Battery problem?

fpena06 · Oct 3, 2013

Hello everyone,

So I've finally got my phantom! Very excited. I flew the thing twice and been trying to charge for six hours. Is this normal?

View My Video

Thanks

miskatonic · Oct 4, 2013

There is a switch on the charger that says .5 amp, 1 amp, and 2 amp. Switch to 2 amp.

LarasLTU · Oct 4, 2013

This happened to me as well, just 3rd cell was blinking. Once I've contacted dealer - they advised to send battery back (although I asked if it might be charger problem...). After few tries and several hrs of charging I really damaged the battery, because 3rd cell had 1.8 Volts or something. I sent battery back and purchased another one - it had the same result and 3rd cell started decreasing volts, which was clear indication that Charger was bad, so I've sent it back.

Meanwhile i purchased IMAX B6 charger from Hobbyking and all 4 batteries are charged OK.

My question is why Turnigy Nano 2200 battery gets back ~2100 mAh although I land immediately after seeing red light on Phantom and voltage is around 3.7 of each cell? It's 96% and much more than expected 80% to save the battery - any ideas?

rilot · Oct 4, 2013

Turnigy Nano-Tech batteries seem to hold their voltage for much longer than normal LiPos. The drop off is much sharper.

fpena06 · Oct 4, 2013

My charger only has 1,2 and 3amp. Set mine to 2amp and let it charge and nada! Checked with multi-meter and battery displays 7.3v

fpena06 · Oct 4, 2013

LarasLTU said:
My question is why Turnigy Nano 2200 battery gets back ~2100 mAh although I land immediately after seeing red light on Phantom and voltage is around 3.7 of each cell? It's 96% and much more than expected 80% to save the battery - any ideas?

Is it bad to fly it for a while after it's blinking red? Last time I flew it's exactly what I did. Flew the thing until it could hardly take off the ground anymore. Could I have f*cked my batt because of this?

rilot · Oct 4, 2013

No, that's the 2nd level failsafe cutting in.
Read the Phantom manual about battery failsafe

fpena06 · Oct 4, 2013

Dead battery guys... I put in Phantom and get chirping sound and flashing red led.

Gizmo3000 · Oct 4, 2013

fpena06 said:
Is it bad to fly it for a while after it's blinking red? Last time I flew it's exactly what I did. Flew the thing until it could hardly take off the ground anymore. Could I have f*cked my batt because of this?

Not at all!

Battery failsafe essentially lands the craft when the battery voltage drops to a certain threshold, it's there to (try to) prevent the craft from falling out of the sky, as well as to prevent the battery from depleting to the point where it will cause damage as well.

In testing, most of us fly until the red lights blink ..and then cautiously fly closer to ground until it lands. (I've had a few occurances where I wasn't paying attention, and mine landed on it's own as well, in the field a bit aways)

The bottom line is that the Phantom charger is as crude and simple as it gets, and sometimes goes bad. (sometimes the balance cord might be broken as well).

Look to buy a real RC charger with a digital readout, you'll never regret it.