How To Parallel Charge LiPo Batteries Without Burning Down Your House

Parallel charging lets you charge multiple LiPo batteries at the same time, on the same charger. Parallel charging is hugely useful if you have a high-wattage charger and lots of small batteries, such as the 1300 mAh packs that are commonly used for drone racing or fpv acro flight. Parallel charging lets the charger "see" the many small packs as if they were one big pack, and charge them at a high amp rate without damaging them.
But parallel charging has its risks. FIRE! EXPLOSIONS! DEAD KITTENS! Okay, not the last one.
This video will show you how to safely parallel charge LiPo batteries. If you follow the tips in this video, you can parallel charge without damaging your batteries, and 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!

[@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!

[@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.

[@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!

[@zagdul]

I charge my lipos in parallel very often, same rules as you mentioned apply here. But: I also make sure, that the manufacturer of the lipo is same. Also: even if I'm in the Voltage range, I still leave them connected there on the balance board to have the voltage balanced out. At least a couple of minutes. At the end, all have the same voltage... And: before that I check if the Lipo needs balancing. If that is the case, I balance it on its own... AND: as I have a lot of 1s lipos for my micro quads, I charge them in sequence, so I treat 6 1s lipos as one 6s and have this one balanced by the charger.

[@mr_mr]

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

[@sideburn]

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

[@dingusmagee3326]

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

[@babarghias]

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

[@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

[@phasorshift4676]

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.............

[@coolteethbro]

Extremely informative. Thank you!

[@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

[@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.

[@michaelpetale6872]

Always helpful!👌👌🥇🏆🍾

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@DJDevine]

Thank you.

[@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!

[@johnpadgett4069]

Great Info

[@limejournal8220]

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

[@MrSabram07]

Great video

[@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.

[@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?

[@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

[@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

[@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

[@jamesk1619]

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

[@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

[@kennethjensen7358]

Great video :-)

[@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.

[@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

[@oliviermagere]

Do cell resistance differences matter ?

[@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.

[@danielnunez3518]

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

[@coldrider3517]

Thank You for yet another very informative vid ,i'm just starting up in FPV (waiting for my very 1st quad/drone/ meh the fun toy with spinning thingy's =D ) and a small one to fly inside & learn . for safety charging I have an old steel tool box that should be good enough it close up pretty tight but not 100% so if some thing happens it wont turn into a bomb .You mentioned something about electrical tape This ->www.permatex.com/products/adhesives-sealants/specialty-adhesives/permatex-liquid-electrical-tape/ is what I have been using for years ,it great specially if you can dip the part in it let partially dry 30ish min and do two coats .I sealed many accessories on my e-bike with it never had problems with water on them . Congratulation Josh on going all out with your FPV Passion ,full time youtuber I mean ;-) I usually end my comments with ride safe in this case I have to say " Ride & Fly Safe " 1 last thingy ,if you ride a bicycle don't stay in a car/truck blind spot ,sadly again this season cyclist where badly injured for having stayed in that zone ,some dead …. Fly& Ride Safe ;-)

[@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.

[@rustyshackleford6259]

VERY good and easy to understand video! Great job

[@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?

[@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.

[@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

[@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?

[@kyleswehla785]

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

[@molifehacks5258]

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

[@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!..

[@jamiejessop4522]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@Iinustechtips]

where can I buy that board?

[@brian1978503]

Can you discharge multiple batteries for storage?

[@youraveragemat]

Definitely going to get that chopstick with that specs

[@mysteryguy432]

wondering if anyone can answer this for me. I have a 1-2s multi-channel charger that charges off balance plug only. Would it be is possible to connect a 3s battery via an adapter connected to balance plug(wired in parallel of course) to 2 different channels. Basically connect 2 cells to the 2s connector and 1 cell to the 1s connector(on separate channels) essentially turning my 1-2s multi- channel charger to a 3s charger . In theory the charger would think that it was charging a 1s and a 2s battery on separate channels. would this work?

[@GregQuillen]

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

[@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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@TommyC_FPV]

You rock

[@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!

[@DangerDavefpv]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@jacobreezyfpv6287]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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?

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@yokonunz]

Hi! Nice video! I've two big 5200mah 3S battery that I use for my multicopter. Does it mind if sometimes I connect them in parallel (following your voltage rule) using only the main discarge lead (using a Y style cable) an charging them together without using balance plugs? I'll balance them every other charge for example :) edit. I just remembered that one of the battery has a 4S balance plug but with only 3 cells connected (cause I've broken the 3S balance lead in crash). I think In this case I'm good to go. Just use the Y cable and connect both the balance to 3S and 4S plug on the charger :). I have your model and the balance connectors should be all in parallel.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

If the batteries are healthy, they should stay in balance and be okay. But the correct practice is to balance charge EVERY TIME.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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!

[@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

[@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

[@JuoshwaPB]

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

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Joshua Hunt Yes, absolutely.

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@rfly-fpv]

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

[@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!

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@alessandroammenti2384]

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

[@JoshuaBardwell]

BuddyRC I think.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.