Rich too Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 I thought I would bring one of my planes out of hibernation and charge the LiFe batteries. The initial charge went ok, but when it finished I noticed the charger on 3s, and indicating 9.9v!! The batteries are 2s. Very odd. I tried the next battery and the charger seemed to recognise the battery as 3s. Never had an issue before. Eventually, I was able to manually set the charger correctly and charge the second. I thought I should remove the first battery to check it. This is what I found: wow, I did not expect that, and I will have to closely monitor charging in future. I have no idea what happened, perhaps the battery was faulty, perhaps the charger. And I am guessing that if this was a LIPO it would probably have gone up in flames, possibly taking my garage with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 Could you have accidentally charged it as a Lipo not a LiFe? Easy done. BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatMc Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 Did you have the balance lead connected ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich too Posted May 16, 2018 Author Share Posted May 16, 2018 No, definetely charged it as LiFe. The charger would have checked and rejected it anyway? Initially, I thought the charger was at fault but now I think the battery was faulty. You have to set the LiFe charge to the correct voltage (2s) so don’t understand why the charger didn’t reject it when it recognised it as 3s. I’ll watch the charges more closely in future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich too Posted May 16, 2018 Author Share Posted May 16, 2018 Yes, I had the balance lead connected. Would that make a difference? Tbh it’s the first issue I’ve ever had charging any type of battery. Edited By Rich too on 16/05/2018 20:20:13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 No, I don't think so Rich. If it was already fairly well charged as a LiFe and you put it on the charger as a LiPo, its very unlikely the charger would reject that. A 2s Life with reasonable charge - ie not flat - could be at 6.6v, that quite acceptable to most chargers as a low voltage for a nearly, but not completely, discharged 2s LiPo. BEB Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 16/05/2018 20:34:32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chaddock Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 Were you actually charging in the plane?. You can see why it is not recommended as any 'fault' condition is likely to damage the plane or at worst completely destroy it.. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Wills 2 Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 If you had the balance lead connected and the charger was in balance mode, and it still allowed a charge at 3s on a 2s pack, then I would be looking to the charger being at fault. It is my understanding confirmed when I was charging a pack which had a broken balance pin that it should have registered a connection fault and stopped the charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Cotsford Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 I had a LiFe go like that but I had left the charger on a LiPo setting. If the charger just started to charge without asking you to confirm the cell count then it's likely the balance port has a dodgy connector and it's working as a non-balanced charge. I've had that when the balance board wasn't plugged in correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manish Chandrayan Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 I had a LiFe swell up on me recently. It was being balance charged and took longer than usual to charge, even showing much higher mAh being put back. But trusting the charger and battery I let the process continue but after some more time when I touched the battery I found it warm so terminated the charge. While removing the leads I realized that balance lead was not connected properly and seemed to be loose in the socket. Could that have led to the situation?Thankfully the battery had only slight swell and not as bad. The pack was set aside not for use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich too Posted May 17, 2018 Author Share Posted May 17, 2018 I always balance charge, so I will look out for that - thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich too Posted May 17, 2018 Author Share Posted May 17, 2018 Posted by Simon Chaddock on 16/05/2018 20:49:02: Were you actually charging in the plane?. You can see why it is not recommended as any 'fault' condition is likely to damage the plane or at worst completely destroy it.. . Yes, always - one of the reasons I use LiFe batteries over LIPO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMON CRAGG Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 I recently had to ditch a Life 1700rx pack, even though only a couple of years old it would not balance. Tried everything but still no joy. My Zippy packs are fine, but this was a Turnigy Nano Tech, and similar happened to my TX pack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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