Charging seems to take ages

[davethepitch]

I am not sure if one of my items is failing either my Imax B6 charger or my Turnigy 1500 mAh 11.1v lipo as it takes about an hour to charge even if i set it to 1.6 or 1.7mAh.

[kilby]

Charging @ 1c always takes around 45 mins or so and a bit longer with a balance charge.

If you increase from 1.5 to 1.6 then it';s only going to reduce the charge time by 3 or 4 minutes.

Much of the charge time is for the last few percent of the charge (you can watch the power dropping on the front of the B6)

On the rare occasion that I do want to charge faster I do take it up to 2c, but to be honest I don';t like doing that.

[xxpitt]

sounds a little longer than usual, mine usually take about 40 mins to balance charge on accucel 6 charger ,basically the same as yours. you can charge up to 5c if your in a rush not recommended though, i 1 c charge at home 2 c charge at the field. so for you that would be 3.0a at the field for that lipo, though according to manufacturer you could charge at 7.0a (5c) don';t do that though your lipo wont last long.

saying that,my fatshark 1000 2s usually takes up to 70 minutes to charge  itsmostly balancing though, guess the lipo is well over a year old though

[kilby]

The B6 can be slower than most on balance charging because of the tiny resistors they use to dump the charge.

They should beef them up it would cost almost nothing and make the charger much more attractive.

[davethepitch]

Thank you for your replies I charge 99% of the time at 1C as I don';t really like pushing lipo';s but if I am in a hurry I up the mAh a bit but I have thought about another charger.

[Ynot6]

i always charge at 1C. about an hour is about right. 40 ish minutes to bulk charge, the rest to balance the last bit. i tried parallel charging for the first time on saturday, and it';s right what others have said, they balance quicker! only do this with packs that are closely matched for discharged state (i will only do this with the packs i use in parallel).

[davethepitch]

Perhaps i expected quicker charging times so it seems my charger and lipo are fine.

Thanks Dave

[guest325]

I';ve used 2 chargers for a while now and never charge any more than  1C, works ok for me!

[davethepitch]

I';ve used 2 chargers for a while now and never charge any more than  1C, works ok for me!

That';s the answer 2 chargers I never thought of that.

[guest325]

That';s the answer 2 chargers I never thought of that.

It';s a no brainer really at the price you can get them for, I';m thinking about No. 3, I run mine on a hacked server supply and its got plenty of capacity left ::)

[DarkButterfly]

I';ve got 5 chargers running on a hacked PC power supply

[davethepitch]

I';ve got 5 chargers running on a hacked PC power supply

5 chargers. 

[kilby]

But he only has 2 batteries

[nub]

hehe

1C charging is for pussies!

1C for the first few charges then it';s usually 2-3C for me.

[Jazzz]

I have a b6 as well and it takes about an hour for a zippy 1500 at 1c
I e got one on now that';s taken 63 minits so far and still no Beeb beeb beeb I looked at the cell and there flashing 4.20. 4.20 . 4.19 back and forth for about 15 minits .
Thay take foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[bazzerh]

Don';t use the BALANCE CHARGE setting either. Unsure why but I know it takes a ridiculous length of time to complete a charge on the 4 button type chargers. Use LIPO CHARGE or FAST CHARGE, they both still balance the cells but in a much quicker way. Learn about parallel charging too to make the most of a charger if you insist on charging at 1C. I personally always charge at minimum 2C which isn';t stressing the packs at all. Sometimes 3C but the packs aren';t even getting slightly warm which says to me that tthey';re happy with that rate.

[Revs]

I charge most of mine at 2c. The exceptions are the little NanoTech ones for my 250 (rated at 10c charge), which I often charge at 5-8c and the FatShark 2 cells which I charge at 0.5c.

1c will take up to an hour depending of how much you run your lipo down. At 8c it';s under 10 mins

[pheasant_plucker]

I usually find that a 1c chargebtakes around 70min on all my packs.

I have 6 B6 chargers. 1 for the TX and 5 for flight batteries.

Gerry

[kilby]

Don';t use the BALANCE CHARGE setting either. Unsure why but I know it takes a ridiculous length of time to complete a charge on the 4 button type chargers. Use LIPO CHARGE or FAST CHARGE, they both still balance the cells but in a much quicker way.

Afraid they don';t balance charge at all, they just charge till the battery is showing a suitable voltage across all the cells. If you have unbalanced cells then they will stay unbalanced (and usually move even further away with every charge)

I used to do a balance charge every 5th charge just to keep them close. As I get so little flying during the winter, I tend to always balance charge when I have the time (7 days between sessions leaves plenty of time)

The last few percent of a regular charge is done at a considerably reduced rate, that';s how the ';Rapid Charge'; works by simply not bothering with the last few percent.

If you want a faster battery charge the GNZ has a video on getting a fast balance (and why it can be slow on some chargers)

[Jumpy07]

A lot of chargers quote amps.. but what you should be looking at is watts.


The popular imax charges .. are rated at 5-6amps...  but are only @50 watts


Quick calc.. (doesent take into account losses etc)





As you can see.. anything over 3s.. you prob wont even charge at 1c for most common lipo sizes

[Ynot6]

for charging more than 1 at a time, just get a quad charger, several to choose from at hobbyking, and good prices. just make sure you order from the UK wharehouse, international postage is horrendous on chargers.

[davethepitch]

I only have two lipo';s.