How To Parallel Charge LiPo Batteries Without Burning Down Your House

[@allanduncanson2816]

4 years later, it still really helpful. Thank you!

[@Shane76375]

7 now

[@nonicknamenoname3450]

@@Shane76375 agreed

[@Dragon-pr4ro]

@@Shane763758

[@WigglesFPV]

Good video man. Best line: "Don't do anything dumb, and you'll be OK" - Joshua Bardwell.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Wiggles FPV you would be amazed how often people fail to follow that advice.

[@Jaydawgx7]

I know this is 6 years later... but just had to point out that I scrolled down to view the comments while the video was playing and literally read this comment as Bardwell said it lol. It was as if the voice in my own head changed to the wise one himself😆

[@MountaineerFPV]

7yrs later and the Darwin Battery is still a thing!

[@PauliG]

At 3:00, are you sure you just want to “walk away” for an hour or two while they charge!? I like to always be in the vicinity. You never know! You are awesome, JB. Seriously my most trusted go-to guy whenever I have an issue. Thanks so much.

[@JohnCuppi]

Old comment, but yeah, I was a little taken aback when I heard that. Although everything else in this video is spot on -- definitely don't walk away. Ever. I walked away for what could not have been more than 5-10 minutes with my Bardwell Strix parallel charge board going with 8x 4s batteries. One of the batteries must have lit up, because I walked in to the whole board and batteries on fire in my garage. I quit parallel charging indoors 3 years ago since that day.

[@prOkrEAt]

man, you are killing it on the instructional videos. i was just thinking about this yesterday... now you laid it out in detail for me and answered all my questions. thumbs up!

[@PBoogerwood]

FYI, someone from the Flite Test Fan facebook page pointed me your direction and I am VERY thankful... for them... and you! Thanks for all this help!

[@mnemennth]

"Parallel charging is somewhat of a controversial topic..." FOFL! That there is the understatement of the day... "Don't do anything dumb, and you'll be OK..." is just golden. I couldn't have said it any better myself. :D I'm of the "Parallel charging is just Taunting Murphy" camp. I see it as trading essential safety for the money saved not buying the stack of multiport chargers you SHOULD buy to charge all the batteries you WANT to charge at once. That said... it IS possible to parallel charge safely... as long as you treat your entire charging array as if you ASSUME you'll have a fire one day, and set up your charging station so it can HANDLE a 1400° fire. In all honesty, you REALLY should set up this way ANYWAYS, because ANY LiPo can catch fire AT ANY TIME. Your setup is probably one of the few I've seen that DOESN'T fill me with dread; this is because you are doing it the SMART way. Your setup CANNOT possibly apply more than the 2C-5C charge rate that is safe for most LiPos, so even if things went south and all the current got dumped across one pack, you still wouldn't be over-charging. This is not so with some of the bigger setups that some parallel-charging fans use... that push 40A across the array, and if ONE LiPo goes open-circuit, the setup dumps way too much current across the other LiPos in the array. Also, your chargebox is a great idea; if there is a fire, you just close the lid and throw everything out the door onto your driveway. I use a similar setup on top of 12" ceramic tiles deliberately arranged to be easy to grab & toss. Like anything involving electricity, messing around with it when you don't know what you're doing IS just dumb. So if y'all don't understand the reasons Joshua is advising you to do things the way he is, don't do it! Electrons may be tiny, but when they gang up on you, they ALWAYS WIN. :D

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+mnemennth "Electrons may be tiny, but when they gang up on you, they ALWAYS WIN." That's brilliant.

[@mnemennth]

+Joshua Bardwell :D

[@JoshWeaverRC]

88Nikoli. When I was a paratrooper in the Army, we used to say, 'feet and knees together'. Point being, you're going to get hurt, but still don't land like a bag of shit. We use to carry explosives in ammo cans. Detonators in one can and C4 in a different can. Both in the ruck on your back. I won't parallel charge until my setup can handle a fire and the fumes because massive amounts of stored energy in any form has potential.

[@JoshWeaverRC]

mnemennth. Nice rant. I picture bad things upon hearing pick up something that is on fire. It is possible if you can if you catch it quick, but not good to try to close the lid. Could be as simple as a medal cable on the can and a wooden dowel on the end. Even keeping a set of pliers near would be good. Maybe you do this, but the point is to have a plan and react.

[@iwontreplybacklol7481]

A lipo won't catch fire just at any time, smh

[@PhasorShift]

I absolutely love the idea of using an ammo box for charging. I might have to steal that.

[@vedasticks]

Yes it atleast contains the fire. theres a very good video that tests various methods of containing lipo fires from small batteryes upto very large capacity lips which didnt do to well in an ammo box. The largest one blew the top of the ammo box and continnued to roar for 30 minutes before the decided to extingish the fire, might have been a 12aH battery that did that. Those batteries were though made to fail int he worst possible way, charged until they exploded.

[@velocityfpv5231]

need to be a little careful as it can pressurise, lots of people drill little holes incase of any problems, also you have to be wary that if you do have a lipo fire, the box will get so hot that it will ignite carpet/wood flooring. So you still have to have it in a save place!!

[@MyBigThing2010]

Phasor Shift it's been an sensible idea for years...cheap, safe, readily available and easy. ...add some common sense and you're good to go...they are made to contain ammunition...n to keep an ammunition mishap localized...so..yeah....no brainer if you vent hole it, properly latch and don't store it to charge on piles of fluffy cotton

[@mikepeterson4051]

Maybe you guys can educate me a bit on these ammo boxes. I understand it's designed for ammo mishaps, like containing a round that went off... the box is a heavy gauge steel correct? I'm just curious what the melting temp is lol Can't say I even know what temp a LiPo burns at.. yea these boxes will retain a bullet but will they hold up to the heat of 5+ LiPos burning?

