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.

[@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.............

[@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

[@dingusmagee3326]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@molifehacks5258]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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!

[@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

[@mr_mr]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@QBixFPV]

Looks like I need a parallel charging board! Thanks.

[@vedasticks]

Thanks for this video, i just got a hobbyking para board for my 3s 850mah batteries and using an imax b6 charger. Really clears all questions up. a few people complained that the traces burnt on the board or the balance leads got damaged, i guess because of connecting batteries to far out of charge from each other.

[@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.

[@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!

[@oliviermagere]

Do cell resistance differences matter ?

[@sideburn]

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

[@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.

[@jacoblynch9862]

I know I’m late to the party on this one over 10 years ago now I had a eye charger 208B and I noticed on the balance board. It had multiple plug-ins for the size batteries a.k.a. it had three or four ports for two as batteries two for 3S244S then one for five and one for six now I ran an eight scale buggy And because of the price of batteries I ran bullet style connectors on 22S batteries and just series them together as a single battery in my buggy to cut down on wires I did the same when I charge them. I kept the packs connected together as one connected the positive and negative to my charger And then plugged in both balance plugs into two individual slots on the two as part of the board and charge my battery pack is one for us. Never had a problem doing this, and those battery packs are still perfectly fine today now from my understanding that is what my board was meant to do with the multiple Balance ports. It was actually meant to series charge.

[@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!

[@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.

[@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

[@alessandroammenti2384]

i think you left one tip: CONNECT THE PARALLEL CHARGING BOARD TO THE CHARGER BEFORE PLUGGING YOUR BATTERIES ON THE BOARD! it happened to me that while i was plugging the batteries on the board the two positive and negative banana plugs of the board touched, fortunately the only thing broken was the fuse on the board but it could have been worse.

[@babarghias]

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

[@ramziiolo]

I would recommend using a bat-safe box instead of the ammo box :)

[@uksimracer]

Nout wrong with an ammo box, yanoe, theyre designed with explosives objects in mind lol

[@ugellin]

@@uksimracer Insulated box designed specifically to handle lipo fires and explosions *>* Uninsulated metal box that is *NOT* fireproof and will most definitely get hot enough to ignite nearby objects if a lipo fails inside. Ammo boxes are designed to protect ammunition from humidity during storage and that is it.

[@Vortigon]

@@uksimracer ammo boxes are not ideal - they are not designed to contain fires and will allow heat/smoke to escape - they are NOT designed to contain explosions either - they are simply designed to keep ammo safe during transport and storage from knocks.

[@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.

[@limejournal8220]

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

[@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

[@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?

[@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.

[@FabioKastro]

I'm thinking if i should buy an Ammo Crate and a bag of sand to put on top of it. In case there's a fire, the bag of sand will break and drop all the sand ontop of the cells.

[@SuperBarracuz]

or just create a bed of sand underneath. Sand wont put out the fire. Remember when a lipo explodes or catches fire its from all the heat generated due to the chemical reaction within the cell. So until the reaction subsides youll have extreme heat and if theres flammable material around a fire. The sand will act as an insulator keeping the heat centralized to that battery. Also make sure you make a couple vent holes. If a battery does start to leak, gases will build up, ignite and basically your ammo box will be a bomb

[@mikepeterson4051]

Get a class D fire extinguisher at least. Not hard to find but many people don't understand the class ratings...

[@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.

[@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.

[@DangerDavefpv]

i took my ammo box and coated with sprayin liner lol since i do sprayin bedcoating for living

[@SFarling]

My instructions said to plug the balance plugs in first, and then the power plugs.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Steve Farling well, the good part of that is, if you accidentally screw it up, you'll burn the trace on the balance board before you fry the battery.

[@ZuberEUC]

Bardwell...Good vid but maybe time for an updated vid?... addressing different MAH / new high C ratings/ voltage differences / new 6S trend / board daisy chaining misconceptions. The old rule of thumb of 0.1v per cell difference is often mistaken for the total 4S lipo (0.4) voltage. Theoretical question: If my lipo says it can be charged at 5C then why is it a fire risk to plug in six 4S 1300 100C lipos at say 14.4, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15...? Won't the weakest lipo just be equalized at a 5C charge current? Thank you.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Check this video out, regarding equalization current: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4WoeJuBd9tjb68 I suspect you would see way more than 5C in that case. I suspect you would see peak current easily into the tens of amps.

