B-727 Driver

I have a JR 12X transmitter thats (1) year old. I went to charge the battery, and the charger said " no battery", and would not take a charge. The transmitter volt meter says 10.3 volts. I figured I had a bad battery since all of my chargers showed the same error. I purchased a new battery to the tune of $85, charged it, and all appeared to go well until I attempted to recharge it and same result! The tech's at Horizon was no help. Anyone have any suggestions?

ror

sounds like you have an open connection somewhere in the charging system. since you used different chargers it is not the charger.
I assume you charge it in the Tx so maybe the open is in the Tx.

baronbrian

My Feedback: (13)

You should open the transmitter battery door and make sure that the lead is connecting properly to the battery itself the hole in the battery door for the charge lead adds depth to how far the lead has to go in to make a connection. also, you said that you tried multiple chargers, but did you use the same lead with all of them? maybe there is a bad connection in the lead somewhere. Try a different lead, or try plugging the battery into the wall-wart charger that came with the system and see if the little red light comes on.

I would also check to see if you have the correct polarity on your lead. (remember, center is black on JR)

ror, the 10X and 12X radios have the charging plug integrated into the battery pack. Thus the charge plug connects directly to the battery pack, NOT the radio. therefore there cannot be anything the radio is doing to prevent charging the pack, although I've never tried charging the battery with my 10X on to see if it would work. This setup allows the battery to be charged with the standard charge plug even if the battery is removed from the Tx.

AWorrest

My Feedback: (5)

What charge rate are you using? The 12X packs, at least initially, came with a semiconductor circuit breaker wired in series with the cells. If your packs have this component, it is possible that it is presenting a high resistance at the rate your chargers are set at but still allow current to flow at lower rates.

First try Brian Dorff’s suggestions. The 12X battery assembly can be charged outside of the transmitter. I’ve done it with mine. Try charging your packs using a lower charge rate. At 100 mA charge rate, it will take 24 hours to fully charge a 12X pack. If the pack will not charge at 100 mA, try a lower rate. If you can get the pack to take a charge, it is most likely this component is the problem.

If you monitor the battery temperature while charging or keep your charge rate low so the battery doesn’t become hot, there is no need for this component. It is just another failure point.

Allan

ror

but his charger said "no battery" so it looks like an open. I am sure the current required to detect a battery is very small so charging at a low current will not help if charger sees no battery.

AWorrest

My Feedback: (5)

That is something neither of us know. The OP didn't say what chargers he is using. Also, did the 10 V registered by the transmitter occur before or after the battery didn't take a charge. I'm just pointing out there is this semiconductor, nonlinear component that is wired in series with the cells on the early 12X packs that could be the source of the problem.

Allan

ror

I guess he has solved it or given up since no word from him.

I agree if it is in series with battery it is suspect.. But this has happened on 2 different battery packs I believe.

ballistic1

My Feedback: (27)

inside the battery is a circuit board that has a fuse
this protects the battery from being overcharged or connected to a charger with
the wrong polarity
sounds like the open is there

tadawson

And making the same mistake twice in a row can blow the fuses in both packs quite easily . . . The good news is that the fuses are cheap and easy to replace . . .

- Tim

warbird_1

My Feedback: (61)

i know this is an old thread but i had a strange thing happen to me. knowing the problems with the batteries in the 12x , i am careful on how i charge it. i have a hobbico elite and the 1st gen Triton for charging. the very first charge i ever did was with the factory charger . i was careful to make sure it wasn't getting hot. i have had good luck with the battery . meaning the battery lasted a long time before i had to recharge. well... last week i forgot to turn off the transmitter before putting it back in the case and it was on for about 5 days. when i took the trans out it was dead. so i put it on my triton for 9 hours at 200 Mah and then bumped it up to 400 for the last hour till it peaked. it never got hot . now it don't last at all. i got one flight on my jet and while flying a second time the alarm went off as the voltage dropped like a rock. i think the battery is shot. funny thing is , i called JR before i used it and asked if i could have ruined the battery and they said it would be fine. they said it was good to run them down from time to time. huu? WB_1

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

Well I'd suggest you dump the NiMH chemistry batteries from Horizon and go with the Eneloop type NiMH cells available from most any of the recognized vendors like NoBS for your pack. I would toss the included charger for the 12X as it will only cook the batteries with it's higher than normal charge voltage.

