How to charge a dead lipo battery with Low Voltage Error - save and recover a discharged lipo

Dead lipo cell recovery that won't charge because of a 'voltage too low' error. Safe recovery of lithium polymer. Rescue a drained lipo battery. Lipo charger options - snp.link/9efadae6
Lipo battery options - snp.link/ef7a47c5
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[@proraptor4146]

Be extremely careful doing this. I've been doing this for years and will say you should monitor this battery while you do it as in sit there and watch it and touch it to make sure it's not getting hot. Then when you switch to lipo mode keep standing there and watch it. Good video!

[@RCReviewChannel]

Exactly. It's a workaround so proceed with care. I was more worried years ago when I didn't understand the cause. Now, I see the rationale and my comfort level is good.

[@discusdog]

Also when you run it and start putting it under load. If one cell is damaged it may discharge way quicker than the others depending on load.

[@davidrivera390]

Saved my lipo!!! I just bought it and used twice. Thanks for the explanation as well. I’ll be sitting here watching it as now charges as a lipo in the lipo bag

[@dawsynvaldois4984]

Haven’t drove my car for like 4 years. Thanks to you I get to get back at it today.

[@bbot21]

Wow, one of the most useful things I've learned about this hobby! Worked like a charm and, as always, use caution while charging any battery. Thanks 🤙

[@EvanStormOfficial]

Saving the planet one battery at a time. Thanks RCreview

[@CatsScienceClub]

Thanks so much for the explanation. Very helpful. "Saved" two batteries doing this. Hobby store said the batteries were junk and needed to be replaced. Followed your video and the batteries are working great again.

[@anthonypaul1351]

Great video and an excellent presentation. I passed this video on to my son who had an unresponsive LIPO battery, he did exactly as you directed in the video and it worked out great. Thank you so very much for taking the time to do this. I priced out a new battery and by my estimates you just saved us about $70. Thank you so much for your excellent presentation!!!

[@MrHotjag]

Which type of battery do you have(brand)

[@anthonypaul1351]

@@MrHotjag Ryobi battery pack for the brad gun.

[@PVTChungus]

This is amazing , just came away on holiday , battery’s wouldn’t charge , no model shops . All batteries charging again. Thank you

[@Rceontoast]

Most helpful video ever I was about to give up and try sort it at a shop but thanks to you my lipo is now charging

[@mattb252]

You just saved me £35! Charged 3s battery to 9.5v then switched to balance charge. Really clear instructions thanks

[@nezarbinali582]

I just got into the hobby and had a bunch of dead batteries, i finally managed to balance and charge one as im typing this now!!! Seriously the most useful bit on youtube in the hobby so far thank you bro

[@DavidClawsonFarmers]

You just saved my 1 month old battery! Thank you!!

[@TBL-thunder-6]

Same, my airsoft battery

[@sonsofguns1903]

Mine too. Spektrum 5000mah 3s 100C. 1 month old. Last night I left my ESC turned on after LIPO cut off, stupid mistake. Charging right now, hope its OK.

[@TBL-thunder-6]

@@sonsofguns1903 its unhealthy for your cells but it should be fixed and as long as you learn from it and never make it happen again you should be totally fine. I kept my batteries stored in my airsoft replica and that way I almost killed mine. I was at 4V and the min. Capacity of my battery was 9.6 V. So that's very bad.

[@jameshaywood563]

I already called customer support and they are sending me a replacement. But I tried this and it worked! Pretty sweet deal

[@yurt9733]

You don't know how much this video helped. I just had to spend money I didn't want to spend. Glad it was this simple.

[@lucascollaresbarreto]

Left my lipo on Nimh charge for 15 seconds and charge enough to revive my lipo. Thank you!

[@lucasrandall9911]

Man thank you for sharing this information! Sounds like you're helping the lot of us and I appreciate it!! Saved me from buying a new battery!

[@RCReviewChannel]

Yeah, it's happened to me so many time and I've saved many batteries myself. It's a flaw of the system that ESC's drain it despite lipo cutoff. And that chargers stop working on them even though they are still perfectly fine. Saves money and saves key trash from our landfills.

