Need help troubleshooting a strange issue.

[BrentMydland]

Lets get the specifics out of the way first.

Reauleaux with LG HG2s

Velocity RDA dual coil spaced Ti build 26g .24ohms 100w preheat punch@11 1s 90w

So this started last night. I'd press the power button and nothing would happen so I tried it again looking at my screen. Sometimes it would just flash the welcome primary screen, sometimes it would flash the primary and secondary and then the check battery screens, and sometimes it would go straight from welcome primary to the check battery screen. My battery was almost fully charged. This happened several times in a row, then it would fire a few times, then it would do it again, then it would work for a while and do it again. This went on over about a 20 minute period. Then it went away completely and didn't happen again for the rest of the evening.

Now I just got home and plugged the device into my computer, battery was reading 96%. Everything was going fine and then it did it again. It flashed to welcome primary then to check battery. It did this twice. So I opened up Escribe and hooked it up to the device monitor. Then all of a sudden(in the last 10 minutes or so) it is intermittently popping up imbalanced battery. It will read 4.04, 4.04, 4.04(sometime 4.03 on one) and fire just fine. Then it will go back to saying imbalanced battery with varying readings for the voltages. One time during this is popped up imbalanced battery then switched back to being fine and then to check battery then firing fine the imbalanced battery again. Like right now its all 4.04 but just a second ago it was reading something crazy like .08, 1.08, and 3.8 then back to all 4.04 then now to 3.93, 4.01, 4.03. Now its going back and forth between firing, imbalanced, and check battery.

Like I said, yesterday it was just doing the check battery thing a few times for like 20 minutes then it worked fine up until about 45 minutes ago then it did that, I think, twice and now its saying imbalanced batteries off on it. I'll fire it a few times just fine then imbalanced battery for a couple button presses and then back to working just fine and showing correct voltages. Nothing of note happened to the device prior to this starting.

I have never removed the batteries from the mod since I got it. They have always been charged via good quality usb cables and I've never had an issue before now. It has never been dropped or mistreated at all. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I've got no clue what to do.

[awsum140]

Start with basic maintenance.  Pull the batteries, clean the contacts inside the mod and on the batteries themselves.  If that doesn't help, time to check the wiring inside the mod for problems at the balance connector.  If that doesn't work, time for an RMA.

[BrentMydland]

I pulled the batteries but didn't rotate them. I didn't know if I should. They never have been before. I just took them out and gave them a good once over and they look fine. The wraps are good, and the contacts on the mod and the batteries all look good. I cleaned them with a little cloth anyway but they looked new. Wasn't sure if I should use something to clean them or not so I just wiped them down with the cloth with nothing on it. It didn't seem to do anything. Nothing came off on the cloth but like I said the contacts still look the same as I did when I got it. Since taking the batteries out and putting them back in about a half hour ago I haven't had anything happen but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Like I said, it happened for about 20 minutes last night and then was fine until a couple hours ago. Then it started up again about an hour and a half ago, got worse, I made this post, pulled the batteries and reinserted them, and it hasn't done anything yet but I guess it could just been in that in between state like last night.

If that didn't help, not sure why it would I didn't really do much of anything, then what should I be looking for as far as the wiring and stuff goes? I don't really know anything about that stuff so I wouldn't know what to look for but I can follow instructions pretty well.

[awsum140]

You'd be looking for poor/loose connections or maybe excessive rosin around those connections, balance connections.  The balance connections are on the bottom of the board between the positive and negative battery connections.  There could also be a bad connection between the contacts for the batteries and the input for the balance connections, bad solder joint for example.  Needless to say, you'd want the batteries out of the mod if you go this far with it. 

It is entirely possible that a thin layer of film built up between the batteries and the contacts.  Simply removing and re-installing them can easily remove that kind of film, which isn't visible to the eye.  Normally, I'd expect the current flow to "erase" that kind of thing, but it may not.  The balance monitor can be a little sensitive.

[BrentMydland]

Okay, I'll definitely update if it happens again. It seems to have stopped again now so it could be fixed or it could just lulling me into a false since of security so it can thoroughly crush me again later on. Hopefully its what you said it was and I wont have to take the mod apart and look around. Its just so weird that it started doing it all of a sudden(especially starting off as check battery then escalating to imbalanced(or maybe that is the normal progression I'm not sure)) and then working fine off and on. Most everything I have read about battery issues its either it works or something happens and it doesn't work at all.

Is there any way it could just be that my batteries are getting close to the end of their life span? They aren't very old but I thought that might be the issue. I don't have another married set of 3 to try though. That's part of the reason I have only been charging through the usb. That and the fact that I only have a 2 bay charger.

Thank you for the help by the way. I really appreciate it.

[awsum140]

Supposed, quality LiPO batteries, Samsung, Panasonic, LG, and some others, should have a life expectancy of about 500 charge cycles.  How discharged that may be before charging is an open question.  I have a small "stable" of LG HE2s and they're starting to die at 100 cycles, and I track every cycle for every battery I own.  Letting them discharge to low levels, lower than 3.2 volts can shorten their life/charge cycles.  Charging them when at higher levels, say 3.5 volts, supposedly increases their life/charge cycles.  Overall, their is a finite amount of power, derived from a chemical reaction, so either way I would guess the total power output is about the same.

[BillW50]

Just to add to awsum140's fine comment... some companies working in the electric automobile business has lithium batteries lasting up to 2000 recharges now. Then there was that story about an university who discovered a recipe to build lithiums that last a lifetime. No word on when they will become available.

[Guest]

Reauleaux has a problem of spreading. a give away is battery door gap Witch causes loose battery by setting the mod down and pressin fermliy on the top and seeing if it will fire is a easy test contact I have had dirty contacts so check that first there is a u tube video on using c clamp to squeeze the mod back in shape