[@mikepeterson4051]

S Behr ....? Care to elaborate? Lol like really wtf? Is it stolen or is it just another person sharing a good idea that was originally posted with the intent of sharing said idea....? In a public domain.............

[@dingusmagee3326]

You were built for this Josh, thanks for taking the time to teach all of us

[@dmbadcat]

"come back in an hour or so... and uh.. admire the ashes" lmao, naw this is cool I actually just bought that same style balance board and am using it to charge now, cool to see an example and an explanation from someone who has tested its limits!

[@2663540]

Great video! I find your channel more detailed in information and more giving than that farting around rotor riot channel. You got tons of info ranging all angles around multi rotor. I'm amazed how much videos you put out.. You have helped me tons. Keep up that great work.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+2663540 Thanks for the kind words. Glad you are enjoying the content.

[@Houseofarrows]

2663540 agreed about rotor riot! They have given me lots of free advice, and for that I am grateful. However the "farting around" is kind of annoying at times. Joshua gives a lot of detailed reasonable advice, and uses reasonable equipment. Case and point: on the parallel charging video for rotor riot, they used a $300 charger with a $100 power supply! I don't know about you, but I was squirming spending $50 between charger and power supply! Ended up buying the Turnigy Accucell like in this video. Thank you +Joshua Bardwell for the info!

[@JohnnyMacZero24]

Joshua Bardwell Hey Josh Love your work friend, here's my quick question So if my 3S Battery's are at 3.78 3.81 and 3.82 it's safe to charge correct? All cell should 0.4 of each other right?

[@MyBigThing2010]

JohnnyMacZero24 .1 of the center would be better...measure and pile them up until you have enough of the same to do a batch...so if one is 3.5 then 3.4 n 3.6 would be ok to charge all three

[@JohnnyMacZero24]

MyBigThing2010 Got it and thank you! Happy Flying

[@molifehacks5258]

Question... Could I connect 2 parallel charging boards together and charge more batteries together?

[@Peter_FPV]

Hey Bardwell, so if I charged all my packs and couldn’t fly them by the 2nd day, is it safe to parallel discharge at like 2C for lipos as well? I’m wondering as I now have to discharge some batteries as I won’t be using the until Saturday lol

[@Jingels3]

Yes, it's absolutely safe to discharge them in parallel with 2c ( if your charger can handle that, most chargers discharge at 0.6 Amps max with 4s batteries) Besides off that, lipo batteries can handle a lot of discharge rate ( like they do while flying) but can not handle a high charging rate so keep it on 1c for your safety

[@maximilii8907]

I think you forgot a very important point that I'm dealing with at the time. I over discharged some of my batteries and damaged them so hard, that some cells are not able to charge up to 4.2V anymore. The voltage limit of some cells seems to be droped down to 4V. If I charged them parallaly with a healthy batterie the damaged one would very likely take fire for obvious reasons. So a very important point is also to check if the maximum cell voltage of the parallel charging cells are still the same. I would like to hear your oppinion to that. Greetings from Germany

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Yes you're absolutely right. In general, only parallel charge healthy packs. Anything that happens to one pack in a parallel array will happen to the others.

[@dirtrider88]

idk why this comment doesnt have more likes or isnt pinned. this is something VERY serious to consider.

[@upperechelon3456]

Great video. I have been parallel charging lipos for many years and have not had any sort of "incident". Just use common sense and care and you will be fine. I use parallel charging boards coupled with a series of smart chargers able to charge up to 12 batteries at a time. I, of course, never leave the room when they are charging and have a fire extinguisher at the ready.

[@FPVMgunit13]

Is it ok to charge on different mags when parellel charging..... say you have 2 - "450mahs" 2 - "550mahs" of course both 3S.... Is that possible?

[@upperechelon3456]

@@FPVMgunit13 I have charged different capacity batteries [same no. of cells of course] without incident. Just don't go to wild concerning the differences. For example 1500 3S and 1700 3S but not a 800 3s and a 4000 3S. The example you are showing with your batteries are fine [only 100 mah difference]. As always stay close when charging. I always try to charge no more than .8C

[@hiwayM9]

I learned through experimentation that 2C is the sweet spot for almost all of my lipos. I will recondition them in the off season (now) every year by balance charging them at 1C, discharging them down to 3.2 volts per cell, and then balance charge them to 3.7 for storage. I am still running bats I bought over 3 years ago. I have never had one puff from charging (hard flying discharge of course) I have only had a few nanotechs loose a cell balance, and other than torn balance plugs my lipos have served me, and continue to serve me well. What I don't have are any of those smexy ammo cases for stowing my lipos ;)

[@kyostipoysti1036]

lol 3.2 volts per cell? isn't that dangerous? I thought sweet spot was never go below 3.5?

[@Vortigon]

@@kyostipoysti1036 3.4v is fine - below that repeatedly is not recommended - the odd 3.3v will get away with too but only occasionally

[@limejournal8220]

I would love to know the name or get a link for the board you used in this vid

[@oliviermagere]

Do cell resistance differences matter ?

[@mr_mr]

clear instructions thanks! This was old and now we have that JB charger with the fuses you mentioned.

[@QBixFPV]

Looks like I need a parallel charging board! Thanks.

