Lipo problems

[kb3nds]

Hey guys. Figured I would tap from the vast experience our club has.

I bought a Thunderpower 3S2P 4200 mah lipo in March of this year. I have only used the battery a dozen times or so. The whole time I have only used the Accu Cycle Elite to charge it and it has never been left outside or discharged below 3V per cell. The other night I charged it and went to the field. After flying the cub for only 3 minutes, it throttled back and I had to land.

I thought that maybe I forgot to charge the battery. I hooked it up to the charger and it only took 500 mAh worth of charge. I then decided to discharge it and charge again. In both cases - Discharge 500 mAh, Charge 500 mAh. It's only reading 9.19V at full charge. Obviously something has happened to this battery. Any ideas?

Both planes that I fly with this lipo have ESC's that are lipo aware.

Thanks for any help!

Paul

[CGBolden]

I'm certainly no expert with these batteries Paul but one thing is for certain...I would not attempt to discharge or charge that battery anymore without contacting the manufacture themselves. Your best bet would be to discard the battery and just replace it. Either these batteries work or they don't. Just my 2 cents worth.

Chris

[tillmas]

Are you using a balancer when you charge it?

[kb3nds]

I had not used a balancer yet. In fact, I had just bought one the same day I had the unexpected short flight, but it didn't come with the correct adapter so I had to order it.
I have since contacted Thunderpower and they gave me an RMA to send it back. This battery cost $169.00 so I'm really not ready to throw it away without a fight. I did nothing wrong with it, so their warranty should cover something I would hope.

[DEdelbaum]

balancing is SUPER important with Lipo's...discharge and then use a balancer to re-charge the pack...if one cell draws down more and then is not charged all the way and balanced with the other cells it will hurt the pack...

i'm new to the boards by the way...but have a bunch of experience with LiPo's now...i own 11 LiPO'S and have used a balancer since day 1 on them all..some have 40+ cycles and are still going strong...

Dan