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Li Poly battery won't charge?

Hi,

This will be my 8th Li Poly battery, a Kokam 11.1 V, 1500 mAh 3 cells in series. When I connected it to my Triton charger, the "end" signal came on in about 3 seconds. The battery was initially checked at

11.52V and after connecting it to the charger it read 11.62 V.

My other batteries when fully charged read around 12.40 V+

Seems they should be all be working the same.

I wonder if this is the way a new battery should be now? Is it safe to use it as is from the supplier (FMA Direct)? And should I call their tech support about it?

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Wan

Reply to
Wan
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On 5/10/2004 5:05 PM Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

The battery should be OK. When you first take a battery off charge, it will read "high". If you check it an hour later it will have dropped. To be sure, check the voltage of EACH INDIVIDUAL CELL. LiPo should not vary BY MORE THAN .1 VOLT (point 1 volt) from each other. If they vary by more than that, charge each cell individually. After that discharge the pack and recharge it and see what it reads.

Reply to
Ted Campanelli

weird.

Onl time I had a prob like this was a kokam 560 pack. It hadsuch high internal resistance the violts clocked 8,4 almoist as soon as I put it on teh charger.

Dropping the charge current fixed it - but it takes a long tme to charge.NOT the best lipo cells ever made the 560's...

Try charging it at about .5A and see what happens.

Maybe the pack is high resistance.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Ted,

My battery is a Kokam and they come already assembled, shrink wrapped with no tabs for checking individual cells. Would it do any good if I discharged the pack first then recharged it again to bring it up to read a voltage of 12.40 volts+?

Wan

Reply to
Wan

I'd try charging at a lower rate. Lipolys do 'improve with age' before slowly becoming senile.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Thanks everyone. The question is moot now because I returned the battery to FMA Direct. It took many phone calls over two days. I find it difficult to believe that their tech support person would that busy.

Wan

Reply to
Wan

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