Batteries and Charging

[wafflejock]

Agree with 99% of what you said but over discharging then charging a lithium cell is also dangerous and just driving the voltage down over that cliff in the discharge charts will render the cell unusable and if you were to charge it could start a fire. Balance leads typically have the cells wired in order with GND at one end and a balance lead going between each cell in the series set so typically read full cell voltage going from one end of the plug to the other and keeping the GND probe hooked to the GND pin. If you don't know what you are doing yet with these cells then stick to the stock charger once you have a better grip on the limits and what internal resistance is and are willing to monitor and or wrap things up while charging then can use whatever charger assuming you know how to set the current limits and other settings properly. There's no reason to stick with a crappy stock charger though when there are better more feature rich ones available for a price.

 

[wafflejock]

One more thing to clarify, if talking toy grade off the shelf consumer ready stuff I agree it should be safe and you shouldn't need to worry considerably about any of this they should include a low voltage cutoff LVC circuit and the charger should slow charge which it sounds like it does in which case things are pretty safe (as safe as a laptop or cell phone which mind you do occasionally though rarely explode see Galaxy phones or Panasonic cells in Dell laptops)

 

[MJW]

Morning, so finally the work week has ended, paycheck in the bank, first pay bills then off to the hobby shop!

I stopped there last week and they were out of just about everything from the Christmas sales so most of the time it was just a Q&A time.

Me, not knowing much about the new batteries, my questions were more towards the drone itself and where I could fly locally without drawing attention.
There doesn't seem to be any club's to hook up with in this hobby, not sure of that reason but I'm sure it would help the hobby.

I asked about Blomiky batteries, no reply on those, they arrive today with their supplied charger, 2 packs & a charger for the same price as just one factory pack, guess I will dig deeper into a better charger, I would like to know more about them.

Like, if I have to cut my flight short and the pack is half used, I can just put it on a charger and top it off, as to speak?
A charger that can charge several packs at once, or add a pack every 20min. or so and have a read out of each individual pack as it's charging.
If a battery is warm to the ouch but not hot, can it go onto the charger?

I guess there's a bit more to research, just getting tired of the youtubers that talk more about their life than the product, you know what I mean.
I see this one recommended a lot so does it display the individual cell reading or just the total pack voltage or current?
SkyRC iMax B6

Oh well, new hobby, new money pit,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[gregb49]

... If your battery has a balance lead you can get a tiny battery alarm so you can use this to tell you when you hit this voltage

Thanks. Received my LiPo tester today. No instructions, but plenty of explanatory YouTube videos to help. Tested my 1S cells. All seem to be at above safe storage charge, so need to run them down a bit.

A useful little device especially at the price and includes 1st class postage in the UK.

 

[MJW]

Went down to a hobby shop south of here hoping to find a wall of drone's,,,,,,,,,,,

Nope, RC trucks everywhere bur they did have a small inexpensive battery tester, show's each cell's voltage, so with a full charge still in the battery from Thursday, I went to their local fly field, drove in, fairly clear sky, set up drone and the rain started, ,,,,,,,,,,,

So Having to go north I figured I could outrun the rain, forty miles north, no rain but the wind was up, fifteen miles northeast found a suitable place to fly,,,,,
My driveway.

Locked & loaded first flight was a kick, switching to headless then back, a little elevation, and just got used to the sticks, finally the low battery alarm on the controller and flashing LED's on the drone let me know it was time to set it down.

Pulled the battery, warm, 3.74 volts per cell.

Happy day,

 

[MJW]

Ok, the new batteries showed up, one is good the other has a mis-aligned power plug so it didn't fit in the compartment like it should.
Took the back off the back of the pack and reset the alignment of the plug, charged all three packs for today's testing, both the new packs are holding slightly higher voltage so we'll see if they fly as long as the stock battery.
Charged both the new packs with the charger that came with them and the stock battery with the stock charger, charge time for the new ones was around 2 1/2 hour's each and the stock one took 4 1/2hrs.

 

[Gray]

There is also a need to discharge to the storage voltage when the battery is not used. My 4s 1800mah lipo cannot be charged because I did not discharged to the storage voltage for a 3 months storage.

 

[MJW]

Morning Greg, I've gotten a new charger, a Horizon Prophet sport, and have charged the batteries & used them, all 5 take about an hour each, fly times are up by only a few min's 15min air time each.
All at storage charge now,

 

[Jackson]

Thanks Holtneil, I've ordered one, but for others, please note that this comes without leads. A more expensive, more comprehensive product might be:
HTRC iMAX B6 AC 80W Digital LCD RC Lipo LiFe NiMh NiCD Battery Balance Charger

Do note, although it should fine, at that price it is a knock off.

 

[holtneil]

Hi did you notice the photos of the bottom of the charger one photo has no hologram and one has so looks like they used the official photo nicked from another site
You need to check output on this charger to see if it under or over charging