Help on charging

[Shep0479]

Sorry guys, I've been away from the heli. And now I'm about to finally use my lx60b charger.
1st question- am I right in saying the batteries must be identical Mah when charging in groups. E.g I have two 150mah 1s batteries and five 190 Mah 1s batteries. So I can only do them separately in two groups?

Secondly on my charger is has this
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1363453717.379970.jpg

So if I have two 150 Mah then it's 300/1000 which is 0.3 A? But then what is the "C=1000mah" on the screen? Cheers.

[Shep0479]

Help on charging

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1363454208.365260.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1363454253.787722.jpg
Am I doing this right and getting the right reading?

[Mark_T]

You appear to have your meter set for AC not DC, turn it left to the '20' setting, assuming you are trying to measure the voltage of the battery that is next to your hand in the photo

[Shep0479]

Help on charging

Yes that's right. It reads 3.46 and another reads 4.04. What significant figure is it at? So I can sort them out to within 0.2V of each other. Thanks.

[Mark_T]

That is reading 3.46V and 4.04V so currently they are 0.58V apart.

Is there someone local that can help you get all this right the first couple of times just to avoid any accidents?

[Shep0479]

Help on charging

Not really no. At the minute I've just started charging separately so I can measure when they are full. Thanks for the help tho. I thought I was doing something wrong. Cheers. On these 1s batteries. What should they read when fully charged? Cheers

[Mark_T]

Just like any other lipo they are going to reach around 4.2V per cell when fully charged and as they are 1S that will be 4.2V.

Your charger should stop automatically once the charge is complete, let it end the charge, don't jump in and stop it just because you see 4.2V, again assuming it is properly set for a Lipo charge.

[Shep0479]

Help on charging

Yeah it's just finished and it reads 4.15. Thanks for this help. I understand the charger too. It lets you input the capacity to automatically set the charge rate. And now I understand the multi meter properly to be able to parrallel in the future. However...
Another question was the different capacities I have. I have 2 150mah and 5 190mah. I take I can't have say 2 150's and 2 190's charging in parrallel at the same time ?

[Mark_T]

If you are actually parallel charging them then different capacities are not a problem, just keep the charge to no more than 1C, so in the case of 2x150 and 2x190 that would be 680mA or 0.68A and take care to ensure that all 4 packs are within 0.2V from highest to lowest before you connect them.

Do check that your lead is for parallel charging though as I've seen some for 1S packs that arrange them in series instead so 2 1S packs become a single 2S pack from the chargers point of view.

[450man]

Do not to parallel batteries together if they are not very close to the same voltage. You can charge together if the batteries are within 0.2V but more than that you risk damage or even a fire.

All battereis that are parallel charged together must all have the same number of cells.

You CAN charge batteries with differing capacities providing the first two rules are followed.

So, now you have a number of batteries that are all the same number of cells and are all within 0.2V of each other. You CAN charge battereis with differing capacities.

You set the charger to the voltage for one of the batteries (remember, they must all be the same). So for 1S that is 3.7V

You set the capacity to be the total of all capacities of the batteries being charged together... e.g. if you 1 x 150mah and 5 x 190mah that would be a total of 1100mah.

To charge at 1C that would then be charged at 1.1A


The 2 most important rules are:
1) Only charge together if all batteries have same nominal voltages (number of cells)
2) Only charge together if they all have very close actual voltages... say within 0.2V

[Shep0479]

Help on charging

Thanks 450. That's why I started the thread. Wanted to be 100% sure before I started charging. I will never exceed 0.2V if it means boosting a few up for 5-10 mins on there own or just using them in the heli longer then so be it. Cheers all.

[450man]

Thanks 450. That's why I started the thread. Wanted to be 100% sure before I started charging. I will never exceed 0.2V if it means boosting a few up for 5-10 mins on there own or just using them in the heli longer then so be it. Cheers all.

Pleasure

Be careful boosting for a few minutes or running in the heli for a few minutes... you can easily come a croppa doing that. You can do that but if you do then always leave the battery for at least 10 minues afterwards before measuring the voltage to determine if you can parallel charge. If you measure the voltage during the charge or immediately after then the reading will not be correct.

[Shep0479]

Help on charging

Do check that your lead is for parallel charging though as I've seen some for 1S packs that arrange them in series instead so 2 1S packs become a single 2S pack from the chargers point of view.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1363462580.147869.jpg
This is the wire I am using for parallel.

[450man]

Yup... that is a parallel charging cable so yes, all those rules apply

[Shep0479]

Help on charging

Thanks alot.