads and plugs look fine on visual inspection, but I can't see inside the (hard case) pack and am not minded to mess with that, for safety reasons, although I guess other physical connections in the pack are where one might next look for a failure. By feel there's no bloating (lots of give in the case as when it was new). 

Is my battery shot? Any way to diagnose the issue? First thing I think I'll do is run the battery down a bit through driving and try again. 

It's a Sunpadow 5100mAh 2S lipo and a HTRC T240 Duo charger. Both around 6 months old and no other issues before. 

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The only time I get an error (Hyperion charger) is if the balance plug isn't connected properly.  Is everything good on the balance side?

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13 minutes ago, bRIBEGuy said:

The only time I get an error (Hyperion charger) is if the balance plug isn't connected properly.  Is everything good on the balance side?

The balance plug looks OK, and I've unplugged and plugged it back in multiple times. And the charger shows the two voltages, which I think tells me it's making a correct connection on the balance plug. Although the fact it won't do an IR check might mean otherwise. 

Same battery throws the same error regardless of which side of the (dual) charger I plug it into, implying the plugs/leads on the charger aren't the issue. 

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I’m probably wrong but Just an obvious one to check.  I’ve made the mistake in the past if having it set to the wrong number of cells. 

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Have you tried using some contact cleaner on the plugs instead of just plugging in a few times?

If the charger is picking up the voltages then I doubt there is much wrong with the cells, it may just be when the (small) current is applied through the balance circuit, the contact is too poor.

I'd also independently check the cell voltages with a different device to check they are what the charger thinks they are.

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If it is doing it on multiple packs, my guess would be the charger at fault. Given that most lipo mishaps occur when charging them, I might be inclined to get a new one, just to be on the safe side. Do you know anyone else with a decent lipo capable charger you could use/borrow to confirm or refute?

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10 hours ago, sosidge said:

Have you tried using some contact cleaner on the plugs instead of just plugging in a few times?

If the charger is picking up the voltages then I doubt there is much wrong with the cells, it may just be when the (small) current is applied through the balance circuit, the contact is too poor.

I'd also independently check the cell voltages with a different device to check they are what the charger thinks they are.

I think you've nailed it. Its last run was on the beach so corrosion is never going to be far away. Bit of play in the plug contacts also, so seems like the kind of plug that could be prone to a poor contact. A really good clean up, brush, spray and jiggle of the contacts and we're go. Fingers crossed. 

 

57 minutes ago, Silver-Can said:

If it is doing it on multiple packs, my guess would be the charger at fault. Given that most lipo mishaps occur when charging them, I might be inclined to get a new one, just to be on the safe side. Do you know anyone else with a decent lipo capable charger you could use/borrow to confirm or refute?

Unfortunately I don't know anyone else with an RC hobby, even vaguely locally. I had wondered whether a mobile charger that can be plugged into a 12v car socket or USB might be a useful thing to own, so perhaps I should research that anyway. A second charger doesn't seem like a terrible idea. This one is great for being a dual charger with good functionality but it has a cheap feel to it, eg it sometimes needs a tap to ensure the cooling fan is spinning freely.

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2 hours ago, BuggyDad said:

I had wondered whether a mobile charger that can be plugged into a 12v car socket or USB might be a useful thing to own,

VERY USEFUL. I have a ISDT and ToolkitRC USB C charger that charge off a charger for "useless" things like mobile phones and laptops, which most people have around the house, meaning one less socket wasted. They do up to 5/6A although the last time I tried that it blew my QC3 charger. The ISDT one also do NiMHs while the ToolkitRC can do storage charge. 

The key thing is they can charge off QC3 and USB PD, although I think QC3 is only safe for 3A. So you can charge/topup on the go from car USB chargers or power bank, just make sure you have those with suitable output of QC3 and/or PD. I do. Lidl is selling a 10ah powetbank with QC3 and PD out for £15 right now, needless to say, I got it. According to my power meter cable, these do pull 20W, which is within the specs of 22W PD out of the powetbank.

Useful also to charge up at work and then charging my devices at home, to help with this cost of living crisis. Even if it is only £1 a month savings, it pays for itself in 15 months, or less. 

Anyways, here are the chargers I have. 

£24.12  50%OFF | ToolkitRC M4 Pocket DC 80W 5A XT30 XT60 Input USB-C Input/Output Charger for 1-4S LiPo Battery Quick Charger Function
https://a.aliexpress.com/_uIJ1qZ

£17.36 20%OFF | ISDT PD60 60W 6A Battery Balance Charger Type-C Input for 1-4S Lipo Battery

https://a.aliexpress.com/_vmFeTR

 

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36 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

VERY USEFUL. I have a ISDT and ToolkitRC USB C charger that charge off a charger for "useless" things like mobile phones and laptops, which most people have around the house, meaning one less socket wasted. They do up to 5/6A although the last time I tried that it blew my QC3 charger. The ISDT one also do NiMHs while the ToolkitRC can do storage charge. 