[@libertybicycles1629]

7 years later, building my first quad(first rc build in general, only experience with like nitro rtr Associated and Traxxas trucks 15 years ago). Bought D6 Pro that hopefully I'll be able to learn parallel charging with

[@bugsysiegals]

You mention sparking ... when I connect the battery to my quad, I can hear it snap/pop/spark ... is that to be expected?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Yes it's normal especially on 6S with a capacitor.

[@MarioIArguello]

A Hitec 4X is an awesome charger with built in AC 200 watts under $200. Avoid all the complex voltage matching for parallel charging packs in series, and get a couple high quality computer controlled multi-chargers and you can balance charge multiple packs at the same time. Two $200 4X chargers are more logical and safer than one charger trying to parallel charge cells built in series. Li-pol cell internal resistance variances are far too risky when parallel charging cell packs in series.

[@Nun3zDanny3]

what If I want to charge 4 sets of 4 5000mah 3s batteries

[@garyshoell9245]

Hi Joshua I couldn’t think of another way of contacting you, my friend and I have been watching a lot of your videos, while we aren’t flying quads, we have found them to be informative in many ways, we have been using quad motors on fixed wing los and we wondering if you do a video about this facet of the hobby.

[@jokernia]

Rotor Rio guys say try to keep lipos below 1V difference is it still safe or it must be 0.4V for 4s or 0.3V for 3s ?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+rcaerialcamera redefining media it all depends on how much current you are willing to let flow into the low batteries. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4WoeJuBd9tjb68

[@sideburn]

Thanks! You just answered my previous question I jest left on one of your other videos about discharge levels between batteries when charging.

[@solen1849]

Great video, I was mainly curious on Why you couldn't put two batteries with different voltage next to each other. I was like " don't they just balance with each other"? Thank you for going into detail about that. It makes sense now in my head so I won't forget lol. I am more likely to remember something if I remember the WHY instead of the WHAT.

[@VinoUdaBestOne]

Does it make sense to keep a check on the temperature of the batteries because usually they heat up before they catch fire, right? So if you touch them and they're extremely hot that would be a sign that you're charging with too high of a amperage or that something is wrong. I sometimes charge 3 850mah batteries at 3A. Should it be lower?

[@-never-gonna-give-you-up-]

Its basically 3÷3=1 so you are charging the 3 batteries at 1 amp each which is totally fine imo. I think you already figured it out by now but i thought might aswell let you know 😆

[@KaaFOFO]

does it matter which set of balance connectors on that parrallel board you plug into? for example if I'm charging 4 4s batteries, can I just choose 4 random 4s balance connectors to plug into?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

No, it doesn't matter.

[@arnoldgines3381]

Hi sir JB good day to you.i just wondering why did you charge your battery in 6mah? instead of 4mah.. please correct me if I'm wrong.

[@RAYGUNN1978]

Hey sir.. so I watch plenty of your vids over and over again most times..i have a question on this one. Ok. So you explained everything great BUT when you plugged in the batteries, it looked like you just picked which ever port to balance. So I guess it doesn't matter which you use as long as they are all 4s. And can I plug in all my batteries at once

[@jacobhyer6931]

How do you know which ports to plug the balancing leads into?

[@RAYGUNN1978]

@@jacobhyer6931 most chargers let you charge from a range of 2s to 6s . The port to plug the balance wire will start with the negative on one side. Match the negative by looking for the symbol on the charger and look for the negative wire on the battery plug.. the positive wires will fall in place as long as you match the negative wires correctly.

[@jacobhyer6931]

@@RAYGUNN1978 Thanks so much!

[@jamesk1619]

What are the red/blue packs in the ammo box?

[@AveryCaudill]

nice video, does it matter which balance ports you plg the battery's into on the board?

[@AveryCaudill]

I just got mine

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+AveryFpv Does't matter. They are all in parallel so they are all "equal".

[@AveryCaudill]

+Joshua Bardwell thanks!

[@dirtrider88]

@@JoshuaBardwell that comment should have more likes

[@bryanjohnson584]

Thanks for talking me through my first parallel charging of 3s I notice that my JB charge board looks different than my bang good board. Is there a how to for the jb board, or is it exactly the same, just with nicer components?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

The JB board functions the same as others. It has polyfuses to help protect against a fault (but you still must use safe charging procedures).

[@bryanjohnson584]

Just to confirm, it does not matter which order I plug identical batteries into? I can plug one into slot 2 and another into slot 8 and it will still work fine? Thanks for all the help!

[@bryanjohnson584]

I've used it a couple of times now and the JB charging board is AWESOME!

[@ChadBondoc]

Nice video! But i have a question. If Im charging 3x 3s 1000 mah on a parallel what would be my A in charger. Is A means amperage? Sorry for noob question

[@JoshuaBardwell]

You want to charge at 1C or less, which means the total capacity of the batteries, expressed in amps. So 1000 mAh * 3 = 3000 mAh -> 3 amps is 1C.

[@ChadBondoc]

Joshua Bardwell thanks a lot. I'm charging it on 2a before now i know i can go 3a haha. I little bit faster

[@drammalamma3333]

Can you please tell us where/how you are mounting the temp sensor?

[@drammalamma3333]

Also do you close the box while charging? Or is it just there so you can quickly slam it shut if needed? Finally If the box is closed while charging, how do you ensure you hear the charger notify you it has finished?

