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Charger Makes Funny Noises While Charging.....

577-Jersey

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I noticed today while charging up the drone battery the charger started making some funny whining noises.
Sounded like a high pitched frequency that changed in tone from time to time.

The big black box on the charger got pretty warm but i wouldn't say hot.The batteries all charged up fine.

Anybody else ever experience these noises while charging and is it normal?

BTW-Three flights so far and loving it,got up to 394ft and 400ft distance today!!

Fun fun!!!!

Tom
 
Could it have been the little fan on the charger going on and off?


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Pretty sure that was the fan. It caught me off guard the first time I heard it also.

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I know exactly the sounds to which you refer. I assumed that it was the fan but when I zeroed in on the sound it was actually the power supply brick itself and not the little muffin fan at the connector. (I have actually only seen the fan kick on once very briefly). I have had "brick-whine" on several occasions but it too is usually only temporary and since nothing seems to be getting excessively hot I have not worried about it.

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Its the brick whine.My fan comes on once in a while but its a different sound.The frequency changes as the battery charges,it almost goes away and if i put my ear on the brick i can hear a slight crackle,reminds me of a big switch mode power supply I have,at idle it will crackle until you load it down.

I think the brick could have benefited from a fan more that the battery receptacle.The brick gets pretty warm almost hot and the small box with fan stays pretty cool as well as the battery.

I spoke with Autel and they said its normal,if i have any trouble with it they will send me a new one.

Tom
 
Yep, mine does the same thing. Usually near the end of my second battery being charged. As the charge nears it's end the noise goes away.
 
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I also contacted Autel about the noise and they say it's normal. I have owned many laptops and none of those bricks have ever made a sound. It's strange to me why this is normal.
 
One thing you would not want to do is charge theses battery's unattended. Also keep them on a nonflammable surface. The charger is under a much more harder load then it would be if charging a laptop.
 
Yes mine also does make that same exact sound. Not every time but every couple times I've noticed. And it's not the fan. I unplugged mine for a couple minutes let it cool down then started charging again and the high pitch sound went away.
 
Most power conversion devices contains coils, such as transformers or inductors. These components use electromagnetism to convert AC mains power to low-voltage DC power. The varying magnetic fields generated by these components can cause them to physically vibrate at high frequency, resulting in a high-pitched noise.
 
Pretty sure that was the fan. It caught me off guard the first time I heard it also.

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Hey.
sorry I'm new,round here and thought I'd chime in. I experience thus on almost every charge on the 2nd battery. It sounds like an old tube tv warming up. I discovered that once it cools down a bit it goes away. So my question is this do we think it's an issue with the adapter? Or a,"feature" of the device. Lol
 
There is no issue. Possibly a feature

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A "switching" power supply (like virtually all modern computer power supplies) works by "rectifying" the incoming 120V 60Hz (in the US) AC power into DC (at around 170 volts), "filtering" with capacitors, then using a semiconductor circuit to "chop" the DC voltage around 1000 times a second to turn it back into crude AC. (What's referred to as a "square wave", vs the "sine wave" of ordinary AC.) This "chopped" voltage then runs through a transformer to produce the desired output voltages. The outputs are again rectified to DC and filtered, to produce the desired voltages for the charger.

With this scheme, basic voltage regulation is performed by adjusting the "duty cycle" of the chopped voltage. When the power supply is lightly loaded the circuitry doesn't produce a nice symmetrical "square wave" but instead a series of narrow spikes, and that "spikey" waveform is more likely to produce annoying audible noise in the transformers and other components and is also more likely to produce "electrical noise" that you would, eg, hear in a nearby radio.

Additionally, when a power supply is lightly loaded more of the magnetic field inside a transformer escapes to the case of the transformer and to surrounding components (since less is captured by the "secondary" coil of the transformer), and this "escaping" magnetic field is more apt to cause noise.
 
A "switching" power supply (like virtually all modern computer power supplies) works by "rectifying" the incoming 120V 60Hz (in the US) AC power into DC (at around 170 volts), "filtering" with capacitors, then using a semiconductor circuit to "chop" the DC voltage around 1000 times a second to turn it back into crude AC. (What's referred to as a "square wave", vs the "sine wave" of ordinary AC.) This "chopped" voltage then runs through a transformer to produce the desired output voltages. The outputs are again rectified to DC and filtered, to produce the desired voltages for the charger.

With this scheme, basic voltage regulation is performed by adjusting the "duty cycle" of the chopped voltage. When the power supply is lightly loaded the circuitry doesn't produce a nice symmetrical "square wave" but instead a series of narrow spikes, and that "spikey" waveform is more likely to produce annoying audible noise in the transformers and other components and is also more likely to produce "electrical noise" that you would, eg, hear in a nearby radio.

Additionally, when a power supply is lightly loaded more of the magnetic field inside a transformer escapes to the case of the transformer and to surrounding components (since less is captured by the "secondary" coil of the transformer), and this "escaping" magnetic field is more apt to cause noise.


great explanation Augustine. With the indicator changing color i assume its due to overheating? Do you think it's a good idea to take the battery off the charger when this occurs?
 
These things will run hot but just how hot is to much and is it safe to use??? That would be my concern. Mine has never even got warm to the touch and makes no noise that I can hear. I'm just guessing the changing of color on the light means it is working harder then it should so yes I would let it cool down if it is getting hot. I would also be talking to Autel about how hot it gets and that you would like a new one just for piece of mind.
 
Just curious, for those of you with loud transformers, when did you purchase? I don't recall mine making any noises I have noticed. I will pay closer attention new time I charge.

While it may not apply to our situation I did find this. Most modern AC adapters are switched-mode power supplies. The internal switching frequency of an SMPS is typically low when unloaded and increases with load up to a certain point depending on the design. The no-load frequency is often low enough to be within the human hearing range. In addition, in low or no-load situations, the PWM used to regulate voltage at the inverter stage will be at a low duty cycle creating a "spikey" output profile which is more prone to causing vibration in coils, and the transformer itself will tend to vibrate as well. Together, these can lead to audible noise especially in cheaper units which fail to suppress this noise.
Under load, a properly functioning SMPS should operate at a frequency well above the human hearing range, typically 50 kHz or higher (although some older designs operate at 33 kHz). However, the same noise can occur under load with a poorly designed or defective power supply as the coils may vibrate under electrical stress at a subharmonic frequency.
 
ya ill reach out to them tomorrow. And i purchased mine the 3rd week of February from a Best buy.
 
Mine also was from BB. Probably around 3rd week of March.

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I have never noticed any noise so tonight I cared a battery and it is silent. Absolutely zero noise from the charging block, even with my ear on it. It does not get very either. I would be interested to see the label on one of the noises blocks. Mine was purchased August '16

IMG_4188.jpg
 

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