To mod or not to mod?

[RPR]

Good morning gang, happy Saturday.

My battery packs does not hold a charge as they used to, and some cells are getting weaker, I know, I’m well over due for a cycle.
Yesterday afternoon, after flying, I balance the packs at 50% before fully charging each one using a DY5 charger, and this morning (it’s 3am here in California) as I am get ready for work, I usually top charge my packs, and has been noticing a gradual depletion.

Question. Can the original base charger be modified/converted to a cycling base by using an aftermarket RC charger? And if so, how do I determine the negative (-) and positive (+) polarity from the original charging station.





Next, I found my old charger, but it charges Lithium Ion, I believe this can perform the intended job if, I cycle at a low rate?

 

[DoomMeister]

The old charger will not work unless you can program the voltage for cutoff at storage and full charge (storage 3.9V/cell and full charge 4.35V/cell).

Looking at the board the positive terminal should be the one next to the empty terminal.

 

[RPR]

The old charger will not work unless you can program the voltage for cutoff at storage and full charge (storage 3.9V/cell and full charge 4.35V/cell).

Looking at the board the positive terminal should be the one next to the empty terminal.

Thank your for the tip and advice.

I’m also looking at the Tenergy TB6B Multifunctional Balance Charger with Power Supply for NiMH/NiCD/Li-PO/Li-Fe Battery Packs (90263)

 

[DoomMeister]

The TB6B does not include the LiHV batteries you are using and has been discontinued according to the link you gave. The lack of LiHV support may be the reason.

 

[DCH]

Modifying the Yuneec charger would be a lot of work. For around the same price of the TB6B, you can buy this awesome charger that does it all, and even do two at a time, HTRC Touch Screen Dual Channel RC car lipo battery Balance Charger Discharger | eBay. Many many features make this a sweet unit. It's also AC/DC powered so can take it to the field and charge from the car.

 

[RPR]

Modifying the Yuneec charger would be a lot of work. For around the same price of the TB6B, you can buy this awesome charger that does it all, and even do two at a time, HTRC Touch Screen Dual Channel RC car lipo battery Balance Charger Discharger | eBay. Many many features make this a sweet unit. It's also AC/DC powered so can take it to the field and charge from the car.

I bought HTRC B6V2 Balance Charger that supports LiHV.

I just need to cycle the packs every 20 flights.

 

[RPR]

Hello Gang,

My charger came, and now I am ready. It has been a while since, I've used an aftermarket RC charger, so where we go.

I just want to verify my settings before, I start charging.

4S
15.2V
5250mAh

Storage/Discharge rate set to 15.2V @ 2.0A ?
Balance/Cycle rate set to @ 2.0A?

 

[DoomMeister]

For a 1C rate you can do 5.2 A. Check your defaults for storage level on the LiHV in your new charger, but the info I found on the web the storage level is 3.85 to 3.9V per cell so 15.4 to 15.6 for the 4S packs.

 

[Mrgs1]

Good morning gang, happy Saturday.

My battery packs does not hold a charge as they used to, and some cells are getting weaker, I know, I’m well over due for a cycle.
Yesterday afternoon, after flying, I balance the packs at 50% before fully charging each one using a DY5 charger, and this morning (it’s 3am here in California) as I am get ready for work, I usually top charge my packs, and has been noticing a gradual depletion.

Question. Can the original base charger be modified/converted to a cycling base by using an aftermarket RC charger? And if so, how do I determine the negative (-) and positive (+) polarity from the original charging station.

View attachment 16227

View attachment 16228

Next, I found my old charger, but it charges Lithium Ion, I believe this can perform the intended job if, I cycle at a low rate?

View attachment 16229

I thought you used the same charging technique has for standard Li Po battery and never top off batteries? I've read that numerous times on here and other forums?

 

[RPR]

I thought you used the same charging technique has for standard Li Po battery and never top off batteries? I've read that numerous times on here and other forums?

I’m not topping, I’m balancing the cells, one cell is getting weak.

 

[Mrgs1]

I’m not topping, I’m balancing the cells, one cell is getting weak. Never realised you could charge individual cells with a DY5?

Sorry I was reading in your post some cells getting weaker and topping up! Never realised you charge individual cells using the DY5?
"Yesterday afternoon, after flying, I balance the packs at 50% before fully charging each one using a DY5 charger, and this morning (it’s 3am here in California) as I am get ready for work, I usually top charge my packs, and has been noticing a gradual depletion".

 

[RPR]

Sorry I was reading in your post some cells getting weaker and topping up! Never realised you charge individual cells using the DY5?
"Yesterday afternoon, after flying, I balance the packs at 50% before fully charging each one using a DY5 charger, and this morning (it’s 3am here in California) as I am get ready for work, I usually top charge my packs, and has been noticing a gradual depletion".

Oh that one. You can top charge. I don’t believe it will hurt if you try to top a 98% - 99% charged batteries.

 

[RPR]

For a 1C rate you can do 5.2 A. Check your defaults for storage level on the LiHV in your new charger, but the info I found on the web the storage level is 3.85 to 3.9V per cell so 15.4 to 15.6 for the 4S packs.

Many thanks, again, Steve. It took long to discharge the battery. Now, I’m waiting for the balance cable to arrive in the mail.

 

[Mrgs1]

Many thanks, again, Steve. It took long to discharge the battery. Now, I’m waiting for the balance cable to arrive in the mail.

Try and get genuine ones, the quality is very noticeable.

 

[RPR]

Try and get genuine ones, the quality is very noticeable.

I got them from Vertigo Drones, these guys are awesome. I was on the phone, with them yesterday and they helped me understand the basics of cycling the batteries.

 

[RPR]

@DoomMeister

The cells finally evened out. It’s a slow, round trip process, between the DY5 and the aftermarket charger.



I was able to connect a balance cable wire.



My H Plus gets to fly another day, after it has been grounded for good few days. Thanks always, Steve.

 

[Mrgs1]

@DoomMeister

The cells finally evened out. It’s a slow, round trip process, between the DY5 and the aftermarket charger.

View attachment 16351

I was able to connect a balance cable wire.

View attachment 16352

My H Plus gets to fly another day, after it has been grounded for good few days. Thanks always, Steve.

What's the IR readings? That's just as important,

 

[RPR]

What's the IR readings? That's just as important,

Right now, I am not obsessing over IR, specially to the application that I am using the batteries for. But, I actually did research, and talked to battery guros, who flies FPV drones on one of the construction site, where I work, and where these guys are known to fly at. After a quick battery walk through, they directed me to this.

For normal use, our warning system ms/v on our charger, and autopilot is good enough. But, we did checked the IR of my batteries, but it's not accurate due to temp. (We checked it outdoors)

 

[AH-1G]

I watched the guys above but found this one for me better to understand.

 

[Mrgs1]

Right now, I am not obsessing over IR, specially to the application that I am using the batteries for. But, I actually did research, and talked to battery guros, who flies FPV drones on one of the construction site, where I work, and where these guys are known to fly at. After a quick battery walk through, they directed me to this.

For normal use, our warning system ms/v on our charger, and autopilot is good enough. But, we did checked the IR of my batteries, but it's not accurate due to temp. (We checked it outdoors)

I was just suggesting it would be nice to know, otherwise you have now idea of their health. If your using the battery just for calibration on the ground fine.