[@powdersnow88]

How fast parallel connected batteries equalize each other, when you first connect them on board? Maybe one battery charges above its max. C rating? I couldn't find an answer on web.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4WoeJuBd9tjb68

[@powdersnow88]

Wow, you already made a video on just about that. Watching now, thanks Joshua.

[@wouter11234]

Any limitation on the charge method with parallel charging? Or can I use balance charging with multiple batteries plugged in?

[@CitadelPhotography]

Thats the question I am looking for an answer to. Do you know?

[@wouter11234]

@@CitadelPhotography balance charging should be used when parallel charging with multiple batteries

[@slamonfpv]

So it was early morning I was plugging in my 2s infinity 550s to the board. when plugging in the 3rd battery I accidentally plugged the balance lead into the 3s slot it started at the board like a fuse burning up to dynamite with a small flame following crackling and smouldering. lucky for me I was right there and pulled the battery out ripping the pins out with it. one dumb mistake could have burned my house down all because I was still half asleep and didn't have good lighting to see.

[@lucamenger7266]

Is it Importamt to Plug the balancer cable into a certain Port or is that randomly?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

You can plug it in anywhere.

[@chrisschofield9767]

Do you have a video showing the installation of the charger in the ammo box?

[@dirtrider88]

dont put a heat source in an enclosed box with lipos.

[@thecrafter1067]

@Joshua Bardwell a question , you said that the battery needs to be at the same voltage or very similar to each other to prevent high current flows ok? But if we connect a resistor lest say 50 ohm to the xt60 port and to the balancing port , this will reduce the current flow and let us plug in Lipo with different voltage , more than 0.4 (same cells ) am i right?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Yes but it would need to be a huge resistor because it might have to soak 50 or 100 watts or more.

[@paulwilson8470]

My power supply is rated at 1500w 24v 62a and my charger is the ISDT T8. I am using the JB fused parallel charging board and am charging 4s batteries. Assuming all are within .4 of eachother and all are the same make and brand, is it OK to charge 1500's and 1800's together?

[@mertkaptan3849]

what determines the cell input on the charger. the number of lipos at parallel board or the number of cells on each Lipo ? if we parallel charge three 4s lips is it gonna be 3s or 4s

[@JoshuaBardwell]

4S is always 4S. If you plug 4S lipos into the charge board, that's what the charger sees.

[@poorhaas]

In this balance board , is it important wich balance port you use ? Is each xt60 port related to 1 specific balance port ?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

They are all in parallel so no it doesn't matter.

[@etyrnal]

If a person has an ISDT Q6 charger, and an ISDT Safe Parallel Charging board, how does one send the output from the ISDT Q6 charger output (MALE XT60), into the INPUT of the ISDT Safe Parallel Charging board 'input' (MALE XT60) ? Neither the ISDT Q6, or the ISDT Safe Parallel Charging devices seem to come with cables to bridge between them, and on the sites i've looked at, nobody seems to sell a FEMALE to FEMALE XT60 charging 'bridge cable' set to go between the Q6 outputs and the Safe Parallel Charging device... what am i not understanding?? P.S. i am going to order a metal ammo can for this too.

[@wdavie27]

Joshua Bardwell Hiya josh iv always charged my 4> 4s lipo.s at 2A is that good for them just when you said a slow charge is better and will this give a longer lifespan bye any chance

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Anything 1C or less is great. More than 1C can be okay but is more likely to be dangerous.

[@Abblabb]

I have a 4s balance charger. Will a 6s parallell board work with a 4s balance lead extension, or do I need to rearrange the wires to make it work? I noticed this one has a black and red wire at each end suggesting Supply and GND. I'm guessing I'll need to make sure the 4s balance lead's black and red wires correspond to the boards black and red wire locations, no?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Albert Gustafsson it's risky to use only a 4s balance extension because if you ever were to plug in a 5s or 6s battery the last two cells wouldn't balance. If you only use 4s, it's okay though. But for goodness sake don't forget.

[@Abblabb]

Alright thanks! I only go with 4s batteries right now with some occasional 3s for fpv box so it should be ok. When time comes I'll get a better charger as well. And thank you for a very informative video!

[@mr_mr]

Joshua would it affect anything if I created extensions for each battery so that they aren't all piled up so close on each other? I wonder if there's a way to do that with the balance leads too? Just a thought. I would buy a set of these if someone sold them. Maybe they do.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Yes you can do that, it's just a hassle and a bit expensive if you buy balance lead extensions.

[@haka8702]

If you have 1S, 2S or 3S batteries you charge them in series (also the balance plug). That's the proper way without hazard. You can't do it with 4S as the chargers typically only do 6s max. Putting them in parallel ruins the LIPOs if any of those parallel cells have a significant voltage difference, never do that. But you are right: If you check them all, verify all cells are within a very close voltage span you can parallel charge them.

[@ThomasShue]

I have you parallel charge boards in 4s and 6s. My 6s board only shows 5 batteries in the green voltage display at the top of the board. All fuses look to be intact, so only charge 5 at a time is 10 that the board allows. Any clues as to what might be happening?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

The checker is showing cell voltage. It isn't showing the voltage of each individual plug. You can't measure individual plug voltage when packs are plugged in parallel. All packs have the same voltage when they're plugged in parallel that's the definition of parallel.

[@asher1368]

Why did you only charge four when you have six slots? Can you do six at a time and does it matter what side the balance lead is at?

[@RyanTLX]

Hi Joshua. With these parallel charging boards, is there a specific order for the balance ports in relation to their XT60 ports? E.g. First XT60 port uses the top left bunch of balance ports, so on and so forth, or are they all the same and I can simply plug my battery balance leads into any convenient port? Thanks.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

In parallel, order doesn't matter. You can use any plug.

