Lipo voltage difference ballance/charge

[FireFly]

Hi all,

I have a quick question that someone might have an answer for.
When I charge my lipo';s on charge or quick charge my final voltage is 16.8v on a 4s. If I balance charge the final voltage is less, more like 16.4v. I have Imax B6.
Does anyone know why?

Cheers,
Jay

[tupoar]

Hi Firefly,

If you got your charger from the same place I did, then it';s probably not a genuine B6. You really need to put your batts on a meter to find their true voltage. You';ll probably find that the voltage is actually somewhere inbetween. Saying that, I still use mine as it generally does a decent enough job. If it';s accuracy you want though, then this isn';t the charger for you.

[Genesius]

when you charge a lipo the charger will just throw the voltage in and cut it off when the first cell reaches its max.  It doesn';t care what all the other cells are doing as it cant charge them individually in that mode so it just picks a point to shut down and that it.

Cells shouldn';t unbalance themselves every use so balance charging isn';t always necessary, that being said, I always balance charge if I can.  That way your getting the maximum charge into every cell and not over/under charging cells.

I only use ';charge'; or ';fast charge'; if I absolutely must - so during the day.  When I get home I put them on to balance.

[Friskle]

Same really, i only charge via non balance if i say forgot to charge a couple etc, but usually i always balance charge.
As said, normal Charging just pumps voltage in until the charger sees the battery full, but that could also mean that theres more in one cell and less in another, which does usually happen charging normal, so in use, the lower cells can be more prone to get damaged.

common practice if not balancing regularly would be say 1 balance to 5 normal charges and the batteries should stay fit.

but tbh, with my chargers, i find theres little difference in time when charging either way.

[flybywire]

You should always balance charge lipo';s.  If one cell fails on non balance charge, the charger won';t realise and keep charging the remainder to get the finished voltage, possibly till it pops.

[FireFly]

Cheers guys,
Im just a bit paranoid about ruining my new batteries. I wasn';t really bothered with my old ones coz they were old. My imax is probably a copy as its an ebay special, works ok though and its out lasted 2 different chargers that ended up smoking :)