iCharger 106B+ parallel charging Turnigy nantoche 300mAh - Urgent help needed

[flying_dude]

Good afternoon helpful people of RCHeliaddicts,

I am afraid that I must ask yet another question. I hope there will come a time when I'll be able to repay my dept to the community.

Anyway, I purchased a new iCharger 106B+ and Junsi P350 power supply. I bought parallel charging lead for 6 MCPX batteries and I'm expecting a postie to bring me 12 Turnigy Nanotechs 300mAh any minute now. I always only charged my lipo's with the cheap chargers and never had anything as sophisticated as the 106B+.

Could you please help me to get my head around this? I don't want to spoil things and damage the batteries. I have compiled a list of a few Q's I have in regards to the charging procedure and general battery use. I will greatly appreciate any help on the subject. I don't feel confident to begin charging before I learn more as it seems stupid to get this wrong just being hasty. I don't need charger specific instruction as I will read (doing it now) the instruction manual. I rather look for values and general pointers. As always, thank you very much.

1. I learnt that when parallel charging it is best to keep the charge rate at 1C (x * 0.3A where x= number of batteries being charged) Is this correct or can I take it further for a fast recharge when there is a need for it?

2. Is there any specific advisable procedure for a new battery? (I have a quality charger for my AA's and I use a special break-in program) What I mean to ask, do I charge new batteries slower/faster/one at the time/do I need to discharge them first? How many cycles before going for some sort of standard routine? When it comes to flying my MCPX and new batteries, should I take it easy for first few charges or is it ok to use the whole pack? What sort of flight time to aim for with nano's? What to begin with and what to once they get "broken-in"? Bear in mind I am learning so it is slow flying at low(ish) throttle and no 3D.

3.What sort of values to set on the charger? Do I set a single cell at x A where x=300mAh*number of cells?

4. Anything I am missing?

I know, I know. Many questions again. Any feedback will be greatly valued. Thank you. BTW, don't feel obliged to answer my points, general run down of the procedure in your own words will work as well

[barney]

The safest and easiest way is to get a EP Buddy Paraboard. The one supplied is not suitable for parallel charging. The Paraboard has BOTH the battery connector and balance connector on one board. Note you must use the same cell count packs and connect to the correct balance plug. i.e 3S and 3S on the board etc.

For 1c charge...If its 2 x 2000Mha packs you set the charge rate on the 106b to 4amp as it sees this as one large 3s 4000Mha pack.

Brian

[robgt]

Midlands sell the parallel charging boards
You can fast recharge in parallel, as long as your LiPos are ok with that.
Break in new packs with gentle cycles to begin with. Use about half the capacity for the first few runs, then work up to 80%.
Your manual should hopefully give you some indication of what to program on your charger, based on what you are charging.
Cheers,
Rob

[matty-boy]

OK, so you've got a charging setup capable of 10amps and 250watts and you've also got a parallel charge lead for you mCPx batteries right?

1. Correct. It is best to charge at 1C so if charging 6x 300mAh batts, you'd set the charger to 1.8A. Personally, given how rediculously cheap the nano-tech batteries are, I tend to charge at 1amp per battery o 6A which works out to be 3.33C. From a power point of view you're only using around 25W so well within the capabilities of your charger and PSU. I can charge 6 batts in approx 15 mins. Nice.

2. For the first few cycles: Charge at no more than 1C. Don't discharge past 80% capacity - probably aim for more like 60% to begin with?. Try not to spank the batts too much in use. With gentle circuits you can get around 6-7 mins if the ambient temp is warm. I've been doing a lot of flips and transitioning from right way up to inverted so have been sticking to 5 mins per batt - 6 batts x 5 mins = 30 mins flying time and it only takes 15 mins to charge back up again :-D

3. Yep, connecting in parallel means the charger sees a single, larger capacity cell (1S6P). If you were to connect in series, it would see 6x 300mAh cells (6S1P). Set the charger to 1S (3.7V) and 1.8A for a 1C charge when connected in parallel.

4. When connecting the batteries together using the parallel board, the general consensus is to ensure they're within 0.1V of each other otherwise the massive current flow where a higher charged batteries instantly 'tops up' the charge of a lower charged batt could melt the wires/circuits of the parallel board. E.G. imagine connecting a batt at 4.2V and a batt at 3.2V. The charge from the 4.2V batt will 'instantly' equalise with the other batt so they're both now at 3.7V (my maths might not be right as I'm no electronics expert but you get the picture) which results in a very large current which could melt connectors/wires/tracks. As a side note, if you were using bigger batts (3S, 6S, whatever) for a bigger heli, you should always connect the main charge leads before the balance leads as these can handle a much higher current so will cope better if you were to connect batts of different charge states.

You probably already know that you should never leave lipos unattended while charging and don't charge near anything flammable (curtains etc). It's best to charge with the batts on concrete or in a flame resistant container like an ammo box or lipo charge safe bag like these.

Let me know if you have any specific questions with regards to the charger as I have the iCharger 206b which I guess is very similar (in fact I think all chargers are pretty similar when it comes to how you configure and set them up!).

Hope this helps,
Matt.

[cjcj1949]

Parallel charging is really for people who understand volts and amps. What Matt says is correct, but I wouldn't advise anyone to parallel charge unless they know what they are doing. Following rules isn't really good enough especially when you have a faulty battery in the mix or you find that one of your batteries isn't plugged in. Someone did notice that one of his batteries wasn't plugged in until the end of charging. He then pushed in the connector and connected a flat battery to all the other charged ones. I'm not sure what happened next, but not something anyone would want to predict. Even the small batteries generate a lot of smoke and heat.

[flying_dude]

Thank you for the hints and tips. I've been charging happily for a few days already. Been crashing a lot too