multi charging for mCPx Lipo's - what charger?

[Gecko501]

Hi guys, I only have a mCPx at the moment and no plans to spend cash on a all you can do charger until I decide what my next heli will be. I do however want to buy something that can charge more than one Lipo at a time. In an ideal world I would chuck my mCPx lipo’s on charge Friday night head off to bed pick them up in the morning and head out for a fly

I was looking at the Celectra 4-Port 1-Cell but really I have no idea why. Can somebody explain the basics in that I should be looking for in a charger and post a few shopping links to what you recommend

Thanks all

[Gecko501]

I bought an extra battery lead yesterday thinking I might try charge two batteries off the stock charger but still keen to get something that I can charge upto 4 batteries all at once with the option of a quick charge or a slow 'overnight' charge.

I really just need somebody to explain the basics of charging… i.e. the stock battery for the mCPX is a 200mAh 1S 3.7V 25C so…
1. What does the 200mAh mean
2. What does 1S mean
3. 3.7V is obvious
4. What does the 25C mean
5. If you change any of the above (i.e. buy a new battery) what effect does it have on your mCPx… i.e. faster more power or just longer flight times??
6. When charging batteries what are the basics that you want a charger to do? ie discharging, min/max voltages, auto cut off ???

Any advice on what I should be looking for is much appreciated. I was looking for a sticky on this but couldn't find one...

cheers all

[animal47]

The charger you have linked in your first post will not work as that is designed for msr/mcx type batteries which have a different connection.
Your best bet is to get some nano tech 300mah 30c batteries and if you dont mind waiting a while then get them from hobbyking as i bought 6 of them along with a multi charge lead for around £16 delivered.
You are really going to need another charger though, i use an imax b6 which is perfectly well up to the job and can be picked up cheaply.
1. mah is battery capacity ie higher mah means longer runtime and normally the higher the mah the bigger the battery so you have to go careful not to go too big.
2. 1s=1cell
4. 25c is about the discharge rate and higher means more power (i think)
5. The nano tech are way more powerful and give longer run times than the stock batteries.

[Syclick]

This site is well worth a read if you are new to lipos.

If you don't treat them right they can be very dangerous at worst and won't last long at best.

Understanding RC LiPo Batteries

[Gecko501]

This site is well worth a read if you are new to lipos.

If you don't treat them right they can be very dangerous at worst and won't last long at best.

Understanding RC LiPo Batteries

Thanks Syclick that is a very good site that I think every noobs should read...

Top tips for me were...
1. If you want more flight time; increase the capacity of your battery pack ie your mah value
2. “C” rating. = Discharge rate is simply how fast a battery can be discharged safely. buy higher if you can afford it.
3. OVER DISCHARGING - THE NUMBER ONE KILLER OF LIPO'S!!!
4. A 3.7 volt RC LiPo battery cell is 100% charged when it reaches 4.2 volts. Charging it past that will ruin the battery cell & possibly cause it to catch fire
5. Balancing is only required on LiPo batteries that have more than one cell
6. You are likely ok to store a fully charged RC LiPo battery at room temperature for up to 4 days without doing much damage. store cold if you can.


so with this in mind whats the best charger for my mCPx... if i want to charge more that one battery at a time say 4 batteries does this mean i treat them like 4S or 4 x 1S batteries. my assumption is that the charger will tell me the answer???

[Syclick]

If you use a good charger like the Cellpro4 (an excellent charger) it will auto-detect the optimum charge rate - although you can over-ride this.
My tip is to charge at the lowest rate you can whenever time permits - and this is especially true of new packs as the internal chemistry settles down.
Some makes claim a higher charge rate - but they won't last as long. IC max is a good rule ... that is 0.3amp for a 300 mAh batt for eg. 2.2Amp for a 2200mAh one.
If you are in a hurry at the field the extra charge rate might be handy though.

[Rich_H]

Hi,
as animal pointed out, the best bet is the turnigy nanotech 30C mcpx batteries from hobbyking @ £3.10 each
HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : Turnigy nano-tech 300mah 1S 35c Lipo Pack (Suit Blade mCPx)

and if you buy the charging lead @ 69p it will simulataneously charge 6 batteries.

HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : 2 Pin JST to 6 x E-Flight Ultra Micro plug Charging Harness

obviously you will need a charger to do this but as you are only charging 1S a fairly cheap one would suffice. my advice however would be to futureproof a little on chargers and buy something that will charge up to 6S

such as:

HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : Turnigy Accucel-6 50W 6A Balancer/Charger w/ accessories

which is very much like the Imax B6 chargers that i use.

