Power issue
 

<span lang="EN">

Ok, so hear is the deal. Brand new 2 meter plane. New Hymax 6330-210, with an ICE 80 HV that has about 20 flights on another plane that worked flawlessly. I am using Power Unlimited&rsquo;s Dean&rsquo;s series connector.</p>

http://www.f3aunlimited.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&amp;cPath=33_57&a mp;products_id=312</p>

Maiden today. First flight goes off without a hitch. Second flight&hellip;..plug in the batteries and get 10 beeps and the arming code. Taxi out and give it power . It felt a little weak, but being new to 2 meter electric, I lifted off and knew off the bat I didn&rsquo;t have any power. Just got it turned around to the field going down wind. Pan caked it in and took out the landing gear plate.</p>

I downloaded the Castle file and the voltage for the bad flight was only 20 volts. I checked both batteries after and they were fine on voltage. Both batteries have about 30 flights on them.</p>

I hooked up the same batteries on the bench and they now show 40 volts on the Castle file and it runs fine. This whole thing doesn&rsquo;t make any sense. How could the controller arm in the first place if only one battery connection was open to be only 20 volts? If the series connection is broken, &ldquo;no&rdquo; voltage would reach the controller, not half the amount.</p>

Anyone have any ideas?</p>

Thanks</p></span>

RE: Power issue
 

First thing I would check for is bad or cold solder joints anywhere in the battery to ESC loop. There is something strange here, if you got 10 beeps but the ESC only recorded 20V it should not have armed, it should have been in Low Voltage Shutdown immediately.

Woodie
Team Acme LG
Team Blenderm

RE: Power issue
 

Woodie,

<span lang="EN"><span lang="EN">

That's exactly what I am saying. It doesn't make any sense. If it was an open circuit it wouldn&rsquo;t have armed, and I wouldn&rsquo;t have heard ten beeps.</p>

Here is the file. You can see the drop to 20 volts. The one before was the maiden flight and the three after were on the bench that show 40 volts.</p>

I have used the same packs as 5&rsquo;s in an Osiris with no issues.</p></span></span>

RE: Power issue
 

Even so, it would still be a good idea to thoroughly check the soldering of the battery connectors, the ESC and the motor connectors as well.

RE: Power issue
 

I've seen some of the early Castle controllers fail like that. I'd check the Castle websitre for recall information.

Brenner ...

RE: Power issue
 

Did you try to re-arm on the flight that lost power? You would have had to go to low trim and low throttle and when your up to your butt in aligators it's hard to think about everythig but it sounds like it may have worked. Also how do you have your fail safe set up? You may have momentarly lost the Rx and it shut the ESC down. That would require a re-arm to get power back. Not sure what the data logger woud show on that kind of event.

RE: Power issue
 

Check for pitting on the Deans connectors. Especially the male soldered to the speed controller. It may even have a slight black discoloration inside the pits. Compare with a brand new one if you can.

In my case I must have had 200 flights on the connector but the symptoms were very similar to your own.

The way I rationalised it is that the packs were able to deliver full voltage under no current but the voltage drop under takeoff current was enough to trigger the motor shutdown on the ESC.

RE: Power issue
 

You need to communicate with Castle and send them the log. The supply voltage drop does not appear to be the result of high impedance, especially since the system has worked before and after.
I notice that you said this was an ICEHV80. If it's not an ICE2 you are due a free upgrade from Castle anyway.

John

RE: Power issue
 

Sorry&hellip;yes it is a brand new version 2 ICE so not in recall. One thing I did do was recheck the firmware. I had upgraded to version 4.0 which is a beta, but have now gone back to 3.? (non beta). I have heard issues with 4.0.<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Didn&rsquo;t try re-arming with no thought process five feet off the ground.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fail Safe is &ldquo;throttle to low&rdquo;.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Deans connectors are all brand new so shouldn&rsquo;t be a pitting issue.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I intend to resolder all connectors.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I&rsquo;ll send the log to Castle today.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">One other thing that may or may not be relevant. I always switch on my receiver first and then plug in the flight packs. After I got to thinking about it, I may have done the opposite. Could this be an issue?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Thanks for all your help.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>

RE: Power issue
 

4.0 is bad, they completely removed it from the list and added a newer version
I have no idea if that had anything to do with your issue, but it is worth noting.

RE: Power issue
 

Joe,

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">I don&rsquo;t know either, but for sure it&rsquo;s gone.</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Thanks</div>

RE: Power issue
 

Wonder if the pack in question was fully charged during that flight.

RE: Power issue
 

That 20V signal on the log looks too "smooth" to be anything related to forces external to the ESC.

Bad solder joints, pitted connectors or wonky cells wouldn't give a line as straight as that, although there is a small bit of ripple in the middle where a bit of curren tis being drawn.

My guess is the ESC at some point decided the voltage was 20V for whatever reason, logged it and acted accordingly.

RE: Power issue
 

From CC's website, about the 4.0 firmware version the OP was running (what was fixed in 4.01):

RE: Power issue
 

<font size="2" color="#00265e">nonstoprc</font>

I checked the packs and they were fully charged.

<font size="2" color="#00265e">bjr_93tz</font>

The small ripple was the very short time I was in the air. I agree, a bad connection would give voltage spikes.

Joe,

if I were to put money on it, it sounds like 4.0 was the issue.

RE: Power issue
 

Are you sure you heard the ten beeps? I once aborted a takeoff because I didn't seem to have much power, only to discover that I'd only plugged in one pack. 20 volts is about what you'd expect in that situation.
Just a thought.

RE: Power issue
 

I came to the conclusion that running auto lipo for cutoff wasn't a good idea. I'd set a custom cutoff.

RE: Power issue
 

I don't use auto-lipo either; I'd rather kill a set of batteries than destroy my plane.

RE: Power issue
 

Strat2003

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 9pt">Yes, ten beeps.In series, if you plug injust onepack, nothing happens. The circuit is open. If it were in parallel, that could be the case.</span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"></div>
rm, gaRCfield

Yes it was in "auto", I willchange that.