Battery charging : any signs of life?

[Marc Browne]

Just opened up my 3DR solo out of the box.
Setting it all up.
Charging controller and battery while I meticulously read the instructions and assemble the gimbal.

My Q: When charging your Solo battery (the lithium batt) are there any indications it's ACTUALLY charging? I'm concerned as it's been plugged in now for about 30 - 40 mins and neither the adapter (the thing with the green light) nor the battery itself are even slightly warm. That seems odd.
The green light is solid on the adapter but no other indications anything is happening.

I put the battery in the solo about 10 mins ago (because my impatience was killing me) and tried to power up but got nothing. I just assumed it had no charge... so back in it went to charge.
What's worrying is, as stated, I'm seeing no real signs of anything. Should it be warm? Should a light come on?

Could it have been completely drained and I need to charge for several hours before getting anything out of it?

Newbie here. Be gentle.

Marc

 

[Don H.]

Yes there is an LED bar on the Solo battery that should come on, flash and show charge progress.
Try a different battery if you have one. If that doesn't work suspect the charger.

 

[SARDG]

I've got 4 Solos and 10 bats. Have never opened a new Solo or bat that didn't have some charge on it - perhaps 3 LEDs or so. Ergo, I would suspect the battery as it (normally) shouldn't have needed any charge out of the box (to light up - not necessarily to fly).

 

[pyrate]

what happens when you press the little button on the battery?

 

[Marc Browne]

Well, I went out and bought a brand new battery to troubleshoot / test and.... It was the battery that shipped with the drone. Deader than a door nail.

I hope I can return JUST a battery without having to ship the whole drone. But that's another story.

Thanks all for the tips and comments.
Marc

 

[WindyTX]

I just exchanged the battery that came with my drone at best buy for a new one it was 25% down in flight time compared to the other 2. I bought the drine and the spares at Best buy and they were happy to do it.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

 

[PdxSteve]

They don't track serial numbers on batteries, so you can return the defective one to best buy in the box the new one came in.

 

[Marc Browne]

Thanks for the tips but I live in Denmark and ordered from Amazon.uk

Well it was a Christmas gift

 

[PdxSteve]

Well just don't try to return the defective one to 3dr if you can help it unless they'll swap just the battery. They usually want the entire package returned (solo/controller/battery/gimbal).