Lithium Batteries

[jimbob]

A stupid questio probably but...

Are Lithium-Ion batteries the same thing as Lithium-Polymer batteries in respect of charge and discharge?

My charger will charge Li-Ions but doesnt say anything about Li-Pos...

[Tris]

No, the cut off voltage is slightly different (7.2 vers 7.4 for 2s from memory).

Li-ions tend to be round cells with 1c (or more with the new emoli or a123 cells) charge and moderate discharge rates

Li-po are the bagged cells, again with 1c charge (although some say that you can charge at more for a set % of the charge cycle) with 20c or more discharge..

So basically for 2-3s packs you would be ok using the li-ion setting (what charger is it ?) but remember that you will never be achieving 100% charge..

Fromoco actually recommend that you charge their Li-ion packs using a Li-po setting due to the peerless cells that thay use.

Cheers
Tris

[jimbob]

Cheers Tris - I have a Simprop Intelli-Control V3.

It has a setting for Li-Ion and it says it will charge them from 3.6 to 11.1v

I hope i can use this to charge a Li-Po - dont want yet another charger

[Tris]

Sorry, ive never played with that make of charger but it looks like it automatically detects weather its a 1-3s pack (always a dangerous thing imho).

You "should" still be ok with it though, just that its going to drop out too early for the slightly higher voltage lipo cells. But as always be very careful with it and keep the charge current under 1c..

[MartinM]

I have a Simprop Intelli-Control V3.
Yes so do I and is a good charger, fine for the T-rex packs up to 3 cell.

[jimbob]

Thats very good to know! Cheers both.