Spektrum Smart Battery... Cell Not Charging

[FriedOne]

Today I planned to take my Kraton out for a ride. I'm using 2x Spektrum 4S 5000 mAh 100C batteries with the Spektrum S2100 Smart Charger.
Batteries were last charged last weekend. Set to auto discharge to 3.80V. Charger is set to charge at 5 amps. Battery Charger was charging right battery at 5.0 amps but charging left battery at 0.4 amps. This did not seem right to me. I removed batteries once it beeped that charging was complete. I was still skeptical about the voltage.
Cells 2,3 & 4 were at 4.20 Vdc but cell 1 was only at 3.95 Vdc. My batteries and charger is still quite new. Batteries only been charged 10 times . I swapped the battery to the right charging port with no change. I put both batteries in my truck and my transmitters battery voltage monitor kept flashing and continuously beeping. I guess with one cell @ 3.95 v it was not fully charged. The truck was a no go. I bought good gear and I am surprise to have this kind of issues with new gear. Any ideas what could have gone wrong. I'm hoping these batteries have a manufacturers warranty.

 

[Slicky Slang]

Having a problem with this charger too

I'm relatively new to this hobby and was quite intimidated by the complications of charging and discharging lipo batteries, so I decided to purchase a Spektrum smart technology battery and charger bundle S2100.

I seem to be having problems with the charging process. When I plug both batteries into the charger, first battery into 'Channel one' second battery into 'Channel two' and begin charging both channels - I get an error "an Abnormal Connection Error, and it stops the charging process."

If I unplug the second batteries and then begin charging only on one channel, this will allow me to charge one of the batteries relatively quickly. However, the other battery, when plugged into one channel, is still taking an extremely long time to charge 1 to 2 hours, can I assume this battery is faulty? Or is there a way to reset the battery.

I've set the batteries to auto discharge after 24 hours. Do I need to buy a separate discharger too? Am I doing something wrong?

It's was to my understanding that these batteries take care of themselves.

 

[Jerry-rigged]

Today I planned to take my Kraton out for a ride. I'm using 2x Spektrum 4S 5000 mAh 100C batteries with the Spektrum S2100 Smart Charger.
Batteries were last charged last weekend. Set to auto discharge to 3.80V. Charger is set to charge at 5 amps. Battery Charger was charging right battery at 5.0 amps but charging left battery at 0.4 amps. This did not seem right to me. I removed batteries once it beeped that charging was complete. I was still skeptical about the voltage.
Cells 2,3 & 4 were at 4.20 Vdc but cell 1 was only at 3.95 Vdc. My batteries and charger is still quite new. Batteries only been charged 10 times . I swapped the battery to the right charging port with no change. I put both batteries in my truck and my transmitters battery voltage monitor kept flashing and continuously beeping. I guess with one cell @ 3.95 v it was not fully charged. The truck was a no go. I bought good gear and I am surprise to have this kind of issues with new gear. Any ideas what could have gone wrong. I'm hoping these batteries have a manufacturers warranty.

Does the charger have a setting where it will cycle the pack? That is, discharge to a preset voltage, then balance charge, then balance discharge, repeat for a preset # of cycles? Sometimes this will help a lipo with a lazy cell. If the cell is just bad, though, it will not help, and then you can take it back to the dealer, if still under warranty.

Having a problem with this charger too

I'm relatively new to this hobby and was quite intimidated by the complications of charging and discharging lipo batteries, so I decided to purchase a Spektrum smart technology battery and charger bundle S2100.

I seem to be having problems with the charging process. When I plug both batteries into the charger, first battery into 'Channel one' second battery into 'Channel two' and begin charging both channels - I get an error "an Abnormal Connection Error, and it stops the charging process."

If I unplug the second batteries and then begin charging only on one channel, this will allow me to charge one of the batteries relatively quickly. However, the other battery, when plugged into one channel, is still taking an extremely long time to charge 1 to 2 hours, can I assume this battery is faulty? Or is there a way to reset the battery.

I've set the batteries to auto discharge after 24 hours. Do I need to buy a separate discharger too? Am I doing something wrong?

It's was to my understanding that these batteries take care of themselves.

If battery #1 will charge fine on either channel, and battery #2 fails on either channel, then it sounds like the battery is the issue, not the charger. If it is new head back to the LHS where you got it and talk to them. Or call Horizon directly. This is a new battery, right?

 

[FriedOne]

Jerry-rigged,
Thank you for your response. My charger has a storage voltage option, discharge option also balance charges before its complete. Not sure about setting a cycle to run it in sequence. I seem to have the same issue as Slinky Slang is having. It is charging one battery @ 0.4 Amps witch is very slow. Switching battery to the 2nd port does not change anything. Can you tell me what the recommended charging rate is for a 5000 mAh 4S 100C lipo battery. My charger goes up to 12.0 Amps.