[@TaliPani]

This question haunts me in my dreams: when you connect lipos with different cell voltage to a parallel board, the cell voltage balance out anyways after some time? Is there a maximum on discrepancy between the voltage of each cell for parallel charging? What if I keep them connected some time until they all have the same voltage - is it save?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4WoeJuBd9tjb68

[@johnmcgahern3946]

Great video, thank you! Just one thing, I recently started doing this and I heard from a guy at my local hobby store who recommended not charging batteries that have any individual cells that are out by more than .05v! I was doing this for a while but it was really difficult to achieve and seemed a little excessively cautious. Your way at (.4v or .3v etc...) seems a lot more reasonable as well as attainable. What do you think?

[@boratsagdiyev1586]

I've heard conflicting stories as well, i just charge 1 by 1 on 5C fuck it, just keep a fire extinguisher nearby.. Even tho the Tattu's can take up to 15C

[@babarghias]

Very detailed video with instructions. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@wdavie27]

Joshua Bardwell Hiya josh what's the best way to recover a low cell on a battery pack iv not been able to get out flying for a while and I was checking my pack's and I'm getting a very low alarm on one of the cell and not letting me change it I had this before but I can't remember how I recovered it the last time lol I think I put it on a low ni-mh or ni-cd for 5-10 mins to get the low cell backup to a stable enough for a slow lipo change this only happens to my battery on base station and goggles and I got a small battery &cell checker to add on mt fpv setup but I need to find the best way to recover a low cell on a battery pack safely josh what's your advice on this

[@HierroSonRentas]

Should i always balance when parallel charging? Or just regular charge works?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Always balance, period.

[@JohanLundPhoto]

Does the charger even balance the cells when there are more cells in the array than the charger can show data for in its display?

[@JohanLundPhoto]

I don’t think you will get proper balancing when parallel charging. Let’s say you have 4 lipos. The first cell of each of the 4 lipos are connected in serial by the board so the charger see these 4 cells as one large cell. The next cell is the sum of the cell 2 of all the 4 lipos and so on. If one cell in a pack is way lower than the other cells in the array, more current will naturally flow towards that cell. But, it’s not exactly the same as balance charging a single pack where the charger will make sure each cell has exactly the same voltage.

[@skaap2008]

When parallel charging the cells are connected in parallel, not in series. So the charger will see the parallel voltage of cell 1 of all the lipos (ie. just the voltage of cell 1), not the series voltage (ie. the sum of all of the voltages of cell 1). So the charger will see it as 1 large battery pack, not as 4 individual battery packs.

[@glytch5]

within 0.4 of the full pack voltage? I am new to this so just making sure, I if I have 2 packs, one at 15.33 and one at 15.43 then they are fine? And what DO you do when they are more than .4? Do you just toss them in the drone and hit them a bit? Do you plug them into an led board? Any suggestions to discharge one down without turning on your charger?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Yep -- 0.4 volts difference for the whole pack voltage. So 15.00 to 15.40 would be ok. If they are more than that, you should charge them separately in my opinion.

[@glytch5]

@@JoshuaBardwell Your videos are real helpful man. Thank you for answering.

[@jamiejessop4522]

Can I have 3 batteries on charge in parallel? Or does it have to be even numbers?

[@mssr77]

Do the xt60 plugs line up with a particular balance plug or it doesn’t matter. On my parallel board there is no lines to tell me which match each other so I haven’t used it because I don’t want to do anything dumb

[@JoshuaBardwell]

You can mix and match.

[@libertybicycles1629]

why the velcro on the packs? just curious. I will be applying some to my Apex for batts, but wondering if that's the reason yours are velcro'd

[@MavSoloFPV]

Less likely to eject or slip out from your quad when flying/crashing.

[@chrismccheane343]

Tried charging 2 x 2s 8000mah batteries at 16a one blew the case off towards the end of the charge...what went wrong

[@shul5684]

Well.. the charger I have is a 3s-4s only.. parallel charging board is a up to 6s one. So the connectors don't fit on my charger.. what I did was get one battery and plug it's battery checking cable to the charger .. and the power cable is going to the actually parallel board instead of the charger. I then place the other batteries with both cables on the parallel board.. right now they are charging fine however they are charging rather slow. But Im seating next to it. Already checked them 3 times and they are all charging even.. if all checks out, should I keep doing this? I don't wanna buy another charger ..

[@skaap2008]

The issue with doing it this way is that the charger will only be able to balance the 1 battery connected directly to it, the other batteries will get charged, but not balance charged, since the charger doesn't have access to their balance leads. It is expected that charging will be slower when parallel charging. If you are charging 4 batteries at once, it will take 4 times as long as charging a single battery. You will only get time savings if your charger can output more current. If you usually charge at 1C, then 4 batteries in parallel will only be charging at 0.25C. You'll need to up the current to 4x the single battery amount to charge each battery at 1C. To connect all the balance leads, you'll need an adapter 6S -> 4S, and then you must never plug anything higher than 4S into the board. Or you can cut off the balance lead on the parallel board, and replace it with a 4S one, ignoring the two additional leads, but that is quite a bit more difficult, requires crimping tools, and is much easier to mess up.

[@jasondonavich2758]

Does it matter which socket we use on the charge board? I always put mine next to each on there but you had gaps until the last battery.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Stop Drone-ing on no it doesn't matter.

[@kyleswehla785]

So if I’m chargeing 4 2s 500mah lipos I’ll want to set the a to 2?

