Diesel Battery Testing:

[Brushless55]

Guys very sorry I have not been able to continue my battery testing. Me and the wife just moved while she is pregnant with our first and last week she ended up in the hospital for a few days with pre-term larbor. All in all it's been kinda crazy for us last month or so with everything going on and we found out she has to be on best rest now until it's time to deliver. So lot's of crazyness to say the least and very sorry I haven't been able to continue this.

Hey bro, my prayers are with you guys!
I'll be running a 2hr set at Heaven Fest today and will lift up lots of prayers for you guys..

[Diesel6401]

Hey bro, my prayers are with you guys!
I'll be running a 2hr set at Heaven Fest today and will lift up lots of prayers for you guys..

Thank you so much buddy. Sorry for the delayed response. Heaven Fest sounds like something my wife and I would have loved to see. Hope your set went good. Interested in what type of music you play?

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk

[Paul Susbauer]

There is definitely a difference in punch out of the hole with warming the cells up prior to use , the internal resistance of the cells goes down so in essence even though they go out warmer the usually come back in cooler . that has been a real world observation that we have seen . Warming the cells to about 100* - 110* is also better for them

I'd back up this statement. I've seen diminished performance on lipos even in air temps of 60-70 degress, vs when running in 80+ degrees. I've warmed them up to the 100-110 range also, works well. I think it actually winds up stressing the pack less as you've allowed it to work more efficiently. The final running temp never is higher than when I just run the packs cold.

[Brushless55]

Thank you so much buddy. Sorry for the delayed response. Heaven Fest sounds like something my wife and I would have loved to see. Hope your set went good. Interested in what type of music you play?
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk

I was mixing for Rachel Nicole at the 24/7 worship tent
I have mixed for about 16years now, and mix for all kinds of music
and POD kicked butt at the event!

[FloatDaBoat]

Insaniac:

It may balance while disharging at levels above 3.0 volts, which is the default cut-off voltage for this charger. I haven't verified that, as I was discharging the packs until the charger auto terminated (Bad Idea). It would be nice if the discharge voltage cut-off could be set to 3.2 volts. I checked at A Main Hobbies' website [ProTekRC distributor] for any Firmware updates, but came up empty. Also, I've been unable to access the PC based analysis mode - - anyone have any tricks or tips ???

[FloatDaBoat]

Are you discharging all the way to cutoff? In the storage mode it seems to go to 3.85v.
When you say PC-based analysis mode do you mean the graphs of the voltage, current & etc.?

I was initially discharging my newly purchased packs to the charger cut-off (3.0 volts) to try to verify that the new packs were not defective, but was informed by Fluid not to do that, as cell damage might occur.

Yeah, I meant the graphic mode as in your pic. According to the manual, channel 1 will support that function when temperature monitoring is set to “OFF”, but my charger isn't doing that. Did you have to connect the PC first to get it to work?

Concerning your “drop-out”, it appears to have happened at the ten minute mark. That's the default time frame for the charger to perform a cell count verification check in order to prevent continued charging if an incorrect voltage level was initially selected. I ain't got a clue as to why you had a mysterious “stoppage” on that pack . . . .

[Insaniac]

I was initially discharging my newly purchased packs to the charger cut-off (3.0 volts) to try to verify that the new packs were not defective, but was informed by Fluid not to do that, as cell damage might occur.

Yeah, I meant the graphic mode as in your pic. According to the manual, channel 1 will support that function when temperature monitoring is set to “OFF”, but my charger isn't doing that. Did you have to connect the PC first to get it to work?

Concerning your “drop-out”, it appears to have happened at the ten minute mark. That's the default time frame for the charger to perform a cell count verification check in order to prevent continued charging if an incorrect voltage level was initially selected. I ain't got a clue as to why you had a mysterious “stoppage” on that pack . . . .

Interesting about the 10 minute voltage check. That was the only pack I tried in the "charge" mode. All my other packs I put into "storage" mode and they all had to discharge to get to the final voltage.