 

[Slicky Slang]

Does the charger have a setting where it will cycle the pack? That is, discharge to a preset voltage, then balance charge, then balance discharge, repeat for a preset # of cycles? Sometimes this will help a lipo with a lazy cell. If the cell is just bad, though, it will not help, and then you can take it back to the dealer, if still under warranty.

If battery #1 will charge fine on either channel, and battery #2 fails on either channel, then it sounds like the battery is the issue, not the charger. If it is new head back to the LHS where you got it and talk to them. Or call Horizon directly. This is a new battery, right?

Yes this is a new battery I've only been in the game for a couple of months. I thought I would go out and get the more expensive option to eliminate any headaches.

I'll contact Horizon directly, thanks for your help.

 

[FriedOne]

Slicky Slang,
I will be calling my retail store as soon as they open this morning. Will see what they have to say. Good luck with getting this fixed. Please keep us posted as to the outcome.
Cheers.

 

[Jerry-rigged]

Jerry-rigged,
Thank you for your response. My charger has a storage voltage option, discharge option also balance charges before its complete. Not sure about setting a cycle to run it in sequence. I seem to have the same issue as Slinky Slang is having. It is charging one battery @ 0.4 Amps witch is very slow. Switching battery to the 2nd port does not change anything. Can you tell me what the recommended charging rate is for a 5000 mAh 4S 100C lipo battery. My charger goes up to 12.0 Amps.

Without other information, most will say 1C is the safe charge rate. 1C = battery capacity in Amp-Hours. Your battery is 5000mah = 5ha = a 5a charge rate for 1c. someone above posted those batteries are 3c charge, so they should be OK up to 15a charge rate (3c * 5ha = 15a charge rate)

 

[Slicky Slang]

Definitely I'll keep you updated.

Nice

 

[FriedOne]

Without other information, most will say 1C is the safe charge rate. 1C = battery capacity in Amp-Hours. Your battery is 5000mah = 5ha = a 5a charge rate for 1c. someone above posted those batteries are 3c charge, so they should be OK up to 15a charge rate (3c * 5ha = 15a charge rate)

Thank you for this explanation. I just wanted to confirm that all my settings were in order.

 

[Slicky Slang]

Hi Fried One, good news today, I've just received a replacement battery from Horizon Hobby Yeah!

However, it did take some frustrating back-and-forth of conversations, but we got there in the end.

I had the same problem with my battery like you. (Cells 2,3 & 4 were at 4.20 Vdc, but cell 1 was only at 3.95 Vdc.)

I took a couple of photos at the beginning of the charge, showing all of the cells at 3.88v, another photo 2 hours later including time past on the charger and the faulty cell still at 3.95.

Nice,

 

[Todd Packer]

I have a Spektrum Smart s2100 charger and it is not picking up the balance lead. When I plug the balancer in it says charge without balance like it doesn't see that its plugged in. What the hell is going on??

 

[slick2500]

I have a Spektrum Smart s2100 charger and it is not picking up the balance lead. When I plug the balancer in it says charge without balance like it doesn't see that its plugged in. What the hell is going on??

Is the balance lead still in good condition? It isn't broken anywhere that you can see?

 

[Todd Packer]

Is the balance lead still in good condition? It isn't broken anywhere that you can see?

The balance lead looks perfect! I just put two 3s 5000mah smart batteries in to charge them and they’re charging fine. This 6s balance lead looks normal

 

[slick2500]

The balance lead looks perfect! I just put two 3s 5000mah smart batteries in to charge them and they’re charging fine. This 6s balance lead looks normal

I've had some cheap batteries do this, I even tore into the case to check and the balance leads were both still connected to the tabs, but the battery would still only show up as a 1s. No idea what the heck was going on. ?‍

 

[Loon_tune]

If anyone is still following this thread, I just had a 100c, 5000mah 6s go all messy on me. Like the above, I had some messing around, I had to email them and call them but they went good on it and sent me another extra one either as a mistake or as a freebie way to keep me happy. Occams razor says the first is most likely as they had me send in a receipt for it and that had two batteries on the it and despite the fact that I only recorded one of them screwing up and only referred to one in my communications, I expect they read the receipt, saw I wasn't going away and rubber stamped it. They seem like they go good on a lot of things if you're a squeaky wheel. Just thought I'd throw that out there

 

[Rusty lamphear]

Having a problem with this charger too

I'm relatively new to this hobby and was quite intimidated by the complications of charging and discharging lipo batteries, so I decided to purchase a Spektrum smart technology battery and charger bundle S2100.

