Battery problem with new FrSky X20S

[Vintage Ed]

I just received a new FrSky X20S transmiter and was able to charge the battery to m8.3 volts using the USB cord it came with and used my DEll PC to charge the battery. It craherged to about 8.3 volts. When i was attempting to bind a FrSky Rx to my new radio, the batteryy voltage fell to 5.3 volts in about 3 minutes and will not recharge back up past 5.3 volts.
The seller AMain Hobbies sent me a new battery and it read 4.5 volts whenm I put it in the radio. It too would cahrge to 5.3 volts and no more using my PC's USB. I tried my Samsung cell phone charger and it will not charge past 5.3 volts.
I called AMain Hobbies and they are trying to get a tech to call and help me. But for now my radio will come on and I get an audio warning that the battery voltage is low and reading 5.3 volts so I have turned it off . Do you have any solutions for this problem? Is it I just happened to get two "dud" batteries in a row? Is there a better way to charge the X20S battery?
Could there be a tech problem inside the radio? It is brand new! I watched a lot of videos on You Tube before I decided to purchase this radio.

 

[Vintage Ed]

I purchased my new FrSky X20S radio from AMain Hobbies because they had it available in Cardinal Red and Aloft Hobbies didn't and AMain Hobbies offered a $30 discount on the radio.

 

[HENNY]

I purchased my new FrSky X20S radio from AMain Hobbies because they had it available in Cardinal Red and Aloft Hobbies didn't and AMain Hobbies offered a $30 discount on the radio.

Do you have a way to charge the batteries before inserting them into the radio. Charging from a PC or laptop is a very slow way, The Samsung phone charger could work, my Samsung charger indicates it can output up to 2amps. Even so make sure the radio is turned OFF while charging. The Green LED will come on and once it's complete the LED will go out. It will take quite a few hours to fully charge. The radio has a switch mode power supply inside which can charge a 8.4 volt battery with USB 5 volts. Leave it over night then try again. If it fails again take the batteries out of the radio and measure the voltage, should be 4.2 volts for a fully charged cell.

 

[Vintage Ed]

Do you have a way to charge the batteries before inserting them into the radio. Charging from a PC or laptop is a very slow way, The Samsung phone charger could work, my Samsung charger indicates it can output up to 2amps. Even so make sure the radio is turned OFF while charging. The Green LED will come on and once it's complete the LED will go out. It will take quite a few hours to fully charge. The radio has a switch mode power supply inside which can charge a 8.4 volt battery with USB 5 volts. Leave it over night then try again. If it fails again take the batteries out of the radio and measure the voltage, should be 4.2 volts for a fully charged cell.

I am doing that now. Will let it set and charge overnight, thanks for the advice. I hope it works.I am charging it with my Samsung cell charger , 5volts at 2 amps.

 

[HENNY]

I am doing that now. Will let it set and charge overnight, thanks for the advice. I hope it works.I am charging it with my Samsung cell charger , 5volts at 2 amps.

I'm sorry I keep confusing the X20 with the X10. The X10 has two 18650 cells where as the X20 has a 2 cell lipo.

 

[Wayne]

Would help if you can pull the battery out and confirm the voltage. It is possible that the battery monitoring setup in the radio just needs to be adjusted. (Does not sound like the case here though.) May need to send it back to the seller for some service.

It is odd that it would have charged the one time, and dumped that fast. That part has me confused as to what is going on, unless you were playing in the radio and altered the battery monitoring by mistake. (Actually that is the only thing that makes sense to me..) Really need to pull the battery out and see what voltage is actually there.

 

[Vintage Ed]

Would help if you can pull the battery out and confirm the voltage. It is possible that the battery monitoring setup in the radio just needs to be adjusted. (Does not sound like the case here though.) May need to send it back to the seller for some service.

It is odd that it would have charged the one time, and dumped that fast. That part has me confused as to what is going on, unless you were playing in the radio and altered the battery monitoring by mistake. (Actually that is the only thing that makes sense to me..) Really need to pull the battery out and see what voltage is actually there.

How would I adjust the battery monitoring?

 

[HENNY]

How would I adjust the battery monitoring?

Select SYS key go to Battery menu. Set display voltage range from 7.0v to 8.4v Also RTC battery volts will be visible. Removing the battery and measure with a volt meter at the balance leads. Fully charged each cell should be 4.2 volts and overall 8.4v.

 

[Vintage Ed]

Select SYS key go to Battery menu. Set display voltage range from 7.0v to 8.4v Also RTC battery volts will be visible. Removing the battery and measure with a volt meter at the balance leads. Fully charged each cell should be 4.2 volts and overall 8.4v.

Checking the battery with a voltmeter , the newer battery reads 8.35 volts, but once back in the x20S I get a voltage reading of 5.2 volts and a low battery audio warning.
The original battery that came with the radio reads .27 volts on the voltmeter, but 5.2 if back in the radio.

 

[Vintage Ed]

How would I adjust the battery monitoring?

How would I adjust the battery monitoring?

I have tested the newer battery with a voltmeter and get 8.35 volts measuring at the positive and negative wires on the battery. BUt back in the radio, i get a 5.2 volt reading with an audio low battery warning.
The battery the radio cam e with read .27 volts on the voltmeter , but back in the radio I get a 5.2 volt reading and audio warning of a low battery.
So is the problem in the radio charging circuit or elsewhere?
THe seller AMain Hobbie is sending me another battery by mail. It hasn't arrived yet.

