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e-Electric Batteries & Chargers > How to know amps you can charger your lipos at?

Carbon Copter
Senior Heliman
Location: USA

Does anyone know what the methodology is behind how fast you can charge a specific size lipo. For example. I have 5s 3200 packs. How many amps can I safely (and with out causing harm to the battery) charge these at? -How would I determine this for various size lipos?

Thanks!

04-19-2008 04:55 AM

shuttlepilot
Elite Veteran
Location: Mullins, South Carolina

You should charge them at no more than 1C. Which for a 3200mah pack would be 3.2amps. 2400mah 2.4amps and so on.

Gas is Great
Quick OD 26

04-19-2008 05:02 AM

mfishhead
Heliman
Location: Belmont, MI USA

Carbon Copter,

I've questioned the same thing. My charger has preset settings for most of the common lipo packs. But it charges at such a conservative level (.45 amps on a 2200mah pack) that it takes forever to charge a battery. The battery stays nice and cool, but I think I can bump the amps up a bit to speed the charge without damaging (or exploding) the lipo.

Not trying to hijack your question, but...

Has someone done some research on safe amperage levels to charge at? Is using the maximum of 1C a good practice for charging, or should I use something lower?

Any comments are appreciated.

-Mike

PS Thanks for starting this Post CC

04-19-2008 05:58 AM

nivlek
Elite Veteran
Location: Norfolk England

Quote
The battery stays nice and cool

The lipo battery should never be anything other than cool during charging , not like nicads or nimh cells which will be warm at the end of a charge . If you ever notice an increase in pack temperature when charging , stop charging an stand back !
Some lipos are supposedly safe at higher than 1C charge rates , but there may be a reduction in cycle life .
Personally I never use more than 1C , and if I have the time I use a lower rate , maybe 0.6 - 0.8 C .

At the end of the day , it gets dark .

04-19-2008 09:16 AM

Carbon Copter
Senior Heliman
Location: USA

Thanks Guys -Shuttlepilot. I think how you explained it:

You should charge them at no more than 1C. Which for a 3200mah pack would be 3.2amps. 2400mah 2.4amps and so on.

Is what I knew, but did not know how to get to the figure, so thank you, I think this is my answer. What I can add to this though is that some packs (such as the Hyperion ones I have) can be charged at 2c. I set mine for 5 amps and they charged pretty quickly, so that would be 6.4 amps max with these bats? I'll stick to the 5 amps for these and 5 amps for my 6s 5000 packs....and as someone else said, charger slower if you have the time...

And no problem Mike, I'll take all the advice I can get, so thanks for adding.

04-19-2008 09:37 PM

fenderstrat
Elite Veteran
Location: Aston,Pa

if you have the right equipment charging at higher rates is possible AND safe...there have been many long discussions about this recently.....FMA approves charging up to 3C..with their chargers and batts...Flight Power and Thunder Power now also say its safe to charge at up to 2C....I personally have been charging at 2 or 3C(depends on the battery) for about a year and have seen no ill effects on the batteries.....my batteries perform awesome and 1 of my batts has about 400 cycles on it(I only sport fly so far,and never discharge past 80%)

TT MINI TITAN,HBK2,Futaba FASST, NO T-REX.... QUIT CRYING AND START FLYING

04-20-2008 02:36 AM

helicraze
Veteran
Location: Victoria - Australia

I charge most of the time on 1C but sometimes 1.5-2C, any decent pack and charger config can be used to safely charge it at more than 1C

04-20-2008 08:31 AM

fenderstrat
Elite Veteran
Location: Aston,Pa

Quote
any decent pack and charger config can be used to safely charge it at more than 1C

you must have a charger and balancer that "communicate" to charge at more than 1C...there are some very expensive set ups out there that dont do this....MAKE SURE..you have the proper set up or you will at the least ruin batteries...at the worst you can cause a fire.....fast charging is VERY safe if done properly with the right equupment

TT MINI TITAN,HBK2,Futaba FASST, NO T-REX.... QUIT CRYING AND START FLYING

04-20-2008 09:19 PM

helicraze
Veteran
Location: Victoria - Australia

yes sorry your correct, a balancer as well is needed.

04-20-2008 10:33 PM

Carbon Copter
Senior Heliman
Location: USA

Well, that's great info! -Thanks. I also know that for lipos, there is no more benefit of charging higher than 3c

04-21-2008 03:36 AM

Pistol_Pete
Elite Veteran
Location: Tampa Bay non-Buccaneer

www.rcbatteryclinic.com

www.batteryuniversity.com

<><>...the lunatic is in my head...<><>

04-21-2008 11:34 PM

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e-Electric Batteries & Chargers > How to know amps you can charger your lipos at?

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