I seem to be having problems with the charging process. When I plug both batteries into the charger, first battery into 'Channel one' second battery into 'Channel two' and begin charging both channels - I get an error "an Abnormal Connection Error, and it stops the charging process."

If I unplug the second batteries and then begin charging only on one channel, this will allow me to charge one of the batteries relatively quickly. However, the other battery, when plugged into one channel, is still taking an extremely long time to charge 1 to 2 hours, can I assume this battery is faulty? Or is there a way to reset the battery.

I've set the batteries to auto discharge after 24 hours. Do I need to buy a separate discharger too? Am I doing something wrong?

It's was to my understanding that these batteries take care of themselves.

Heck I've charged 11 batteries with my s1100 and it died and cant get any help from horizon or spektrum

 

[FriedOne]

Heck I've charged 11 batteries with my s1100 and it died and cant get any help from horizon or spektrum

Hey Bud,
First thing to check..are you plugging in the balancing leads..do you have it in the correct way. The orange wire should be facing to the right. If not that could be giving you that error.
What is the size of your batteries and what rating are you charging them at. I have 5000mAh 4S 100C packs. They need to be charged at 1C. You need to set your chargers charging rate at 5A. I normally discharge my packs after to 3.8V( using the storage option ) and it does not take that long to get to 4.20V once charged again.
Your smart charger has a storage option that is used to discharge your packs to 3.8 ( Safe Storage voltage)
Give it a look and see if you have everything plugged in correctly. If I can help further let me know.
Good luck.

 

[Rusty lamphear]

Hey Bud,
First thing to check..are you plugging in the balancing leads..do you have it in the correct way. The orange wire should be facing to the right. If not that could be giving you that error.
What is the size of your batteries and what rating are you charging them at. I have 5000mAh 4S 100C packs. They need to be charged at 1C. You need to set your chargers charging rate at 5A. I normally discharge my packs after to 3.8V( using the storage option ) and it does not take that long to get to 4.20V once charged again.
Your smart charger has a storage option that is used to discharge your packs to 3.8 ( Safe Storage voltage)
Give it a look and see if you have everything plugged in correctly. If I can help further let me know.
Good luck.

Yeah wentthru all that and of course being an electrician by trade checked all the power coming in it's just dead it's very strange

 

[FriedOne]

Rusty

Yeah wentthru all that and of course being an electrician by trade checked all the power coming in it's just dead it's very strange

Rusty lamphear,
So if I understand you correctly you saying that the 2nd input on the charger is not working. No output voltage. Silly question did you swap the iC5 / iC3 cables from 1 to 2 and vise versa. Just to conform both cables are good. I'm sure you checked them for continuity. Just trying to rule them out from the equation. Your chargers output could be defective. Did you charge them without plugging the balance leads, It will still charge without being plugged in. Just to try and see what's at fault. I have received that error when my balance lead was not inserted correctly. I'm hoping your charger is not defective.

Hi Fried One, good news today, I've just received a replacement battery from Horizon Hobby Yeah!

However, it did take some frustrating back-and-forth of conversations, but we got there in the end.

I had the same problem with my battery like you. (Cells 2,3 & 4 were at 4.20 Vdc, but cell 1 was only at 3.95 Vdc.)

I took a couple of photos at the beginning of the charge, showing all of the cells at 3.88v, another photo 2 hours later including time past on the charger and the faulty cell still at 3.95.

Nice,

Slinky Slang,
I must have missed your post. That is great that Horizon replaced your battery. Seems that we had a similar issue. Glad you got it sorted out. I have had no more issues since mine was replaced as well.
Cheers.

 

[Rusty lamphear]

Rusty

Rusty lamphear,
So if I understand you correctly you saying that the 2nd input on the charger is not working. No output voltage. Silly question did you swap the iC5 / iC3 cables from 1 to 2 and vise versa. Just to conform both cables are good. I'm sure you checked them for continuity. Just trying to rule them out from the equation. Your chargers output could be defective. Did you charge them without plugging the balance leads, It will still charge without being plugged in. Just to try and see what's at fault. I have received that error when my balance lead was not inserted correctly. I'm hoping your charger is not defective.

Slinky Slang,
I must have missed your post. That is great that Horizon replaced your battery. Seems that we had a similar issue. Glad you got it sorted out. I have had no more issues since mine was replaced as well.
Cheers.

This is just one port for charge and one balance it's very odd it all started out of nowhere let it sit for 2 days and wouldnt ya know it it worked yesterday then quit again this a.m. its gotta be bad I ordered a spare charger as well I may have a bad battery or something not sure