Lipo - "Connect Error Check Main Port"

[DRED805]

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.

Good to know... I plugged it into the usb plug on my amazon desk lamp, because it was the closest one to me. Should charge slow as hell.

I did try to charge it as a Nimh battery, just in case, but it gave the same error message. I learned that trick when I had a battery that was too dead to charge, recently.

 

[Voodoobrew]

my understand of the scx24 charger lights is
Red = charging.
Green = charge is complete
Flashing red = Fubar

 

[indybama]

I have a turnigy 4s that wouldnt charge. Kept saying incorrect cell count. I bumped it with a bit of a nimh charge n it finally balance charged.

On the balance plug, i have 1 red (green on my turnigy batts) n the rest are black. The red goes to the far left on the charger. The balance port on my charger, which is a hitec x1, is 4 3 2 1 -. So for a 2s the red wire would be on 2, middle wire on 1, n the black on far right would b on the -.

Hopefully using the scx24 charger helps to wake up your battery. Just b careful. If that doesnt work, u may try bumping it with a nimh charge for just a min. It doesnt take long n can b dangerous to do so. But like i said, it fixed mine. The 3rd cell on my 4s read 0.00 n wouldnt charge, n it was brand new. But i just tickled it a bit on nimh n it balances perfectly now n i get close to 2 hrs run times out of it

 

[Kingmeow]

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 know you said you are not a battery expert ) ), just to set the record straight the balance plug as one more wire then the cell count of your pack. Usually one wire on the edge is the negative, the rest are positives for each cell in the pack.

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.

39% is not under 3.0V per cell. If you take a look at the meter output in the opening post, it shows 7.64V total voltage. Being a two cell pack, that's 3.82V per cell. Perfect storage voltage. This tells us the pack is good.

DO NOT put it on NiMH mode to bring the cells up. Absolutely not needed in this case and could be dangerous!

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.

Absolutely get one! Even the $10 cheapie one at Harbor Freight. Can you borrow one? I would stick a mating connector on the output JST or two fine pins and then measure the voltage. You should get similar to 7.64V. If so, there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with your pack or wiring. Look at your charger or your procedure/steps you take to charge.

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.

It is a transmitter battery. Look at the "TX 7.4V - 29.6 Wh" on the label. The "TX" is the transmitter designation. I have the same pack in my DX7S transmitter.

 

[DRED805]

Alright, I bought a multimeter on my way home from work. To take any guess work out of my soldering abilities, I cut my connections off.

The battery fully charged overnight, on the usb charger, and shows 8.41v from the balance port. The main wires show 6.48v (it was tricky one handing that one for a picture, but I got the same reading with two hands, making solid contact with the wires). How does that happen?! My other batteries show the same voltage between the balance plug and the power plugs, which makes sense.

So is there bad connection somewhere inside the battery? Is it time to grab a fire extinguisher and start dissecting this thing? :twisted:

Thanks again!

 

[Voodoobrew]

Re: Lipo - "Connect Error Check Main Port"

Seems pretty odd to me. Tho only ones I dissected had no circuitry in them to fail. Was just 2 batteries in sieres for the main connector. If you don't solder there is no reason to tear into it. If you do, do it outside.

Red wire to positive on battery 1, then negative to positive, then negative on battery 2 to black.

Each solder gets a balance wire.

Theoretical balance wires 1 and 3 should be the exact same voltage as pos an negative. Unless there is a resistor in the line. And there shouldn't be.

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[ferp420]

if you overheated the wires while soldering them its posable one wire came loose and reconected as it cooled and now has a loose or dirty conection

 

[DRED805]

if you overheated the wires while soldering them its posable one wire came loose and reconected as it cooled and now has a loose or dirty conection

It's entirely probable that I damaged the battery. Since it's garbage to me at this point, I tore into it a bit to investigate. The same reading is coming straight from the circuit board. I dunno.