[@bugsysiegals]

My 6S CNHL batteries say they can be charged at 5C. They do not compare the # of charges the battery will last at this rate versus 4, 3, 2, or 1C. I charge at 1C to be safe and I know some guys who charge batteries for flashlights who are not willing to charge more than 0.2C! So ... what rate do you charge at? BTW, I accidentally connected my 4S to the parallel board which already had several discharged 6S connected and in just 15s or less the 4S got warm and charged to 4.3V per cell ... definitely something I have to keep an eye on as I wasn't even thinking how these back-feed without the charger going!! Thanks for sharing this video Joshua!

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Please please learn to parallel charge safely!

[@tim101simons]

do the xt60 plus correspond to certain balance ports? ie which side 3s port do you plug the balance lead in left or right.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

It's all in parallel, so it doesn't matter.

[@tim101simons]

+Joshua Bardwell OK brilliant thanks

[@rondefly]

on a balance charge board why would I get a spark hooking a battery in with it all hooked up correctly, I had one that the ballance lead started getting hot right away so I pulled it out in time.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Ron Triano the voltage difference between the batteries was too much.

[@rondefly]

+Joshua Bardwell thank you, I will try another battery. This happened with only the first battery I put on the board.

[@rondefly]

using a balance board for LiPo batteries, I can't even plug in a battery that has only 4 tenths of difference between the cells without the battery shorting out and I have to pull it out right away.

[@tiagotiagot]

Is there no smart parallel charge board, that will run all the checks automaticaly before unlocking the connections between batteries and stuff?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

That's just called a charger. By the time you build a smart parallel board that can do all the checks, you have built a charger and the advantage of the parallel board (low cost) is gone.

[@tnt1887]

Can you drop a link to the power supply you are using?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2rSkHyKlryhZtE

[@Iinustechtips]

where can I buy that board?

[@nesutahk]

I noticed that you used the balance charging function when charging in parallel charging. Are you still able to parallel charge safely using the normal charging function?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Nestor Folta sure. It's no different than charging one large battery. But I think you may be more likely to end up with the packs out of balance when you parallel charge because the cells haven't been matched (internal resistance) like they are within the same pack. But I'm not sure about that.

[@mikepeterson4051]

lol didn't catch it the first time.. the change in his tone of voice.. 'the 3s is gonna light on fire.. probably..' hahaha

[@deeeeeds]

No issues with the accucel 6? How many batteries do you think you can get going off a single charger? I only fly about half as much as I could since I have to spend the whole day before swapping packs on and off the charger.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

You can get as many batteries as you want, it will just take forever to charge. Realistically, for 4S, your max charge rate is going to be about 4 to 5 amps.

[@andrewdowney760]

Hi Joshua. Just started flying again. Question about my 4s lipos. The 4th cell and sometimes 2 cell are out by alot Even after a single balance charge them. After flying 14.8 3.77, 3.72, 3.72, 3.66 Once balanced Its 16.8 or 16.7 But 4.2 or 4.19 on 3 but the forth is 4.14 or even 4.08. Is my charge out of wack or are my lipos toast? Most of the time the charger says 16.8v and 4.2 per cell when charged however I check them with my meter and they read as above. Is my lipos toast or is the charger wonky. I use a venom pro duo Thanks for the help

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Are you 100% sure your battery checker is right? Can you check with a good quality multimeter? Measure between adjacent pins of the balance plug and you should see the individual cell voltages. BE VERY CAREFUL not to short the probes together.

[@michaelpetale6872]

Always helpful!👌👌🥇🏆🍾

[@JuoshwaPB]

I don't think you covered this in video, but could you do storage discharge in parallel?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Joshua Hunt Yes, absolutely.

[@feefeee]

I can plug in any balance cable in any port? or is it paired exclusively to each specific ec3 port?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+felixthemaster1 any.

[@feefeee]

I see, thanks. So before I start charging, I let them rest so the voltages equalise? (they are all around 3.8/c). I have always wanted one of these, but I didn't trust myself to not burn the house down

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+felixthemaster1 they need to start within 0.1v / cell. If they are within 0.1v / cell you should be okay to start charging within about a minute of plugging in.

[@feefeee]

In the odd chance that it is not, do I need to plug them in individually (storage mode) so I have a common starting point? As for discharging after a flight, I aim for 3.8 but Often end up at 3.85. Is it safe to mass discharge?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+felixthemaster1 if they are not within 0.1 volts per cell, I charge them individually. You can also put them to storage and then parallel.

[@megaeniotna]

You're plugging your balance lead in the 6S port of the charger while you're charging 4S. Is the charger knows automatically that it needs to balance charge with the 6S port while charging at 14.8 V ? I ordered your V1 parallel charging board, can't wait to try it !!

[@JoshuaBardwell]

If you only plug in 4S batteries to the parallel board, then there will be no voltage on the 6S wires. The charger will correctly read the battery type.

[@etab83]

Can they be charged separately by to different chargers while connected in parallel ?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

No. When connected in parallel they are basically the same battery.

[@spinthebeatscouk]

Do all the lipos have to be the same mah too, or can you mix 1300mah with 1500mah 4s lipos?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6jUe4KCr9Rob68

[@spinthebeatscouk]

Joshua Bardwell thank you 😊 love your really informative videos great job 👍

[@SuperBarracuz]

Question on the amp setting in the battery. Why did you set the charger to 6A? you have 4 1300mah lipos so thatd mean 4x1.3=5.2A so youre overcharging at 6A no? EDIT: Ok so i think I got it. Youre using the 1C charge rule right? Basically at a 6A charge rate (6/4=1.5A) youre charging each battery at 1.5C? So if you had 4 4s 1300mah lipos with a max 5c charge rate and a capable charger you could theoratically max charge at 26A right? (1.3A x 5c= 6.5A, 6.5A x 4 lipos= 26A charge rate?)