 

[HENNY]

So have you checked and set the voltage using the SYS menu. Select SYS key go to Battery menu. See display voltage range from 7.0v to 8.4v, if the high side is not 8.4v adjust it and re check. This setting is the display range.

 

[Wayne]

What Henny said.

The new battery sounds like it is fully charged. The older battery is either dead or you didn't get a good reading.

My best guess is that the voltage calibration is still not set correctly on your radio. From the manual (check the "main voltage" section for calibration):

 

[Vintage Ed]

Okay I have set the "Display voltage range" to 6.4 V and 8.4V, then pushed the Default .Turned the radio off, waited 30 seconds and turned it back on and get the audio low battery warninng and fail safe not set.
Battery voltage reads 5.2V
Should I do anything thing else?
I once again checked the battery voltage across the red lead and black lead and it read 8.35 V before plugging the battery back into the X20S.
I received an email this morning from AMain Hobbies that they are going to contact Frsky and advise me once they discuss this with Frsky.
To be very honest about this after spending $439.00 for the X20S radio , I have a useless radio!
Over the last several months I have watched many of the Frsky X20S videos on You Tube and was very impressed an is why I purchased one.
Now I have what I consider a "DUD" radio.

Two years ago at the EAA Oshkosh airshow I purchased an NX6 radio from the Horizon Hobby booth at EAA.
I Have had good luck with it but wanted more channels.
Spektrum radios and receivers are more costly than the Frsky X20S an I was going to trade up for a Spektrum NX10 radio , but Horizon has suspended that program , so I decided to purchase
the Frsky X20S radio. Frsky's receivers are less costly and I liked the 24 channel capability of the Frsky X20S radio.
Probably more channels than I will ever need but the X20S was less costly than a Spektrum NX10 radio and Frsky's receivers are less costly than Frsky's receivers.
I build( mostly scratch build ) models of what are considered "vintage aircraft".
Right now I have 8 models that are finished and thee more being built.
That figured into price wise what I would need to fly them.
Only three are gas powered, the rest being electric powered.
I have one electric sailplane and an Eflite Carbon Z Cessna 150 I can fly with my NX6.
Model airplane building and flying runs in my family.
Harold "Pappy" deBolt is a cousin and he designed and built many model airplanes through his company
Demeco Engineering.
He spelled his last name with a small "b" and we spell ours with a capital "B"

If Frsky could recommend a charger for the X20S radio I would appreciate it.
Thankyou,
Edward DeBolt

 

[Vintage Ed]

So have you checked and set the voltage using the SYS menu. Select SYS key go to Battery menu. See display voltage range from 7.0v to 8.4v, if the high side is not 8.4v adjust it and re check. This setting is the display range.

Did this but still getting a low battery audio warning, battery shows 5.2 volts on the screen and I get warning that failsafe is not set. WOuld this have anything to do with my problem?

 

[Vintage Ed]

JUst tried something using SYS button and used button on right side of radio.Rotated it until battery read 8.5volts. Battery now reads 8.5 volts and no audio low battery voltage warning, but get "failsafe not set.
I guess I'm learning about this radio.

 

[Wayne]

OK - Think your battery issue is now resolved. Woohoo! That is the calibration we were talking about and linked above.

OK - the failsafe not set will go away as soon as you bind a receiver to the model memory and select one of the failsafe options. This is a safety warning, reminding you to pick one of the failsafe options. This is what the receiver will do should it loose radio signal. There is some logic that can be applied to this, I suggest you consider your options on a plane by plane basis.

Some failsafe options:
NONE - This is for models with flight controllers, it will trigger the flight controller to take over.
HOLD - This will hold the last good commands. So if your plane was flying flat and level, it should continue doing so. But if the plane was doing acro, this may not be the best option.
Preset - This will move the servos and throttle to preset positions. Many people like this, but we will caution about having the throttle turn on at all in this mode as it could spool up the prop on the ground should the model be at rest on the ground when it enters failsafe because you turned off the radio, etc. (FrSky will warn you if you try to turn off while the receiver is still powered up, always best to turn off your receiver first!) Typically people will do things like put the gear down, flaps down, some up elevator and some rudder with neutral ailerons. Basically put the plane into a slow landing configuration with some slight circling.

With all of the above said, the chances of a good FrSky install going into failsafe is pretty darn low. I generally use HOLD.

Anyhow, once you make that setting for the model, no more warning.

Also, if you have all of the switch warnings going off, you can also turn those off, or customize as you like.

The other great advantage that FrSky offers over Spektrum is the quality of the RF link, and the pure capabilities of the radio. The Spektrum RF protocol is notably wimpy by today's standards.. Heck, it is weak by 10 years ago standards.

Any questions, feel free to ask. You may want to download the big Ethos manual, it really can help shed some light on things for you. It is a searchable PDF, so despite the many many pages, it is easy to jump to the info you need. Here is a link to the current version:

https://ethos.frsky-rc.com/shared-files/1304/?EN-X20-and-Ethos-User-Manual_1.5.7_rev2.pdf

Anyone reading this in the future, please goto this page for the current version:

Ethos – a thoroughly upgraded new operating system

ethos.frsky-rc.com

then click on the "Ethos" tab on the upper right.

 

[HENNY]

As Wayne said "Failsafe not set " is the radio warning you that you have not set a condition of what will happen to your model should the plane loose contact with your transmitter. You have failsafe in Spektrum as well but the radio does not warn if you have not set up this condition.

So for instance if you are flying and the model looses connection do you want the throttle to go to zero, how do you want the flying surfaces to respond to a pre set condition.

Ethos is a powerful radio system, read the manual and get to know your new radio.