After this I got a multimeter and now I know exactly what's going on with my battery collection - and that my charger is screwed - a decent one is next on the list - many many thanks! :)
good info to have for someone like me that has a charger that doesn't tell you the number of the cell. now I know how to check for a bad cell. thank you very much.
I have that same meter - got it free with a coupon ;) I think everyone should have a multimeter in this hobby, makes it real easy to diagnose your own stuff. I've even been daring enough to check my 1s lipo with the meter.
Very good stuff! I think this should appeal more to people who already have a multi-meter on hand and want to avoid buying anything else. If one is looking to buy something for checking batteries the price of some for the cell meters has become pretty darn cheap. For example, a Tenergy 5-in-1 intelligent cell meter cells for $15.00 but saves so much time by eliminating the futzing around with probing the individual cells. It also checks the battery under a load and adds functions like balancing, discharge and internal resistance check. Just plug in the balance lead and away you go...and it's TINY, so you can easily take it anywhere. No stowing or untangling leads either. This is coming from a guy that owns a lot of multi-meters. The more quads you have, the more your battery stockpile multiplies, so every bit of time saved checking batteries adds to your time in the air! That said, a multi-meter is always a must-have for sanity purposes. One of many things you can use it for is periodically checking that your automated gizmos are reading correctly.
Thanks for your feedback! Keeping it simple works for our service department....harbor freight :) and we don't mind to educate folks how to read their batteries, because this is what they most likely have at home.
are these reliable and accurate? I have tons of hesitation buying the ominous amazon electronics when you are given a few dozen other "related products" coming out of China and are all the same minus the name, but reliability is probably all over the place. I am interested as this does seem to do a lot for a little $$. Just worried about accuracy and reliability. thanks
This is the 6th video I watched about that topic. All of them, including this one, are explaining the balance plug only, but NONE of them shows how to configure the Voltmeter for this test. Why does everyone assume for sure that we all know how to use ancient Voltmeters? ☺
Agreed Mike and RC still tells us nothing I have the same multimeter luckily you had a picture that I could look at your setting Please in your next video tell the whole story
Yup... Like the microwave cooking TH-camrs who just say set at high for two minutes. Wtf? Tell us in Watts. These two talk too much but do end up giving some useful information if one can focus long enough.
Ancient Voltmeter? From the future you are? Can travel to the past you can? (Pssst… bro, let me give you some super good advice; it’s better for you to keep your mouth closed and have people only íthink you’re a complete fool than it is for you to open it and remove all doubt.) And no one explains how to “configure” a multimeter for the same reason no one explains how to configure a flathead screwdriver. It should worry you that you don’t know this, then again, Darwin Award contestants seem to always be fearless and knowledgeable at times…. Regardless of how sardonic I, or other people get, you just do you big guy. You’re awesome, and are entitled to your own personal perspectives and feelings and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m just some random smart a$$ so don’t take what I say to seriously.
if you have a non ranging volt meter you choose the voltage that is closest to your voltage but not over. so if you have options like .2V 20V 200V you would pick 20V
I've had some lipo batteries go into the 2 volt area and it failed to charge so I take out the nickel/metal charger and plug it into the bad battery for a couple minutes then switch the battery to the lipo charger and run the cycle option and they were good as new
Hi,I have some doubts why is there a continuous spark when I try to connect my lipo battery (2200 mah 11.1 volt 3s 30c) to my esc (30a) and is it because of friction Second thing the battery i mentioned above also showed the voltage in negative when I checked is with my multimeter.
@@Rcstreetshop Cool. I've been stressing a .006 difference on my worst pack. My lipo charger doesn't have the balancer in it so I use a battery meter while charging an stop charging when the highest cell reaches 4.195v
@@kokoslegend4850 Yeah, sparks flew out of it, now one of the cells on that battery is dead. I've since found other tutorials on the multimeter I have, as to which settings do what.
What can i do if my 3 cell Lipo battery tested (using a multimeter) measuring the balance leads…yellow/black=3.98v; blue/black7.95v and the Total from the main leads as well as the red/black from the balance leads =11.93V? Can I use this battery or fix it if not useable? Also, I tested my 2 cell Lipo which is working fine at blue/black =3.7v and red/black and main leads = 7.4v. So, on both Lipos, they cells are not anywhere close! But the 2 cell is rather new and Iv’e been charging correctly and it WORKS FINE! What gives PLEASE?
I don't think you do it quite right. Batteries wired in parallel, so when you measure + and -, you need to understand that when terminal/wire is negative for one cell it is positive for the other. On your 3S you need to measure. Yellow/black, then black/blue and then blue/black. Your balance wire tip is 123+black (so you measure 1/2, then 2/3 and then 3/black). Same applies to you 2S. Try to re-measure and see if it make sense?
