3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem

3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (Full Version)

All Forums >> [Radios, Batteries, Clubhouse and more] >> Batteries & Chargers

Message

T.W. -> 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/3/2008 2:58:29 PM)
Hi Guys. I'm struggling with a receiver battery problem and wonder if a "battery expert" out there can offer me some help or advice. I've had lots of model planes over the years, but this is the first one which has given me this particular problem Put simply: I'm only getting 3 or 4 flights of around 8 minutes before the on-board battery condition indicator fitted to my IC-powered model warns me that the Rx battery is losing power. The check: I waggle both sticks in all directions immediately after landing - if I see a red led flickering I know that I need to re-charge the battery. I do this with all my other models, and I usually get 6 or 7 flights (sometimes 8 even) before the red led lights-up I've tried several new batterys (all 4.8v) and currently have yet another brand-new 2100mah NiMHi pack installed in the model. The results have been the same with each battery I've tried. The model in question is a Hangar 9 Funtana 40S, which I fully admit to "flying pretty hard." As a comparison I also have a 40-size Hangar 9 Twist which I fly in exactly the same way, and this model's Rx battery will produce 6 or 7 flights per Rx charge (it has 5 standard Futaba S148 servos). I tried installing the Twist's Rx battery and found that it only produces 3 flights when in the Funtana The Funtana has 4 Futaba 148 servos, and none of them are stalled at full deflection, the rudder's S3010 is also free-moving and un-stalled. All control surfaces and linkages are free-moving and non-binding Yesterday I saw the red led flicker after 3 flights when moving all 5 servos, but as there was no red light whilst moving just 2 or 3 of the servos, I "chanced a 4th flight - which was kept quite short (although the model was still "flown hard"). The red warning light was "solid" when I checked after the 4th landing Back home I put the Rx battery on my cycler and re-charged it . . . . it took only 330mah before cutting-out! Final note: As a test for the on-board battery condition indicator I connected several of them the Funtana's Rx, and they all show their red lights at the same time as the on-board meter turns red I'm completely puzzled by this situation and would welcome any advice Tony

pilotpete2 -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/3/2008 4:45:04 PM)
Hi Tony, I have very little faith in those on board battery checkers. A good ESV with a switchable load of 400 to 500mA is much more reliable of an indicator of your charge status, I use mine between every flight. Also, it's a good idea to cycle those batteries to determine their actual capacity and if they have never been charged at C/10 (210mA) for 16 hours, it's a good idea to do so, peak charging is never as good as the old tried and true overnite charge for longer life of the cells. good luck, Pete

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/3/2008 6:20:13 PM)
Thanks for this Pete The batteries I'm talking about here are all new (or more accurately: months, rather than years, old), and indeed I do trickle-charge my new batteries at C10 to "equalise" the cells before bringing them into norlmal use. They have also all been cycled perhaps 5 or 6 times to get them up to capacity and to check that they discharge something close to their labelled capacity Until a few years ago I used to charge my batteries overnight before flying too. But these days a quick top-up charge using a delta peak charger is all I can actually arrange to have - and it's worked really well for me over the past 5 years or so. Since this particular problem raised its head I've even flown my Funtana after an overnight charge on one occasion, just to see if it made a difference. But I still only got 3 flights out of the battery before I had to re-charge it I'm not familiar with the term "ESV," but I guess this is a plug-in battery checker? Perhaps you could point me at a web-page where I might learn more about them? Maybe you could recomend a particular type I should get too? Tony

pilotpete2 -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/3/2008 9:54:55 PM)
Hi tony, Sorry about the untranslated acronym[&o], ESV stands for expanded scale voltmeter. I don't know what is available from your local distributors on your side of the pond, but here's a popular one from Tower Hobbies. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXWW16&P=0 With one of these you first read the no load voltage and then see what it settles at under the simulated load. It seems that all the guys planes I see with the volt watch, dip into the red when you twiddle the sticks. It sure sounds as though you're doing all the right things with the batteries[)]. Here's a thought, the next time you fly, start with a full charge, then fly until the voltwatch makes you think you should stop, then when you get home put the battery on the cycler to discharge it and see how much capacity is left, probably a lot more than you think. Good luck, Pete

