Balance Charging RC LiPo Batteries | Quick Tip | Motion RC

[@txkflier]

It’s not “1 cell” rate; it’s “1C” rate where “C” represents capacity. If the capacity is 4000mAH, the 1C rate is 4 amps. We convert the mIlliamps to amps by dividing by 1000; e.g., 4000/1000=4. Also, at the 1C rate it will take about one hour to charge a fully discharged battery. At the 2C rate of 8 amps for a 4000mAH battery, it would take about 30 minutes. Never charge a Lipo at more than the 1C rate unless the manufacturer says it’s ok..

[@Jucietor]

well said

[@xMisterpamplesx]

and even then i still wouldn't

[@txkflier]

@@xMisterpamplesx Wouldn't what? Use the balance mode? James is absolutely right in this video..

[@xMisterpamplesx]

@@txkflier use anything more than 1C charging right, sorry, wasnt specific.

[@txkflier]

@@xMisterpamplesx Ah, ok. I do up to 1.5C at the field. I hardly ever charge at home.

[@azharsigma1984]

Straight and direct to the point, Thanks mate

[@darrell3368]

Hello James they are great products thanks for sharing with us all the information.

[@Someone23143]

Thank you very much! It has taken me forever to figure this out

[@DadsRCHangar]

Another Cary on for charging. Great tip for a beginner James 👍🏻

[@gregwhitehead7967]

This answered my question. Thank you.

[@JeffsCustomRC]

Great video and charger!!! Still love mine and works great, thanks for sharing James👊🏼👊🏼

[@travispratt6327]

Charge function is quicker if you just wanna throw on a lipo in the field then get a notification when it’s basically done, instead of the 15+ more minutes for it to keep trying to balance. Also charging parallel you can’t balance. Another thing is some chargers overcharge other cells then drain them all then overcharge again to balance, this can hurt the batteries more than just charging normally and doing a balance when needed.

[@davefellows]

sounds like they're crappy chargers if that's what they're doing to balance charge.

[@equalizer7775]

Thanks buddy,very helpful

[@johnsons74thsquadron74]

Thanks, I had a hard time discerning between Lipo charge or Lipo balance though my charger does a good job keeping the cells balanced.

[@johnnywright6823]

Thank you so much 🙏

[@tamimmahairy8321]

Thank you that was really helpful

[@paulhlange]

The "Charge" function is useful if a LiPo battery gets discharged too low. In this cirmcumstance the "Balance Mode" will NOT allow the charger to start. Setting the function to "Charge" allows the charger to just slap current on the LiPo....."Maybe" enough to allow the charger to function in the Balance Mode after the LiPo gets up to a higher resting voltage. Even then if the LiPo takes the charge....be extra sure to mark that LiPo and monitor it closely as it most likely has sustained damage and will NOT last or perhaps perform like other LiPo's that have NOT suffered the harmful over-discharge event. Ya it's not a good idea to simply use the Charge mode in "Normal" usage demands.

[@ubreakitirepairit3569]

I came here for this answer. I have the passport ultra p2 and have always used the balance charge function. But have always wondered what the “charge” only function is.

[@paulhlange]

@@ubreakitirepairit3569 Charge function is useful to quickly charge without balancing....racers use the "Charge" function during heats which may be needed for fast turnaround. Also Single Cell LiPo (1s) do not require balance charging.

[@rusack7174]

What about Storage Charging, especially during the off-season?

[@MotionRC]

Next video coming!

[@flyingfortressrc1794]

Good question

[@txkflier]

Even during the on-season, your Lipo cells should be kept at 3.85 volts when you’re not using them. Leaving them at 4.2 volts for any length of time will shorten their lifespan. So will storing them at temperatures above 75 degrees..

[@rusack7174]

@@txkflier As a retired man, I often fly consecutive days, does it truly make a notable difference if I keep them charged up during the week? Just at what time of non-use does a storage charge truly become noticeable in battery life? I can live with "some" shortening of battery life for convenience. Has any long term testing been done to show battery degradation over time if not stored at storage charge? A nice handy graph of that would be great so that an individual can decide what's best in their usage. I'm not new to this but I'd love to see a deeper dive into it. I've also noticed that storage charge end voltage does vary a very small amount among different chargers. One of mine ends @ 3.85V while two others I have stop @ 3.80V. Does that 5/100th of a volt truly make a difference? Just asking.

