Battery Repair - Sucess!

Old Bama Dude · May 28, 2018

Just don't saw into the battery, just the plastic case. Still not working, may be one of the cells, or the PC board.

chris.jackson · Aug 14, 2018

I too have disassembled a dead battery and was able to bypass the electronics and charge the actual battery enough for the charger to recognise it. I'm now looking for some dead batteries to experiment with. I want to disect an original battery to see what its made up of so I can try to find, or assemble, a replacement. I'm hoping it's made up of available cells that can be replaced.

Jagerbomb52 · Aug 14, 2018

chris.jackson said:
I too have disassembled a dead battery and was able to bypass the electronics and charge the actual battery enough for the charger to recognise it. I'm now looking for some dead batteries to experiment with. I want to disect an original battery to see what its made up of so I can try to find, or assemble, a replacement. I'm hoping it's made up of available cells that can be replaced.

Ya they are out there but most have to order the cells in. I forget the correct size but unless we get a large group together willing to start this off from my research it really is not worth it but please don't let that stop you. I just gave up searching for solutions is all.

Wildseyed · Aug 14, 2018

Sorry for being so lax in this topic. I simply have not found the time to gather my wits. In case anyone is still interested, the repaired battery has about 10 flights on it since the transplant, with no problems. The only nagging issue that I have is that I never upgraded the firmware on this particular controller, so every time I use this battery, I am reminded that I need to update the firmware, but again, that requires time I never seem to have. Video is coming. I PROMISE!

chris.jackson · Aug 14, 2018

Agustine said:
Ya they are out there but most have to order the cells in. I forget the correct size but unless we get a large group together willing to start this off from my research it really is not worth it but please don't let that stop you. I just gave up searching for solutions is all.

Unfortunatly, before too long, we may not have a choice when we need battereis...

Jagerbomb52 · Aug 14, 2018

I am in Canada so I was looking for a company here that does this kind of thing. Repairing Lipo batteries is nothing new. Most that do repair batteries do it for drills and yard work tools that use lipo power supply's.
I just wanted one company that had a line on the cells for our batteries. The one company that actually responded said sure but they needed to know the right size and that would involve sending them the bad battery and after that to make it worth their while they would need to order in bulk. So unless they saw a good return on it they would not go any further. They said it all comes from China.

Wildseyed · Aug 15, 2018

As promised

ORANGE CRUSH · Aug 15, 2018

Wildseyed said:
As promised

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Agustine said:
I am in Canada so I was looking for a company here that does this kind of thing. Repairing Lipo batteries is nothing new. Most that do repair batteries do it for drills and yard work tools that use lipo power supply's.
I just wanted one company that had a line on the cells for our batteries. The one company that actually responded said sure but they needed to know the right size and that would involve sending them the bad battery and after that to make it worth their while they would need to order in bulk. So unless they saw a good return on it they would not go any further. They said it all comes from China.

Wildseyed said:
As promised

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Very nice, Thank you for posting the video, very informative. I had a couple bad batteries i kept to probe into and learn about them.

Geodive · Jan 5, 2020

Wildseyed said:
I am happy to report that I have successfully transplanted a battery controller.

The patient had good cells, but the controller always reported double the capacity. CS declared it a "bad chip". I have another battery that was bloated when I bought thee bird used. I had taken this battery apart a while back to study the components for a possible rebuild, so it became the perfect donor.

From my previous teardown, I have perfected opening the case without damage. Not easy, but doable. Ask me, if you care to know how. I didn't stop to take pictures, but I can demonstrate with the other case.

I would love to know how to do this can u send me procedure for this 3605598156 george

r_mark · Dec 11, 2020

Hi folks. I just successfully "jump started" (4) of my X-Star Premium batteries. I had no idea they would discharge to the point where they couldn't be charged. I'd left mine sit for about a year while I flew only my EVO. Here are my findings:
You don't have to split the case. You only have to pop the top off (carefully pry bit by bit as you go around, repeating as needed- go slowly). When you get the top off, there are 2 indentations in the plastic near the LEDs. Use an exacto knife to cut & expose the big solder joint below the white insulating paper (Tyvek??) The one closer to the center is POSITIVE. (proper polarity is always critical) I used a really hot soldering iron to only tack on a lead to the now exposed + and - solder "blobs". I happen to have a LiPO Q6 LiPo smart charger, so I set it on 4.15V/cell, 3S (3 cells = 12.45V), and 0.5A (500mA). When it was done charging, the Autel charger would work. That said, one was so low to start with (0.65V) that even the Q6 said "nope". I took a 6V, 100mA wall charger and connected it while using my voltmeter to watch the level. When it got to 6.5V, the Q6 would charge it up to 12, where the Autel would take over.
Okay- you don't have a LiPo battery charger? I would be extremely careful about using an uncontrolled 12V car battery straight in. These batteries will explode. I'd suggest finding someone with a variable DC power supply that can be gradually brought up. Alternately, a really weak 12VDC, 500mA wall power supply should go slow enough to not *explode*. You'd still need a voltmeter to monitor the charge on the battery pack.
Good luck. Hope you learned the same lesson I did- fly 'em all every few months : -)

BTW- I did open one of my X-Star Premium batteries as described in the YouTube video above. It did not have the "reset" the video shows.

r_mark · Dec 12, 2020

It is NOT necessary to crack the case open to "jump start" charging from a battery pack that is too low to start the charging. I posted step-by-step in another thread. Essentially the indentations you see when you pop the top off are the + and - battery conections. I soldered a jumper wire to them. ( + is closer to the center)

Aerial Drone Architect · Apr 17, 2021

r_mark said:
It is NOT necessary to crack the case open to "jump start" charging from a battery pack that is too low to start the charging. I posted step-by-step in another thread. Essentially the indentations you see when you pop the top off are the + and - battery conections. I soldered a jumper wire to them. ( + is closer to the center)

I used alligator clips and only had to jump with another 4s lipo for about 15 to 30 secs the the charger would charge the battery