geo8498

I just bought a Great Planes electrifly 1500 11.1V Lipo. It doesn't charge. I wanted to check it out to see if it was fully charged. I connected the discharge plug into my MRC 959 charger when I got it last night and it read 11.1 V. I plugged the charge lead to the charger and I get no voltage reading. I tested it on my plane and it ran nicely. Before I tried charged it, I ran it in my plane for a bit till I noticed the speed drop. I connected the discharge lead to the charger, and I got a reading of 9.8V. I discharged it for a bit at 3 amps, until it read 8.28V, which was only for a couple of seconds. It won't charge though. I get an error message on the charger. I would expect to see a voltage on the meter when I plug the charge lead into the charger. Before I tried to charge it, I read the literaure on the battery and the charger to make sure I knew what I was doing. So is there something wrong with it or am I doing something wrong?

Defranci

Do not try to charge a Lipo with your MRC 959. It is made for NIMH and Nicad only. I would also suggest that you stay away from the 969 as it does not charge Lipo's in a safe manner.

geo8498

Actually, it is the969, not the 959. I'm a bit disappointed that I spent $110 on it specifically beacause I wanted to use it for Lipos. documentation is very sketchy, and it doesn't seem Lipo friendly.

I'm not sure if I did something to the Lipo pack and don't know if I'd be able to return it.

I feel like I'm out $160 now with nothing to show for it.

Dr Kiwi

If you discharged your pack below 9v most chargers will give you an error message - since they are designed to refuse to charge a pack which starts off below the minimum voltage.

Defranci

You can try to return the 969. Your reason could be that you were unaware that the 969 does not use a charging method that is acceptable to the Lipo battery manufacturers and MRC advertising is misleading on this point.
You posted that you discharged the battery to 8.28 volts. Many lipoly chargers will not start a charge if the voltage is below 3.0 volts per cell (9.0 v for your 3s pack). It is generally accepted that is the minimum that a lipoly should be subjected to. Since it only went down to about 2.8 v/cell, the pack most likely is not seriously damaged. Suggest you find someone close by to help you revive the pack to minimum voltage.

geo8498

the battery is reading at 9.7V at this time. Still does not show a reading when connected via the charge lead. Only time I get a meter reading is on the discharge lead. Does anyone use these packs, and does anyone know anything about the pc circuit? I wonder if the charge lead is bad, or the pc boad. I am thinking Ill return the charger and get a lipo only charger instead.

I'm half tempted to take a look at the pc cicuit, but I'm resisting the temptation because I might try to return the pack. I'm just worried that they may not take Lipos back.

Matt Kirsch

My Feedback: (21)

I don't know why this hasn't been mentioned yet, but NONE of the "SuperBrain" series of chargers is suitable for charging LiPolys at this time. The 969 may advertise that it charges LiPolys, but it does it in a very lipoly-unfriendly, Rube-Goldberg manner, using dangerous assumptions and the "peak detect" NiMH program! LiPolys don't peak, and they're not necessarily fully discharged each time you go to charge them.

For $10 more, you can get the Astro 109, which is very easy to use, smart, and LiPoly friendly.

Also, NEVER discharge LiPoly cells below 3.0 Volts per cell. That means 9.0 Volts is the absolute lowest that the pack should read.

If I were you, I would contact Great Planes regarding the issues you're having with the charge lead. Charging with the 969 may have tripped the protection circuitry in the pack.

geo8498

I returned the 969 charger today. I bought a Kokam 403 instead. The lady at the LHS knew about the MRC issue (she wasn't there when I bought it) and gladly took it back. Since the Kokam was $30 cheaper, she could only give me credit, which I in turn used to get a Thunder Power 11.1V 860Mah pack. No luck exchanging the Electrifly battery though. She said to try it on the new charger. It still doesn't charge.

MAKODS

I just read on the E-Zone that people were having trouble charging the Electrifly Li-po's through the JST connector but the Deans worked ok.

geo8498

the instructions say not to charge by that plug. I'm assuming it's because of the circuit board. Is there any chance that Great Planes would fix or replace my pack? If not, I was thinking of trying to take off the PC board if it's possible.

