NAZA rapid flashing red + LOW-VOL[4] error in assistant with a fully loaded LIPO !

[Coomkeen]

Ho, thanks skipper1.

Have an ESR meter for electrolytic caps, but not for LiPos.
Just the thing.

Thanks again.


Ron

EI8GMB - G6IWK
www.bandonmodelflyingclub.com

 

[skipper1]

That's excellent.

 

[KeithM]

Here's a bit of LiPo 101.
Your CellPro PowerLab 6 is an excellent charger and will do everything you need. Your charger, like most recent ones, is more than a charger, it is also a balancer. It attempts to keep the voltage of each cell equal. A fully charged LiPo cell measures 4.2 volts. Hence a full charged 3s is 12.6 volts and a 4s, 16.8 volts. Most of the functions of your charger are automatic. It attempts to bring the low cells up to equal the high cells voltage. The battery cells are charged individually through the balance tabs. This is a good thing, as your not dumping a lot of current into a good cell to try and bring up a low cell voltage. Older chargers did not have this capability and required a separate balancing operation after the battery was fully charged. The balancer would bring the voltage of the high cells down to the level of the lowest cell to keep everything equal. (Similar to our way our public school system works. This assured that one low cell would cause the balancer to bring the entire battery voltage down to 3 times (for a 3S) the low cell voltage

You should never allow individual cells to go below 3.3 volts. To do so may cause permanent damage. To prevent this, note the current your charger has put into the battery after recharging is complete. The total current added should never be more than 80% of the battery capacity. i.e. a 4000 Mah battery should never take more than 3200 Mah after charging. Your charger has excellent protection features. Plug your battery into the charger and use it to read individual cell voltage before you fly. A new battery will be at 4.20 volts per cell. As the battery ages, you may only get 4.16 per cell, but the cells should be no more than about .002 volts different from each other. Hope this helps.

 

[kloner]

one other thing, you guys with the powerlab 6 or ichargers should all have a feature called "internal resistance", on icharger you hit stop till special modes comes up then right arrow twice to internal resistance. if you plug in the main wire, it'll show you the resistance coming out of the tap. a new 40c pack will generally be in the teens, a new 20c pack will be in the 40 mOhm. internal resistance is the only measureable difference in c ratings

if you plug in both main tap and balance plug, it should show you each cells internal resistance. This is the hard cold truth about your pack. even a new one that is junk by any means will show whats up here. a new 40c pack will show between 0 and 1 mohm,,,,,,,, a blown out pack will show double digits across the board and between that is grey area inbetween the two......

every pack i get first stops off at a little battery cell checker, plugs into the balance plug and shows me whats up as far as how close the cells match. new packs should be exactly the same on each cells voltage. Then if it passes i whack off the plug and put mine on and throw it on the charger. From there i date the pack so i know how old it is and i measure the main pack internal resistance and i sharpie it on each pack. that gives me refrence later to look at it down the road and note small differences. You could number the packs and log it in a spreadsheet or whatever, but then the data might not be with you when you need it, while getting ready to fly.

 

[skipper1]

Here's a bit of LiPo 101.
Your CellPro PowerLab 6 is an excellent charger and will do everything you need. Your charger, like most recent ones, is more than a charger, it is also a balancer. It attempts to keep the voltage of each cell equal. A fully charged LiPo cell measures 4.2 volts. Hence a full charged 3s is 12.6 volts and a 4s, 16.8 volts. Most of the functions of your charger are automatic. It attempts to bring the low cells up to equal the high cells voltage. The battery cells are charged individually through the balance tabs. This is a good thing, as your not dumping a lot of current into a good cell to try and bring up a low cell voltage. Older chargers did not have this capability and required a separate balancing operation after the battery was fully charged. The balancer would bring the voltage of the high cells down to the level of the lowest cell to keep everything equal. (Similar to our way our public school system works. This assured that one low cell would cause the balancer to bring the entire battery voltage down to 3 times (for a 3S) the low cell voltage

You should never allow individual cells to go below 3.3 volts. To do so may cause permanent damage. To prevent this, note the current your charger has put into the battery after recharging is complete. The total current added should never be more than 80% of the battery capacity. i.e. a 4000 Mah battery should never take more than 3200 Mah after charging. Your charger has excellent protection features. Plug your battery into the charger and use it to read individual cell voltage before you fly. A new battery will be at 4.20 volts per cell. As the battery ages, you may only get 4.16 per cell, but the cells should be no more than about .002 volts different from each other. Hope this helps.

Thanks Keith, my problem is what are the numbers I put into the charger so that it charges a 3S 11.1V 2200mAh 25C battery to 12.6V or 4.2V per cell. I thought it was automatic too, maybe not so automatic. I thought if I plugged the battery in and gave all the stats just mentioned it would take it from there. No, it won't and apparently no one else knows.

 

[kloner]

progressives after care is some of the best in the industry. Seriously, call him and i bet he can point you at a series of videos that takes the guesswork out or just walks you through the normal task of getting a battery charged right with it. they always recommend to balance charge every time over there, should be a simple sequence of buttons to accomplish it

 

[skipper1]

progressives after care is some of the best in the industry. Seriously, call him and i bet he can point you at a series of videos that takes the guesswork out or just walks you through the normal task of getting a battery charged right with it. they always recommend to balance charge every time over there, should be a simple sequence of buttons to accomplish it

I agree, David is the best. He's so electrically smart that I think he sometimes just assumes everyone else knows "how to". I emailed him last night about my problem and hoping for a response today.

