Battery question/problem
 

Ive been hovering around with my BCP for a couple of months now. Have had some fun with it and some hard times as well. Yesterday morning, I took it up to work to show off a little thinking I had enough juice left in the battery. Would barely get off the floor. I took it home later on and started charging both batteries that I have. Both are stock batteries that come with the CP. ( my brother gave me his).
We took off to the hobby store while they were charging and when we got back. I plugged in to fly. Well, the light would flash, sync up with the radio, but the light was really dim. Servos would not move. and motors would not turn. I swapped out batteries and the same exact thing happened. I could unplug two of the servos and the one remaining would then work and motors would turn. I could plug in any one of the servos into any one of the correct recepticles and the same thing, but if I plugged in two or more, everything would shut down and light would go dim again.
I took the heli up to the local hobby store and they tried out a lipo on the heli. It worked. Was this just a fluke, or did I actually burn up two batteries at one time? They were hot when I took them off the charger, but not unbearably.
So my question is, did I really burn up the two batteries, or did I mess up the 4-n-1 some how. I did not crash that morning I flew at the office. It just seems wierd that I toested two batts at once.
Also the batteries are the eflh1061. I tested them on volt meter and the batt itself is putting out 10.7 volts with each cell putting out 1.35 volts.
Any ideas?

Chuck

RE: Battery question/problem
 

Thie thing about batteries is this: You can have the proper voltage, but if the Amps are not there, they are not going to work well. It is possible that they both got burned up. How long were they on the chargers? According to the manual, you should leave them on for about 2 to 2-1/2 hours or till they begin to get warm. If they were hot, then it is totally possible that they are both fried.

If possible, I would recommend switching to Lipo's. But make sure you follow the directions for them. If you leave the house with them charging and not supervised, you may come back home to no home at all.

Take care and good flying,

RE: Battery question/problem
 

Thaks Chris for your reply.
We were only gone for an hour and a half. So I dont think they were on too long. Both batteries were low cause I could not even hover earlier that morning. Was jsut enough to skid across the ground.
Something I just tried was unplugging both motors and then plugging in the battery. Now with the radio off, the sync light is bright red green flashing. Obviously. but as soon as I turn the radio on, it will stay bright green for a split second and then go to a dim green. It still syncs but its dim. When I turn the radio off, it goes back to bright red and green.
Now I know the batteries are old in the transmitter, but is it a possibility that this is happening due to week batteries in the transmitter?

Chuck

RE: Battery question/problem
 

Chuck,

What kind of batteries are these? By any chance are they NiMH? In my experience NiMH cells are not well suited to the high current drain applications in RC Helis. I had a similar experience> Overheating was the problem. When you said you had thought you had enough juice left and couldn't get it offf the floor I suspect the batteries had overheated. No matter how long you leave them on the charger it won't help. My advice switch to LIPOs.

Good Luck,

Nate