[@ZuberEUC]

Joshua Bardwell ... point taken. So definitely stick to the old rule of voltage difference. And plug in the lower charged lipos with the highest charge lipos last. Thank you.

[@rfly-fpv]

I feel like it could be easily avoided just by buying something like SkyRC Q200 4-challel charger.

[@youraveragemat]

Definitely going to get that chopstick with that specs

[@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

[@aker_fry]

I can't find out if there is an order to respect on the board for the power leads and the balance leads, like if one goes with one there ; or if there is no relation between connectors and the only thing that matters is: make sure all connectors are plugged correctly and all batteries get their power lead plugged before their balance leads.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

No, there is no relation. They are all in parallel so electrically they are totally interchangeable.

[@aker_fry]

Joshua Bardwell awesome! Thank you. That was the last thing I was worried about doing something wrong. I'm going to try to run my first parallel charging now then! Thank you so so much for your channel :) I'll support you the best way I can

[@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.

[@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

[@JuoshwaPB]

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

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Joshua Hunt Yes, absolutely.

[@lucamenger7266]

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

[@JoshuaBardwell]

You can plug it in anywhere.

[@jacobreezyfpv6287]

You should make a update one because a lot of people are going 2s or 3s

[@tnt1887]

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

[@JoshuaBardwell]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2rSkHyKlryhZtE

[@Away907]

I use different strategy to charge my battery park. When i'm going out for a flight day to the nearest field i take only about 4 4s 1500mah flight batteries and couple of old 6S 10000mah batteries coupled with ISDT pocket chargers. All my flight batteries are graphenes lipos, means i can charge them at up to 15C rate. 15C is too much, but at 6C it takes about 10 min to re-charge the battery. So my rotation is following: 1 flying, 1 cooling down after flight, 2 charging. Given the flight cycle duration of about 6 min(3-4min to fly, 2-3min to swap batteries, do some tuning, take rest for the eyes) i get new battery by the end of every cycle ready to be installed on quad. This way you can get about 20-22 flight non-stop per flight day. With parallel charging you will have to take 1 big brake to charge them all. Yes, i know that charging at 5-6C is not good for battery cells, but so far i don't see much degradation in battery life and performance. Statistically, my batteries life is about 30-50 cycles, before it get's smashed into the ground as a result of the crash.

[@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.

[@jamesk1619]

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

[@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

[@mikepeterson4051]

Always keep a class D fire extinguisher nearby! I even mounted one on my truck just to have nearby when I'm flying, just b/c ya never know! Lol can get a small marine grade one at Walmart for $25, small but enough to put out a LiPo fire 👍

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Nothing can put out a LiPo. They are self-oxidizing. They'll burn underwater. The fire extinguisher is to put out the things the LiPo lights on fire. Best response to a LiPo fire is to pour a bucket of sand on it. That'll help contain the flames and dissipate the smoke.

[@mikepeterson4051]

Joshua Bardwell safe to say I was misinformed then haha thanks for the info!

[@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?

[@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 😆

[@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

[@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?

[@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?

[@michaelpetale6872]

Always helpful!👌👌🥇🏆🍾

[@brian1978503]

Can you discharge multiple batteries for storage?

[@jamiejessop4522]

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

[@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.

[@coolteethbro]

Extremely informative. Thank you!

[@rustyshackleford6259]

VERY good and easy to understand video! Great job

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@danrockhold1785]

If, when you start parallel charging, the actual voltage of each battery may be different until all of them are charged to an equal voltage. I believe that the lowest voltage will get most of the current until it reaches an equal voltage all around. It seems to me that, if most amps go to the lower voltage battery, you risk over charging the lower voltage battery.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Not over-charging in terms of voltage, since the final voltage will always be between the highest and lowest. But over-charging in terms of charge rate, or amps, yes. Definitely a risk.

