Circuit Board guys - is this leaking electrolyte or glue or...?

[Brian]

Birthday was Saturday, and had several folks in the extended family pool together to buy me a drone/RC helicopter. Cool.

But since then I've had nothing but problems with it. Only managed to get it up and in the air once or twice, and only for maybe 2-3 mins each time. The LiPo battery charger has been problematic. I watched a bunch of youtube videos to make sure i'm charging the battery correctly, but it's just throwing what appear to be error codes at me most of the time, and the online error codes don't match what the manual says. It's been plugged in for about 8 hours now, and is still blinking red between the 2s and charge lights. Should have been more than enough time to drain that cell if it needed to balance.

I opened up the charger tonight to take a look, as some of the online "help" videos suggested some sort of a blown fuse channel, but I don't see anything like that.

However, there's this yellow gunk that shows up in two places, I am assuming it's some sort of glue or something but at least one of the locations is at the base of a capacitor.

Anybody able to identify this gunk? Am I good here, or bad? Tops of the caps don't appear to be bulging that I can see.

http://i.imgur.com/Fgyv9mM.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/EkvxStV.jpg?1

[00tec]

Glue.
When I see caps that are to the point of leaking, theyre swollen.

[ben4372]

I think that glue looks normal. If I were trouble shooting I'd try the battery first. Lithiums are funny. They may have been over discharged or bad from the factory. You could check output volts from the charger. Or just call the manufacturer.

[thvigil11]

Circuit boards work because they are filled with magical smoke. The problem is that if you let out the magical smoke, electricity no longer works.

Looks to me like glue. Shouldn't be part of the issue.

Or it's Chinese splooge.

[Brian]

Thx, that's what I thought. I'm back to mystery land then.
Best part of my troubleshooting was finding out how common it was for these LiPo batteries to explode and cause a huge fire. Fun times!

[Holger Danske]

swollen caps are bad. I cant tell it that is glue or leaky caps. The caps look to be through hole meaning there are holes in the pcb that the cap leads go through and then they are soldered on the back. With that connection they dont usually add glue. If the battery and everything else checks out then I would suspect the caps.

[Snowman78]

"common it was for these LiPo batteries to explode and cause a huge fire. Fun times!"
I have been in RC for over 11 years, I have NEVER had a lipo explode. I have even tryed to get them to explode. So don't worry to much about it. If you know anyone who has a good RC battery charger you can try to have them charge the battery. It sounds like the problem may be the battery.

[SideShow Bob]

Somebody spooged all over the board before closing it up at the factory...........

Now that you broke the factory seal on the charger, the warranty if any is void.

[BPTactical]

"Haha, we make round eye crazy with monkey spunk on circuit board......"












Or its a "potting compound/sealant"

[BushMasterBoy]

Just so you know, tonight I was working on a geiger counter with a 3.6 volt lithium battery (AA type) and I pulled the positive electrode of the battery out about a 1/4".

The battery started hissing and emitting a foul odor. I immediately threw the battery out in the front yard.

According to the voltmeter the battery was dead. This is a special battery with leads welded to the ends, I wanted to salvage the leads to attach a new battery that had no leads. Screw this...it is going back to the manufacturer. Be careful, I understand that lithium batteries can explode or catch fire if there is a problem with the battery or the circuit it supplies power to.

http://components.about.com/od/Components/a/Liionsafety.htm

[brutal]

Glue

Leaky Electrolyte would be wet and greasy if fresh or dark and discolored if dried.

Inspect the solder side of the board for annular cracks at the component solder joints.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads19/11312918253.jpg

[Brian]

Somebody spooged all over the board before closing it up at the factory...........

Now that you broke the factory seal on the charger, the warranty if any is void.

There was no factory seal, just 4 screws. ;)

[Brian]

Going to see if I can contact the seller and see what they're willing to do for me.

[Duman]

"Haha, we make round eye crazy with monkey spunk on circuit board......"


Or its a "potting compound/sealant"


[ROFL2][bad-banana][Ban1][Ban2]

[Duman]

It looks like glue from a hot-glue gun.

Lithium batteries are not to be messed with, they require a charger specifically for Li batteries. The commercial Li batteries used in oil/gas exploration contain other chemicals that, when exposed, will rip out your lungs.