Auto Power Off??

[boowho]

Has there ever been a known bug in er9x that might have caused (based upon some obtuse set of input conditions) the 9X to suddenly power off by itself. Anyone know??

I asked this because my 9X has done just that at least twice. I've never flown with this radio, and if er9x could not possibly do this, then I have to assume I've got a faulty battery connection or some such. I figure that is the most likely cause, since cycling the power switch did not cause it to come back on. Both times I've had to remove and re-insert the battery to get it to work again.

I'll be ready to fly this radio in the next few weeks and obviously don't want it going dead in mid-flight!!!

Boowho??

[ShowMaster]

Not an er9x FW issue. Please tell more about your battery and battery connection. Are you reusing the original 9x dry battery connector or have you added your own? What battery setup?
To flash er9x you would have had to do some board soldering. Maybe post some close ups of your work. Also in the past some doing the mods have not reseated the white connectors firmly on the board in case they removed or disturbed them. The battery goes through the main one.

[boowho]

I used the Smartie Parts programmer; as I remember there were only two wires that needed to be soldered together; no soldering on the board.

Also I've been soldering over 40 years, so I doubt my job is defective.

I'm using the original battery holder with 8 rechargeable NIMH cells. I further think it may be the connector on the board maybe not being as tight as it should be, or an intermittent where the wires attach to holder.

It may not be the original holder, as I think it was originally designed for 6 1.5 alkaline bats and I switched to 8 NIMH to get roughly the same voltage from the pack.

I know most ppl replace the whole pack with a single LIPO, but I haven't done that yet.

Forgive me if I appear vague, but it's been over a year since I did the mods and I don't remember as well as i used to.

If needed, I will open the TX and take some pictures.

Thanks for the offer of help.

Boowho??

[Kilrah]

The original holder is 8xAA.

The question is because those things cause nightmares of bad contacts and should just be thrown away. Li-Po NiCd or NiMh doesn't matter, but just use soldered packs, no holders.

[ShowMaster]

kilrah is right on about the 8 cell spring contact holder. It's the #1 cause of power failure. Then comes owner induced connections. The holder plastic warps under pressure over time.
Cut the holder cable where it exits the holder and reuse the tx connector as a adapter. If you dont and plug the battery in with - to the center pin you WILL BLOW UP YOUR TX BOARD.
NEVER try and use a 2 pin connector in the 3 pin tx connector.
So, Lipo, Life, Nimh, or Nicad but only soldered or crimped connections and you should fix your loss of battery power issue.

[boowho]

Thanks a lot.... you two have convinced me.

BTW, I did open the TX and the only actual soldering I did was two wires from the SmartieParts board to the panel light (which I added later).

What about this one?? http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... pack_.html

Hopefully, it will fit in the compartment with the SmartieParts USB connector. Any better recommendations appreciated.


Thanks

Boowho??

[ShowMaster]

Yes I use this myself. But... It has the 2 conductor white connector you might be tempted to use.... DON'T!
You might be tempted to use the black servo connector. It is OK but long and may not be solid. Do use the dry pack connector and add a servo mating connector to it and use it that way. Very safe, polarized and solid.
Just charge the life externally.
Use them all the time.

[Daedalus66]

Good advice. Especially about not using a two pin connector with a three pin socket. People think they won't make a mistake, but out of the four possible ways to plug in, two will fry the radio, and it's especially easy to displace the connector to the wrong pair of pins. The black connector does work safely in that respect, but as you point out, it's rather long and so can easily be pushed sideways by the battery.

[ShowMaster]

I just reuse the dry pack connector as an adapter. The life comes with the matching connector and I add one to any other pack I use or make.

[boowho]

Thanks to all.

I have the battery on order and will be VERY careful in connecting it.

Plan to clip the existing connector right where it attaches to the existing battery holder.

Boowho??

[kaos]

Since you are good at soldering. I would just solder the red /black wire as pictured in previous post by SM directly to the PCB board. Eliminate the white connector. That white connector is not very stable in the socket. With the extra servo connector in the battery compartment, you can push the white connector out of the socket. I did exactly like shown in the pic before till one day I opened up the batt cover and found the white plug is half way dislodged. SO i cut the white connector out and solder the wire directly to pcb board. Just make sure you solder the red and black correctly (red at the center).

[jhsa]

Yep, that eliminates one failure point. As kaos said just be careful to solder the wires in the right place.

João

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

[boowho]

Well, the battery came in and I soldered it directly to the PC board. Everything is working great.

I suspect it's not a problem to NOT balance charge the LIFE when using it as a TX battery?? I charged it right in the TX using the charge port.

Boowho??

[Kilrah]

You should take it out to balance charge it correctly with your charger.
The charge port goes through a diode and a ton of connections to go to the power switch and back, so doesn't support much current and will mess up the voltage the charger measures.

[kaos]

I suspect it's not a problem to NOT balance charge the LIFE when using it as a TX battery?? I charged it right in the TX using the charge port.

Boowho??

It is a problem. You need to balance the cells, other wise after a few charges they will go out of wack and probably dangerous. You also need a charger for LiFe not for LiPo to do it. (most programmable charger you can set it up for LiFe specifically)
unless you want to mod the tx with a 6 pin connector (din or ps2) to charge it without removing the battery from the Tx. But still, you need to use a LiFe balance charging.

[ShowMaster]

I suspect it's not a problem to NOT balance charge the LIFE when using it as a TX battery?? I charged it right in the TX using the charge port.

Boowho??

It is a problem. You need to balance the cells, other wise after a few charges they will go out of wack and probably dangerous. You also need a charger for LiFe not for LiPo to do it. (most programmable charger you can set it up for LiFe specifically)
unless you want to mod the tx with a 6 pin connector (din or ps2) to charge it without removing the battery from the Tx. But still, you need to use a LiFe balance charging.

Excellent advice! Our tx and rec should be treated like the family jewels.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[boowho]

Thanks for these tips. I have a CelPro charger with settings for A123 1100MAH. Should I be able to charge the HK LiFE bat using JUST the balancing connector and using the A123 setting??

My battery charged ONCE using only the original (two wire) connector. Now the CelPro reports "NO PACK DETECTED" when using either the balancing connector (Only) or using the original two wire charging connector in the TX.

I WILL go with the balancing connector, but until I can get the celpro to recognize the pack there isn't much I can do.

[Kilrah]

Most chargers need the balancer AND the main connection to be connected for charging.

[Daedalus66]

Please read the CellPro manual. As it explains, the CellPro, like nearly all such chargers, requires BOTH the balance connector and the discharge connector to be attached for normal charging.

At one point, you talked about soldering (!) the battery into the transmitter: "Well, the battery came in and I soldered it directly to the PC board." I do hope you have corrected this! The battery MUST be removed from the transmitter for charging.

I'm not sure about the meaning of "A123 1100 mAh". It sounds like the name of a cell rather than the charge parameters.

You need to set the charger for A123, 3s, 1.5A charge rate. The manual explains how.

Anything from 1.0 to 1.5A would be fine, but if you just tell it you have A123 1100 mAh cells, it might pick a charge rate that is much too high (the HK LiFe battery should not be charged at more than 1C).

Hope this helps.

[kaos]

Looks like the CellPro charger is a somewhat unique charger, the Multi4 and Revolution4 charger does not have a separate discharge/charge port. but you do need to select a LiFe charge mode to do this safely. the Revolution4 does not even support LiFe charging. Be careful with what charger you are using.