[@Vortigon]

If they are connected in parallel - one battery will not take all the amps - they act as a single unit - and voltage will equalise almost immediately they are connected on a board anyway - as long as they are within the ballpark, seconds.

[@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

[@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.

[@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?

[@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!

[@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.

[@ronnwilson2350]

Parallel charging 4-4s 1300mah batteries on that charger is kinda pushing it as far as the wattage is concerned. I have the Turnigy Accucell 6 10A version and it gets pretty warm parallel charging in that configuration. I never really understood why they designed those chargers with such a low wattage spec. They are really nice chargers for the money. Parallel charging 4-4s batteries is actually 87.36 watts which comes in a little over the 80W limit for these chargers but hey who cares right? If it blows we can just pick up a new one for how cheap they are. I've been looking at picking up the Hyperion Eos 730i NET 3 charger so I can do 8 4s batteries at one time? Heard anything bad about the Hyperion line? Keep up the good videos, I really enjoy your channel and your informative ones are easy to understand and highly useful. Thanks again, happy flying....

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Ronn Wilson It doesn't really matter IMO. The charger doesn't care how big a battery it's pushing into. It just cares how many amps/watts it's pushing. It caps out at 50 watts, about 3.0 to 3.5 amps at 14-17 volts, and just keeps going until the battery is full. Larger batteries just take longer. The charger has in-built safeguards to prevent it from exceeding its own safe ratings.

[@kmuralikrishna1582]

Assume i have 16 cells(not battery packs) to recharge individual, normally one cell requires 5v1amps, now for 16 cells what is the calculation, is it same voltage, amps for 16 cells in parallel connection ...? or do i need regulate(increase) input volts,amps kindly reply

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Same voltage, amps add up. It would be 16 amps to 5v.

[@zachc5456]

If u charge lipos to 4.7 they catch fire and this method could be dangerous becuase the charger will pick up on the lowest cells on each cell input . Won't cut out at 4.2

[@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.

[@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.

[@QSpeedRacer]

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

[@w1llyFPV]

Hello Joshua, I'm new to the hobby and I'm starting to charge my batteries in paraller. Currently I have 5 3s batteries - 3pcs GNB 550mah and 2pcs of Tattu 650mah, my question is can I charge them in paraller all together at once?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6jUe4KCr9Rob68

[@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.

[@quadalexfpv5269]

where does the air for the charger come from when its closed ?

[@dirtrider88]

the charger runs on electricity not air. now if your asking where does the heat from the charger go, thats a good question

[@berberdodo]

if i have a battery thats lower than the other three i leave them all on the charge board the JB" one and they seem to balance the lower one to match the rest! then i charge all...pretty cool!..

[@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.

[@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.

[@chrismccheane343]

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

[@tylermetternick3438]

Thank you, this is just what i wanted. Great video :)

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Tyler Metternick Please do your own independent research before parallel charging. I believe all the info in this video is correct, but it is not necessarily complete. Hate to have you charge headlong and end up with a fire.

[@robertlaurain9310]

They sell explosion proof boxes on amazon for 12 bucks

[@robertlaurain9310]

For lipos

[@johnpadgett4069]

Great Info

[@kyleswehla785]

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

[@Iinustechtips]

where can I buy that board?

[@droneschoolgent2057]

So, maximum 0.2V difference per cell, or 0.2V max for the total pack, whatever the number of cells? (Probably in the video, but don't want to watch it all.)

[@droneschoolgent2057]

The general rule I follow is no more than a 0.1 volt maximum difference between cells of packs I hook together in parallel.

[@user-yk1cw8im4h]

Are higher discharge rate batteries always better than lower discharge rate ones ?

[@user-yk1cw8im4h]

If not, why ?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+LT “John” YV discharge rate on the label is almost completely meaningless. A 70C will probably perform better than a 20C but anything over perhaps 40C is a total crap shoot. And anything over 90C is almost certainly B. S. For mini quads, higher REAL discharge rates are probably better. For other applications, energy density and other metrics might matter more. For example, an EDF plane will have relatively constant current draw with few sharp peaks. So a higher discharge rate might not be needed. Every battery design is a tradeoff.

[@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.