Lipo - "Connect Error Check Main Port"

[DRED805]

I got a lipo for my transmitter. It came with a JST-EHR plug that I couldn't find a male version of anywhere, so I replaced it with normal JST.

I tried to charge the battery and I got "CONNECT ERROR CHECK MAIN PORT" on the charger.

I thought maybe I did a bad soldering job, so I soldered it again. That didn't fix it, so I soldered on an xt60 just to see if my jst adapter on the charger was bad. Same problem.

I've changed the plugs on a few batteries without issues, so I don't know what's going on. The cells are still working and the battery will power the jst lights on my UMG, so I don't think I accidentally shorted anything out.

I tried charging/discharging a couple other batteries, and the charger seems to be working correctly.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[mikemcE]

The picture looks like negative is pin one, positive on pin 3 not pin 2?


Hang up and Drive

 

[DRED805]

The picture looks like negative is pin one, positive on pin 3 not pin 2?


Hang up and Drive

On the balance port? I don't know how it's supposed to be. Here's another angle.

 

[Voodoobrew]

Re: Lipo - "Connect Error Check Main Port"

Looks correct, try power cycling the charger. Double check the main voltage at the charger side with a voltage meter.

Did you make any adjustments to the balance plug?



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[jaymann]

Is it looking to see the main connecter hooked up and the balance tab just to check voltage and balance?

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[DRED805]

Re: Lipo - "Connect Error Check Main Port"

Looks correct, try power cycling the charger. Double check the main voltage at the charger side with a voltage meter.

Did you make any adjustments to the balance plug?



Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

I'm not sure what you mean by power cycling the charger? How do I do that? I just have this cheap little guy... maybe it's time to upgrade. https://www.amainhobbies.com/dynami...charger-4s-6a-60w-dync3015/p-qtaktskqycqxactz

I don't own a voltage meter. I'm not much of a sparky, as you can tell. Something I should add to the list.

Oh yeah, I didn't touch the balance plug.

 

[mikemcE]

On the balance port? I don't know how it's supposed to be. Here's another angle.

On a 2s Neg and positive must be correct to balance. When I’ve gotten the error either my main charge lead needs a wiggle or the balance connector. This is only on my TX fast packs with the jst lead
The balance lead looks like a 3s not 2s , my 2s lacks use only two pins.
But I’m not a battery expert


Hang up and Drive

 

[DRED805]

On a 2s Neg and positive must be correct to balance. When I’ve gotten the error either my main charge lead needs a wiggle or the balance connector. This is only on my TX fast packs with the jst lead
The balance lead looks like a 3s not 2s , my 2s lacks use only two pins.
But I’m not a battery expert


Hang up and Drive

I don't know... the balance plug appears to be set up the same as my other 2s packs.

 

[nightcrawler48]

First, to clarify. A 2s battery will have 3 wires to the balance plug, which is correct looking at your battery. Usually, the black wire on the outside pin is ground (-), the red wire on the other outside pin is the positive (+) for one cell, and the middle wire is also positive (+) for the other cell. Most of the middle wires are blue or some color other than black, just to alleviate any chance of confusion.

Looking at how you have it plugged in to your battery checker, it looks like you have the plug moved over one pin from the ground (-). All the pins with numbers are for the positive (+) wires from the cells. Try plugging it in with the black wire on the negative (-) pin of the battery checker. The center pin with the black wire will be on pin 1 and the red wire will be on pin 2.

Now, the balance plug when connected to your charger balance port, should be the same - black outside pin to the negative (-) pin of the balance port, the center pin (other black wire) should be connected to pin 1 (+) and the red wire (other outside pin) will be connected to pin 2 (+).

If you connected the balance plug to your charger the same way you show it connected to your battery checker, you will get the error message. The charger needs the negative connection to read the "balance" of the 2 cells when charging.

One other thing I see is, the battery checker says there is 39% charge left. This may be the issue. At 39% you are under 3.0V per cell and your charger won't like this either. If the 2 cells are still reasonably balanced, there is about 1.7V per cell. Plug the battery in to the battery checker correctly and see what it shows for voltage for each cell.

 

[DRED805]

First, to clarify. A 2s battery will have 3 wires to the balance plug, which is correct looking at your battery. Usually, the black wire on the outside pin is ground (-), the red wire on the other outside pin is the positive (+) for one cell, and the middle wire is also positive (+) for the other cell. Most of the middle wires are blue or some color other than black, just to alleviate any chance of confusion.

Looking at how you have it plugged in to your battery checker, it looks like you have the plug moved over one pin from the ground (-). All the pins with numbers are for the positive (+) wires from the cells. Try plugging it in with the black wire on the negative (-) pin of the battery checker. The center pin with the black wire will be on pin 1 and the red wire will be on pin 2.

Now, the balance plug when connected to your charger balance port, should be the same - black outside pin to the negative (-) pin of the balance port, the center pin (other black wire) should be connected to pin 1 (+) and the red wire (other outside pin) will be connected to pin 2 (+).