[@txkflier]

@@rusack7174 I’m also retired and mostly fly EDF’s that use 5000mAH-6S batteries. I used to charge my batteries at home and leave them charged because I had a Hitec X4 charger that would only output 50 watts per port. To charge a 5000mAH-6S battery in an hour or less, it takes a charger that will put out 25.2 volts at 5 amps which is 126 watts (4.2 x 6 = 25.2 x 5 = 126). So, I bought a Revolectrix GT1200 and a parallel board that will let me push 40 amps into 4 of my batteries simultaneously. That’s 10 amps per battery which is the 2C rate and they will be charged in 30 minutes or less. But typically, I charge two 5000mAH-6 and two 3300mAH-6S in parallel at 24 amps and they’re ready in about 20 minutes. So when I get to the field, I put my batteries on the charger, unload and assemble my planes, visit for a few minutes, and my batteries are ready to fly. I run them down to about 3.7 volts per cell in the air and leave them at that voltage until the next trip to the field. My batteries now last two years instead of 6 months and I’m not charging at home. Of course, I had to add a GT500 to charge smaller packs at the same time. The two chargers put out a total of 60 amps, but I power them with a pair of Dell server power supplies that put out up to 62 amps at 24 volts. The total cost of my system was $318 which isn’t that bad, especially when you consider how much money I’m saving by not having to buy new batteries every 6 months..

[@vc187]

Any thought on balance charging a Jetson Bolt Pro stock battery pack? 36v...

[@martinscopes3914]

Hi sir. Great video just what I wanted to know. Thanks 👍👍👍👍👍

[@MotionRC]

Happy to help

[@martinscopes3914]

@@MotionRC 👍

[@Zionson1]

Thanks a lot. I appreciated the advice. I have a question tho. How long to fully charge my lipo battery for for eg a 6s 1300mAh battery 100C? Is it 4.2v for each cell?

[@xfirealarm]

Hi Motion Rc Do you know a way how to balance the Dji tb47's batteries

[@user-tt5pz4wn1x]

What’s the lowest voltage per cell before the balance charger will not charge an individual cell? Meaning if you have a presume to be dead battery because it’s been discharged past 3.2 v…. Can a balance charge trickle this battery or an individual cell back to an acceptable charge voltage thanks

[@richardlitt6416]

if you have a new LiPo battery which is storage charged by the manufacturer, should you balanced the LiPo battery at 1C rate?

[@but531]

Every lipo battery i have is never balanced charged, always all the cells have different charging voltage and always i use balanced charging. These balanced chargers don't do exactly what they say, and they brake all my batteries. So there is a charger that charge in balanced mode ?

[@Jimyjones333]

Hi can I charge with balance lead only

[@davefellows]

no, balance lead is only a signal, not designed to carry any current to the battery cells.

[@newtechai4367]

I have a brand new tatu 6s 16000 mAh battery pack but on balance mode charge one of the cells shows 2.6v when the orthers where at 3.7v now it shows 2.9v when the orthers are at 4.1v how could I fix this please 🥺

[@chevysolofpv]

I’ve the same issue. So I thinking of flying my fpv quad tomorrow and drain the battery and restart the whole charging again. Or maybe it’s also a good idea to drain the battery to storage mode and then recharge it again?

[@newtechai4367]

@chevysolofpv yes try that.

[@mr_smilie1847]

What does "SER" mean?

[@joshmarauder]

Is cell balance or balance charging different?

[@MotionRC]

sort of. Your cells can be balanced at full/half or low charge. Blance charging is just charging the battery so all the cell's match as opposed to regular charging where sometimes a few cells get higher charges than others

[@kevinstephens72]

I'm still confused about mAH vs what I set it at, I know 4.2 is max volt

[@darkofc]

👍👍😊

[@clubaeromodelismograncanaria]

👌

[@arasykeysha]

I try to balancing but it too long, and it still balancing, my 3s is now 4.2/4.2/4.08

[@hailboognish3858]

I’m new to this and on the lipo battery I got there is 40C on the side of it, is that the top temperature to set the charger at?

[@19Daantje98]

Then why do battery chargers conclude the option to charge 2S-6S using normal charge and not balance charge

[@MotionRC]

There are many types of batteries that this charger can charge aside from LiPos. But for the sake of LiPo's, always best to just balance sharge

[@novagangster1248]

Why does my amps go down from 6 to 1

[@JonDoe-cg4mr]

My battery gassed out while i was charging. Threw it outside and it combusted within 1 minute

[@davefellows]

Wow! Do you know what caused it?