[@mickd8188]

I've done this this a number of times myself.. if there is NO puffing of battery and you do exactly as shown, Do Not walk away while on nimh... then change the charger settings back to lipo after those few moments it takes to get battery back up over 3.0v per cell it is All Good. DO EXACTLY as instructed in this footage. Watch this a couple of times if unsure. I wouldn't do it with a completely dead lipo, it's for just being out of voltage balance or range. Cheers 👍

[@RCReviewChannel]

Right. Thank you for the share.

[@mickd8188]

@@RCReviewChannel mate it's cool how you guys are giving the info to people that just haven't got heaps of cash to burn or don't want to on a slightly low battery.

[@ericauchard9]

Thank you. It worked!!!!!!! I had a 3 cell lipo. Did exactly what you said and charged it up to 10 volt. 1 volt higher then 9 (3+3+3) changed the charge back to lipo balance charge and were ready to rock and roll.

[@Micsmit_45]

I play Airsoft, and my HPA needs a small lipo to function. I had been meaning to give it some charge for ages because I hadn't used it in a while. I completely forgot about it until now and of course I need it tomorrow. This just saved my day. Thanks for this.

[@brownie6451]

Thanks!!! I accidently discharged a brand-new battery with a telemetry sensor. You just saved me 50 bucks!

[@cyc00000]

so glad I found this, i've binned quite a few 3 and 4 cell batteries when i've encountered this error. Never again!

[@RCReviewChannel]

Good good. Binning good batteries helps them recover a bit for a possible ressurection.

[@edsherrod5216]

Thank you so much for this video. I had a fast discharger that was going bad trying to discharge batteries that I charged but didn't use for a flying session. I didn't realize the fast discharger was going bad (stopped the discharge cycle before reaching storage charge) until it stopped discharging. I checked the discharged battery on my watt meter and it said 3.93 V. When I tried to charge the battery on my iCharger 106B, the iCharger gave me the "vout Low" message. I changed from lipo to nicad at 7.2V and 2A and turned the charger on. As you said, the charge cycle was fast. After charging on the NiCad setting, the battery (4S 5000 maH) let me charge normally on the Lipo setting. You saved me at least $100 in batteries as I had 3 batteries in this condition.

[@lualrosaal]

Very valuable information. Just saved me a $40 dollar battery that stayed in a truck for I don't know how long and was LOW VOLTAGE. Discovered it when I went to use it again.

[@RCReviewChannel]

There you go!

[@renelozano2163]

You save the day again! Worked perfect, thanks for tips. Nice meeting you at the meet up at Dana Park, turned around and you were gone! Take it easy sir.

[@glasqul]

Tried it now and worked like a charm on a 3s 1300mAh lipo. Thanks a bunch for everything you teach us!

[@josephmorelli3191]

You are the best! Sometimes I watch for entertainment, but other times I watch because I need help. I let my high powered fans run (which I run on a separate 3S) while I was making some “quick” repair on my RC... well, you know the rest. Today I needed help! Thanks!

[@RCReviewChannel]

Happy to help! If it's not fun, the educational part gets lost.

[@A-a-ron01220]

You just saved me. Had a 3s at 1.9v, 2.3v and 2.2v. Managed to get it to 3v a cell and started to balance it. Thank you!

[@LivvyyyyOoooZ]

I had a brand new 2 cell for my transmitter that got left on and was unable to charge it until your video. You are GREATLY APPRECIATED !! Thank you soo much.

[@RCReviewChannel]

You are very welcome

[@skeletorrc2583]

Thank you. Just had my 6s to this to me for the first time today. Never happened before. HTRC c150 charger I always balance charge. Had the error confused by looked the problem up and u helped me. Thank you. It alive again.

[@johnmunday6883]

I am new to Lipo batteries and use an inexpensive charger. Your video saved my batteries, many thanks!!!

[@foundationrepairbear]

Dude your the man like 2 seconds as nimh and plug back balance cord immediately. Started charging again! Thanks brother!

