Help with chargeing multiple packs

[Phils]

1st ever post so go easy with me
i am still learning and have 8 opti power 6s 3500 35c packs
Charger is a Graupner Ultra Duo 50 with a Graupner 12v 25A power supply
THE PROBLEM! it takes all evening to cherge them then i have to miss the next evening to re-charge

can some one please explain multiple chargeing and what i need to achieve it

How safe is it and how does it affect the life of the battery

thanks in anticipation

[super]

Re: Help with chargeing multiple packs

You need a high power psu (see coolice on this forum for them) and charger to parallel charge. icharger 306b or similar. Could do six packs at once then. Unsure on pack life though. Be interested to hear anything on that myself.

Cheers

John

[scuba steve]

i agree with John, pick up a Coolice PSU (i've just got one and i'm impressed with the quality, thought in the finish and power so far) and invest in a PL6/8 with balance board. maybe cost you around £200 all in but you'll balance charge all 8 batteries within 90 mins.

[Phils]

Thanks Steve
Hopefully i have just PMd Coolice, Hope he gets back to me
What charger did you choose
Does this system have an adverse affect on the battery life or does it still charge at 1C

[scuba steve]

Thanks Steve
Hopefully i have just PMd Coolice, Hope he gets back to me
What charger did you choose
Does this system have an adverse affect on the battery life or does it still charge at 1C

i use a PL6 with the balance board.

the PL6 is a powerful (when connected to a suitable PSU) and versatile charger.....it will do almost anything you ask it to - 1C balance, 5C fast charge, its up to you !

if i were you, i would balance charge 4 packs at a time at 1C but that's just me....its what i'm doing right now in fact with my 6S 5000 mAh packs for my 550 (i have 8 in total).

i have found from experience that if i storage charge all my packs individually when i get back from the field, they are all sitting around 3.85V per cell so balance very well when i parallel charge 4 packs at a time.

if you want any more specific advice, please feel free to PM me.....that's what the forum is here for

[JoeBailey]

I found charging multiple packs at once can knock the balance out a little over time.
I've been parallel charging packs for 2 years now and have seen little effect on the overall life of the packs. The main thing is to ensure your packs are discharged the same before connecting them together in parallel, If you discharge them as pairs then keep using them as a pair and don't mix them up with other packs.

Onto charging stuff, I use a cellpro PL8 and a PL6 to charge my packs. They do the job nicely and don't seem to cause and problems with the balance in the short term. From experience you can parallel charge 2 packs at a time and have no issues with balancing, once you hit 4 packs then the balance rapidly starts to fail and at 6 packs at a time the balance is out after only 3 cycles (my experience using my PL8 and my own packs) My power supply is a home brew 3kw server PSU unit much like the coolice ones only not as neat

Longevity of the packs is much the same as charging one at a time, My first set of optipower 3500 6s packs lasted 84 cycles before I had a cell failure and my current batch of thunder power 5000 6s packs cleared 80 cycles this weekend and have no puffing or loss of power on any of the 6 packs.

I charge mine at 1c mostly but if i'm in a hurry I crank it to 2C and let the lipos cook a bit faster I can get my 7 sets of 12s packs ready to fly in 1.5 hours if i need to.

If you need help understanding parallel charging just shout and it can be explained.

Joe

[super]

Here you go.. http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/sale/9...tom-built.html

and www.electriflier.co.uk

iCharger « ElectriFlyer

OPR-MPA-XH | Multi-port Safe Parallel Adapter for XH Compatible Batteries

Revolectrix - Chargers | Midland Helicopters Ltd

[coolice]

Hey All.

Thanks for the recommendation for one of my PSU's guys, appreciate it.

1st ever post so go easy with me
i am still learning and have 8 opti power 6s 3500 35c packs
Charger is a Graupner Ultra Duo 50 with a Graupner 12v 25A power supply
THE PROBLEM! it takes all evening to cherge them then i have to miss the next evening to re-charge

can some one please explain multiple chargeing and what i need to achieve it

How safe is it and how does it affect the life of the battery

thanks in anticipation

Hey Buddy.

As above parallel charging isn't too difficult with the right leads and once you have done it a few times, becomes second nature as to what you have to do. You're basically charging the same voltage battery as the ones you fly, but with a much larger capacity.

As already said the main criteria is having a power supply able to deliver the amps and a charger that is then powerful enough to have multiple batterys connected to it for charging.
A PSU is easy and I will PM you next about one of mine. The charger is a little more difficult as there are so many choices, however both makes mentioned are very good. I think the Revolectic PL6 is classed as one of the better ones if I am honest, but both this and the iCharger series are known to have good charging cycle programming.

On the subject of pack life span, while I do parallel charge my 700E & 550E packs, I do storage charge them independently which I feel then keeps them in better balance. So far so good and I am enjoying decent cycles from my pushed hard packs.

PM incoming.
.

[450man]

Just be sure not to charge batteries together if they have any significant difference in voltage. Check the voltage of the batteries before connecting together. If they are of significantly different voltage then you could damage the batteries when they instantly balance their voltages when you connect them.

[cjcj1949]

There are many opinions on parallel charging and the possible damage you may do when putting two packs in parallel that do not have the same voltages. If you balance charge first then all the volts are the same and so there are no large currents flowing from one to the other and you don't have to worry about the effect of parallel charging. Individual storage charging also checks that all the cells are ok. If one cell goes during charging there may be a problem, so only parallel charge good cells if you want to be on the safe side. Always keep an eye on the charging and if you can't, at least have a smoke alarm there. Smoking Lipos do get thrown out of windows unfortunately, but none of us think it will happen to us.