One word of warning though, LIPO's really shouldn't be charged unattended, yes I know these are only 1S and would probably struggle to burn down your house but it IS a slippery slope and LIPO's should be treated with respect. I don't charge any lipo unattended irrespective of the cell count, it just isn't worth the risk.

Rich

[animal47]

Parallel charge lead which would be charged as 1s and you add up the mah of your batteries, these do not balance the cells so you would need to be sure that they are all of a similar state of discharge before attempting to charge.
1 to 6 Cells Parallel Charge Cable for E-Flite MCP X | eBay
Serial charge lead where you would charge at 3s but only charge at the mah of one battery, this is what i use as it also balances the cells so you dont have to worry so much about having the batteries the same when you charge them.
Blade mcpx Charging Cable for 3 batteries, requires 3S balance charger, mcp x | eBay

[Rich_H]

these do not balance the cells so you would need to be sure that they are all of a similar state of discharge before attempting to charge.

Blade mcpx Charging Cable for 3 batteries, requires 3S balance charger, mcp x | eBay

Actually that's a good point, if the level of discharge wasn't the same across the batteries being parallel charged there is indeed an increased risk of overcharging at least one of the cells.

3 cells balanced charged would be a much better way of charging these 1S cells in multiples.

Rich

[Gecko501]

Yes I think I will get a load of nanotech 's and start using them as soon as my current batteries die.... which they will because I didn't know about the 80% rule until well after a few days flying! oops!

I have a feeling that if and when I get a bigger heli it will be a 500 size but that is more than a year away at this stage considering the missus knows what I have spent already! 2nd oops!
That said are you saying the Turnigy charger will future proof me for a 500 and it only cost $22.99. I dont think that sounds right to me.

With so many chargers on the market its hard to compare them as I dont yet understand the Tech specs. So I am tempted to buy any charger that does what I "currently" need (pun intended) as knowing me I will end up with one of those PL8 chargers next year!

Options so far are the Turnigy and the Cellpro4 ... any others?

[Rich_H]

Hi Charles,

I use 5S 3000Mah 30C cells on my 500, I charge normally at 1C so as long as the charger is good for 3A at 5S then your'e good. most 50W chargers do this easily. I use the IMAX B6 and to be fair have 4 of them but iv'e had them a fair while now and they have been great. If yo have tons of budget then great, buy something really nice, but if not then something like the B6 will see you up to 6S, albeit with a 1C charge rate. I'm probably going to swap mine for a 4x6S 400W during this year but only so that it will take up less room on the bench - I don't charge at the field.

Rich

[Gecko501]

thanks Rich

are you suggesting to go for the Turnigy that you linked earlier over the IMAX B6, price difference doesn't seem much. Also the link that you posted for the cable is that the right cable to balance charge the mcpx battries? or is that only for parallel charging? I think my head is close to exploding now!

[Rich_H]

Hi Charles,
The IMAX B6 is a good solid charger, the cheaper turnigy one will do exactly the same thing but it is a 'clone' of the B6 and therefore (as usual) cheaper, either will charge up to 6S which is quite a serious pack size. The downside to these cheaper chargers is the wattage as it limits any charge current to 5 AMPS, though again still a reasonable current -so you could balance charge a 5000 mAH 6S battery pack at 1C (5A).

whilst 1C is the ideal charge rate for most LIPO cells a large number of the newer cells can be charged at up to 5C to decrease charge times, however it would require a substantially higher wattage charger and may well decrease cell life.

back to the harness then, you would be better off going for the balance charge lead as opposed to the parallel version simply because it would be less risky if the individual cells being charged were at a different level of discharge. Balance charging would simply reduce the supplied current to the least charged cell and there would be very little risk of a mishap during the charging process. sorry if i'm teaching my granny to suck eggs here.


this charge lead is the better option:

Blade mcpx Charging Cable for 3 batteries, requires 3S balance charger, mcp x | eBay

hope that helps.

Rich

[Gecko501]

Hey when a noob expect to be spoken to as one! I'm not going to learn any other way and actually I really appreciate your input!

My finger is close to the trigger now..... for the IMAX B6 , 3S lead and 6x turnigy nanotech 30C mcpx batteries all for around $60

What’s the delivery time and P&P like from HH and do I need to get anything else for this?

[animal47]

My most recent purchase from hk took around 3 weeks but have had stuff within a week before now. P+P is very good considering where its coming from but as you are ordering a fair amount you may get stung for import duty.