Hey everyone, recently had a meltdown, literally, with my Anbee Battery Charger.
Use caution with them. Video explains it all.
Use caution with them. Video explains it all.
Anbee Battery Charger melted
- Thread starter justDee
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Jagerbomb52
Well-known member
Great informational video. Your battery that you are wondering about I would have no problem using it. The case is just damaged, the actual battery is fine. I have a battery that was damaged with a fly away and will not snap in anymore so I use elastic bands to hold it in place. 20 flights later and it still works fine. 
Great informational video. Your battery that you are wondering about I would have no problem using it. The case is just damaged, the actual battery is fine. I have a battery that was damaged with a fly away and will not snap in anymore so I use elastic bands to hold it in place. 20 flights later and it still works fine.
Well that's good to know. I hated to think of not using it. It latches on and takes a full charge. When I removed the three batteries, including the most damaged one, they were all cool to the touch, except for the melting part which was due to the charger.
I was honest with the company on the second battery and they still replaced it. I guess it was cheaper than a possible lawsuit over a burnt down home. LOL
Nidge
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Hi justDee.
Very scary indeed, but good to hear that Anbee stepped up and accepted responsibility.
I also have one of these chargers and thankfully it hasn’t given any cause for concern. However I’m now tempted to open it up to see what protection, if any, has been provided and if I need to add anything extra.
Out of curiosity have you had an opportunity to investigate what component(s) failed and caused that amount of heat?
Regards
Nidge.
Very scary indeed, but good to hear that Anbee stepped up and accepted responsibility.
I also have one of these chargers and thankfully it hasn’t given any cause for concern. However I’m now tempted to open it up to see what protection, if any, has been provided and if I need to add anything extra.
Out of curiosity have you had an opportunity to investigate what component(s) failed and caused that amount of heat?
Regards
Nidge.
Nidge, I have not. I'm not that techie, but if you'd like, I'd be glad to ship it to you and see if you can determine the cause? Maybe if the cause was determined, it would benefit us all and we could pass the information on to Anbee? Just let me know and I'll get it shipped. Offer is open to anyone that has the skills/knowledge to perform on autopsy on it.
Nidge
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Hi Dee
I think it would be better to have someone on your side of the pond to take up your offer as it would probably cost more than the original purchase price to ship it over here to the UK.
In the meantime I have opened up my charger unit and enclosed some pics. A little puzzling as there are no components in the area where the plastic case had melted, only a 25Volt/680uf electrolytic capacitor and 45Volt Schottky Diode either side of the damaged area.
Now Anbee’s suggestion of some loose solder causing a short is quite plausible as I found a few tiny solder splashes on the underside of the circuit board and some tiny solder balls on the edge of the Schottky Diode (see second picture), so I’m quite relieved I opened my unit and cleared these away. I would put this down to very poor finishing and quality control by the factory that Anbee sourced these chargers from.
Another possibility is the failure of the voltage regulator (TL431) on that charging port which could result in the battery itself overheating and being the cause of the damage, which is what I think is most likely due to the amount of damage to the battery casing.
Regards
Nidge.
Dirk_ANAFI
Well-known member
Is it possible, that Anafi's battery melted the charger (possibly caused by not correct charging current/voltage)!?
I guess anything is possible, but the batteries, including the melted one, were cool to the touch when I pulled them from the melting charger. Now granted, the melting portion of the battery was not cool to the touch, but the rest of the battery was cool, no heat transfer to the majority of the body.
And you'd think, that if it was the battery, then the charging port on the battery, where it docks to the charger, would be melted? It is not and still connects to the drone without issues.
And you'd think, that if it was the battery, then the charging port on the battery, where it docks to the charger, would be melted? It is not and still connects to the drone without issues.
Nidge
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Are you able to open up the faulty charger and post a couple of pictures of the damaged area on the circuit board, top and bottom? It’s easy to open, pull off the four small rubber feet and you’ll find four screws that secure both halves of the case. This may help to identify the source of the heat/fire and shed light as to whether the cause was due to a faulty component or if indeed it was caused by solder swarf left behind after manufacture.
Regards
Nidge.
Nidge
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Thank you for taking the time to take these pictures and upload them, Dee.
I think we have our guilty suspect.
Looking at the the area where most of the heat was concentrated it looks like the 680uF electrolytic capacitor was the culprit. This component is polarity sensitive, meaning it can only be placed in circuit in one way, if soldered in the wrong way round it will fail, and fail spectacularly. Depending on the working voltage of the capacitor and the voltage supplied to it, it can work for a finite amount of time but it will eventually fail. And fail very spectacularly. I’m surprised you didn’t hear a bang when it failed.
I was once asked to take a look at a high powered valve amplifier that the owner was complaining about distortion on the output. It’s more luck than management that I’m still here to tell the tale for when I put the amplifier onto a large load one of the very large electrolytic capacitors on the power supply board suddenly decided it was an I.E.D. and embedded itself in the ceiling. And the capacitor was secured to the board with a metal clamp.The reason was that during the assembly process the minimum wage worker doing the component placement put it in the board the wrong way round, and it wasn’t picked up by the QC guy whose job it was to spot these dangerous mistakes.
Regards
Nidge.
I think we have our guilty suspect.
