Problem with new battery

turltlebob

New member
I am fairly new to the hobby of model planes and i ordered a FT explorer starter kit and assembled the plane and attempted to fly it. The first time, the plane didn't fly and crashed. I thought the center of gravity was off so i moved the battery and tried again. The plane crashed again so i took it inside and checked the battery on the charger, and i left it on for a few minutes and cell one was not charging. (the battery is a Hyperion G5 3s 2500 mAh). i don't know whether this is a problem with the charger or the battery itself. Any help is appreciated.
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
Welcome to the FliteTest forums! :)

I recommend you ALWAYS balance charge so as to limit the chance of an explosion. If one cell is not charging, a good balance charger should scream bloody murder at you and shut down.

What charger are you using?

For the plane, I suggest filming the attempt to fly it. There are folks here who are pretty good at being able to watch a video and tell you what is wrong.

I would start by filming a test of the control surfaces. Show both the remote and the plane and work the control surfaces. This will help us tell if you have a channel reversed (really really common).

Test CG with the battery in the plane by balancing it on the back of a chair. Film that and post it here.


In short there are lots of reasons for a plane to not fly the first time. Lots of them. Video is worth a thousand words. :)
 
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turltlebob

New member
i am using the B3 Pro.

this is the picture of the center of gravity
use this.jpg

this is testing the control surfaces (im only using the 3 channel setup)
 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
Hi turtlebob welcome to the forum! What charger are you using and what settings (if any) are you using to charge the battery. Also what are the voltages of the cells, currently and before you started charging if you remember.
 

turltlebob

New member
I am using the B3 pro from the flitetest store. i didn't check the cells before starting the charge but after the voltages were 0,4,4 for cells one, two, and three respectively
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
I think that lipo is toast and should be removed from your home in short order.

Certainly don't try to recharge it indoors. If you have a balancer and a fireproof, outdoor bunker you might try to balance it. Even though, after 0 v I would never trust it as a flight battery and would never charge it indoors again.

I like to take my old or damaged lipos to Batteries Plus Bulbs who recycles them for free.

EDIT:
The flight controls look good.
 
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Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
When in doubt always use a multimeter to check!

If the battery is actually 0,4,4 for the three cells then the battery is toast and must be replaced regardless of the cause.

I only ever balance charge and never at a greater current than 1C. To clarify if the battery is a 1000mA then I charge at 1 Amp Max, if a 2200mA then at 2.2Amp max and so on.

It is interesting to note that the number of battery problems seem to increase with seasonal temperatures. I lost a large number of batteries last summer here I suspect because of the heat wave conditions we endured. As a result I now control the temperature of my battery packs. I use a refrigerator to cool them post flight, before charging, and after charging. When charged I store them in the refrigerator at around 3 degrees C. So far its been about 4 months since I started controlling the temperature of the batteries and NO battery has shown any swelling tendencies. My batteries do get a hard life in the air and are discharged deeply often.

Yesterday I had a 800mA 3S actually take 805mA/Hr charge and that battery is my oldest currently used. It it discharged 4 or more times per week and has been in use for about 20 weeks. Close to 100 flights and still behaves like new!

Treat your batteries kindly and look after them and they will look after you!

Just what works for me!

Have fun!
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
I am fairly new to the hobby of model planes and i ordered a FT explorer starter kit and assembled the plane and attempted to fly it. The first time, the plane didn't fly and crashed. I thought the center of gravity was off so i moved the battery and tried again. The plane crashed again so i took it inside and checked the battery on the charger, and i left it on for a few minutes and cell one was not charging. (the battery is a Hyperion G5 3s 2500 mAh). i don't know whether this is a problem with the charger or the battery itself. Any help is appreciated.

Just a tip for a Newbie!

If you fit wheels and it won't fly then it will not crash but rather just run around like a headless chicken!
It is also easier to check the control movements whilst it is on the ground and you are standing behind it!
Finally you can have your thumbs, (or fingers), on the controls before the plane moves an inch and so there is no mad panic trying to get the hands back to the controls on launch, (with the obvious risk of fumbles and hitting the controls by accident)!

If you want to fit an undercarriage there are numerous designs posted on the forums, (some using "Whatever was available").

Just what works for me!

Have fun!
 

Char-les

New member
Hello all, I am new to everything here. I have not yet flown my FT Explorer, but I believe I am experiencing a similar issue as turtlebob. I just purchased a brand new Hyperion G5 SV 3S/11.1v 2500mAh Lipo. I got it out of the mail, and charged it with the B3 PRO charger that I bought with the FT Explorer kit. It seemed to a take a few hours to charge (all three LED's turned from red to green (one at a time)). So, I presume that its ready to go (I know very little of these batteries and not much about electricity either). I plug it into the plane, turn on my Spektrum DX 6e controller. The controller is already bound to the plane (ECU ?)...anyway, the controller comes on for a few seconds ( I can move the rudders and such ) then shows the battery as being too low and starts to continuously beep until I shut it off.

Brand new battery charged with a brand new charger from the Flite Test store. Anyone have any ideas? This is rather frustrating because I don't know if I'm just not doing something right, or if something is defective.
 

Montiey

Master Tinkerer
Could be a connection issue…
Use a multimeter to measure the voltage between each of the 3 balance pins and the ground on the main connector (I say to put the ground probe on the other connector just to reduce the chance of shorting two balance pins with the probes, they're tiny!).

They should be 4.2v, 8.4v, and 12.6v respectively (then 16.8v then 21v for 4 and 5s). If the cell is still low with this method, then the battery is toast- salvage the connectors if you want, then burry it in a bucket of sand.
 

jtrops

Member
Is it possible that the balance lead for cell one has disconnected? I only ask because it is reading 0, and it seems like there should be some residual power even if very little.