If you connected the balance plug to your charger the same way you show it connected to your battery checker, you will get the error message. The charger needs the negative connection to read the "balance" of the 2 cells when charging.

It's plugged into the checker correctly. It's just the angle of the picture. See how the "7" isn't lined up with the 7th pin?

Thanks for the input!

 

[nightcrawler48]

Re: Lipo - "Connect Error Check Main Port"

I'm not sure what you mean by power cycling the charger? How do I do that? I just have this cheap little guy... maybe it's time to upgrade. https://www.amainhobbies.com/dynami...charger-4s-6a-60w-dync3015/p-qtaktskqycqxactz

I don't own a voltage meter. I'm not much of a sparky, as you can tell. Something I should add to the list.

Oh yeah, I didn't touch the balance plug.

Is this the charger you have? Or is it one you're looking at getting? If this is what you have, the specs indicate it is a reasonably good charger. Looks like a clone of the Hitec RDX1 Mini AC Charger and just slightly cheaper than the Hitec.

 

[DRED805]

Re: Lipo - "Connect Error Check Main Port"

Is this the charger you have? Or is it one you're looking at getting? If this is what you have, the specs indicate it is a reasonably good charger. Looks like a clone of the Hitec RDX1 Mini AC Charger and just slightly cheaper than the Hitec.

That's the one I have.

But yeah, this is super weird. It was only $25 for the battery, but it's kinda frustrating. That's what I get for experimenting with stuff. I have a couple other 2s batteries that'll fit. I made a deans adapter so I can use them in the transmitter until I get it figured out. I'm not sure how long 1300mah batteries will last, though.

 

[Voodoobrew]

By power cycle I mean unplug the charger from the wall, and unplug the battery. Then plug it back in.
Some times if you plug something in wrong or forget to plug in the balance port, the chargers get all uppity and need a kick in the pants. Rebooting them usually fixes this issue for me.
It happens to me about once a year.

I use the SKYRC chargers.
The Dynamite Passport P1 Mini AC Charger is basically a clone of the Venom Power Pro 4 LiPo & NiMH AC Sport Balance Charger who cloned the Hitec RDX1 Mini AC Charger clone of the SKYRC S60 AC Balance Charger.

 

[DRED805]

By power cycle I mean unplug the charger from the wall, and unplug the battery. Then plug it back in.

I see. Just tried that. Still doesn't work. I give up.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

 

[nightcrawler48]

Possibly one last thing to try. I see on the Gens Ace website, transmitter lipo batteries are recommended to be charged at 0.2 amps to 0.5 amps max. The one I was looking at was a 4000 mAh battery. You would naturally think you could charge at 4 amps.

It doesn't say anything on the battery you posted the picture of about being a "transmitter" battery but it might be worth seeing if it will charge with a 0.5 amp charge rate setting.

 

[Ninomaniac]

Did you connect the main port?

 

[Voodoobrew]

I see. Just tried that. Still doesn't work. I give up.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

You can try updating the firmware using the charge master software, or whatever Dynamite calls it. or just charging it from the pc app. Maybe reset factory defaults.

If other batteries work just fine I would realy assume there is a bad conection in the...

If you plug into the jst/xt60/main power wires does it work? I mean power on the tx or a motor or something?

 

[DRED805]

Possibly one last thing to try. I see on the Gens Ace website, transmitter lipo batteries are recommended to be charged at 0.2 amps to 0.5 amps max. The one I was looking at was a 4000 mAh battery. You would naturally think you could charge at 4 amps.

It doesn't say anything on the battery you posted the picture of about being a "transmitter" battery but it might be worth seeing if it will charge with a 0.5 amp charge rate setting.

That makes SO much sense. Especially with the 20awg wires. I just got my hopes up that you figured it out. I tried on 0.2 and 0.5 amps. Same Error.

 

[DRED805]

You can try updating the firmware using the charge master software, or whatever Dynamite calls it. or just charging it from the pc app. Maybe reset factory defaults.

If other batteries work just fine I would realy assume there is a bad conection in the...

If you plug into the jst/xt60/main power wires does it work? I mean power on the tx or a motor or something?

The battery is too low to power on the transmitter, but it does light LED's and it just dimly lit the power button on my 1080 esc. Not enough juice to power on the ESC, though.

I just dug out the charger that came with my scx24 that I almost threw away. I've never used it before, but I just plugged the balance plug into that, and there's one red light on. I assume that means it's charging. Maybe that'll wake it back up or something?

 

[Voodoobrew]

My brother said dont use a high power usb outlet with the stock scx24 charger, He believes thats how everyone is killing them. So like a 200mah usb adapter might be good,
You can also try to charge the battery as a Nimh battery for a few minutes. Its not the safest thing to do though. The voltage of 7.64 means it should not be dead enough to trigger the low voltage safety of the charger though. Unless only one cell is under 3.2v which is unlikely as the other cell would need to be at 4.44v.

Did you try threatening them both? or Profanity? I don't believe in hitting though...