[@Skilpadjie1]

Brilliant. Collected my UDR after work. Came home with brand new 4s. Plugged in got low voltage. As you said tried 10 times just about on each lipo setting. Saw this tip. Tried it. And niw charging

[@CatsScienceClub]

Thank you. I got this before and the Hobby Store said the battery was no good but "would take it off my hands". Bought a new battery and it happened after 3 or 4 uses. Thanks so much for sharing!

[@zeekmx1970]

I'm thrilled you made this video about this. I didn't take these exact steps on a high current connector 5000mah Traxxas Lipo yet I did recover it. Restarting the charge cycle a few times got it going. Bad things happen when you leave your battery connected when not in use.

[@ItzMarcoz]

how did you recover your traxxas battery?

[@josephmorelli3191]

I DID IT AGAIN!!!! I put a WiFi booster…range extender on my radio & it’s powered directly from its own LiPo. Well. I turned off my radio, but didn’t disconnect the LiPo from the booster earlier in the week & killed the LiPo. I found your video the last time I killed a LiPo with a high powered cooling fan. I just couldn’t remember the procedure, so here I am. Gotta say thanks AGAIN! Love all your videos regarding any topic. ALWAY INTERESTING & FUN.

[@davidsalas1407]

It worked! Charged my 3s Lipo battery using the Nimh battery charger setting up to 7volts. Then stopped charging it. Switched back to Lipo balance charging and it started to charge like normal. Thank you!

[@Mckhuus]

Had a 3 cell with two very low cells and this worked. When he says it is fast he was right. It was really fast. So happy I have rescued this battery. Thanks

[@ptmiller98]

Thank you!!!! You saved my packs!!!!! I had an emergency after ripping with my kids and 3 rigs got left on and thrown in the truck!! They were all at 2.00v and I saved them!

[@rodcognito002]

1st time I did it I streatched a extension cord out door in driveway. Just in case.

[@RCReviewChannel]

Right? It's a great hack but when everything is unknown, it's more scary.

[@mattb252]

Thanks for the tip. I was completely paranoid and kept checking!

[@oridan82]

I've just done this myself 😂

[@mikel8367]

My $80 charger said battery disconnect and will not do any thing. I figured battery was too low. I went back to the little USB charger they give with the RC car. Trying it right now seems to be charging. I'll know more if the light goes out that means its done. Great explaining. very helpful. Thank you

[@LEVARIOMIKE]

I forgot to turn off one of my rc's one day and when I went to charge the battery nothing happened. Glad I didn't throw it away yet. Thanks for the info.

[@RCReviewChannel]

Thanks for sharing

[@earlhelm515]

Thank you - It worked - I saved 4 batteries I thought were gone.

Thanks dude! Saved a few 18650 batteries!!! :-D

[@z33tanner]

Thank you so much I had a cell at 2.97 and just saved my battery from the trash.

[@danielb.4205]

Awesome. Had my first dead battery. Forgot to charge, started flying, 10 seconds and the drone was drop dead. Started charging with the Ni... program until I saw the voltage suddenly dropping (almost 9v with a 4s); then I switched to lipo charging without connecting the balance charger thing, since otherwise it would only recognize it as a 2s; (charged with 0.1A, is the lowest I could get); continued until it was able to recognize it as 4s (in between I paused the charging and tried if it was recognized as 4s; at about 13.5V or a bit more it worked. I stopped charging and connected the balance charger thing. Now it is charging slowly. Best: if it gets recognized one time as 4s, start charging and don't stop. I did that and the voltage dropped within a few seconds below 4s level, so had to continue charging without the balance charger connected for some time (few seconds pause vs 2 min charging...)

[@arrmaboy_6508]

Thank you just seen your video right now after about 5 months of being at 0 volts and having to brand new lipos I can use again thank you

[@loum7008]

Ha, RC Review solves another issue for me!!! I tricked my traxxas charger by connecting my traxxas battery with a couple of adapters so it wouldn't see the balanced leads. Thanks again!!!