[@JoshuaBardwell]

That sounds right. But don't even charge 5C on a parallel board. If even one battery is not right, the whole thing can be damaged or blow up. Charge 1C or maybe 1.5C max on a parallel charge board is my advice. Frankly, I would never charge a LiPo at 5C no matter what the manufacturer puts on the label.

[@SuperBarracuz]

Joshua Bardwell ah cool thanks for the fast reply. And Yea i threw that 5c in there as in an example to see if l got the calculations right

[@jaytomheldman5170]

1300mAh x 4 is 5200mA. 50W or 6A is the highest current your Turnigy Accucell 6 will output to the 4s (3.7v x 4 =) 14.8v (or is it 16.8v) 50w/14.8v = 3.38A to the 5200mA 4p4s target. could one use a power supply which outputs 18v 6A ? if you wanted to charge 8 1p4s batteries simultaneously could one use an 18v 12A power supply? I missed the reason to use a balance board with the balance leads in this collection of 4s batteries in parallel.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

WIth a smaller charger, you can't charge fast enough to make the parallel board save time. But it still saves the hassle of swapping batteries repeatedly.

[@Baconterrain]

If I have two 2s batteries wired up in parallel can a simple plug the two balance leads and one xt-60 into a parallel charging board? Or do the two balance leads need to be connected first?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

If you wired the main discharge leads in parallel, but you did not wire the balance connectors in parallel, then you must plug both balance leads into the parallel charging board.

[@Baconterrain]

Fantastic! Thanks for such a quick reply. I didn't really want the hassle of soldering up the two balance leads together on such tiny 300mah batteries. Thanks again, you are a legend!!

[@steveyg777]

Hi. The stuff you say in this video kind of makes sense but as I'm still new to all this i also have a voice in my head saying "man, he may as well be talking in Egyptian" lol 😂

[@robertlaurain9310]

I couldnt have said it better,you hit it right on the nose, and to all who are reading this, if this sounds foreign to you!.. STOP.. you are not ready to work with lipos yet!.. we all get complacent with warning labels but for the love of God..do not do it with lipos.. I have had 4 lipo fires since I started about 9 years ago, and yes 3 of them were from doing something dumb, and not knowing it was dumb at the time!! And the 4th one, I was by the book, they ARE VERY DANGEROUS DONT EVEN HAVE THEM IN YOUR HOUSE WITHOUR HAVING THEM IN A FIRE BAG OR STEAL BOX!! COULD YOU IMAGINE Wtching your house burn down with your family in it because you had to play with lipos!! .. thank god that didnt happen to me but I did have 4 volatile fires and it just as well could have ..NO JOKE!!

[@ng-iq4kx]

If what he says sounds like a foreign language then you need to do a lot more reading and watch whole lot more videos on lipos. Knowledge.

[@dukat03]

2 questions, can you Parallel LiFe's ? and when charging LiPos like this will they balance ?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

LiFe yes. Parallel, here is the answer: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4PPpJR6atmZlZo

[@TPA_JW]

JB! Awesome video! I originally found your lipo charger and parallel charging videos as I am getting back into the RC hobby (off-road dirt). Now, after watching your videos, I am considering getting into Drone FPV flying, just for fun (no racing). One question I have that hopefully you can help is this. All the lip parallel charging videos are geared toward smaller mAh batteries (drones) but what about people like me who use larger mAh batters (5200+ mAh) batteries. It does it make sense to go the parallel route with larger packs (due to the high A charge rate to get 1C) or just get a nice dual port charger and charge 2 batteries at the same time. Thoughts?

[@DylanBogusz]

What if the mAh are different but the number of cells is the same?

[@X4R2]

Dylan Bogusz, it would probably work, but try not to pair batteries with very different mAh. Say you are charging a 2000 mAh battery at 2 amps (1c). If you added a 500 mAh battery, it would then be charging at 4c. To safely charge lipos, stay art around 1-3c.

[@skaap2008]

It wouldn't actually. If it were charging at 4C, then it would finish charging in ~15min. But the 2000mAh battery would take ~1hr to charge. How could the 500mAh battery reach final voltage at a different time as the 2000mAh battery if they're in parallel? It can't, because the voltages have to be the same. What happens is that the 500mAh battery charges slower, because its voltage increases faster, so the current goes to the bigger batteries. When parallel charging, just add the capacities and use that to calculate how fast you should charge. ie. If you're charing 2x2000mAh batteries and 2x500mAh batteries, that's a total of 5000mAh, so if you charge at 5A you're charging the batteries at a 1C rating.

[@jamesonkruger6989]

Joshua, how I have been doing it is start with the lowest charged lipo then I add in each battery as the banks ave cell voltage meets the next batteries ave cell voltage. As I add them in I bump up the amps. It's been working great for me. Is there anything wrong with this?

