problem with charger

[rocklicker]

I have a triton eq charger and I was wondering if you can change the charge rate with lipos, every time I charge a battery it charges at 10% of the capacity , a 1300 battery charges at 1.3 amps. Also can you bypass the balancer because sometimes it says its not connected when it is. I'm using ckrc batteries.

[SMR 510RR]

You are supposed to charge at 1c unless your battery specifically states that you can charge it faster. C is a measurement of amps over time, 1c is 1x the capacity of the battery over the course of 1 hour. Since our batteries are rated in MAH (milliamp hours) its quite easy to figure out what 1c is, its 1% of the batter capacity (check your math) so just divide by 100 or move the decimal place over to the left two places. 1300 mah turns into 1.3mah.

You should figure out why the balancer doesn't recognize your pack, you want to balance every cycle.

You really should do some reading here or elsewhere on Lipo batteries and how to take care of them. These are very basic principals of Lipo ownership and if you treat them wrong it can lead to a fire, not good!

[rocklicker]

No I agree I dont charge without balancing so I sometimes have to fiddle with it to read the balance before it'll charge. The question about the charge rate comes from a add I saw for a battery that you can charge at 5c

[SMR 510RR]

Originally Posted by rocklicker

No I agree I dont charge without balancing so I sometimes have to fiddle with it to read the balance before it'll charge. The question about the charge rate comes from a add I saw for a battery that you can charge at 5c

I dont have any experience with your particular charger but I assume you punch in the mah of the pack and it does the math to figure out the appropriate charge rate assuming that it should be charged at 1c. If that is the case simply punch in 5x the capacity for that batter (if it is a 1000mah then 5000mah) and it will charge at 5c. I bet your charger is limited to 50w so it may not be able to charge at a full 5c depending on pack size and voltage.

[rocklicker]

Is it ok to do that though? Right now it starts off at 1.3 and charges about half way before dropping down and finally finishing up at .1, this 1300 mah pack takes about 2 hrs to charge

[SMR 510RR]

Originally Posted by rocklicker

Is it ok to do that though? Right now it starts off at 1.3 and charges about half way before dropping down and finally finishing up at .1, this 1300 mah pack takes about 2 hrs to charge

I dont see why it wouldnt be ok to do that...The charger will monitor the voltage @ each cell and wont overcharge them regardless of what capacity it thinks the battery has.

Based upon a 1c charge rate (1x capacity in one hour) it should take 1 hour to charge a battery in a perfect world. Of course nothing is perfect and due to the volitile nature of lipo cells the chargers are programmed to slow down toward the tail end of a balance charge so they dont overshoot the target voltage of 4.2v per cell. Some chargers do a better job than others at both being accurate and fast so if you are really that worried about it it may be time for an upgrade.

For my money there is no charger better thant he Icharger line of chargers. They are really great although more expensive than most of the chargers a lot of people use.

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by SMR 510RR

I don't see why it wouldn't be OK to do that...The charger will monitor the voltage @ each cell and wont overcharge them regardless of what capacity it thinks the battery has.

Based upon a 1C charge rate (1x capacity in one hour) it should take 1 hour to charge a battery in a perfect world. Of course nothing is perfect and due to the volatile nature of LiPO cells the chargers are programmed to slow down toward the tail end of a balance charge so they don't overshoot the target voltage of 4.2v per cell. Some chargers do a better job than others at both being accurate and fast so if you are really that worried about it it may be time for an upgrade.

For my money there is no charger better than the Icharger line of chargers. They are really great although more expensive than most of the chargers a lot of people use.

In general, +1.

Basic "1C" charge should bring a pack up in 1 hour.

Balance charge WILL take longer, depending on how even the pack is.

In general, the slower the charge rate, the longer the pack will last. Higher charge rates tend to create heat, heat is one of the BIGGEST killers of ANY battery chemistry.

Just saying.