[@RCReviewChannel]

Thanks for sharing

[@argylluavs6352]

It worked! My ancient Phantom 1 has developed its own AI which included no low battery warning anymore so it zapped the brand-new LiPo. Carried out the charging as suggested, outdoors with temp monitor and a safe exit identified. No problems.

[@toddleavitt3366]

Thank you I bought a lightly used truck and the owner was used to running gas trucks and couldn’t get the batteries to work again. I checked out your video because these batteries were almost new looking and so I saved 1 and it’s charging now. Thank you I am sure the other 2 will be the same issue.

[@Moshpit_Marv]

Francis, I watch every rc show, and hands down, your the most informative and helpful. And I love that you tell it like IT IS! I wish you had an Instagram. Thanks brother man. 🤘

[@RCReviewChannel]

Right on. I only do this a couple hours a day so when I’m able to devote more time on it in the future I should be able to do a lot better job

[@buckey0075]

Thank you.... I think you just saved my brand new 4000 Redline 130C 👍👍👍 was about to call the shop for a replacement

[@SebastianLong]

What I did when I did this a few years ago (battery got down to about 2.7 volts per cell, 3 cell) was buy a cheap balance checker for like $5. Then I took my charger to a safe place away from anything flammable, I connected my lipo checker and the charging cord. Put everything into a metal bucket and put some sand around it. Proceeded to charge it on nihm and payed attention to the lipo checker to make sure the entire battery was charging rather than one cell. This was before I knew you could even do this and I had already counted it as a loss. I just thought if there was any way of saving it, this would be the technique. In the end, it did work, even though on nihm not every cell charged at the same speed. I charged mine up to storage voltage, then I switched to lipo charge. I charged it up till the lowest cell was at 3.85, then I took it off charge. I put the lipo checker in balance mode and checked on the battery every 20 minutes to half hour. It eventually got to the point all cells were at 3.81 volts per cell. After all that, I charged it and used it in an RC that I wouldn't worry about if things went south. That battery is now 2 years old and hasn't been a problem.

[@montesamapping]

I discovered this by myself some months ago and I confirm it works really well ! The battery seems not to be damaged eve if gone for a few time undercharged.

[@andrewc8282]

Great! Saved me some money, at first it didn't work, tried again and I just needed to wait longer when NIMH charging

[@RCReviewChannel]

Really great to hear. How long did you have to wait.?

[@troglodyte968]

Thanks for the help I tried it and my battery did start charging and hopefully it should hold up

[@matusknives]

This really saved my ass. I forgot my brand new Reaction 2 800 mAh 2s battery overnight in the Losi JRX2 mini - and this morning the Gens Ace IMARS II Pro charger showed me cell voltages 0.89 (!) and 1.3 V respectively. Obviously, the charge would refuse to charge the battery. But it would even refuse to charge it as NiMH (6s) because of the extremely low voltage. So I turned to my Gens ACE Dual IMARS - that one recognises NiMH cells automatically - and somehow was it willing to start charging it as NiMH - and it indeed took just a few seconds and then I was able to proceed charging it as LiPo.

[@rvlyssup]

Just happened to me right now...3s Ovonic went really low, 3rd cell was at 1.88. The other 2 were 2.75 and 2.62. This method worked like a charm

[@RCReviewChannel]

First tip is free!!

[@barjab9]

I used some "not smart" charger to do this but NiMH mode is smart trick. Thanks!

[@twoteccs2twoteccs287]

Thank you !!!!!

[@MrDexi87]

NiCd mode too 😀

[@czechnolike]

You saved me so much time with this "hack", I can't believe it. Going to post it to some facebook forums! Probably have to buy something from you now.

[@RCReviewChannel]

You’re welcome. This is the reason we do we do. We share so others can save money and enjoy the hobby more.

[@mattvesta5721]

Thanks so much, for traxxas Charger, press several times the start button until it runs..., with other lipos just connect without the balance connector and charge as nihm. I’ve just came up with 4 new lipos

[@jbarton361]

Thank you!! saved me $100.00 on a 6s, Great channel, I enjoy your straight forward approach to things.