I wasn't using a temperature probe when I hooked the charger to the PC. I connected the charger to the PC first. Then I opened the software and then I started the charge/discharge cycle. I checked to see which COMM port the charger software came up on; had to change the PC COMM port as COMM 2 wasn't available in the charger monitor software. Ended up using COMM 6.

BTW, where did you find the additional detail on the ProTek?

[FloatDaBoat]

On my initial attempt at installing 'Charger Monitor' on my notebook PC, I couldn't select between Temperature & USB Enable modes in User Setup as directed by the 'Help' Menu, so I didn't go any further. I ignored that portion this go-round, & the program worked OK. That part of the instructions must be some residual information that was applicable during the developmental phase of this charger that no longer applies. Chinese documentation has a lot to be desired!!!

I used the Temp Probe during my testing. In the attached Pic, the graph shows the exhaust temperature of my Notebook's cooling fan. The other is the info concerning the charger self check.

[G-UNIT]

I'v discharged my batterys a couple times on my Hyperion charger and it balances the cells while discharging.

[Diesel6401]

I'm back.... Sorta (still a whole lot going on), i plan on running tomorrow (weather permitting) and ran into some problems..

First problem comes with the Venom batteries. The very small bullets that are built into the case have started to migrate. These cells have less then 10 runs on them and only 3 runs in a boat and 7 runs in a Blitz. Not what I expected from $99.99 batteries.Both batteries are doing the same thing.

[Diesel6401]

Second problem came with my Turnigy nano-tech. This battery has less then 5 runs on it, when i plugged it into my charger showed connection break. I checked everything reset the charger and same thing. I hooked my small cell checker to it and it showed dead. I then checked the overall voltage with a meter and it checked normal. I pushed on top of the battery where the plugs are attached while having the cell checker hooked up and bingo it worked. I then tore down the battery and found a crack in a connection tab. I repaired the tab and cell now works. Those (like all my batts) are always properly stored and well maintained they where never dropped or abused or used in anything other then boating.

Video of issue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skWXP2d037Q

[ksm2001]

Looks like you had a bad soldered pack, to bad. The Nano Techs seems to be great from people I know that use them and no problems. BTW nice solder job and the fusing aviation tape looks good. Thanks for all the work your doing and posting on the battery testing.

Ken

[lenny]

I had to do the same thing with some,
Just bad Q & C at the factory I guess.
But not just turnigy,
I had the some thing happen with Li-poly Enerland xq series 2s 30c 5050mah.
These tabs do not take the solder to well at all, Tried and tried not easy.
So I bridged the tabs with copper flashing held by zip ties and tape.
One year and still working good.

PS
Dale,
How are the gens working out for you ?

[RandyatBBY]

3 reason I don't personally like hard packs.

้้้1) these packs are a perfect example. You can change the end plugs, but not the plugs that the leads go into the batts. I placed 5.5mm bullets on the end, but where the leads plug into the batt still only 3.5mm, so if I put this in a high amp setup, that's going to be the weakest part of the batts, those small connectors aren't gonna cut it in semi-high amp draw boating purposes. JMO

2) unneeded extra size/weight. Sometimes weight is good, but when you don't want/need extra weight your screwed with these packs

3) hard packs are meant to keep the cells safe, but what about a submersion water will find away into those packs if fully submerged, my soft packs I can shake out of blow out with electrical cleaner and if really bad easily cut the shrink wrap dry out and re-wrap, not so easy with hardcases.

Also the hardcase takes up more space.

I have used 5.5 plugs and with 130 amp draw the plugs were 150f degrees after the run. Not good I believe they are supposed to be good to 150amps. I prefer 8MM plugs but the cost of replacing all that is need is restrictive.

[RandyatBBY]

At the top of the page there is a thread tools button, check it out.

I did not see them thank you. Very nice of you to take the time to help.