@@Rcstreetshop So what you are saying is touch the black/negative tip of my multimeter to the black lead of the balance wire, and then, touch the red/positive tip of my multimeter to BOTH YELLOW AND BLUE and then with say RED AND BLUE, etc.? Is that safe? If that's not what you meant...then please re-read what I said because I already tested the balance leads: yellow/black=3.98v; blue/black7.95v and red/black = =11.93v...all from the balance leads ? Isn't THAT what you meant when .you said, "Your balance wire tip is 123+black (so you measure 1/2, then 2/3 and then 3/black)" ?
You missed this part "negative for one cell it is positive for the other" When you keep negative tip of multimeter on negative and measure other wires you combine voltages, while you need to measure INDIVIDUAL cells. For that you need to switch wires everytime you measure. With 3S battery you should have balancing tip with 4 wires. One is going to be black (which is negative) and the color of other wires doesn't matter...it is going to look like this -> 123+4(black). So you first measure 3 (with positive multimeter tip) and 4 (with negative), then you measure 2 (with positive) and 3 (with negative), then 1(with positive) and 2(with negative). The above will give you the readings for each individual cell in your 3S pack.
all cells share a common ground or - that is the black. then there are positive. this guy is sayign that the first one is all the batteries but then a 3 cell battery would have 5 wires unless the chargers are charging all but one battery individually. not sure how that works.
Traxxas battery comment they made-incorect. Traxxas ID batteries have balance leads that sit in between the cells. 3s batteries voltage between the leads is center cell voltage then check balance lead to the power lead that it sits next to on both sides of the connector (+/-). 2s id's are simpler, check voltage between the 1 balance lead and each power terminal on the connector (+/-).
Thanks so much, confirmed #1 cell is dead. Would you know if this is a reason my quadcopter motors can't run but the lights can? Or should most RC motors still be able to run on fewer cells than the battery has?
I just subb'd but I have some advice. Drop the thing you guys do at the end of the videos.. It gets REALLY old REALLY fast. We can tell that you guys are totally sick of doing it and it not necessary since you have ALL the info in the opening youtube tune thing.
The company says to store the battery from 40-60% so it will last more , and never near empty.. How do we know the % of charge of the battery then if we can only measure per cell voltage ? Is a linear connection between max-min Voltage so we can calculate the % of charge in that simple way?
Before I watched this, I had to calculate the voltage, because I thought that red was the only positive😂. so I could see cell one with metal pin 2 but metal pin three was cell 1 + cell 2 and the 4th pin was total voltage.
Hello I need your help, I have a lipo battery 3s 5400mah and it is 8mm more swollen than the normal size,the voltage indication of each cell is exactly the same with an other 3s battery 6000mah,is the swollen battery dangerous to use it or what else I must check?
When the battery puffs, it basically shows you that something went wrong (physical damage, low discharge, too fast discharge etc). Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about it, once its swollen its pretty much done. It is "safe" to use it with caution. However the battery itself would never perform the way it used to be.
After this I got a multimeter and now I know exactly what's going on with my battery collection - and that my charger is screwed - a decent one is next on the list - many many thanks! :)
Decent charger makes your batteries life longer and perform better.
I did the same. Best decision ever.
good info to have for someone like me that has a charger that doesn't tell you the number of the cell. now I know how to check for a bad cell. thank you very much.
pretty late to start into this hobby. this Video helped me a lot understanding LiPos more
There is never too late. Welcome to the club😎
Helpful how-to. Thank you.
Just watched this tutorial and found it very informative.
I can't come and visit your store though!.. I am in the UK :)
Thanks John :)
I have that same meter - got it free with a coupon ;) I think everyone should have a multimeter in this hobby, makes it real easy to diagnose your own stuff. I've even been daring enough to check my 1s lipo with the meter.
Hi five, we did the same!:D
It taught me a lot, thanks for everything👍
We're happy to help!
Great video fellas, cheers from Australia :P
Thank you Patrick!
Great video as always thanks Roger
Thank you for the comment! 👍
Thanks guys I now known how to check individual cells thanks again.
Happy to help, good luck!
It was a great help for me. Thanks!!!! 👍🏻
Very good stuff! I think this should appeal more to people who already have a multi-meter on hand and want to avoid buying anything else. If one is looking to buy something for checking batteries the price of some for the cell meters has become pretty darn cheap. For example, a Tenergy 5-in-1 intelligent cell meter cells for $15.00 but saves so much time by eliminating the futzing around with probing the individual cells. It also checks the battery under a load and adds functions like balancing, discharge and internal resistance check. Just plug in the balance lead and away you go...and it's TINY, so you can easily take it anywhere. No stowing or untangling leads either. This is coming from a guy that owns a lot of multi-meters. The more quads you have, the more your battery stockpile multiplies, so every bit of time saved checking batteries adds to your time in the air! That said, a multi-meter is always a must-have for sanity purposes. One of many things you can use it for is periodically checking that your automated gizmos are reading correctly.