[@BSwayze]

Thank you so much! Worked like a charm on my 2s. Charged it to 6.2v Nimh unplugged and charged as LiPo 👍

[@philiprogers4071]

Thank you for saving my spektrum 3s. I thought I had set the esc right but obviously not. Thnx again, you saved me £90.....

[@tema_buraz9029]

thank you so much dude, i had a battery sit around and not get used and now when i tried to charge i kept on getting the "low voltage" error, i didn't even know this problem existed

[@davekirby7963]

Fantastic. I’m new to Airsoft and left a brand new LiFe battery in the gun after a game, which discharge to 1.6V per cell. Followed this advice and all good. Thanks!

[@RCReviewChannel]

so good to hear.

[@Holyfield3008]

Thank you so very much! After watching your video, I quickly ran up stairs to initiate the test! Wow! Really wish I had known about this sooner! Would have saved hundreds of $$$$. Wow! So happy! Thanks again for this info!

[@RCReviewChannel]

So glad to hear it. Nothing hurts more than to throw away new batteries.

[@crashandburncomputers1543]

Thanks for sharing this. I had a Titan digital charger and my 11.1v was giving "Er1" which is low voltage. I used my 7.w/e nimh charger to "jumpstart" it and within say 2 mins it was reading voltages of each cell on the Titan charger. Now it's charging. Hope this helps someone with the same issue good luck googling this error.

[@leefordham7190]

I bow to your knowledge. Thanks so much for enlightening me on lipo mistakes as a newb to lipo. Very much appreciated. 👍🏻

[@RCReviewChannel]

Glad to help

[@Fats-yg1jd]

Dam man that info saved me about $250 !!!! Wow I love your channel!!!

[@rpr-wooli8320]

Awesome video! Saved my last 4s lipo till my new ones come in!🙌🏼

[@RCReviewChannel]

Glad I could help! This trick will usually work if the light posts are still good good

[@beyondthecutcreations9391]

Worked in under 2 min on a $100 “Smart Battery”, 3s lipo that was down to 2.5 volts, charging now in lipo mode hopefully I can get it up and going later. Warranty replacement is a week out. Thanks for the video.

[@RCReviewChannel]

Nice work!

[@beyondthecutcreations9391]

So far keeping a good balance between all cells, depleted packs down 2/3 doing speed runs. Recharged twice so far, performing just as it should. So glad I didn’t just toss it. Just so surprised a 3s with each cell less than .85 volts is back up and running. Thanks again.

[@zqzj]

@@beyondthecutcreations9391 wow, that's amazing you were able to recover with such low voltage!

[@beyondthecutcreations9391]

@@zqzj and to think I was going to toss it.. all thanks to this video it was saved.

[@scotterwin2901]

I use an old DuraTrax Ice Lipo charger that doesn't do balance charging to do the same thing. I never thought about using NiHM setting on my newer chargers.....good stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[@paulb9015]

Thanks for this great advice it has saved my 4s lipo that I ran down too low. And now it charges just fine now.

[@RCReviewChannel]

Glad it helped

[@chris-ip4pk]

Spot on,saved mine,took 15 seconds .

[@ryanmyers4681]

I would like to thank you for figuring this out. I ordered 2 4s batteries from a great company and one came with 2 cells below 2 volts. Wouldn’t charge. Watched your video and holy shit it worked. Going to charge it to full balance and then discharge it to Storage mode. Hopefully the cycles will make it work again

[@ShenRC]

Hi great info ... here is a tip you never want to charge low voltage lipo cells at that high of a charge rate you want to set your charger to the lowest charge rate possible when doing this to be safe 10MA 50MA. not good at 1 and 2 amps or more.

[@RCReviewChannel]

Great advice Shen.

[@ShenRC]

@@RCReviewChannel😁👍 Your welcome.

