Finding out voltage of the Karma battery using a multimeter

Mokuluanui · Dec 24, 2019

Is there a chart of the contacts on the Karma battery that we can use a multimeter to check battery voltage? I would like to know the actual voltage and not just use the lights.

kcharuso · Dec 24, 2019

mine is 14.85

Mokuluanui · Dec 25, 2019

kcharuso said:
mine is 14.85

Great Kcharuso, but how did you measure that?

kcharuso · Dec 26, 2019

Mokuluanui said:
Great Kcharuso, but how did you measure that?

i bought one off my friend as it did not charged thinking i can fix it. i couldn't so i took it apart and measured stright from the terminals going into the control board from battery. however, terminals from the control board to the three sockets to the drone read zero volt. the board was bad and there is no way of fixing it. ill post pictures tomorrow to clearify the issue.

Mokuluanui · Dec 26, 2019

I tried testing the middle and the side terminal, but got no reading.

kcharuso · Dec 27, 2019

there are black&red wire from the battery going into the board and out to the connector where it will interface with the drone. i haven't take any reading from the connector itself. i just went straight to the lead power wires.

kcharuso · Dec 27, 2019

here are few pictures of the battery...

image.jpg

drive.google.com

IMG_20191227_202745.jpg

drive.google.com

JCLs · Dec 27, 2019

Pictures as taken do not help much. The circuit card is part of a built in balance battery charger. One contact is common or ground, usually on an end of a connector but I have never seen a need to check a Karma battery yet. One contact is the main which is the other end of the battery cells, or battery pack, in series. The other contacts are individual cells. If using a volt meter, or a meter set to DC volts, you cannot short anything out as long as you touch each test lead to only one cell at a time. Depending on charge level the full pack will read around 14-16 volts and each cell around 3.5 to 4 volts. If you read nothing you are on 2 cell leads or a cell to main lead.

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kcharuso · Dec 27, 2019

JCLs said:
Pictures as taken do not help much. The circuit card is part of a built in balance battery charger. One contact is common or ground, usually on an end of a connector but I have never seen a need to check a Karma battery yet. One contact is the main which is the other end of the battery cells, or battery pack, in series. The other contacts are individual cells. If using a volt meter, or a meter set to DC volts, you cannot short anything out as long as you touch each test lead to only one cell at a time. Depending on charge level the full pack will read around 14-16 volts and each cell around 3.5 to 4 volts. If you read nothing you are on 2 cell leads or a cell to main lead.

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i know the pictures don't help much and I didn't expexted to but there is a valid reason i took the pictures and dissembled the battery like so.

JCLs · Dec 27, 2019

Gee wiz, didn’t mean to offend so easily. Somebody kept asking how to check voltage and was worried about shorting something out. Pictures dud not help with that. Just tried to help. Will refrain in future. Too many weirdos on here. Happy New Year.

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Mokuluanui · Jan 4, 2020

Mokuluanui said:
Is there a chart of the contacts on the Karma battery that we can use a multimeter to check battery voltage? I would like to know the actual voltage and not just use the lights.

As a follow up, I did contact Go Pro about the use of a multimeter and they sent me a MSDS sheet on the battery. It didn't help much but there was a line in the sheet that warned about the use of a multimeter.

JCLs · Jan 4, 2020

If you know anything about multimeters the current function creates a way for current to flow thru the meter and if the lead is placed across two opposite poles of a lipo it just like a dead short. Nice warning, is very true.

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Kurtis357 · Mar 24, 2020

kcharuso said:
there are black&red wire from the battery going into the board and out to the connector where it will interface with the drone. i haven't take any reading from the connector itself. i just went straight to the lead power wires.

Black and white

Mikec92117 · Apr 18, 2020

The pictures of the batteries seem to have been deleted. Can those be put back up? I would really like to see what they look like inside. I am wondering if as my batteries age if it will be possible to replace the cells in it to extend the life of my drone.

kgray9 · Dec 6, 2021

Hi all.

I know this is kind of an old thread, but this might be useful for anyone else with the same question.

After thoroughly taking apart a battery, I have figured out how to test the battery with a multimeter. When facing the battery port, the whole left port is positive, the whole middle on is negative and I'm not sure what the right port is but I think it has something to do with cell voltages.

I took mine apart because it wouldn't charge. Now I'm using the plain cells for a DIY drone I made.

FYI, Taking the casing and extras off the cells drops 100 grams of weight.

webbs · Dec 22, 2021

kgray9 said:
Hi all.

I know this is kind of an old thread, but this might be useful for anyone else with the same question.

After thoroughly taking apart a battery, I have figured out how to test the battery with a multimeter. When facing the battery port, the whole left port is positive, the whole middle on is negative and I'm not sure what the right port is but I think it has something to do with cell voltages.

I took mine apart because it wouldn't charge. Now I'm using the plain cells for a DIY drone I made.

FYI, Taking the casing and extras off the cells drops 100 grams of weight.

Do you have any steps for pulling apart the battery? With the 3DR Solo there is a procedure to pull apart the battery and replace the cells and then you can reused the battery and this is something i would like to look at doing with the Karma.