Can I use the Balance connector to power stuff?
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- čas přidán 8. 05. 2022
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#balance #power #voltage
This is the most informative video I've watched recently! It kind of answers the question too if you splice the whole balance lead off by accident and which order to put the wires in the new plug. Tap + 4.2v, 8.4v, 12.6v etc etc.
Excellent video! Told me what I was looking for, concisely and precisely!
you learn something new everyday! thanks Lee, I've always assumed they were all single cell voltage
Thanks, this was some unexpected but needed information... Have an awesome week...
Cheers Mate! I learn so much from your videos. Thanks for the great content.
Great video as usual! I too am just in the process of setting up my M2 for FPV as a smaller alternative to my TRex 450 FPV setup. Looking forward to your videos on your M2 FPV setup!
Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks
I still have a bunch of those balance input/jst power output modules from fatshark that used to come with their vtx's back when I first got in to the hobby. They still work for quick jobs and I'm glad I saved them!
For up to 3s :-)
Very useful thank you Lee!
Good Simple Video Lee.
good video i have been tapping the balance lead for fpv and led lights for a good while
Very useful. Thanks
👍 just confirmed with a volt meter ... good to go ... !!! Thanks Lee ...!!!
I made a charging cable to balance charge 2S packs through their balance connector, 2S socket to 2S plug & XT60, works well, but I don't charge higher than 1A to avoid issues with high amps going through small wires & connections.
I also put an MT30 socket in my Jumper T16 (see my thingiplace upload 4759865) and made an appropriate charging cable so I can properly balance charge the cells in the radio without taking them out, same 1A or less charge rate.
It's convenient on 3S for powering LEDs
good info for newbies
I use the outer leads into a bec that then either charges my gopro or instago2 with a custom charging mount. Super useful to have an extra lead already on the battery for low current stuff.
I have always wondered how to make a male plug (the one from the battery) for the balance myself. Those pins are surprisingly small to clamp with anything on a silicone cable.
You can pull at least 2 amps from the 22 awg balance wires.
Beware of voltage sag in high amp draw aircraft. Example.. powering a vtx from a FC’s regulated 9v pad thats supplied by overall vbat versus powering the vtx off of a pair of cells at the tap. Under high amp draw all cells are powering the FC’s regulator and in the worst case vbat will still exceed 9v, but under the same load the voltage drop for two cells at the balance tap would be far below 9v and may reset your vtx - a big problem if you somehow shutdown a dji au mid-flight.
Point is.. if your aircraft is a fairly low amp cruiser you can pull power from wherever you want, but if its high amp its best to always use all cells if your item will handle it, or use a regulator powered by full vbat.
Lol, sold my old EV800D's yesterday and they came stock with balance lead alternative power cable.
Still does the job.
P.s. Zorro remote also has balance lead external power plug. Ok when not super Amp draw I guess. That's the limitation???
This is a very informative video! I really appreciate learning how to properly tap into a lipo's balance connector for powering my "Peanut" cam with the Matek BEC as you taught me about in that video. I am glad that I listened to your suggestion to watch this video too. Thank you very much for this valuable information. 👍👍 BTW, what is that putty you are using to hold things with? It looks like plumber's putty. I need some of that.
It is called Blu-Tac here. I believe that it is called something else in the USA. It is the sticky putty that you use to hold up paper and posters.. Happy flying!
Excellent, Lee! Thanks! 😃
A little cable like this and a small DC converter could be really useful! Including for things like naked cameras!
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
when tapping into one of the cells for lower voltages, you risk unbalancing your battery. better get the full voltage and lower it with a DC to DC converter...
Indeed, as mentioned in the video. Happy flying!
This is a good one Lee. I do this frequently using the balance lead to power video systems in FPV race wings. It works well and besides a little longer charge time, have had zero battery issues. I did order a selection of pre wired JST connectors from Amazon and use them for connecting to the battery JST and for when I build LiIon batteries.
I must admit, I have a dumb (no FC) FPV wing where I take current for the camera and VTX from 1 or 2 cells of a 4S (can't remember which) for camera and VTX. Yes, it does unbalance the pack by the end of the flight but the only real downside is a longer time for the charger to balance it all up to 3.85v/cell before storing the battery. There's no room for a FC or second battery and I really don't want to add a UBEC to a wing that's already twice it's designed AUW ... All that said, very good advice Lee.
Lee nice video BUT I have some CNHL 4S batteries that the balance lead has ONE RED wire and four black wires. Guess it just depends on what wire they have in stock.
The outer wires (black and red) are the key.. Happy flying
Watching this has given me an idea. I could connect the +&- from the balance plug direct to the volts sensor on a Spektrum RX to get the Telemetry voltage. A useful temporary arrangement if one hasn't got around to soldering the wires into the main power wires. A quick fix one can move from aircraft to aircraft or have in one's box of odds and ends! The other day I wired up in haste, connected 6s battery - major explosion. I'd wired + to - ! Luckily the wires melted and the RX was undamaged. Pride was hurt and I must be more careful!!😡
thanks for that , i was thinking to use that to power the runcam THUMB ..so i can use it on multiple drones with ease .
That would work great. Remember that the thumb needs 5V so you'd need something in between to lower the voltage. i.e. www.mateksys.com/?portfolio=mbec6s
I am literally building a cable for that purpose. As Lee says, make sure to use a BEC to step down to 5V.
@@fubarphill i have tested and verified the 2 outer most terminals ( the outer 1 being RED) gives me the voltage of the 1s . made the small 2 pins connector from a SH male end plug and its been working great on all my 2s and 3s lipos .
