What are your charger thoughts

[davethepitch]

I have an Imax B6 charger and i was wondering whether all chargers have a consistent output when charging and discharging lipo';s.

As an example if i put my Turnigy 1500 mAh lipo on my Imax B6 and charge at 1.5 amps and say it takes 45 minutes would it take the same on a Cellpro or other make and other than the price is it having more functions or quality that makes the other chargers more expensive.

[Britishguy]

well if the imax has enough watts to back up the amps then i dont see it making any difference

maybe it might balance quicker etc if its a better quality charger

you work it out by

example a 3s 2200 charged at 2c will suck up around 55w

3s x 4.2v = 12.6
12.6 x 2.2 = 27w (1c)

27w x 2 = 55w (2c)

ESTITMATED

[kilby]

For stuff like that it should be around about the same but for larger capacity battery';s or parallel charging things change a bit.

Also balance charging/storage charge functions can be faster on other chargers as they have larger resistors to dump the charged cells to

Also if you are going for higher speed charging then it may make a difference as British guy points towards

[davethepitch]

Also balance charging/storage charge functions can be faster on other chargers as they have larger resistors to dump the charged cells to

Good point.

Thanks Dave

[quadfather]

I have an Imax B6 charger and i was wondering whether all chargers have a consistent output when charging and discharging lipo';s.

As an example if i put my Turnigy 1500 mAh lipo on my Imax B6 and charge at 1.5 amps and say it takes 45 minutes would it take the same on a Cellpro or other make and other than the price is it having more functions or quality that makes the other chargers more expensive.

I would not expect a different charger to charge your LiPo more quickly.  After all it charges it with the same parameters, i.e. voltage and current.

I';d expect a difference in other qualities, for example the charger';s efficiency as in how much it draws from its power supply, or perhaps the accuracy of a balance charge, etc.

ESTITMATED

He said tit.   

[Paul01]

Don';t some chargers charge using the balance lead? this would make it quicker to balance charge with trouble some batteries at least

[kilby]

Don';t some chargers charge using the balance lead? this would make it quicker to balance charge with trouble some batteries at least

As far as I am aware no, its used to dump charge from cells and to provide monitoring of individual cells.

[Paul01]

Just had a quick google and found this one

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=21044&aff=769394

Im sure there are more

[Jazzz]

Some do charge from the balence Leeds my E flight charger does but I got a Bemax one as well because the e flight has no fucktions and will only charge at 1.8 amp and no monitoring cells but it is ok I';ve been charging my blade 400 for years on it with the same battery and now use it on my quads ass well

[kilby]

Read the reviews, its very slow and there is only so much you can push through a balance lead.

If you want to simply modify a single cell it would make sense, but I would say at best you would only put half an amp or so through a balance port.

The last 0.1A or so on a single cell would be faster than alternating between slightly discharging fully charged cells and then further charging all of them to bring the single low cell up to a little bit more.

So yes in certain cases it is faster.

Just because it can be done doesn';t mean it should.

[Paul01]

Its better to balance Lipos from the balance lead as if it';s not done that way it involves over charging cells to bring the low cells up to the correct voltage.

I have charged low cells individually at 5amps before with no issues over the balance lead

[bazzerh]

Some do charge from the balence Leeds my E flight charger does but I got a Bemax one as well because the e flight has no fucktions and will only charge at 1.8 amp and no monitoring cells but it is ok I';ve been charging my blade 400 for years on it with the same battery and now use it on my quads ass well

typographical tourettes ?

[kilby]

Its better to balance Lipos from the balance lead as if it';s not done that way it involves over charging cells to bring the low cells up to the correct voltage.

I have charged low cells individually at 5amps before with no issues over the balance lead

Overcharging depends on the charger (as its not actually necessary) charging to 4.2v and then dropping to 4.19 (or less) each time the ideal would be to drop the other cells to the same value as then low cell then charge all the cells together, but they would need to beef up the discharge circuitry to do that in a reasonable time.

I didn';t say that you can';t charge at the higher rate, but personally I wouldn';t but as they say your mileage may vary.

But then I tend to charge @ 1C as I';m seldom in a rush.

[Paul01]

As far as I';ve seen so far, all chargers that don';t balance over the balance lead, over charge the good cells to 4.21v and then discharge them.

And how do you know I';m not charging my battery';s at 1/2c at 5 amps? :-)

Bruce has a couple of video on charging lipo cells for anyone wanting to know more

http://youtu.be/wIbHLacozFo

[kilby]

As far as I';ve seen so far, all chargers that don';t balance over the balance lead, over charge the good cells to 4.21v and then discharge them.

And how do you know I';m not charging my battery';s at 1/2c at 5 amps? :-)

Bruce has a couple of video on charging lipo cells for anyone wanting to know more

I was saying that there is no necessity for them to overcharge, they do because it';s basically the lazy way to do it, but there would be no issue in doing it properly, either to never go above 4.20, or to dump the charge in the other cells down to the same level (providing it';s not stupidly low)and then charging all the cells.

Unless the cell has fairly serious issues it should charge in a regular manner.

As for the 5A 1/2C rate that may well be the case but I personally wouldn';t stick 5A though those skinny balance leads, but that';s just me 

I was simply making the point that I';m quite conservative when it comes to charging LiPos.