Triton2 EQ LiPO charging issue: Just can't stop!

[oSPANNERo]

Alright everyone, I decided to take the plunge into the world of LiPO. I bought a 2S 2200mAh MaxAmps saddle pack LiPO and a Triton2 EQ to charge it with.

So today the charger comes in and I set it up for charging:

Battery Type: LiPo
Total Pack Volts: 7.4v
Battery Capacity: 2200mAh
Discharge Current: 0.4A

Plug in the battery to the charge leads and into the 2S slot on the ElectriFly balance board (ordered the battery with the Align/JST-XH tap) and hit "Go". (Actually just held down the big button for 2 sec.)

The charger goes through the battery check and starts charging. The display shows its charging fairly fast and with a healthy Amperage. The on weird thing is that one part of the display switches back and forth between BAL and Chg but I figure this must be normal since its using a balancer. But no note of it in the manual. :shrug:

So the charger keeps going for about 3 hours (no kidding) putting in close to 1700mA. Toward the end the pack hits 8.4V and is only charging at about 0.2A. But now the wierd part... it times out, as if it wasn't enough time to charge the battery. And whats even wierder, once the charge stops and it enters the "Slow Balancing" function, it starts freaking out and warning that one of the cells has too high a voltage. (It displays one cell as 4.19 and the other as 4.20).

Now... I have heard that out of balance batteries can cause wierd charging issues but I am checking the pack right now and its at 4.179 and 4.175 respectively. That doesn't sound too bad to me.

And I doubt the battery is bad since its BRAND NEW from MaxAmps.

But this is the first time I have charged it... should I try cycling the battery? I know don't go below 6.0v (charger will do this for me) but I don't know how much cycling, if any, is necessary.

Any words of wisdom or soothing would be nice right about now.

[DrtRacr440]

4.19 to 4.20 is no big deal.Want them to stay within 10% of each other.Took so long to charge because was prob pretty drained,should take roughly an hour to get real close then when close the balancer is fighting the .2 or .3 .1......charge rate so really slows down.When drops to .2 unplug and run,may lose38 seconds of runtime!!!Each time charged when new will get better too.Battery breakin basically.I use same charger just diff batteries...Ma Amps huh?You overpaid!!Dont waste your money....Turnigy from hobbyking.com Great packs like $7 for 1300 mah...Just get a few to cover $13 shipping!!!

[oSPANNERo]

Originally Posted by DrtRacr440

4.19 to 4.20 is no big deal.Want them to stay within 10% of each other.

I didn't realize it was within 10% but I figured that .01 difference wasn't really a big deal... I was more commenting about the high voltage warning and long charge time but its good info for sure.

Originally Posted by DrtRacr440

Took so long to charge because was prob pretty drained,should take roughly an hour to get real close then when close the balancer is fighting the .2 or .3 .1......charge rate so really slows down.When drops to .2 unplug and run,may lose38 seconds of runtime!!!

This actually concerned me a lot... it was my understanding that LiPO is stored (and MaxAmps) ships at 50ish percent charge. So I got a bit nervous when the thing kept going well past 60% of the pack's capacity. I am not so much worried about the 38 seconds of run time, more about the charging behavior. I expected the charger to complete the charge... not "run out of time" for charging.

New to lipo + new battery + new charger + balance board = Nervous!

Originally Posted by DrtRacr440

Each time charged when new will get better too.Battery breakin basically.I use same charger just diff batteries...

Ok... this is what I guess I meant about cycling the battery... I figured it would help but I wasn't 100% sure.

Originally Posted by DrtRacr440

Ma Amps huh?You overpaid!!Dont waste your money....Turnigy from hobbyking.com Great packs like $7 for 1300 mah...Just get a few to cover $13 shipping!!!

Yeah... I looked at a few other places before buying at MaxAmps and they are perhaps a little more pricey. Some of the things that really drove me to purchase at MaxAmps are/were:

1) Everyone raves about the customer service. This means a lot in Iraq when you only have one battery and a replacement battery is 4 weeks away (2 weeks away assuming you don't have to send back the old product first)
2) Everyone raves about the product. See point 1.
3) They had saddle packs. I didn't get to page 12 of the Turnigy product listing but I didn't see any there, and really wanted saddle packs at the time (turns out I switched to BTA so new battery config now)
4) They are a site vendor. That means they contribute here and participate in the community and support the website.
5) They are boutique. IMHO his usually backs up points 1 & 2.

So in the future, I may brake out and try different batteries but for the time being I think I did ok. But sincerly, thanks for looking out on the price point for me. I definatley always can use the advice!

[DrtRacr440]

Just trying to helpAnd im sure it will clean up.And you can actually turn off the safety timer but shouldnt need too...It just balances as charges so when the amperage gets so low it works itself back and forth.Once you get down to .2 or .1 your not going to get much more charge anyhow so jsut consider it done.Other chargers will stop when current draw drops this low the triton just keeps trying....And we appreciate your service over there...Good looking outIf i wasnt a felon ten years ago i would prob be there myself but they wouldnt take me!!