Charging Amperage

[Kvic]

What amperage should I be charging my LiPO's at? Default on my charger is 2.0 amps. Charger is a UP240 AC Plus.

[Richr8]

Originally Posted by Kvic

What amperage should I be charging my LiPO's at? Default on my charger is 2.0 amps. Charger is a UP240 AC Plus.

Although you can go much higher, battery life and safety recommendations would be to charge at 1C (1 x capacity).
Example: A 3500mah battery should be charged near 3 amps, a 5000MAH battery near 5 amps.

[jmitchell13]

I come from a 1/10 scale racing perspective. I charge all my 2s lipos at 15amps, and have been doing this on packs for well over a year and they have held up very well.
For me the most important thing to do with lipos is not to over discharge them, and always leave them on storage charge when not using them.

[magic_yeti]

Depends on your Lipo, to be save and to pamper the lipo 1C charge is the best.
But some lipo also allow higher charge rates, mostly high quality high C rate lipos used for race drones.
I have some 3s 1300mAh 65C which i can laod with up to 10C.

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Originally Posted by jmitchell13

I come from a 1/10 scale racing perspective. I charge all my 2s lipos at 15amps, and have been doing this on packs for well over a year and they have held up very well.
For me the most important thing to do with lipos is not to over discharge them, and always leave them on storage charge when not using them.

What in the blazes charger are you using that'll push 15Amps!?

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Originally Posted by Richr8

Although you can go much higher, battery life and safety recommendations would be to charge at 1C (1 x capacity).
Example: A 3500mah battery should be charged near 3 amps, a 5000MAH battery near 5 amps.

Never exceeed that C rated chargin capacity that should be labelled on the abbtery.

Most (all?) batts are rated for a minimum of 1C, many are rated for 2C but not many are higher taht that. Even on batts that are rated higher, increasing the charge rate reduces pack life. LiPo chemistry can only sustain so much force in electron transfer that pushing them too hard has a definitevly negative impact.

It's already been dfeined but I'll go over it for you again:

C=charge (or discharge) rating.

1C= 1x capacity

So if the pack is 2200mAh the capacity is 2.200Ah

So for that pack, the 1C charge rate would 2.2Amps x 1 = 2.2Amps
A 2C charge rate would be 4.4Amps.

Discharge rate follows the same formula but the C rating numbers are typically 25+

2200mAh 40C pack:

2.2Amps x 40 = 88Amps sustained discharge



*EDIT
1C is always the best charge rate to maximize battery life. Higher rates can be safe based on manufacturers recommendations but also reduce the longevity of the pack. I use up to 2C commonly but never higher.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by QuesoDelDiablo

What in the blazes charger are you using that'll push 15Amps!?

15A isn't that crazy, iCharger and Cellpro have a bunch of models that will do 30-40A on multiple channels (and you can bridge the channels in case you need to charge something at 70+A ).

[Kvic]

Thank you all for the advice. It is much appreciated. New to the LiPO scene, came from old school 1:10 buggies.

[jmitchell13]

Originally Posted by QuesoDelDiablo

What in the blazes charger are you using that'll push 15Amps!?

I use an Icharger. But there are plenty of other chargers on the market that can achieve this without issue.