[@wiscolureaddict3435]

Thanks for the video. Saved a brand new battery for me, I was not aware I needed to unplug it after every use 😅

[@Chris-B-Bassin]

It worked! Put my 6s battery on storage charge forgot until the next day 🙃 I kept trying to NIMH charge it with balance port connected I'm so used to using it lol thank you

[@RCReviewChannel]

Great to hear. 6S batteries are expensive

[@Chris-B-Bassin]

@@RCReviewChannel yes sir, I really appreciate it

[@jameseveritt6728]

You are a life saver. Going out tomorrow and only had one controller battery

[@primeminister7885]

Just wanted to say thanks for your accurate Information. I was a little distraught when I saw that low voltage error 👍🏾

[@CdnGulfa]

Fantastic! worked as advertised...thanks for the upload

[@brentallen3179]

Done this a couple times now after leaving battery plugged in with direct power servos 🤦‍♂️ great tip! Saved mine both times like this 👍🏻

[@eugeniogoncalves9834]

Hi, thank you very much for this tip. Really thank you I just saved 2 batteries thanks to you. Have a good day.

[@VioletAllen-zg7xb]

Thank you very much for your information it was very useful I bought a expensive rc car and your video helped me with my batteries

[@Demonanimator]

I'm glad this solved my issue. I am mad it ran me almost $60 plus the extra 3 I bought previous just to have a proper charger however

[@albert84apj]

Thank you very much brotha, just saved my lipo thanx to your video 🙌

[@RCPropaganda]

Yes just worked. I had a 4s pack do this and this worked. I was wonder why it would happen battery is not very old. Thanks.

[@oisin1980]

Fantastic. You saved my battery. Genius chemistry. Thank you so much. 🤗🤗🤗

[@georgerushing253]

Thank you for this video. I was able to recover my dead lipos and they've be holding there storage levels!!! You've got a new subscriber!!!

[@Swietlik-j7c]

Simple yet helpful tip. Thanks i save lot of money that way.

[@CarminesRCTipsandTricks]

GOOD ADVICE Francis!! I've never been there.... Yet. However, I only have three Batteries, and can't afford more... I always Balance Charge them! I spent the money on a good Charger. My Family depends on it! But it's good to know that if I ever get a low voltage Cell, and it's not puffed or warm, that there's hope to save it! Thanks! 😉 Carmine ✈🚂🚙

[@dronemania23]

Very helpful video. This is why we are where we are today because we can share our knowledge everywhere, Thank you for the video

[@RCReviewChannel]

Glad it was helpful! This helps everyone all around if we can prevent dumping very usable batteries.

[@tonywright8103]

Thanks so much for the information it was very helpful, I revived my 6s battery while watching your video you should do a 2022 version of this video or 2023 version.... Im definitely a new subscriber thank you sir...

[@zipppiz]

This just saved my small FMS lipo, Thanks 🙏

[@Venomator.]

Thank you, found your channel and your experience has saved my 6S Lipo, which had a couple of very low cells after sitting at storage level for a few months. These low ones prevented my charger from kick starting them under normal mode. They are back up to full balanced now, achieved with no issues, after following your advice and with me watching them closely throughout... 👀 🧐 Thank you much... ✅ 🔋 🐍

[@RCReviewChannel]

Glad I could help

[@puto6900]

Can you please explain, I have a 6s also and I’m afraid I’ll messed up. Thanks

[@Venomator.]

Eddie Mendoza Hi Eddie, what’s to explain sir? I watched the video and just followed the advice given to recover a couple, one in particular, of potentially duff cells in my pack. Having done so, all cells are now still balanced fairly well and retaining their charge. I do re-balance charge every couple of months and occasionally take them down to storage level... 👍🏻😉

[@rcdabbler]

Thanks for the info! All I needed was knowing to use NiMH to jump start a low cell(s). I had a really nice SMC Racing 3S LiPO (must've cost $75 or more, new) which died on me for unknown reasons. One of the 3 cells had dropped to

[@MadHatterND]

It worked. You are absolutely brilliant! Thank you.

[@rcracer3235]

you are the best it worked like a charm however I ordered a new battery just to be safe.

[@austinmonteith8707]

Heck yeah I just recovered 2 batteries!!! Thank you for this amazing video!! I just wished I found this a few batteries ago haha

[@RCCinematic]

Crazy, just played in the snow and one battery went under voltage. Thanks for the video!