[@mlc3ifly]

Joshua , what Turnigy 4s battery rating are those you have? And what are your thoughts on them?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Ah, an, it's been so long I don't even remember. I think those were the high-C nanotechs right? They were okay but I don't think they hold a candle to top-quality batteries today. Here are my suggestions today: www.fpvknowitall.com/fpv-shopping-list-charging/#batteries

[@mlc3ifly]

Thanks for the quick reply

[@Kradle]

So just to clarify this - I have an Accucell-6 like yours, and I just got a parallel board. I plan to charge x4 4s 1300 mah batteries with it. I did the math and I believe if I tried to charge them at a charge rate of 5.2 amps, I would end up pushing potentially 87.36 watts, which is more than the Accucell can do. I read from Oscar Liang that the Accucell will auto-detect that I'm trying to overdo the power, and will automatically adjust the charge rate to safely charge. - Edit - I assume this is why you max your charger out @ 6 amps knowing that it won't push that much amperage. For now I just plan to charge 2 of them at a time at a 2.6 amp charge rate, which seems safer for my charger. What do you think? Should I just go ahead and carefully try charging all 4? Sorry for the wall of text

[@JoshuaBardwell]

You can charge all 4 it will just take longer. The Accucel will not let you exceed its rated amps or watts. The only thing to worry about is whether you are charging the batteries too fast.

[@Kradle]

Okay cool, thank you.

[@alessandroammenti2384]

where have you bought your parallel charging board(the one with the black plastic case around)?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

BuddyRC I think.

[@cmtetaboaco]

Hy Joshua, I was wandering instead of buying a normal charger that charges 6 batteries at the same time and a parallel board, to buy 6 of this: Hobbyking® DC-4S Balance Charger & Cell Checker 30w 2s~4s, do you know if it's a good idea? thanks

[@JoshuaBardwell]

I believe those only charge at 1.0 to 1.5 amps, which is about 1C for a typical FPV battery. Your options for faster charging are somewhat limited. You won't have the capabilities of a proper charger like fast charge, storage mode, and so forth. Also, you'll need to rig up some distribution panel for your 12v supply. For $9 each, you can't really go TOO far wrong though.

[@QSpeedRacer]

My smart charger doesn't do LiHV .. stopped on brand new 3S 300mah at 12.05V .. balance charge 0.1A

[@brian1978503]

Can you discharge multiple batteries for storage?

[@fsxpilot8355]

Does the mA rating on the LiPo have to be the same? Lets say, i have 2 3S lipo's of 2200mA, one 2500mA and another 2400mA, can i connect these together safely? (keeping the 0.3V difference in mind)

[@JoshuaBardwell]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6jUe4KCr9Rob68

[@ambermeows150]

Hey Josh any tips on how to get the batteries close to the same voltage 0.1v from each other?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Amber Meows If you stop flying with a mAh meter on your OSD, they should be pretty close. At least they are for me. Remember, it's not 0.1v, it's 0.1v per cell. So for a 3S, that's 0.3 v; for a 4S, it's 0.4v. That's a relatively large window to hit.

[@ambermeows150]

Thank you for confirming the voltages for different cell types! All the guides i've seen on parallel charging always say it's suppose to be 0.1v.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Amber Meows no problem!

[@coolteethbro]

Extremely informative. Thank you!

[@heardandtested]

can i charge my 6s battery with the 5s setting

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Chis Ngwa you can never mix 5S with 6S unless a fire is your goal.

[@heardandtested]

thanks

[@WyllSurfAir]

So what's your opinion of parallel charging batteries of the same cell count but different capacity? For example charging a 1300 4s and an 1800 4s. I have heard it is ok but it has always sketched me out.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Wyll Surf Air It works fine. Because the batteries are in parallel, their voltages equalize. Then the charger applies a slightly higher voltage to cause the desired amount of current to flow into the batteries. The bigger battery will take a larger proportion of that current, in proportion to its size. You can think of it this way: because the battery is bigger, it takes more current to charge the battery the same amount. So when you push a given amount of current into the parallel-battery system, the larger battery's voltage doesn't rise as much. This causes a greater difference between the supply and the larger battery, which causes more current to flow into the larger battery.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Wyll Surf Air Here is another analogy. Imagine you have two containers of water. The height of the container is analogous to the cell count (voltage). The width of the container is analogous to the capacity (mAh). Now imagine that one container is 2x as full as the other (charged battery vs. discharge). Now imagine that you open a gate between the two containers. The water level will equalize, right? Okay, that's plugging the batteries in parallel. Current flowed until the voltages equalized. Okay, now imagine that you have two containers, and one of them is 100x as big as the other, but this is key, both of them are 12" tall. One of them is like 1 meter x 1 meter x 12" and the other is 100 meters x 1 meter x 12". Got it? Both are empty (discharged battery). And both of them are hooked together with an open gate (plugged in parallel). Now start pouring water into one of them. Can you see that it doesn't matter where you pour the water, or that one of the containers is bigger? Both of them will always have the same number of inches of water, right up until they are full. That's parallel charging.

[@skatebjarne]

is there a very easy and fast way to charge batterys that are more then just 0,1V apart from each other? I just start with the lowest battery and add the other ones, as the allready charging battery becomes the same voltage as the "next" pack. It is very annoying to allways watch the V Meter on my charger and dont miss the correct time to connect the next Lipo to my board. Is there a faster way?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+skatebjarne Remember, it's 0.1 volts per cell, not 0.1 volts. But if you're more than that, then what you described is basically how you have to do it. Or just charge them one at a time and suck it up.

[@FPVMgunit13]

Or you could just get a ISDT D2 charger then you have a 2 port charger and you can charge different cell types..... @Joshua.... is it safe with a parellel board to say let's charge (2 - 450mah and 2 - 550mah of course all 3S) at the same time it no??