New Bantam e-Station Support Forum

[RC Accessory]

Originally Posted by wannaheli

I have an Align battery. Which balance board do I need for the BC6? The EAC124, EAC128, or EAC144. If I get the EAC144, would it be ok to charge just one battery or do I always have to charge two 3S batteries with it. I have never used Lipo before and my head is spinning from all the plugs out there.

EAC124 is for Align
EAC123 is for Polyquest
EAC128 is for Kokam
EAC129 is for Thunderpower/Flightpower

The EAC144 is for Align which can do 2 3S packs or 3 2S packs. You can use it for 1 3S or 1 2S as well. I would not recommend that you not get the EAC144 board as this board was designed for situations where you discharge 2 identical packs in the aircraft at the same time so you can charge them together. For single battery use, I would not recommend it.

[wannaheli]

Talk about service! Thank you for the fast, Evan. Based on your recommendation, I think I will get the EAC124. Since I'm new to Lipo, this is probably not the time to charge two packs at the same time and getting something wrong. I'll take baby steps. Safety first.

[tricky dicky]

Evan thanks for the quick reply. Now I have done more investigation and can explain to you more closely the problem.

1) I have had the batteries all checked on a voltmeter this morning and all are around the 25V mark, which indicates they are fully charged.

2) So I used the one battery on my Heli this morning and then decided to re-charge it.

3) I put the battery on the charger and this is what happens - The charger gives me an error message - "BATTERY VOL ERR CELL HIGH VOL". The 2 connections from the battery was made on the connection board in the 6-8 series ports (side by side)

4) Then I changed the connections on the connection board to the 1-3 series port and the other battery connection went into the 4-5 series port (one behind the other)

4) The battery then charges, but it indicates C4, C5 and C6 has having ZERO voltage.

Why I am I having these problems? I cant understand this? It's probably a simple error but I cant fathom this one out.

Please help me.

Cheers.

[RC Accessory]

Based on youtr last post, I would guess that you are using either a Thunderpower or Flightpower lipo.

For a 6S pack, you MUST use the 6-8S sockets (2 of them). Do not use the other ones. If you use the other ones you do not have the last 2 cells connected to the balancer. Hence, the balancer is seeing 4 cells, the charger is seeing 6 cells, the charger creates the error message.

I still think that you have a EAC139 board that needs replaced.

[tricky dicky]

Evan, thanks buddy, at least I know which ports are the correct ones to plug into. I will get the connection board replaced - pity, as they are brand new.

You are 100% correct, I am using Evo Flight power batteries.

Just as matter of protocol, what is the correct procedure when charging the batteries - what is plugged in first and when is it appropriate to switch on the power i.e. do you make all connections, then switch on the charger, or is it OK to have the charger on before making the connections to the battery/connection board?

I will check with my friend the model code of the connection board, but the code you mentioned sounds familiar.

Cheers

Richard Cohen

[RC Accessory]

Originally Posted by tricky dicky

Evan, thanks buddy, at least I know which ports are the correct ones to plug into. I will get the connection board replaced - pity, as they are brand new.

You are 100% correct, I am using Evo Flight power batteries.

Just as matter of protocol, what is the correct procedure when charging the batteries - what is plugged in first and when is it appropriate to switch on the power i.e. do you make all connections, then switch on the charger, or is it OK to have the charger on before making the connections to the battery/connection board?

I will check with my friend the model code of the connection board, but the code you mentioned sounds familiar.

Cheers

Richard Cohen

If the board is new, contact your dealer. As far as the order, it doesn't really matter.

Today I plugged my Kokam 4000 3S into the balancer first then connected the main charge leads. Usually I connect the main charge leads first. The reason for the change in order is that I am using 6mm bullets for these batteries and have to hook up 2 charge leads of different lengths since I offset the pos and neg leads on the battery. By connecting the balance tap first, I can position the battery where I need it since the charging cables are short, 8" vs 24" for my Ultra Deans charge cable. I wanted to keep them short as I will be charging at 2C with these packs.

[urin8]

Any one have any information on the recall of BC6 chargers last year

I had heard of their being a problem with the built in balancer

I've had mine for almost a year and have only recently actually measured the voltage of the individual cells with a multi meter. on every pack I have cell 2 is approximately 0.15 volts lower than the others.
obviously while balance charging the charger is not fully charging cell 2
have contacted the store I purchased the charger from and they have no information regarding a recall here in australia nor have they ever heard of any problem with the BC6.

so if anyone has any information on this it would be appreciated.

[r-elliott]

Couple quick questions from a hobbyist new to electric flight. I purchased the BC6 with the ThunderPower/FlightPower wiring harness. When I view the EAC129 on your website, my circuit board looks the same but the cable looks different. The EAC129 has two black wires and the rest of the wires are red. The cable I received has blue, green, yellow, orange, red, brown and two black wires. Second question. My charger came with a banana plug to alligator clip accessory. What is this used for? Thank you.