Thanks for your feedback! Keeping it simple works for our service department....harbor freight :) and we don't mind to educate folks how to read their batteries, because this is what they most likely have at home.
are these reliable and accurate? I have tons of hesitation buying the ominous amazon electronics when you are given a few dozen other "related products" coming out of China and are all the same minus the name, but reliability is probably all over the place. I am interested as this does seem to do a lot for a little $$. Just worried about accuracy and reliability. thanks
thanks guys. love the energy. no pun intended heh
Thanks for your comment! we're excited to help👍
That's so useful! Thanks guys
Great video guy
This is the 6th video I watched about that topic. All of them, including this one, are explaining the balance plug only, but NONE of them shows how to configure the Voltmeter for this test. Why does everyone assume for sure that we all know how to use ancient Voltmeters? ☺
Turn it ON then switch to "+ and - " measurements and you should be good to go!
Agreed Mike and RC still tells us nothing I have the same multimeter luckily you had a picture that I could look at your setting Please in your next video tell the whole story
Yup... Like the microwave cooking TH-camrs who just say set at high for two minutes. Wtf? Tell us in Watts.
These two talk too much but do end up giving some useful information if one can focus long enough.
Ancient Voltmeter? From the future you are? Can travel to the past you can? (Pssst… bro, let me give you some super good advice; it’s better for you to keep your mouth closed and have people only íthink you’re a complete fool than it is for you to open it and remove all doubt.)
And no one explains how to “configure” a multimeter for the same reason no one explains how to configure a flathead screwdriver. It should worry you that you don’t know this, then again, Darwin Award contestants seem to always be fearless and knowledgeable at times….
Regardless of how sardonic I, or other people get, you just do you big guy. You’re awesome, and are entitled to your own personal perspectives and feelings and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m just some random smart a$$ so don’t take what I say to seriously.
if you have a non ranging volt meter you choose the voltage that is closest to your voltage but not over. so if you have options like .2V 20V 200V you would pick 20V
Great tutorial, much appreciated....
Thanks for the comment David 👍
I have 2s 500 100c 7.4v.
Any advice to balance and chargin the battery correctly.
Greetings and thanks so much!
Thank you for your comment
So if I have a 5200mah 7.4v 2S battery, the voltage meter should read 7.4v for both cells?
Each cell is 3V-4.2V (depend on how full it is), so for both cells combined you need to multiply this by 2
I've had some lipo batteries go into the 2 volt area and it failed to charge so I take out the nickel/metal charger and plug it into the bad battery for a couple minutes then switch the battery to the lipo charger and run the cycle option and they were good as new
Hi,I have some doubts why is there a continuous spark when I try to connect my lipo battery (2200 mah 11.1 volt 3s 30c) to my esc (30a) and is it because of friction
Second thing the battery i mentioned above also showed the voltage in negative when I checked is with my multimeter.
Can I use this to check if my battery is low on my RC plane?
Absolutely, same principle applies
RC Street Shop Alright thankyou!
How far apart can the voltages of two cells (or more) be and still be safe?
0.2V is still Ok anything above is not safe....factory specs though is 0.1V
@@Rcstreetshop Cool. I've been stressing a .006 difference on my worst pack. My lipo charger doesn't have the balancer in it so I use a battery meter while charging an stop charging when the highest cell reaches 4.195v
Sweet. I just destroyed a battery. For next time, what setting should the multimeter be on to check voltages? Never used one of these before now.
Did the multimeter kill your battery?
@@kokoslegend4850 Yeah, sparks flew out of it, now one of the cells on that battery is dead. I've since found other tutorials on the multimeter I have, as to which settings do what.
@@jeffpv you need the 20 V setting on the multimeter. (Turn the knob to the left). Maybe you shorted it with the metal pins?
@@kokoslegend4850 Like I said, I've since found other tutorials on the multimeter I have which explained each setting...
So if the pack is balanced I can do a quick charge without any issue?
What can i do if my 3 cell Lipo battery tested (using a multimeter) measuring the balance leads…yellow/black=3.98v; blue/black7.95v and the Total from the main leads as well as the red/black from the balance leads =11.93V? Can I use this battery or fix it if not useable? Also, I tested my 2 cell Lipo which is working fine at blue/black =3.7v and red/black and main leads = 7.4v. So, on both Lipos, they cells are not anywhere close! But the 2 cell is rather new and Iv’e been charging correctly and it WORKS FINE! What gives PLEASE?