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/3/2008 10:27:53 PM)
Thanks again Pete. I see exactly what you mean . . . . I think the meter in my picture may do the same job as the Towe Hobbies item, and I'll be sending-off for it if you can confirm that it's what I need. I'll also try doing what you suggested regarding discharging the battery following a flying session too Tony

pilotpete2 -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/3/2008 10:34:02 PM)
That's a very nice looking unit, the 300mA load is better than the tower one. Best of luck, Pete

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/3/2008 10:45:22 PM)
Cheers - my order is going-in right now! I'll report back if ever I discover exactly what's going-on with my Funtana battery Tony

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/8/2008 11:32:34 AM)
My new battery checker (see above) arrived yesterday morning, and I flew my Funtana in the afternoon, taking the new checker with me . . . . after only 2 (10-minute) flights the on-board checker told me that it was time to re-charge my Rx battery (I could see a red led whilst moving the servos). Checking with the new device I could see that the battery was still fine (under 300mah load). So I had a third flight - and then a fourth one after doing another post-flight check After the fourth flight I re-checked again. The on-board checker was now showing a solid red light - without any of the servos being moved. The new checker showed the battery to be more than three-quarters full - plenty of capacity for another flight, maybe even two. But time had run-out and I had to leave for home Back home I was surprised to discover that the 21,000mah battery would take only 350 before it was fully charged-up - surely it should have taken more (or am I misunderstanding things here?) But here's something I definitely need to check-out: I noticed that the new battery checker's display "flickers" when initially connected to the Funtana's charging socket. It doesn't do this when I connect it directly to the battery socket itself, so I'm guessing that spent fuel has entered the charging socket . . . . I'm unsure exactly what this means, but perhaps it has a bearing on the overall problem? Tony

richrd -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/8/2008 1:43:37 PM)
I have two suggestions if the batteries are checking out ok after fights do a capacity test to actually see what left and go from their. BUT! The on board meter makes me very nervous if it is actual correct you may have a BAD harness where the resistance is very high and not getting correct voltage to receiver. The test is to measure with ESV at the receiver next to the on board monitor and see if they are the same reading. The is something that must be fixed a red light is not right con not just ignore it if bad replace it or try another one but the esv will tell all. Rich

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/9/2008 8:50:57 AM)
Thanks for this Rich. I'll check-out the remaining capacity after my next flying session - however, after the previous session I discovered that it took only 350ma to re-charge the battery (this is a recently-bought and checked-out 2100mah pack btw) I replaced the switch harness yesterday evening and this morning I hooked-up my ESV right alongside the battery at the Rx end via a Y-lead. Then I hooked-up a couple more on-board battery checkers for comparison - and left the battery turned-on to see what happened Tony

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/9/2008 8:52:39 AM)
This is what the set-up looked like at the outset of this test

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/9/2008 8:53:45 AM)
Some time later this is what I see

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/9/2008 8:57:15 AM)
More time passes . . . .

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/9/2008 9:01:35 AM)
This is taking a lot of time . . . . . this time I've pressed the ESV's "start" button so the pix shows the voltage when a 300mah load is applied

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/9/2008 9:06:58 AM)
This pic shows the on-board battery checker telling me it's ok to fly, while the ESV tells me the battery is flat. There's a good reason for this: I wasn't moving the sticks at the time in order to get a "true" reading from the on-board checker - just shows how one needs to put that lkoad on the checker to get the correct information(!) What does all this mean? I don't know. It's got me completely confused now! :) Tony