 

[ferp420]

It's entirely probable that I damaged the battery. Since it's garbage to me at this point, I tore into it a bit to investigate. The same reading is coming straight from the circuit board. I dunno.

i solder in jumpers when i blow out a pc board on a lipo but im not smart enuff to explain the process in any detail that would makes sense to anyone but me lol

 

[DRED805]

i solder in jumpers when i blow out a pc board on a lipo but im not smart enuff to explain the process in any detail that would makes sense to anyone but me lol

Haha. I'm not gonna try to salvage this thing anyway. Now, how do I dispose of it? Toss it into the neighbor's pond?

Since I like using things how they're not intended to be used, what's the downside of using a receiver battery as a transmitter battery? Does a transmitter need more than 5c?... haha.
https://www.amazon.com/Spektrum-7-4...ords=spektrum+1300+lipo&qid=1626753625&sr=8-2

 

[Voodoobrew]

Re: Lipo - "Connect Error Check Main Port"

Drain it to zero volts by leaving it in salt water, then dump it in the box at best buy.

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[Kingmeow]

Well it looks like you found your answer! Out of curiosity I measured my pack (identical to your Gens Ace) and the output lead has the same voltage as measured from the balance lead. This pack is specifically meant for the Spektrum DX series of airplane radios and the charging circuitry is in the Tx so I thought there may be some kind of regulating circuit inside the pack. The 12V from the wall wart gets stepped down to the proper voltage inside the Tx. And the Tx has to be set to NiMH or Lipo in the menu.

Anyway, no harm in using a Rx pack in a Tx. The biggest hurdle is the physical size for fitment.

To dispose of, even easier than salt water (as you need a lot of salt and it takes forever), find a light bulb or a motor or something to drain the pack to 0V or close to it. Then dump it in recycling at Best Buy, Home Depot, town dump, etc.

 

[23drumerboy]

Well it looks like you found your answer! Out of curiosity I measured my pack (identical to your Gens Ace) and the output lead has the same voltage as measured from the balance lead. This pack is specifically meant for the Spektrum DX series of airplane radios and the charging circuitry is in the Tx so I thought there may be some kind of regulating circuit inside the pack. The 12V from the wall wart gets stepped down to the proper voltage inside the Tx. And the Tx has to be set to NiMH or Lipo in the menu.

Anyway, no harm in using a Rx pack in a Tx. The biggest hurdle is the physical size for fitment.

To dispose of, even easier than salt water (as you need a lot of salt and it takes forever), find a light bulb or a motor or something to drain the pack to 0V or close to it. Then dump it in recycling at Best Buy, Home Depot, town dump, etc.

I simply soldered myself an xt60 connector, about 2-3inches of wire, and an automotive 194 bulb tack-soldered to the leads...plug in, chuck the pack into lipo safe in center of my garage floor away from flammables, etc. When the bulb is extremely dim/unlit...safe to dispose of

Read-Up! Mod-On! Crawl EXCESSIVELY!

 

[Voodoobrew]

I don't think that circuit board is necessary, but its more of a safety feature. Maybe to cut the power on the main leads when it gets low. I accidentally punctured a 3s lipo and when it was done burning only one of the 3 cells had actually died. I soldered it up as a 2s battery and it has worked fine. There was no circuit board in it, but the solder tabs on the lipo pouches were scary to solder to. You need a lot of heat fast so it doesn't soak into the battery and burn.

 

[Kingmeow]

I simply soldered myself an xt60 connector, about 2-3inches of wire, and an automotive 194 bulb tack-soldered to the leads...plug in, chuck the pack into lipo safe in center of my garage floor away from flammables, etc. When the bulb is extremely dim/unlit...safe to dispose of

Read-Up! Mod-On! Crawl EXCESSIVELY!

Bingo! My method of choice! "thumbsup"

 

[DRED805]

The spektrum receiver packs arrived, and work fine. We’ll see how long they last. Even if it’s only a couple hours, it beats AA’s.

 

[Voodoobrew]

Re: Lipo - "Connect Error Check Main Port"

I put a dual 18650 sled in my spectrum dx5pro. 3000mah cells last a while.

I also got some Long shelf life rechargeable aa batteries that last longer then alkalines


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