3dandpatternflyer

my dad got his packs really low for his li-pos. He has a Triton and the charger said "battery Voltage too low." This was on a 3 S. He kept trying and it never worked. Tried charging it on a MK II and didn't work either. SO he charged the 3 S as a 2S mode on the Triton and it worked. He let it do it for a few minutes and changed the setting back to 3S. Worked Perfectly!!! Battery in perfect condition and still in use today. This was on the Kokam 1500 (he did this on a lotta battery packs since he doesn't have a programmable ESC, and its worked everytime)

TTYL,
Andrew T.

geo8498

So would anyone think I should try charging through the Deans connector, or does anyone strongly think that would be a very BAD idea?

civic619

I had the same problem. Its not the charger, its the circuit board that is incorporated with the electrifly cell. Take a good sniff at the pack and tell me if you smell anything "odd." if you do, then you have burnt out one of the IC on the board. This has happen to me on the 5th cycle. I simply took the pack apart, desoldered the circuit board and resolded the deans. That took care of everything. You can also charge from the Deans end if you wish not to hassle with taking the pack apart. The instructions says NOT TO CHARGE through the deans simply because you will not utilize its circuit board for protection, it will not damage the pack.

Matt Kirsch

My Feedback: (21)

Precisely. Great Planes Electrifly is the only pack brand I'm aware of that currently builds protection circuitry into their packs. All others are charged with no protection circuit at all.

If you want the pack replaced, contact Great Planes at [email protected]. That's the normal procedure if you have a problem with a Great Planes product. It's a completely painless process that you have control over, rather than waiting for the hobby shop to "get around to it."

geo8498

I've been flying regularly with the pack for over a month now, charging it through the deans connector. Thanks for all the help everyone.

rossarmstrong

I'm new to the electric side of flying and have a similar question.

Since it doesn't seem to matter about charging the Electrifly batteries through the Deans connector, any problems discharging (flying)through the JST connector?

Is the only drawback of discharging through the JST connector that I would be bypassing the batteries built-in protection circuits or is there a current limit issue I should be aware of?

Thanks for the help.

Ross Armstrong

altacom

My Feedback: (3)

I've had the same problem with some Electrifly 3S-1P 720 MAH packs. Bought them months ago and had no reason to use them till recently. Hooked them to the motor for testing and they worked great.

Hooked them to my Astro 109 Li-po charger and it said "waiting for Battery source" Metered the batteries and they were fine.

So I just removed the Protective Circuit board, soldered them into a straight series pack and lo and behold - they are just perfect and charge and discharge as they should.

So much for Modern Protection Technology. The best protection with Li-Poly batteries is avoid operator error.

Jerseymac

You guys just saved my sanity!
I just bought an Electrifly 1500 11.1v 3cell and saw that little charge connector (guess it's a JST?) and the Deans on the other wires and said here we go again...
I also have a Kokam with the same specs and it only has the Deans connector.
I was trying to figure out how to get my charger connected to that little guy when I came across this thread.
Man, what a relief.
I have put Ultra Deans on all my connections and sure didn't want to throw another type connector into the mix.
Speaking of Ultra Deans. Does everyone know about gluing a strip of fine sandpaper around the plastic on each end of the Ultra Deans? Saw that trick in my latest RC mag. Sure makes it easy to pull them apart.
Anyway, I am totally new to electrics and have been pulling my hair out trying to figure out the motor specs, etc.
What a jungle out there.
Also, I have been in the electronics field since the 60's and some of this battery and charging stuff is making me feel like I just started in basic electricity!
I am amazed at the depth of knowledge some of you guys have. I have already ruined one Lipo from stupidity and see now that I am going to have to forget about charging ahead without doing some serious studying on batteries and chargers.

No-Apologies

I have had the same problem listed about with the Electrifly packs. I just charch through the Deans connector. I don't even think about the charge plug. No problems so far.