How quick should a lipo charge ?

[SamS]

Okay, I just watched this video (ULTIMATE LiPo battery charging station! - YouTube) and it took him 10min to charge a 6S 5000mah lipo, but he has a good charging setup.

My 3s 2200mah lipos take like an hour and a half to charge ! :L

What am I doing wrong, if anything ?



Thanks

[GIXERMAN]

more info required, your charger your psu and wot c rating are the packs your trying to charge, would help us give you a answer to your question

[cjcj1949]

You are doing it right. Charging in 10mins is not a good idea and probably leads to a very short life. Both him and the lipos. The first point is that you don't have to charge from flat. Lipos should be kept at storage charge of about 3.85V per cell. A decent charger will do this for you. You charge to storage level after flying so that the time doesn't matter. Also you shouldn't discharge to 3.0V. The lipos shouldn't be below 3.80V per cell a few minutes after use. Normally people charge at 1C which does take a while, probably about an hour from 3.85V to 4.20V. If you charge at 2C it takes about 25mins and 1.5C about 30mins. To charge in 10 mins is just about impossible as the last part of the charge process is at constant voltage (4.20v) with the current going down to 10% of the constant current value. You can speed up the charge process by stopping it at a higher current value in the constant voltage phase. This gives less capacity but does make the lipos last longer.

To sum up. Charge at 2C from either 3.80V or 3.95V and it will take about 25 mins. I can't be more definite as it depends on how good your batteries are. Good batteries with low ir (or real high C values) will charge quicker and it is up to you how low you allow the charge current to get before you want to fly.