I don't think you do it quite right. Batteries wired in parallel, so when you measure + and -, you need to understand that when terminal/wire is negative for one cell it is positive for the other. On your 3S you need to measure. Yellow/black, then black/blue and then blue/black. Your balance wire tip is 123+black (so you measure 1/2, then 2/3 and then 3/black). Same applies to you 2S.
Try to re-measure and see if it make sense?
@@Rcstreetshop So what you are saying is touch the black/negative tip of my multimeter to the black lead of the balance wire, and then, touch the red/positive tip of my multimeter to BOTH YELLOW AND BLUE and then with say RED AND BLUE, etc.? Is that safe? If that's not what you meant...then please re-read what I said because I already tested the balance leads: yellow/black=3.98v; blue/black7.95v and red/black = =11.93v...all from the balance leads ? Isn't THAT what you meant when .you said, "Your balance wire tip is 123+black (so you measure 1/2, then 2/3 and then 3/black)" ?
You missed this part "negative for one cell it is positive for the other"
When you keep negative tip of multimeter on negative and measure other wires you combine voltages, while you need to measure INDIVIDUAL cells. For that you need to switch wires everytime you measure.
With 3S battery you should have balancing tip with 4 wires. One is going to be black (which is negative) and the color of other wires doesn't matter...it is going to look like this -> 123+4(black).
So you first measure 3 (with positive multimeter tip) and 4 (with negative), then you measure 2 (with positive) and 3 (with negative), then 1(with positive) and 2(with negative).
The above will give you the readings for each individual cell in your 3S pack.
all cells share a common ground or - that is the black. then there are positive. this guy is sayign that the first one is all the batteries but then a 3 cell battery would have 5 wires unless the chargers are charging all but one battery individually. not sure how that works.
how much do you chager to program and esc
Traxxas battery comment they made-incorect. Traxxas ID batteries have balance leads that sit in between the cells. 3s batteries voltage between the leads is center cell voltage then check balance lead to the power lead that it sits next to on both sides of the connector (+/-). 2s id's are simpler, check voltage between the 1 balance lead and each power terminal on the connector (+/-).
Very helpful
Thank you, we're happy to help!
How do i set up the volt meter?? Incomplete guys!
Set multimeter at 20v
Thanks so much, confirmed #1 cell is dead. Would you know if this is a reason my quadcopter motors can't run but the lights can? Or should most RC motors still be able to run on fewer cells than the battery has?
Your motor would run, but the ESC won't let it run...and Yes, this is the reason why LEDs still work.
When battery says low voltage is it shot
Hey guys can you tell me why I got to connect my lipo battery to my charger it automatically starts to flash red rapidly and don't stop .
Flashing red doesn't sound right, check your instruction manual, it could be anything (low voltage or damaged cell etc)
I just subb'd but I have some advice. Drop the thing you guys do at the end of the videos.. It gets REALLY old REALLY fast. We can tell that you guys are totally sick of doing it and it not necessary since you have ALL the info in the opening youtube tune thing.
Great Vid. Guys ! Yall help me plenty appreciate this very much Liked and and Will Subscribe
Thank you Alejandro, we're happy to help!👍
The company says to store the battery from 40-60% so it will last more , and never near empty.. How do we know the % of charge of the battery then if we can only measure per cell voltage ? Is a linear connection between max-min Voltage so we can calculate the % of charge in that simple way?
So I need a multimeter voltometer or volt meter...?
multimeter checks multiple readings, voltmeter - just voltage, either one would work to read voltage.
RC Street Shop ah.....well....(⬅️⬅️⬅️Noob.)😂
anytime 👊😎👍
Batteries should be measured under a load. I have packs that measure good until a load is applied, then they quickly drop to zero.
Tricky.
Before I watched this, I had to calculate the voltage, because I thought that red was the only positive😂. so I could see cell one with metal pin 2 but metal pin three was cell 1 + cell 2 and the 4th pin was total voltage.
Hello
I need your help, I have a lipo battery 3s 5400mah and it is 8mm more swollen than the normal size,the voltage indication of each cell is exactly the same with an other 3s battery 6000mah,is the swollen battery dangerous to use it or what else I must check?
When the battery puffs, it basically shows you that something went wrong (physical damage, low discharge, too fast discharge etc). Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about it, once its swollen its pretty much done.
It is "safe" to use it with caution. However the battery itself would never perform the way it used to be.
@@Rcstreetshop how "safe" would you say it is to use?
@@MrTwitch37 I would say pretty "safe", just do not shorten positive and negative with anything metal and this is it.
👍
Give us a load test, only way to tell if bad
Where is a safe and correct place to dispose a bad lipo battery?
You may dispose them at the same place you dispose regular batteries.
The phone went off 😂
HOLY SAUSAGE FINGER!!
Size matters 😎