The key thing is they can charge off QC3 and USB PD, although I think QC3 is only safe for 3A. So you can charge/topup on the go from car USB chargers or power bank, just make sure you have those with suitable output of QC3 and/or PD. I do. Lidl is selling a 10ah powetbank with QC3 and PD out for £15 right now, needless to say, I got it. According to my power meter cable, these do pull 20W, which is within the specs of 22W PD out of the powetbank.

Useful also to charge up at work and then charging my devices at home, to help with this cost of living crisis. Even if it is only £1 a month savings, it pays for itself in 15 months, or less. 

Anyways, here are the chargers I have. 

£24.12  50%OFF | ToolkitRC M4 Pocket DC 80W 5A XT30 XT60 Input USB-C Input/Output Charger for 1-4S LiPo Battery Quick Charger Function
https://a.aliexpress.com/_uIJ1qZ

£17.36 20%OFF | ISDT PD60 60W 6A Battery Balance Charger Type-C Input for 1-4S Lipo Battery

https://a.aliexpress.com/_vmFeTR

 

Ooh. Ta. Storage charge function is I think a necessity so TOOLKITRC better for me. Is it worth getting the USB-C to XT-60 female cable with it? Somehow higher power using XT-60 input than just plugging a USB-C in?

My phone is pretty recent usb-c charging (adapter quotes PDO & PPS) and so is my laptop, so some good crossover there I think. May need a new 12v car socket. 

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2 hours ago, BuggyDad said:

Ooh. Ta. Storage charge function is I think a necessity so TOOLKITRC better for me. Is it worth getting the USB-C to XT-60 female cable with it? Somehow higher power using XT-60 input than just plugging a USB-C in?

My phone is pretty recent usb-c charging (adapter quotes PDO & PPS) and so is my laptop, so some good crossover there I think. May need a new 12v car socket. 

It already has XT60 input but if you have a charger at home, why will you need storage charge on the go? In my case this is my only charger and I don't bother (usually) with storage charging anyway. 

WFWIarY.jpg

But if you are using USB power, changing a plug will not up the power, it may bypass the power protocols and either charge at the default 5W or blow your adaptor. So USB C is the only way to go if you want to charge on the go. 

3JuOx7M.jpg

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1 hour ago, alvinlwh said:

It already has XT60 input but if you have a charger at home, why will you need storage charge on the go? In my case this is my only charger and I don't bother (usually) with storage charging anyway. 

WFWIarY.jpg

But if you are using USB power, changing a plug will not up the power, it may bypass the power protocols and either charge at the default 5W or blow your adaptor. So USB C is the only way to go if you want to charge on the go. 

3JuOx7M.jpg

Ah. Cool. Thanks. 

For output, presume you just made up a XT60 to Deans (/whatever) lead?

I figure storage charging is always good discipline, and I run a storage charge through all packs after use. If they're run down low then it's all heading in the right direction anyway and if they're too high it normally means they haven't been used at all and so they definitely want taking down from the high state of charge. Generally after use I assume they aren't going to be used for some time. If I use one the next day then no matter, it'll go from storage to full charge in no time. Conscious of the environmental negatives of Lipos in both manufacture and disposal, if I am going to create demand for them I'd like to minimise it by maximising their operating life, so I'm erring I hope on the side of caution. 

I could rely on my existing charger exclusively for this kind of management but I figured that while I might buy one of these for use out and about, half my reason for buying is to have a spare charger in the event of failure, so I think it's worth a few quid extra to me to get the storage function. 

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1 hour ago, BuggyDad said:

Ah. Cool. Thanks. 

For output, presume you just made up a XT60 to Deans (/whatever) lead?

I figure storage charging is always good discipline, and I run a storage charge through all packs after use. If they're run down low then it's all heading in the right direction anyway and if they're too high it normally means they haven't been used at all and so they definitely want taking down from the high state of charge. Generally after use I assume they aren't going to be used for some time. If I use one the next day then no matter, it'll go from storage to full charge in no time. Conscious of the environmental negatives of Lipos in both manufacture and disposal, if I am going to create demand for them I'd like to minimise it by maximising their operating life, so I'm erring I hope on the side of caution. 

I could rely on my existing charger exclusively for this kind of management but I figured that while I might buy one of these for use out and about, half my reason for buying is to have a spare charger in the event of failure, so I think it's worth a few quid extra to me to get the storage function. 

Yes, output is XT-60 and XT-30. I am using Deans adaptor atm, but am considering swapping over to XT-60s.

Note that these things only do storage charge of 3.75v (IIRC) but not storage discharge. 

Environmental impact is the least of my concern right now, cost of living crisis and wondering when a nuke will fall on my head is more concerning. 

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58 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

Yes, output is XT-60 and XT-30. I am using Deans adaptor atm, but am considering swapping over to XT-60s.

Note that these things only do storage charge of 3.75v (IIRC) but not storage discharge. 

Environmental impact is the least of my concern right now, cost of living crisis and wondering when a nuke will fall on my head is more concerning. 

Cracking. Thanks. Ordered. Slow boat so it'll be a whiiiile... 

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