LiPo battery mod - very worthwhile!

by alibopo | June 7, 2014 | (16) Posted in Tips

LiPo Battery Modification. 

I discovered this mod when I had to repair the balance leads on a couple of my batteries. It’s called a Balance Plug Saver and they’re sold by Hobby King in packs of 5 – without postage, they work out at about 10 cents each.  Here’s the ‘saver’ in use. It’s that  'translucent' cover on the end of the JST-HX connector that I’ve plugged my battery alarm into.

These balance connectors are obviously pretty vulnerable and fragile, and I always tried to grip the connector body when pulling them from the charging board or disconnecting a battery alarm. But inevitably ‘fat-fingers Potter’ got it wrong on a number of occasions and eventually I pulled one of the little wires off.

Initially I went looking for a replacement for  the JST-XH connector, but then I spotted Hobby King were selling this retrofit casing to go around the connector. So…. I wasn’t the only one experiencing this problem!

I bought my JST-XH connectors with pre-fitted wire tails on EBAY – 10 for the princely sum of about $2.00.
 

And at the same time  I thought it wise to invest in these add-on casings.


They fit very easily, just snap-on, and give you something to get your fingers around to take away any need to apply tension to the wire.

Maybe in years to come, someone will redesign this end of the JST-HX plug for LiPo batteries and include a pre-moulded finger-grip that can cope with constant use. I imagine the ones they fit now were never really intended to be plugged and unplugged all the time.

In the meantime, if fitting these add-on casings means I don’t have to do the fiddly job of soldering on a new balance plug, they’re worth the investment.

Highly recommended! Fit them now, before you need to replace the balance connectors.

And if you do need to replace the balance plug, do it one wire at a time and make sure each solder join is insulated and covered in heat-shrink before you expose the next wire. That way you’ll get the wires going to the right place, and you’ll avoid the possibility of a nasty short and melt-down!

UPDATE 28/03/2015 - I've been collecting and updating all my articles, planes and plans on my own website on this page; RCplanes It's still a work in progress, but there's a few extras and beta-stage projects that don't appear here on the Flite Test website yet.

Cheers, alibopo.

COMMENTS

Christopher14 on June 7, 2014
That is useful.
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alibopo on June 7, 2014
Wish I'd known about them before I pulled off a wire! :)
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suvansh on June 7, 2014
u can also use hot glue....
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alibopo on June 7, 2014
Hi suvansh, I can see that working as well, spreading the load across the wires, but these little clip-on things really are 'the business'. They have a little lip that fits over the top of the plug which means absolutely zero pull on the wires when removing the plug. It's basically how these things should be designed in the first place. And look at the price!!! :)
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suvansh on June 7, 2014
Right!
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Willster72 on June 30, 2014
That's what I was thinking👍
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Ultimate_Red on June 7, 2014
Brilliant! I gave this article a 5 because it is relevant, well set out, nicely worded and the images are very good.
Keep up the good articles!
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alibopo on June 7, 2014
Thanks, much appreciated.
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gremlin88 on June 7, 2014
Actually, they weren't intended to be plugged and unplugged all the time. they are usually use inside electronic equipment that may be plugged in one or two times, but since they pack many pins into a relatively small space, they were used for balance connectors.
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alibopo on June 9, 2014
I suspected that was the case. Maybe they should be selling batteries with these covers already fitted as standard, or at least include them in the package for the buyer to install. Cheers.
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drbohlen on June 9, 2014
Actually buddyrc.com sells thier glacier batteries with these on, but unfortunately I have had no luck with those batteries. I bought three of them, never abused them or anything and all three worked fine at first and after a dozen or so charges couldn't put out enough power to keep my motor going at full power. I thought it was the esc at first but after changing that it didn't fix it and then I tried a different battery and it fixed it. But if you don't want to wait for hobbyking to ship these, they do sell them individually. http://www.buddyrc.com/accessory/connectors.html?p=2
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alibopo on June 9, 2014
The plot thickens... seems this is a real weak point in the battery format, regardless of who makes the battery. If you think about it, someone actually designed and manufactured a fix for what must be a very common problem. That doesn't happen unless there's real demand. Thanks for the input.
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Kenpilot on June 10, 2014
I have pulled off two so far, but at the battery, not the plug. I retired both batteries, didn't want to get into the cells and repair / solder right next to those flammable cells.
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Nocking Point on June 11, 2014
These are a good idea. Also a video posted not too long ago for anyone interested.

http://flitetest.com/articles/balance-plug-savers
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alibopo on June 11, 2014
Well spotted. I wish I'd noticed that video before my batteries started falling apart!
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mediabeing on June 16, 2014
The item in question is translucent, not opaque.

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alibopo on June 18, 2014
Ouch! (...and I'm mostly commenting on your removed comment, which I receive a copy of by email.) As a lifelong sufferer from nominal aphasia, and a related form of dyslexia, I do occasionally suffer from this kind of word substitution, or even a complete temporary loss of the word I need. I normally try to work hard at editing and reviewing my text, but these 'close substitutions' do sometimes go unnoticed. Apologies that you found this error so offensive.
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royce.meredith on June 29, 2014
Hey! I just got two sets of these and they are fantastic! my only complaint is that they do add a bit of bulk to the battery. But besides that I have never been happier when plugging in and un plugging my balance connectors.
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StndbyHD on July 4, 2014
Glacier lipos at my local hobbytown usa are coming with these on them already.
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LiPo battery mod - very worthwhile!