Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavior

[AdrianL]

Hello Pilots,

I'm completely new to the Phantom, just unboxed it a few hours ago. My first step was to charge the included battery and I'm seeing a sequence of lights that I don't see listed in the manual: LED 1 and the Charge Status LED blink red, alternately back and forth. I've had the battery on charge for about 2 hours with no change.

When I did plug it into the Phantom there was a loud alarm and some flashing lights which I interpreted as a low battery warning.

Do I have a bad battery?

 

[reALIGNed]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

did you have the charger set to the "LiPo" position and not the "LiOn" position, and was the balance lead (four small wires) connected?

 

[AdrianL]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

Thanks for your response. I did have the balance lead connected and the switch set to LiPo.

Changing that switch does not alter the blinking red light behavior. Pulling the balance lead results in the Charge Status LED showing green.

 

[Big Ben]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

The Phantom is supposed to make some sounds and blink lights every time you attach the battery. Check the manual.

 

[750r]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

Just be carful lipos can be Dangerous if you are having problems charge in a safe place . I use a clay pot and I am never to far away while I have one charging .
GL

 

[AdrianL]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

Thanks for the tips.

I borrowed a battery tester and the answer was that the battery had 1 dead cell.

 

[htownphantom]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

Did you ever figure this out? One of my batterys is doing the same thing.Wont take a charge when I hook it up,the charger is just alternating red blinking lights.Pisses me off,guess the battery is bad and its only been used a few times and as soon as I see the warning light on phantom turn red I land.

 

[AdrianL]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

Yes, it was a bad battery (1 dead cell).

 

[OI Photography]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

Did you ever figure this out? One of my batterys is doing the same thing.Wont take a charge when I hook it up,the charger is just alternating red blinking lights.Pisses me off,guess the battery is bad and its only been used a few times and as soon as I see the warning light on phantom turn red I land.

Is it only one battery that shows that behavior on the charger?

 

[htownphantom]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

Did you ever figure this out? One of my batterys is doing the same thing.Wont take a charge when I hook it up,the charger is just alternating red blinking lights.Pisses me off,guess the battery is bad and its only been used a few times and as soon as I see the warning light on phantom turn red I land.

Is it only one battery that shows that behavior on the charger?

Yes just 1 battery out of 3 that i have.One spent overnight in a tree and went down to nothing and it still takes a charge,this one Ive never let go down that far so i dont know whats up with it,why it would die that quick on me.

 

[OI Photography]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

Did you ever figure this out? One of my batterys is doing the same thing.Wont take a charge when I hook it up,the charger is just alternating red blinking lights.Pisses me off,guess the battery is bad and its only been used a few times and as soon as I see the warning light on phantom turn red I land.

Is it only one battery that shows that behavior on the charger?

Yes just 1 battery out of 3 that i have.One spent overnight in a tree and went down to nothing and it still takes a charge,this one Ive never let go down that far so i dont know whats up with it,why it would die that quick on me.

Yeah it's possible that batt just had a cell that didn't fail until using it a bit. You'd really need to have a batt checker that shows individual cell voltages to tell for sure (they're cheap). It sounds like you've isolated the problem to that battery itself, so you can just avoid using it until you can check it out.

 

[htownphantom]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

Also I've probably charged this battery maybe from the get go at 3 amps instead of 1 amp since Colin said it was ok in the instructional video.Not everytime at 3 amps but at least a couple,maybe that did something to it?
From now on I'm only charging them at 1 amp

 

[OI Photography]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

Also I've probably charged this battery maybe from the get go at 3 amps instead of 1 amp since Colin said it was ok in the instructional video.Not everytime at 3 amps but at least a couple,maybe that did something to it?
From now on I'm only charging them at 1 amp

If you're talking about the "3A" setting on the stock DJI charger, then I believe it's actually capped at 2.2A anyway (which is the safe "1C" rate for the stock 2200mAh batts). I've used the 3A setting on that charger with no problems, for a dozen or more charges, before I got a different charger.

LiPo's have some complex chemistry in them, and it wouldn't take much of a random manufacturing defect to cause one or more cells to go bad. The DJI batts seem to be of pretty high quality in general, but even they aren't immune to a dud every now and then.

 

[htownphantom]

Re: Just got a Phantom, seeing strage battery charger behavi

Also I've probably charged this battery maybe from the get go at 3 amps instead of 1 amp since Colin said it was ok in the instructional video.Not everytime at 3 amps but at least a couple,maybe that did something to it?
From now on I'm only charging them at 1 amp

If you're talking about the "3A" setting on the stock DJI charger, then I believe it's actually capped at 2.2A anyway (which is the safe "1C" rate for the stock 2200mAh batts). I've used the 3A setting on that charger with no problems, for a dozen or more charges, before I got a different charger.

LiPo's have some complex chemistry in them, and it wouldn't take much of a random manufacturing defect to cause one or more cells to go bad. The DJI batts seem to be of pretty high quality in general, but even they aren't immune to a dud every now and then.

Yes I was talking about the "3a"setting on charger.Well if that didnt do it then I must have got a lemon