Looking at the the area where most of the heat was concentrated it looks like the 680uF electrolytic capacitor was the culprit. This component is polarity sensitive, meaning it can only be placed in circuit in one way, if soldered in the wrong way round it will fail, and fail spectacularly. Depending on the working voltage of the capacitor and the voltage supplied to it, it can work for a finite amount of time but it will eventually fail. And fail very spectacularly. I’m surprised you didn’t hear a bang when it failed.
I was once asked to take a look at a high powered valve amplifier that the owner was complaining about distortion on the output. It’s more luck than management that I’m still here to tell the tale for when I put the amplifier onto a large load one of the very large electrolytic capacitors on the power supply board suddenly decided it was an I.E.D. and embedded itself in the ceiling. And the capacitor was secured to the board with a metal clamp.The reason was that during the assembly process the minimum wage worker doing the component placement put it in the board the wrong way round, and it wasn’t picked up by the QC guy whose job it was to spot these dangerous mistakes.
Regards
Nidge.
It may have made a noise? We were in and out of that room throughout the day. Family was coming in from out of town, so we were busy cleaning the house and even had the vacuum cleaner going at some point before the source of the smell was located, so it could have made some noise and we just didn't hear it.
Hopefully, I'm the only one with the faulty circuit board?
Someone gave me the advice to set the charger/batteries inside a LIPO bag while charging and place the bag on a ceramic tile away from flammables. I have already ordered and received the LIPO bag, so I will be more cautious in the future.
Thanks for the review of the burnt parts.
Hopefully, I'm the only one with the faulty circuit board?
Someone gave me the advice to set the charger/batteries inside a LIPO bag while charging and place the bag on a ceramic tile away from flammables. I have already ordered and received the LIPO bag, so I will be more cautious in the future.
Thanks for the review of the burnt parts.
Dirk_ANAFI
Well-known member
Oh, I saw and heard exploding Elcos.
They really explode! Because this can be dangerous, the manufacturers even build them with a to breaking point.
In the picture you can see, that one end of this condensator is devided into three parts,- that's the to breaking point.
They really explode! Because this can be dangerous, the manufacturers even build them with a to breaking point.
In the picture you can see, that one end of this condensator is devided into three parts,- that's the to breaking point.
It looks like a short circuit on the PCB or in a electronic component and there has not been a suitable fuse between the charger and the PSU. But it may well be that the power that has burned the PCB has come from the lipo battery. If so, I would discard the lipo. Us sitting at the computer have not the opportunity to measure the remains.
Regards, Leif.
Regards, Leif.
Thanev
Well-known member
Based on the orientation of the other capacitors and the markings on the PCB they all seem to oriented with the cathode toward the wide portion of the gray marking on the board but since there is nothing left of the 680uF/25V capacitor in that location hard to know if it was oriented correctly. I've been in the capacitor manufacture business for 40 years and I've never heard of Chenxing. If the capacitor was in fact reverse biased and saw anything near its 25V rating I'm surprised it lasted even one charging cycle. There would be high leakage current that could cause pressure to build and at a minimum cause the capacitor to vent (the marks in the top of the cans of the other capacitors are a pressure relief mechanism). I've seen burnt capacitors, I've seen exploded capacitors but I've never seen a situation where the whole capacitor was destroyed. The can is made of aluminum, the internal foil is aluminum and the leads that extend into the capacitor are copper clad steel. The melting point of aluminum is 660°C (1,221°F) so for the can to have melted away the area had to be extremely hot.
Okay, I'm done with the charger unit. Just returned from Africa, with a melted charger and one melted battery. I had two brand new batteries in the charger and stepped into the next room to eat dinner when I smelt the burning plastic. I was able to remove the second battery before it was damaged, but the battery in the center slot, along with the charger itself, are ruined. I just sent a message via Amazon to the seller, again. I will stick with the factory supplied charge cords from now on.
Pictures to follow and I'll do a video on it soon as well. Since the first incident, I have been extremely cautious and monitor the charger/batteries while in use. When not in use, I keep no battery in the charger, and I even unplug the charger when not in use.
Pictures to follow and I'll do a video on it soon as well. Since the first incident, I have been extremely cautious and monitor the charger/batteries while in use. When not in use, I keep no battery in the charger, and I even unplug the charger when not in use.
Jagerbomb52
Well-known member
Glad you came back and reported about your problems with the charger. I think you got lucky two times and made the right choice not to go for three. LOL
Thanev
Well-known member
Sorry to hear of the loss of your charger and a battery. Thankfully there was no fire.
I always monitor a battery when it is charging, (charger and battery both go into my old toaster oven)and store them in a fireproof container. I am not willing to let my house burn down due to a "woulda-coulda-shoulda"
I always monitor a battery when it is charging, (charger and battery both go into my old toaster oven)and store them in a fireproof container. I am not willing to let my house burn down due to a "woulda-coulda-shoulda"
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That sounds like a good idea. If something goes wrong that might give you some more time to get the toaster with the batteries out of the house before the fire becomes something impossible to handle. If the batteries start burning in a lipo bag that bag is going to become VERY hot, too hot to grab with your hand.
I have one of these chargers and have used it with no issues but will be keeping a close eye on things when charging.
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