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Author Topic: Lipo fuel gauge  (Read 446 times)

Offline Fred Cronenwett

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Lipo fuel gauge
« on: May 21, 2011, 07:03:24 AM »
One of the items that I have purchased for electrics has been this small Lipo fuel gauge. Rather simle device but very handy in the field when flying with Lipo batteries. As we all know you don't want to run down your Lipo batteries below the minimum voltage, so this device has red, yellow and green LED's. You plug it into the balancing connector and the lights tell you if you are fully charged or almost near empty.

Now when I fly I always check the health of the battery before each flight using this fuel gauge.

http://www.commonsenserc.com/product_info.php?cPath=32_40&products_id=755

Here is the fuel gauge plugged into a Lipo battery.

Land softly,
Fred Cronenwett
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Fred Cronenwett
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Online John Rist

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Re: Lipo fuel gauge
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2011, 07:56:24 AM »
Looks like a handy device.  Reading the instruction sheet it is for 1-4 cell packs.  However their is some minor confusion regarding weather the test should be run with the battery loaded or un loaded.  Of course you can check the same thing with a didital volt meter but it is not quick and easy.  They talk about running batteries by running them too low.  Hopefully any decent ESC will cut off when the pack gets below a critical voltage.   Looks like a useful device especially if you have several packs and get confused which ones are used and which ones are charged.  It would not be good to run out of juice in the middle of a contest flight.
 H^^
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Offline Fred Cronenwett

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Re: Lipo fuel gauge
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2011, 11:06:41 AM »
You can also keep this pluged in while running the motor, I tried this on the test stand and worked great. I like it because it's very quick and you are right you can easily confused on what battery is charged or needs to be charged. I found it's worth the money.
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Fred Cronenwett
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Online John Rist

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Re: Lipo fuel gauge
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2011, 02:30:16 PM »
I suspect that if you connect while running the motor one thing you can check and see if all the cells are at the same LED level.  It they are not it indicate a dad or weak cell.  Or it could indicate that the charger is not matching the cells properly.  Especially true for a freshly charged pack.

 H^^
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