JR XG11 Battery?

[ChrisJD]

Do I have a battery issue or something else?

On Friday I decided to check the status of my transmitter before going flying on the Saturday. I last used the transmitter about 6 weeks previously, so not too long and normally wouldn't need to charge the transmitter everytime I go flying (normally 3 flights each session), but for some reason I thought I would give it a check, so switched on the Tx and nothing. oh! very odd, surely the battery can't be flat?
So, I put it on charge and the red charge light went out after about 4 hours or so, a little quick I thought for a full charge, but switched it on and it powered up all fine. It started at 7.0v and within a minute dropped to 6.7v, a little quick to drop I thought.
So switched off and put back on charge to make sure, charged for about 10 minutes. Switched on fine.

So I thought it had then been fully charged for flying the following day.

Got to the flying site, and out to the strip switched on and nothing! Transmitter would not switch on!

A wasted journey! Once home I put the transmitter on charge (I would have tested the battery, but the tester I have doesn't have a matching connection), the charge light went out after about 3 and a half hours or so, so similar to the previous night.
Switched the Tx on and came on as normal, so I left it on to see how the battery held up. Again it very quickly dropped from 7.0v to 6.6v, but then stayed at that for the next hour or so.
Obviously my first thought was the battery, but after being on for just over an hour without dropping from the 6.6v confused me as it had seemed to go dead flat over night when switched off.
so I left the Tx off over night and tried it again this morning, on it came! 6.7v to 6.6v.

So why did it twice not power up?

I will leave it all day and try again later and again over night, but rather concerned now. If it is the battery, then that can be changed, but is it likely to be another fault?

I bought the Tx from MacGregor in March 2017, so it isn't very old. Never has an issue before.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Chris

[ChrisJD]

So, since my initial post, I left the transmitter over night and switched on this morning, and it powered up fine, still at 6.6v.

It seems to be behaving itself now, but why did it not switch on?

I am tempted to leave it switched on all day to see how it drains/discharges...

Anyone had any similar experiences? or the guys from MacGregor (Steve Roberts or Dave Wilshere) heard of similar issues?

[steverobertsuk]

Never seen or heard of this problem as far as I can remember. My only thought would be the power switch which is allowing some power to bypass when its left powered off for a period of time.

But a few things- 6.6v is fully charged for that battery. the 7v you are measuring must have been as soon as the charger was switched off.

The built in charger will charge the battery from flat to fully charged in about 4 hours so that sounds fine.

Steve

[ChrisJD]

I have had the unit switched on since about half nine and had just sounded the battery warning, which was set at 6.0v. I have literally just switched the unit off at 5.8v so about 4 hours.

I have left the Tx for longer than the 6 or 7 weeks I did this time and never had the issue.

But I charged it Friday evening and had gone flat in less than 24 hours!

Guess I will have to monitor it.

[ChrisJD]

...so just monitoring the transmitter/battery, all had been working as it should, until Saturday. I switched the Tx on on Saturday afternoon, having left it since Thursday evening, and nothing!

So as before I connected the charger and the charge light on the back did not light up, tried reconnecting a few times and the charge light would not come on!

I then thought I would try the battery from my XG8 (as it is the same as the XG11). So, with the XG8 battery in, the XG11 switched on all fine. Put the XG11 battery in the XG8 and this also switched on all fine, though at 6.4v (so had dropped from the last time I had had the 11 switched on), but worked nonetheless, which then indicates that the XG11 not powering on wasn't down to the battery being flat!
I then swapped the batteries back and the XG11 switched on fine. I then also connected the charger and this also worked, with the indicator light on the back coming on.

I guess this then suggests there is an issue with the XG11 and not the battery?

Which means I will have to send this off! Are MacGregor still servicing the later JR equipment? I saw that they were no longer servicing the older 35Mhz equipment?

Chris.

[Chris73]

Send it to MacGregor they will sort it out for you

[ChrisJD]

Yep, that seems to be the only option...

[Tom.Laird]

Hi Chris,
Just wondering if you have an update?
cheers
Tom

[ChrisJD]

It is still with MacGregors!

They had it a couple of weeks when I received a call to say it needed a new 'board'. No explanation as to what the exact problem was though.
So a new board was ordered from Japan and I should have had the unit back last week or this week, but after I contacted MacGregor to get an update, I was told the wrong board was sent! so now another is awaited from Japan.
Rather annoyed and frustrated as it means I have been without the transmitter since Mid-October and it'll be the New Year before I see it again!

Chris.