I use mine all the time for checking internal resistance, watching for a bad cell. Also the balance function works great, brings all the cells to the exact same. Better than my balance charger. Warning, don't forget about it while in balance mode, you'll find a dead battery a week later. I don't know what manufacturer mine is without looking. Because a buddy on mine has one just like it, and it does not have the internal resistance, or balance option. And yet, yours, mine, and my buddies, all look the same.
I have purchased 3 of these and they were all incorrect. They show 4.5 volts after I fly. Other meter (purchased years ago) shows 3.8 volts. This value agrees with a Fluke multimeter. They should QC these!!!
Im using toprace batterys 3.7 volt 180mah my Tenergy wouldn’t work until I pluged it in the NICD port at the top. Now it seems to be ,I have a few batteries at different uses so a 98% full of 66% full and a 20% full. They are Lipo batteries and I have to press the button to choose the type of battery once it’s plugged into the NiCd port is this unusual is my tenergy broken?
I try to keep it simple. I charge my battery to full (usually 98% or more). Then I fly a new model for 5 mins with normal/moderate throttle use and check the battery. Say it is now 70%. Over a few flights, I know I can fly model "X" for 7 mins and have sufficient reserve . . . I try to land not much less than 40%. Tim
Sonny: No brands off the top of my head. Try contacting www.HorizonHobby.com tech support, they can assist. I use an older ThunderPower RC charger, like it a lot. Tim
Greg: I'd check that there is no damage to the cells. Double check that the cells are balanced properly, then see if it will take a charge. If not, the battery may be bad. Tim
@@gregcoldwell1531 Greg: The lipos made these days are of good quality. There are several good websites with a Google check. Bottom line, do not try to save a buck with cheap lipos from China. Danger just not worth it. The best approach is Spectrum Smart batteries and chargers at www.HorizonHobby.com The lipos have a computer chip in the battery that "talks" to the smart charger after to plug it in (no separate balancing plug). Really no way to screw things up. Second choice for lipos is ThunderPower, very high quality. Tim
I'm using "Tattu" lipos ordered from Great Hobbies here in Canada. Not sure about the quality but so far so good. My Turnigy Reaktor charger seems to know what it's doing and won't let me charge unless the program is set up correctly. Thanks for all your advice and tips!
Hi. I just bought this little battery tester. It works on all my lipo's, But there is 1 lipo i have that this device seems to read wrong. It keeps telling me it is in the 90-isch %, while it all of a sudden is empty.. This particulair little lipo for my Losi micro does run fine when chargerd, but isnt readable as my other batteries. Any advise?
No idea. Maybe try to run the battery empty (while on the ground, of course) as see if you get a low reading. Battery may need to be replaced if older. Tim
Without the load of an actual running motor/propeller, ESC, and servos in flight, how can a battery checker give useful information about how much capacity a battery pack has remaining?
@@TimMcKay56 My old Aurora 9 transmitter screen has an in-flight motor battery voltage readout when using an Optima receiver with the optional "SPC" connection. When indicated voltage drops to around 3.7 volts X number of cells, I land ASAP.
@@Ciiads Most of the single cell lipos are fairly small, and not having the need for a balancer for charging, a bit safer. As the batteries are small, just use them in a plane until there are discharged as much as needed, using a battery tester. Tim
Phil: Thanks for checking in! Very good question. I am not sure at all how to fix a bad cell. As these are lipos, best to check with the battery manufacturer. The key point with the balancer is to let you know there is a bad cell, to prevent a crash or worse yet any sort of lipo fire during charging. Tim
I know the description on Amazon shows 2-7S but at 0:23 it shows 1S at 98%. Hmmmmm. I want to use this tester for 1S but I don't have a PH2.0 to whatever this tester needs. What connector do I need?
I have 3 of those battery checkers,one is a servo tester.The one thing I don't like about them is if you plug in battery in wrong it would smoke the checker and won't work anymore.Plus I feel there not very accurate compaired to a digital volt/ohm meter.
Larry: A good balancer should get the cells to be within one hundredth of a volt (. 01) of each other. The biggest concern is that no cell goes beyond its voltage range (about 3-4.2v). Tim
This looks useful, but it would be even better if it was possible to test remotely while flying. I have a large rc trimaran and am always afraid the battery will die while sailing. Is there a transmitter that can somehow sense when the receiver battery is about to die? Thanks for any advice you can give
Malin: You bet . . . check out the video on telemetry. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V10QL2vcpy8.html Ron will show you how to read battery voltage from your transmitter. Tim
Craig: These battery testers are so easy to use, and can catch a "bad actor" battery prior to flight. Plus, you can see easily if aging batteries cannot hold a charge. Tim
I have the Capacity controller from Amazon which looks the same. I haven't seen the option on this to "discharge" the battery? Thank you for your video and info.
Thanks for the video. I think I missed something though. After purchasing the unit I realized I do not have balance a lead on my RC car batteries??? Is there some sort of adapter? I want to be able to check 3600mah 7.2V NiMH battery with Tamiya Plug for RC Car. Any help would be appreciated thank you
You can add a balance lead, but you MUST work carefully!! The positive and negative leads just go to the positive and negative output leads. The center lead goes to the jumper in the battery pack which connects the 2 cells. To reach this you carefully open the pack until you find the jumper and then solder the center lead to that. WARNING- even a somewhat discharged battery contains a LOT of energy and any short circuit will create an arc, heat, and likely damage the battery! I cover every metal part with tape except what I'm working on. That goes for knife blades too! Look for RU-vid videos on this for advice. Balance lead/connector assemblies can be purchased online-you would need a 3 contact lead.
I am not sure how to check one cell lipos. You need a battery balancing plug to use the tester, and with one cell there is clearly no reason to have a balance plug, as no cells to balance. Tim
@@TimMcKay56 thanks Tim. I was wondering for the specs say it will work with 1s and then says it needs 5v. I really o ly wanted to see the voltage so was thinking maybe it would do that. Appreciate your input as always.
I wonder by having a 30% level is the battery low energy or does it indicate as a being low to where the rc stops working? I drive my rc truck until the truck slows down and I check the meter after and reads at 50% to 60%
Gamer: If you do a quick Google check, and lot of very bad things happen to lipo internal battery chemistry when the charge gets anywhere below 30%. Just the way the batteries are made. Critical of course for airplanes, but still potentially harmful for ground vehicles. Tim
@@gamercat7004 While I do not know specifics, I treat lips batteries very carefully; fire is my main worry. If there appears to be anything "wrong" with them, such as an unreasonably quick discharge for no real reason, you might have a defective battery. Tim
The Tenergy 5-in-1 has more features than the one that looks the same, but is named “Capacity Controller”. I don’t like that I have to push a button to see the voltage of the individual cells. I use the Hitec battery checker because it shows all of the cell voltages and the percent of charge on one screen without having to press any buttons. It lets me quickly check my batteries before connecting them to a parallel charging board. The Tenergy’s servo driver is handy, but the cell resistance function isn’t very accurate. It uses the 2-wire method where the load current and voltage are on the same two wires. It would be better to put the load on the discharge leads and measure the voltage at the balance connector.
