Revo 4400mah 60C batteries and MPA + PL8 V2 Charger

[mkovalcson]

I got a couple Revo 12S 4400mah 60C sticks

I'm still trying to understand why these batteries and my PL8 Charger with MPA board do not get along.

I broke them in nicely by charging them at only 1C for the first 5 charges and gave them easy lower current flights.

When I charge with external FMA balance boards I can charge them at whatever Amp rate I specify. Let's say 5 or 10A.

When I use the MPA board they start out at the right current and then the PL8 backs down to between 2-4A total or 1A to 2A per battery fairly quickly.

However if I charge my Gens Ace, Hyperion or TP batteries on the MPA board, I can charge them at any A rate that I specify.

Also the IR is showing up uniformly high whenever I use the MPA charger, but just with these batteries. When I put these batteries on the FMA balance boards I get typical approx 2.0-2.7mOhm readings.

They don't have 10 cycles on them yet and I already had one instance where one Revo pack went way out of balance on me. I very carefully slow charged them back individually to get everything matching again and they seem to be staying in balance right now, but I'm getting squimish about these batteries just because they are behaving funny.

When I plug a pair of Gens Ace batteries into the exact same balance ports and EC5 plugs that I used with the Revo I have no problem.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Gregor99]

Use a manual current setting, not one the auto modes. The MPA requires JST wiring mode. The single FMA boards use FMA wiring mode.

[mkovalcson]

I am very comfortable toggling between the two balance modes depending on the boards I'm using.

My question is why would I only have problems with these batteries and not others?

When I discharge the Revo sticks they are ALL OVER THE MAP!

I just got values between 3.84 and 3.89 when discharging them on the MPA board.

I NEVER have that happen with my other batteries. I know it's not balancing during the discharge, BUT my other batteries always discharge pretty evenly and have very similar voltages. Also sometimes it stops early and doesn't finish.

I really think I have some duds or that these batteries have an incompatibility with the balance ports.

Thing are just not working properly with them unless I use the FMA boards. The MPA board appears to be completely incompatible with these batteries whether charging or discharging.

[Gregor99]

Are you charging the packs as singles on the MPA or in parallel? If you are charging them in parallel, try them as singles.

[andersn]

sounds like dead cells

like he said

do 1 at a time
charge, then storage charge, see how badly they go off, or even cycle

[mkovalcson]

If I Charge or Discharge them on the MPA board they get screwed up and are out of balance.

If I Charge or Discharge them on the FMA boards they are just fine even in parallel.


So you would think that means the MPA board is messed up. However I can charge or discharge all of my other batteries 6S and others sizes individually or many in parallel and have no problems on the MPA board.

It is ONLY with these Revolectric 12S sticks used with the MPA board that I have problems.

That is why this is so frustrating!

I feel like the Revo sticks I have are incompatible with my MPA board for some reason.

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by Gregor99

Are you charging the packs as singles on the MPA or in parallel? If you are charging them in parallel, try them as singles.

I didn't see an answer to my question. Just trying to get some clarification on what's going on. Charging a single pack on the MPA will exercise a single port and set of fuses. If there is an issue, the charge cycle won't start. When charging in parallel, issues with a single port are masked by the other packs.

[dmavroyiannis]

On the board there are some 40A fuses.

Check if all of them are OK. It could be a nasty coincidence that you plug the revo on a specific way and it fails to detect them properly. I had an issue like that. The nasty thing is that the fuses are soldered.....

[hemp]

Originally Posted by dmavroyiannis

The nasty thing is that the fuses are soldered.....

Soldering them allows for a better, smaller connection than a plug. You can unscrew the top board and remove it from the bottom board and fairly easily desolder and replace a fuse.

That said, the fuses aren't expected to blow. They're there to prevent a catastrophic failure. If one of them is blown, I would send the board in to have it checked out and also try to determine how more than 40A was sent through it if that's what happened.