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/9/2008 5:10:38 PM)
After all this checking, and bearing in mind that my ESV says that the Rx battery was flat by the end of the test-session, my cycler could only persuade the battery to accept 579ma before it was fully re-charged Right now the pack is receiving a full discharge/re-charge cycle . . . . the figures from this exercise will follow soon Tony

richrd -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/12/2008 1:15:03 PM)
Please only C/10 charge for 16 hrs before you do these test and C/5 to .9V discharge cycle test other wise you are doing two different tests at once and we can not help then. Remember the last 4.8 V to 4.7V is the last of the pack AKA loaded test. after 4.6 it's over. NO LOAD test aka LEDS on volt watch as you see are not worth much as a battery verification of voltage & capacity only that things have not gotten really bad as plane sitttts their like left on or bad cell ..... Rich

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/22/2008 11:30:18 AM)
The battery checked-out fine so I decided that perhaps something was wrong with the switch harness, which I then exchanged for a new one. The next time I took the model to the strip (last Monday) it checked-out fine in a pre-flight range-test. It flew fine for around 3 minutes. Then I lost all radio contact just as I'd put it into a straight-down-dive (at tick-over) as the first part of an inverted bunt (at very high altitude). All attempts to shut the engine down and change the model's direction had no effect whatsoever and the model was written-off. The radio gear and battery worked fine in the after-crash range-test of almost 100 paces. I have no idea what went wrong, but perhaps the original "battery problem" is a clue? Tony

richrd -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/22/2008 1:27:26 PM)
Sorry that sucks, you are trying to fix a known problem but all checks seem ok then wammm.. Been their also. Our field gets a lot of radio hits above ch 48 an I got 54 an 52 gotta love that.. Then all checks out ok an lose a good plane. Did the volt watch still give different reading then the ESV even after replacing the harness? If it was an electrical problem still curious where it was??? Ya do not want to reuse bad parts.... Rich

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/22/2008 10:44:47 PM)
Thanks for this Rich. Sorry to say that I didn't get the chance to check-out the reading of the on-board checker against the hand-held one because the crash came on the first flight after changing the switch harness and the battery was still reading fully-charged on both meters . . . hmmmmm, I wonder if running-down the battery would show-up anything now. I'll give this a try tomorrow using the same flight pack taken from the Funtana Tony

T.W. -> RE: 3D Plane Receiver Battery Problem (5/24/2008 1:44:38 PM)
Yep - running-down the battery a little soon showed-up a significant difference between the "under-load" readings produced by the on-board battery checker and the hand-held ESV. The ESV told me that the battery was slightly better than 3/4-full and therefore ok for flight, whilst the on-board meter reported that the battery was too low for flight So why the difference? I hooked-up two more on-board checkers via Y-leads - now all three on-board checkers gave the same "low battery warning," but the Prolux ESV continued telling me all's well (all readings taken "under-load" of course) After staring blankly at all the cables for a while, the penny finally dropped (did I mention that I'm "slow!") . . . . the on-board checker was plugged-into the Rx-end of the switch harness, whilst the Prolux was, of course, plugged-into the charge socket - the checkers use completely different power circuits! I switched the harness around so that the Rx was supplied via what was originally the charging socket. Bingo! The results were now reversed - the on-board checkers now say it's safe to fly whilst the Prolux ESV warns that the battery's too low! I examined the Rx plug-end of the harness cable - all seemed bright, and perfectly ok. I then removed the switch from its housing and checked the soldered connections to the switch itself - all again seemed perfectly ok. Finally I pulled-back the shrink-tube insulation covering a soldered joint connecting three black cables (see pix) I know this is a really "bad" joint - and there's no-way I would ever fly a model knowing that this kind of rubbish was on-board. And although I appreciate that this bad joint was probably responsible for my battery meter's mis-readings, I really don't know if it could also have been responsible for my model's complete refusal to respond to the Tx and the subsequent crash Any advice would be welocme here Tony

Page: [1]

SITE MAP! : : FORUM RULES

© 2001 - 2007 24-7 RC, LLC, all rights reserved.

0.296875