While the Eneloops say you can safely charge them at a pretty high (to me it's high) rate for a NiMH battery I've never felt good about doing that so I have just a standard JR walwart and charge the batteries overnight. I don't use my 12X much anymore but I can go in there and turn it on right now and it'll have enough of a charge to use even though it's been months since it was charged. Great batteries for tx's those Eneloops...

Dansy

My Feedback: (53)

The envelops battery are available for Hangtimes Hobbies (I'm just a customer) I have these in my 12x radio and I can go a few full days of flying without a recharge....I use a cheap turnigy charger at 800 mAh it doesn't take long.....and they don't get warm.

visioneer_one

My Feedback: (506)

$50! For 8 AA Eneloops!

I have been using a $17 Rhino 2600 mAH lipo in my 12X for years now without incident. I made a custom harness from a 5S lipo balance lead which plugs directly into the radio's power pins on one end and the battery on the other, with a pair of 1N4001 diodes wired up in series to drop the voltage into a safe range. Zero issues, and I only need to recharge once a month.

Pics!





Materials used are as follows :
One Rhino 3S 2620mAh transmitter pack :
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...smitter%20pack

One 5S JST-XH extension cord :
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...nsion%20jst-xh

One each JST battery pigtail, M & F :
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...=jst%20battery
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...=jst%20battery

4 1N4001 1A 50V diodes :
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2036268

Wire everything up as per the pics.

The top 3 pins in the radio are negative, the bottom 2 are positive. Pin #4 is not used. Two diodes are connected in series to the two positive pins.

The 2-pin JST plugs are necessary as you cannot charge through the diode. I originally used the servo-style plug here, but switched to the JST leads for charging efficiency. Servo plugs won't pass more than 1A while charging without getting warm.

Each diode drops the output voltage by ~0.8V, meaning that with the lipo fully charged the radio never sees more than 11 volts. I recharge and balance the lipo once the display indicates less than 9.6 volts. I fly off the slope every Saturday and power every Sunday, usually a couple of hours time in the air. On average I charge about once a month.

I've converted all my radios (and several of those belonging to my flying mates) to lipo in this fashion. So far that's 2 12Xs, 1 9503, 2 9303s, 3 8103s, a DX7 and a DX6 (6 not 6i !)... Zero issues or failures.

I also converted my pistol-grip surface radios to lipo using the same method. I went super-cheap here and used some of my tired old ThunderPower 2100 3S packs. Those batteries could no longer pump out enough amperage for flight, but have been perfect in this low-current draw application.

BTW I kept the original battery module unmodified for the same reason you mentioned. Horizon does not officially support lipos in their older radios... one of my flying buddies had his 12X updated to DSMX at the Horizon tent at Joe Nall last year, and forgot to swap packs. The tech did the upgrade, but gave him a verbal "hand-slap" for the lipo - even though he had was using one of the Fromeco "Transformer" lipo packs which are supposed to have internal balancing circuitry and diodes on the output to drop the current - just like my $20 setup does, except Fromeco sells their solution for $120.

I think I'm in the wrong business.

warbird_1

My Feedback: (61)

I have an update on my battery problem. after the last post. after the battery failed to hold a charge after I ran it dead I decided to use the factory charger at the recommended time period. after about 8-9 hours the batter got warm. something it never did on the elite. so I kept an eye on it and checked the temp often and after 10 hours , it got fairly warm but not hot . after that charge I have had no issues and the battery is back running a long time on one charge. I charger it when the voltage drops below 10.0 volts . and that is a lot of flying.

20181c

X2 on the Enloops. BVM has them for $48.00.

B-727 Driver

Some time ago, I converted to Enloops batteries with no further problem. I think my original problem was with the charging, resulting in failure on the diode/fuse on the battery pack. I originally used a Triton charger, and was probably charging at rate too high for the pack.