[RC Accessory]

Originally Posted by urin8

Any one have any information on the recall of BC6 chargers last year

I had heard of their being a problem with the built in balancer

I've had mine for almost a year and have only recently actually measured the voltage of the individual cells with a multi meter. on every pack I have cell 2 is approximately 0.15 volts lower than the others.
obviously while balance charging the charger is not fully charging cell 2
have contacted the store I purchased the charger from and they have no information regarding a recall here in australia nor have they ever heard of any problem with the BC6.

so if anyone has any information on this it would be appreciated.

The very first production run of the BC-6 charger had a calibration issue on cell #2 on the balancer. The voltage was a bit lower on cell #2. The recall was voluntary. Not that many units were shipped worldwide when the issue was found. Here in the US, every customer that made a purchase from RC Accessory had their units swapped at.

Contact your dealer to have your unit updated.

[RC Accessory]

Originally Posted by r-elliott

Couple quick questions from a hobbyist new to electric flight. I purchased the BC6 with the ThunderPower/FlightPower wiring harness. When I view the EAC129 on your website, my circuit board looks the same but the cable looks different. The EAC129 has two black wires and the rest of the wires are red. The cable I received has blue, green, yellow, orange, red, brown and two black wires. Second question. My charger came with a banana plug to alligator clip accessory. What is this used for? Thank you.

The new cables with the EAC boards have different colored wires, same cable.

Bantam includes a banana plug to alligator clip charge cable with certain chargers. You can use it for anything you want, or cut the ends off and solder on deans, jst, ect.. any plug you want.

[urin8]

Originally Posted by RC Accessory

The very first production run of the BC-6 charger had a calibration issue on cell #2 on the balancer. The voltage was a bit lower on cell #2. The recall was voluntary. Not that many units were shipped worldwide when the issue was found. Here in the US, every customer that made a purchase from RC Accessory had their units swapped at.

Contact your dealer to have your unit updated.

don't suppose you know who the dealer is in australia ?

[RC Accessory]

Originally Posted by urin8

don't suppose you know who the dealer is in australia ?

Taiwa Pty Ltd www.wattsuprc.com.au
17 Chalmers Place Sunnybank
Old 4109
Australia

[urin8]

Originally Posted by RC Accessory

Taiwa Pty Ltd www.wattsuprc.com.au
17 Chalmers Place Sunnybank
Old 4109
Australia

that is who I had contacted and they said
"we currently do not have the record about the problem as you mention in the mail"

how concerned would you be about this 0.15 voltage difference ? would you think it is bad for the batteries ?

[r-elliott]

That's what I call service. Thanks for the quick reply.

[RC Accessory]

Originally Posted by urin8

that is who I had contacted and they said
"we currently do not have the record about the problem as you mention in the mail"

how concerned would you be about this 0.15 voltage difference ? would you think it is bad for the batteries ?

More than likely, they did not get any from the first production run, so they were probably unaware of it.

Contact Bantam directly, bantamtek@bantamtek.com

[jnich]

i see your site says the latest charger is now in stock - is that old or did you get them in the new bc-6 ac/dc?
Nick

[RC Accessory]

Originally Posted by jnich

i see your site says the latest charger is now in stock - is that old or did you get them in the new bc-6 ac/dc?
Nick

We got the new ones in a couple months ago. Right now we are out of stock until next week.

[tricky dicky]

Evan, I replaced my charge board and BINGO - I can charge the batteries the way they are meant to be charged and no more error messages on the Charger. Thaks for you help and prompt replies.

Go Bantam!

[dormani]

I purchased the BC6 a couple of days ago. When I balance/charge my 2S batteries the voltage of cell 1 and 2 are shown. In addition there is a voltage of around 1V being recorded against cell 6 which is not connected. Any clues on this?

In addition, while the charger goes through the charge process and completes, the actual time that I can use these batteries with my CX2 seems to have reduced when compared to using the EFlite Balance/charger. Has any one any comment on this?

[RC Accessory]

Originally Posted by dormani

I purchased the BC6 a couple of days ago. When I balance/charge my 2S batteries the voltage of cell 1 and 2 are shown. In addition there is a voltage of around 1V being recorded against cell 6 which is not connected. Any clues on this?

In addition, while the charger goes through the charge process and completes, the actual time that I can use these batteries with my CX2 seems to have reduced when compared to using the EFlite Balance/charger. Has any one any comment on this?

I have not heard of that before. Contact your dealer, the board may need to be replaced.

What is the cell voltages of the 2 cells? Is the charger set for lipoly?