Can you run 2 separate things from one battery at the same time? for example connect it to and ESC for main power and also connect the JST to a low power FPV camera?
Exactly. That's how I use it here.. Happy flying
Can I connect one of those tiny circuits tv to the balanced plug directly without a step down? It needs 3_7 volts to work
What is a tiny TV circuitry?
I've used it to power led strips in my flying wings in the past
So I’ve got one of these WPL 1/16 rig. They only have one pin, a 4 pin JST XH, it charges and powers the rig. If I wanted to add another cell into these batteries, 2s to a 3s. I should just have to splice a single cell into the circuit and I won’t have to fix the plug? I’ve seen several videos on making a 3s it’s just everyone has a proper power plug along with the "balance lead"
Not sure, I've not seen that.
Do you think i can run a vtx and camera off the balance plug
Yes, if you are not pulling a lot of current. I used to make little FPV backpacks back in the day, powered by it and easy to move between models... Happy flying
Hey buddy do you think I could power a small little skyrc gnss GPS? My micro usb charging port broke on the inside. Some guys use a servo lead and go into the receiver but I thought if could go into the balance plug would be more convenient. But would there be a way i could solder a couple pins on a positive and negative wire so i would be able to just stick the pins in the balance on multiple different packs? Like say a 3s, 4s or 6s? Because if i did it normally like this i would only be able to connect it to one specific balance plug. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
Possibly but remember that most things like GPS units like 5V only so you will need to lower the voltage to that level for the GPS.. See my video on powering 5v action cameras from the balance tap for how I do it here..
@@Painless360 Hey that would be great. Do you have the title of the video and I'll watch? I'm going to search your channel now but just in case. Thanks for your help! That would be great and more convenient than going into the receiver or esc fan
Powering your 5v Action Camera from a LIPO Battery
@Painless360 I found it that night, I'm sorry I forgot to delete or edit my comment but I appreciate all your help. Thankfully I was just able to buy a 1s lipo charger so now I can just open up the skyrc gnss after the charging port broke. Thanks again bud
can a charge 2s with the balance port and without power lead?
It depends on the charger. Pushing too much current via these really small pins can cause damage to them over time so always try and charge using the main connection if there is one..
Huh..this is interesting.
Do you think it would be viable and safe to charge the battery using only the balance leads, on a charger not made for that?. Maybe extending the balance leads, and splicing the first and last wire to connect them to the battery main input on the charger. (Of course, charging at a low amperage). It makes sense in my head but sounds risky.
I have this idea because id like to charge my lipo without unplugging the main power lead every time, so i could just use the balance leads to charge while its still plugged in.
Current capacity for the balance tap isn't huge so not ideal for trying to push large charging currents through... Happy flying
I use the balance port when I can not find in my mess a volatage regulator for small power stuff. LOL Never a issue, when I charge the battery the chargers balance the battery back.
Well... Balance current of chargers is app 1 Amp, sometimes 1,5 Amp, sometimes 0,5 Amp. I'm using balance connectors for powering stuff up to 1,5 Amps. Never had a problem.
So what if you have a dean connection and a balance plug
No difference. Happy flying!
any different if all are red and one is black and vice versa?
No, it is wired the same... Happy flying
just buy balance wire extensions and cut the one end off
That is exactly what I do. Also you can push the pins out that you don't want.
@@gxc2000 I'm using the matek buck at 8V but I wonder if we should tap at the full battery voltage or one just above 8V, if we tap at a lower voltage won't that discharge the cells unevenly maybe? it would make the buck run cooler with less losses tho
@@embededfabrication4482 I understand exactly what you are thinking. I was thinking exactly the same thing. I wanted 5v from a 3S battery. In the end I decided to go across the full battery. This was because I preferred to discharge the battery evenly and even if I had quite a large drop in voltage the input to the buck would easily be over 5v. If I tapped off at 2S I was nervous the voltage could drop from 7.2v below the required 5v. I guess it depends how many cells your battery has and what your buck converter can cope with - heat etc.
could I power an SMO 4k with this method?
Maybe, how much current will it pull?
I am looking forward to seeing someone add FPV to a heli. Never seen it before and i have asked others about it, but they seem to scared to even try it
There is nothing different from adding modern FPV to anything. It's just a little cooler! :D
I run FPV on my car, try finding folks to run with... very difficult! So fun though :)
But if you do that, and you use just one cell out of two or three, then the battery will discharge unevenly which will cause problems on the long run. At least this is what I know.
Indeed, as covered in the video. Hence why I advised to only use the outer pins for full battery voltage.. Happy flying!
I would not recommend it as i lost a plane due to connecting the camera and vtx in the balance cable
Hello there,
at 3:05 ,You mentioned "Always make sure to use the black outside pin as one of the connections- if you dont then bad things will happen " >>> Could you elaborate on the negative implications you're referencing? If I were to connect the blue and yellow pins instead of the yellow and black, wouldn't I just be utilizing one cell over the other? Why would this be a detrimental scenario? Your points aren't entirely clear to me.
You'd be shorting out cells... best of luck
Your estimate on how much power can be drawn is very low. Why did you choose such a small number? I would be totally fine running 2A through these
Your battery, your choice. Those are small pins and any pitting or damage due to larger currents flowing through them will affect the ability to balance charge them accurately. Happy flying!
Nintey nine percent of my Chinese batteries have a red negative and black positive wires wether 3s or 6s.
Wow, that is against every standard in electronics engineering I've ever seen! Thanks for posting. I've never seen that in 20 years of using batteries..
First comment! ;)