new to lipo batteries

[pxr5]

i was looking for some quick tips on lipo batteries, some things my manual doesnt explain.

i just bought a belt cp and first thing ive done is connected the battery and flown it until it cant stay up anymore then ive put the battery on charge then i had to stop it after 30 minutes then carry on and im waiting for this green light to stay on meaning its charged, what i wanna know is does this esky balance charger tell you when the battery is full even if you stop and start the charging, or does it simply charge for a specific period assuming the battery is discharged? also how can i know ive discharged it enough or too much?

thanks a lot guys ive got a lot of catching up to do, im really impressed with the belt cp though and that idle switch scared the crap out of me.

[Ashley Davis]

well, you probably killed your lipo on it's first flight.......you never fly till they stop.

[pxr5]

no i mean i flew until it dropped not stopped.

[pxr5]

ive done research before i even ordered it and i know you shouldnt discharge below 3v and you should always leave around 40% charge in the battery if not being used but i need to know if this charger picks up where it left of when charging if i need to stop the charging at some point.

[Dashik]

E-Sky charger is complete pants. I got a better charger and recharge the battery's in about an hour each. Do ourself a favour and get a better charger.

I use an Imax B5 Li-Po balance charger. About £40 if you look about and I also got a mains PSU around £40 the Ripmax Propeak, but you'd be better with Dual output one and two chargers.

In the meantime leave the charger running until the light changes.

[Ashley Davis]

no i mean i flew until it dropped not stopped.

hmm, better but still not good. Work out when you can hear the headspeed drop and then land.

[pxr5]

E-Sky charger is complete pants. I got a better charger and recharge the battery's in about an hour each. Do ourself a favour and get a better charger.

In the meantime leave the charger running until the light changes.

is it normal to go over 2 hours though? i had to stop it after a while then plugged it in again and im wondering if the charger is just assuming ive plugged in a dead battery and charging for another 2 hours. the battery is cold too.

[pxr5]

hmm, better but still not good. Work out when you can hear the headspeed drop and then land.

i need to get used to the characteristics of it its a lot different to the fixed pitch. flies really nice though much more stable than i expected for its size.

[Dashik]

The E-Sky charger charges at something like 500 Mah, So a 2000 Mah Battery will take 4 hours to charge.

[pxr5]

The E-Sky charger charges at something like 500 Mah, So a 2000 Mah Battery will take 4 hours to charge.

you're right its just finished and it was about 4 hours. the manual says "do not charge for more than 120 minutes" so thats why i panic.

im now looking for a charger/discharger/tester/balancer if you can get all that in one unit. ive heard you can charge lipos in 30 minutes.

[Dashik]

You still have to be very careful, Only very high quality (expensive) LiPo's allow charging at multiples of C I.e if its a 2200 then you need to charge it at 2200. Apparently charging at more than 1.5C,3300 in this case,can cause problems with potentially disasterous results (explosion or fire's) read up on LiPo's and their care before you try to rapid charge them.

As I said I use an Imax B5 that I sourced for £40 ish and it balance charges my LiPo's in an hour or so and I'm thinking about getting another one or two and a dual output PSU so I can charge 3 LiPo's at a time and fly continuously if I desire/or can maintain concentration lol!

[David Drew]

I'm not sure what lipo yiou are using, but I am totally impressed with a charger I recently bought - a Cellpro. It does 2/3/4 cell with an adaptor and will not overcharge, nor fast charge when it's cold. Really protects the lipos.

Generally you charge a lipo at 1C, that is, a 2000mah lipo at 2 amps for one hour - or 2C (1/2 hour if you are in a hurry).

The Cellpro is a bit slower. It takes around 1.5 hours to do my lipos, but the good thing about it is that it tells you exactly what it's doing at the time.

As I say, not sure what packs you are using, so the Cellpro might not be right for you, but Mike at Aurrorra will soon sort you out.
David

[pxr5]

this is great info thanks guys. my batteries are esky 11.1v 1800mAh 20c and a Linkman 11.1v 1800mAh 20c. like i say its my first day today using lipo. ive used and fully charged the esky one once and currently charging the linkman. so far so good but those 1 and 1.5 hour charge times sound much better.

ive done a lot of reading and knew about the 1C thing. its a relief to see this battery charged at last. those chargers sound great i'll take a look.
cheers

[David Drew]

No Probs.

Just make sure you get a chrager that tells you how much charge you have put back in. (Cellpro - hint again) Then you can work to the 80% rule, find out how much flying time that is and then set your Tx alarm to that time.

I have found that, as the flying style changes from hovering to circuits, the demand on the battery gets higher so times are reduced. Just keep an eye on the 80% rule.

Good luck

David

[pxr5]

No Probs.

Just make sure you get a chrager that tells you how much charge you have put back in. (Cellpro - hint again) Then you can work to the 80% rule, find out how much flying time that is and then set your Tx alarm to that time.

I have found that, as the flying style changes from hovering to circuits, the demand on the battery gets higher so times are reduced. Just keep an eye on the 80% rule.

Good luck

David

thanks for the advice sounds good. i don't have a programmable TX but ive got to get one, im just a big vague on compatible receivers and servos at the moment.
ive just had 2 full battery packs of flying first time outside too, incredible, i know the belt cp isnt a top notch trex but its great.

btw i took your advice about listening for the battery dying and i listened for the head speed slowing and did notice it but man its so slight, i had to confirm it by giving a quick flick of throttle and sure enough it hardly lifted so i decked her. second pack was exactly the same.

also the charger im using is esky balancer charger and ive noticed when the green light is solid to indicate full charge, it starts flashing again for about 2 minutes then goes solid, then flashes again....im best getting a charger that tells you exactly wtf is going on eh.