Tired Batteries

[t3chnoid]

I am collecting a fleet of indoor helis (Syma S107-size) that are perfectly fine except that they won't fly more than a few seconds after being charged. I ordered LiPo batteries from China and replaced a couple of them, but the act the exact same way: Fly only maybe 10 seconds after being charged.

I saw where someone posted that it's the motors that fatigue out and cause this, not the batteries, so I ordered a set of motors and replaced them in a Syma S107, no change (?)

Can it be something on the circuit board that "wears out" and won't allow the batteries to charge up fully, or won't supply power to the motors for more than a few seconds? Or could I have gotten a bad batch of batteries? Or is there some other explanation? Some of my favorite helis are waiting for a solution.

Thanks

[Flygirl]

It has to be something that is common to all of them. Hard to believe multiple helis and batteries would all fail the same way all at once. Did they all fail the same way all at once? I'm sure you've tried different chargers, ways to charge (USB or through different transmitters), and different power sources (different USB slot)?

[BrettOssman]

Just for grins, have you tried a NAME brand battery and/or charger. The local hobby shop may even let you test one.

[t3chnoid]

It has to be something that is common to all of them. Hard to believe multiple helis and batteries would all fail the same way all at once. Did they all fail the same way all at once? I'm sure you've tried different chargers, ways to charge (USB or through different transmitters), and different power sources (different USB slot)?

No, they didn't all fail at once. But they all failed in the same way. They just wear down. After having been flown every few days for several months, they act like they don't charge up any more. Which could be the batteries not charging very much or not wanting to discharge power very long. And it might not be the batteries at all. It's several different brands,

I've tried chargers that work with other helis of the same brand and other USB chargers and tried charging from the controllers also. It's always narrowed down to the heli. Of course the favorites get used more, wear out, and then join the "mothball fleet."

I'm surprised everyone hasn't seen this problem. I'm sure lots of people fly their indoor helis quite a lot.

[t3chnoid]

Just for grins, have you tried a NAME brand battery and/or charger. The local hobby shop may even let you test one.

These are the small indoor IR heli's with soldered-in lipo batteries. They come with USB chargers which are generally not compatible with the identical-looking chargers from other brands. (Learned that the hard way.) So swapping batteries and chargers really isn't practical with these little guys. But Thanks!

[Flygirl]

Ahh okay.... They do wear out after a time. I had to replace the one in my S107G because I was running that battery way way down (which is bad for them) and also recharging them right away after a flight instead of waiting 15 min for them to cool internally. So, with yours, after you changed the battery it still did it? If so, you got me stumped kiddo especially since you swapped the motors out too....

[t3chnoid]

Ahh okay.... They do wear out after a time. I had to replace the one in my S107G because I was running that battery way way down (which is bad for them) and also recharging them right away after a flight instead of waiting 15 min for them to cool internally. So, with yours, after you changed the battery it still did it? If so, you got me stumped kiddo especially since you swapped the motors out too....

I know, right? Stumped. OK here's the detail. I ordered a pack of 3 240 mAh lipo's, thinking I'd get a little extra flight time from them. I put one in my original Syma s107 which had gotten tired. No change - still only would fly maybe 10 seconds. Let it sit a half minute it would go another few seconds. So, I took that battery out and put it into another heli - that avatar-looking 4-channel with the 2 outboard rotors for lateral movement. Guess what, only a few seconds of flight time there. So I slap my forehead because that's the same new battery. I put in the Syma and the same result, so I put a different new battery into the Syma and guess what? Same result.

The next thing I'm considering, is that I got a bad batch of batteries. It would not be the first time I got something direct from China that was clearly bogus. Or possibly that the charger can't handle the larger rated battery - but that doesn't seem logical.

So, you put a new battery in your S107 and it charged and flew normally? What rating (mAh) was it?

And thanks for your kind attention.

[Flygirl]

Yup, I put a 240Mah in it and it flies fine. It's a little more nose heavy but works great and charges fine. Hmmmm.... Maybe you did get a bad batch...? I got mine off of Amazon. Plus Amazon gets it to ya fast. Just search S107G battery and it's the first one that pops up. Heck, it's only 4 bucks. Worth a shot!

[t3chnoid]

Yup, I put a 240Mah in it and it flies fine. It's a little more nose heavy but works great and charges fine. Hmmmm.... Maybe you did get a bad batch...? I got mine off of Amazon. Plus Amazon gets it to ya fast. Just search S107G battery and it's the first one that pops up. Heck, it's only 4 bucks. Worth a shot!

Thanks, Lauren. Mystery solved.

I've been trying to figure out for over a year why no one else has had this situation before - where replacing batteries does not make the heli fly longer again.

I ordered some new 240 mAh batteries from Helizone. I took the "new" 210 mAh battery I had put in one of my helis and put the Helizone battery in - charged it, and it now flies for quite a long time.

So, the answer is that the 3 batteries I ordered online through eBay (I can't find the old info on whom I ordered them from - but they've probably changed their username by now anyway) were all factory rejects. Although they had black tape "flags" on the ends of the wires, some of them obviously had been soldered to something and removed. I'm not buying anything direct from China anymore. Although I've had a few successes, this is the third strike with fraudulent products and no recourse.

The Helizone batteries are great and their shipping was very quick.

[Ghostrydyr]

Thanks, Lauren. Mystery solved.

I've been trying to figure out for over a year why no one else has had this situation before - where replacing batteries does not make the heli fly longer again.

I ordered some new 240 mAh batteries from Helizone. I took the "new" 210 mAh battery I had put in one of my helis and put the Helizone battery in - charged it, and it now flies for quite a long time.

So, the answer is that the 3 batteries I ordered online through eBay (I can't find the old info on whom I ordered them from - but they've probably changed their username by now anyway) were all factory rejects. Although they had black tape "flags" on the ends of the wires, some of them obviously had been soldered to something and removed. I'm not buying anything direct from China anymore. Although I've had a few successes, this is the third strike with fraudulent products and no recourse.

The Helizone batteries are great and their shipping was very quick.

there are some good vendors in china,set up a paypal account and you will have recourse if theres an issue, most reputable places take pp anyways so be weary of vendors that dont offer multiple platforms of payment,,