 

[skipper1]

Here's an update. I talked with David at ProgressiveRC yesterday, I hooked up a battery to my Powerlab 6 charger and we went through it step by step. It would not charge my 11.1v battery to 12.6v. It took David just a few minutes to figure out there was something wrong with the software. I hooked up the USB cable and sure nuff. Someone had messed up the software and that was the problem. It took us a while to get settings back to normal and my batteries are now charging properly.
So here's a lesson learned. When you get your Powerlab charger, do not go into the software and start tinkering UNLESS you know exactly what you are doing. If I ever find out who did this......I can't lie, you already know that I did it. As I said earlier, humble pie isn't all that bad, it's the first bite that gets you.
I can't wait for the weekend.

 

[DesJardins]

My powerlab 6 hopefully will be in stock today from ProgressiveRC so I'll be taking that slow with the 80+ page manual. Yikes

 

[kloner]

i tend to shy away fro tinkerin with electronics setting unless i'm told to or have to. when you plug it in and it works, i ride the lightning.........

Crazy it has so many pages, must be alot of extras it does. I've never even seen an icharger manual but i was a few years into the game when got it. had already been through the 50 watt, then 200 watt charger scene. it's all about the 1kw

 

[Daniel-Geneva]

Hi
I'm facing with some problems understanding the voltage monitor, after reading the post please tell me if I'm right or wrong with my setup.

I've 4S 4400mha
With 4,2v per cell = 16,8V

First level
Input 3,6V x Cell = 14,4 - (loss 0,4) = 14
Second level
Input 3,3V / Cell = 13,2 - (loss 0,4) = 12,8

But you right I'll investigate to buy a telemetry system like this
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...hz_Telemetry_System_Volt_Amp_Temp_mAh_V2.html

Thanks

 

[Daniel-Geneva]

After setting up the new configuration for voltage and after flying about 6mn I've got the red flashing !!!! I don't understand this section in Dji assistant, back to Home I just put OFF to this section and put an alarm on my radio.

I think I'll order a telemetry system very soon.

But any idea I'll be then happy.
Thanks

 

[mailman35]

the only problems ive ever had is when i go from 3s to 4s or when i would reload an older config and i forgot to check the voltage settings.
other then that never have had a problem with it not working as it should.

 

[Daniel-Geneva]

That's why I'm using only 4S.
Many post, video, writing and nothing clear, maybe need some official document from DJI.

 

[mailman35]

still never had a problem as long as i verify that the correct stuff is there, for 3s or 4s.
both fly great.

 

[kloner]

when packs are damaged as in higher IR they tend to have lower than expected voltages under a load and usually sooner than you expected cause it really has less mah i it than is on the label. That cycle charge mode on most chargers is a good indicator. let it discharge and charge, note the numbers and compare em to the pack. if that checks normal, you'd need to go put it under a 30 amp plus load like flying and monitor it with loggers or look at it through an osd, it'd most likely show a fast drop in voltage compared to a new pack. These are the things that go away, lipos are a fuel source that is super easy to damage but has the energy (forget the word, think disipation) just below that the speed of nuclear fusion. it is why your cell phone battery kicks butt but goes away fast. over discharge, leave it charging in a car too long, leave it in heat, etc. laptops, same deal. Some of the cars are lipo, same reason. LIPO is the only reason electric models like we play with even exist, that and brushless motors.

These aint your daddy's batteries

 

[Daniel-Geneva]

Thank kloner, but my lipo are quite new only 2 flights, So that's why I do not understand what happen with Dji voltage monitor.
Never put my lipo in the sun or other stupid thing...

 

[kloner]

do you have a logger or osd that shows current draw or voltage?

what charger do you have? when you balance charge, is it holding 4.2 volt across the board? What are the packs?

 

[Daniel-Geneva]

do you have a logger or osd that shows current draw or voltage?

what charger do you have? when you balance charge, is it holding 4.2 volt across the board? What are the packs?

I'll give all information tomorrow as here in Europe it's Time to Sleep 00:23.

 

[Daniel-Geneva]

do you have a logger or osd that shows current draw or voltage?

what charger do you have? when you balance charge, is it holding 4.2 volt across the board? What are the packs?

Good morning kloner
View attachment 5752c'View attachment 5753View attachment 5755View attachment 5756

As you can see my Lipo is quite good nothing wrong
Without the DJI Voltage monitor I've 8 mn flight

With the DJI Voltage monitor I've 3mn flight when setting up
I've 3S 4050mha
With 4,2v per cell = 12,6V

First level
Input 3,6V x Cell = 10,8 - (loss 0,3) = 10,5
Second level
Input 3,3V / Cell = 9,9 - (loss 0,3) = 9,6

Now I'm using 4S with my 9'5 Prop Graupner
After 10mn I've got the flashing red light
Without I can flight 19mn.

Settings with DJI Voltage but with 4S 4400Mah
First level
Input 3,6V x Cell = 14,4 - (loss 0,4) = 14
Second level
Input 3,3V / Cell = 13,2 - (loss 0,4) = 12,8


Thanks for you expertise....