RC Charger Not Balancing - iCharger S6 Repair
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- Опубликовано: 9 июн 2024
- Is your iCharger RC charger not balancing one or more cells anymore in your LiPo battery packs? Mine too! Let's open it up and get it fixed.
This problem can occur on the iCharger S and X series along with their Duo series (4010 duo, 308, duo, 306 duo). It can stem from age/hard usage or simply shorting one or or more of of the balance pins.
I pretty much knew I cooked mine when I accidently forced a balance plug in backwards (I heard a small spark); however, the charger seemed to be working fine still after correcting the balance plug polarity.
Unfortunately, after a few charge cycles, I soon noticed cell 6 would never balance up afterward, even though it was indicating on the screen a full balance load was being applied.
This can happen to any of the 6, 8 or 10 balance cells and is most likely caused by a faulty PNP power transistor that is the device that puts a load on each individual battery cell when balancing. The specific PNP transistor number used in these iChargers is J42CG (also goes by MJD42CG & J42C).
The repair is very inexpensive (a single J42C transistor costs about $1.00 USD), and it's also fairly easy if you have moderate soldering skills. The problem is also easily fault traced with any half decent digital multi meter that has a diode checking function (almost all do).
Likewise, you can fault trace by just swapping two of the balance load power transistors to see if the problem moves with the suspect faulty transistor to another balance cell.
Time Chapters:
0:00 Charger Balancing Problem
1:54 Opening Up iCharger
3:59 Inspection of Main Board
5:06 Finding Faulty Transistor
7:11 J42C Data Sheet Overview
8:22 Testing PNP Transistor
10:09 Installing New Transistor
14:45 Confirming Balancing Repair
16:20 Final Thoughts
Links:
MJD42CG Transistor @ DigiKey:
www.digikey.com/en/products/d...
iCharger S6 RC Charger Review:
• iCharger S6 Review - T...
iCharger S6 1100W 40A RC Battery Charger:
www.buddyrc.com/products/icha...
Pro's Kit Desoldering Station Review:
• Pro'sKit SS-331 Desold...
Thanks for watching & good success with your own iCharger balancing repair! 
Авто/Мото
There's supposed to be a piece of PCB material that clamps the transistors to the heatsink (notice the two screw holes). I had the transistors on mine fry when balance charging a LiFePO4 pack because the clamp was missing. It's a known QC issue. I sent it back and the replacement I received has the clamp. There's a thread on the rcgroups forum about it.
Also, there's a small hole on the back that you can poke a straitened out paperclip through to push the screen cover off. It's better than prying at the front with a razor.
Damn, so it turns out the newer iChargers use the same transistors and also have the same transistor issues as the older Duo series of which I've fixed soo many. Disappointing. Great vid!
Fast diagnosis and a fast fix good job on that one , I wanted to drop in and say hello , Hello BTW my KSGER T12 is still kicking , still on the same original tips D24 D51 and the JL02 for micro soldering , KSGER sent me the newer portable iron they came out with , so I did a vid on it , it impressed me , those tips are smaaaall on those.... Take care Mon Ami ...
I found this channel watching your video on the wheel bubble balancer and then I seen this recommended video because I also do rc and then seeing you do helicopter stuff also which I love also , so I subscribed ,I've been dabbling with rc forever,😊....
Thanks for the sub 👍🙂
Thanks for the tutorial! Cheers
Thanks for the view 👍
Very interesting and well explained as always Mr. Salt ! Do you have a background in electronics ?
@1983dmd - glad you found it interesting. I had basic electronics & semiconductor training while working in the ASIC test department at LSI Logic. My dad taught me much as well so most of the credit goes to him 🙂
Kiitos!
Many Thanks! Much Appreciated 🙂👍
nice looking charger and fix,glad it's fixable at 260bux au,yep id have a go at fixing icharger s6 too..
I wish I found this video a month ago for my x12. I had to figure this out from scratch.
Hope you got your x12 fixed and all cells are balancing again regardless 🙂
I don't use all 12 cells to balance so I just moved cell 12 transistor to the damaged one. I just ordered the part from digikey so I'll get it to 100% soon.
Do you know if there is a firmware updates. Mine seems so reading the IR’S high on new packs.
Don't know. Junsi's website doesn't even list the S6 currently for firmware support, unless they have a different site for the S&X series? If they do, I can't find it. Best to contact a Junsi dealer.
Will you review the OMPHOBBY M4?
Likely not - I no longer have a flying field due to all the MAAC BS.
@@Rchelicopterfun That's too bad to hear. I hope you find a solution and don't give up on your passion for RC Helis.
@@Rchelicopterfun What ?!? You mean you don't have access anymore to your usual small local airport where you last tested the Roban Eurocopter EC-130 and many others in the past ??? What happened ??? This was a superb location with the scenery in the background !!!
@1983dmd. Correct. MAAC grounded all RC flying in Canada back in December and then they lost their TC exemptions in February. All the work I, our zone director and airport owner/operator did two years ago, all potentially wasted, not to mention every other MAAC flying site in Canada. It's a huge mess. Our zone director and many others have resigned; lots of info on-line.
MAAC (version 2.0) has been working to get everyone back flying and most normal fields have been given the all clear is the latest update I got; still without TC exemption however which imposes many draconian and nonsensical requirements. Of course flying out of a small airport like we and about 26 other MAAC sites across Canada do is much more complicated. It was already a complicated process before, but now it's over the top.
I've got a big MAAC SOC package (MPPD-19) I'm working through right now, and almost have finished to submit to our club and MAAC safety advisory group for approval. I don't hold much hope to be honest, but we will see. It's why I have not had any flying videos lately and if this last effort falls through, I'll have to start right back at ground zero looking for a new site again like I was forced to do back in 2020 when I lost my private field. What happened to our hobby? Over 70 years of a proven safety record all shot, and I know what I blame; it starts with D and ends with nes. Just like I warned of back in 2015 when the transport minister dropped the first batch of nonsensical regs on us.
@@Rchelicopterfun Totally aberrant...but I am not at all surprised...it's all over the place nowadays. I am 62 and totally agree with you. The actual world is crazier than ever, but don't say that because they will reply you are just a PITA boomer looking for trouble !! Look at what is happening with the FAA and this ''Remote ID'' thing, specially for '' the word starting with a D and ending with nes.... ! '' I am sure you are burning inside to make a video regarding this mess here in Canada with R/C, but I understand your hesitation...As Gene Krantz said during the Apollo 13 mission : '' Let's make sure we don't make the situation worst with our decisions '' LOL!!!
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