all you do is double the capacity of the pack - I charge my 2300 cells like they were 4600.

Remember that charger is only rated for 50w so it may not actually up the amps anyway depending on how many cells you have.

With a 5s pack Max you can get is around 3amps - so set the charger at 3000 mah

thanks for that mate i figured as much. makes sense i guess too. shame li-pos arent that flexible. many thanks. :)

They're becoming more flexible. Many are reported to be able to handle 2C charge rates, and the newest Neu packs boast the ability to handle 5C charge rates.

The future looks good!

huh maybe the zippys arent all that and a bag of chips. because if they rate a pack for 4800 and it only holds 3300-3500mah after you dump it then that in my opinion is a 3500 pack because thats the usable amount of capacity it has right? i know when i dump my protek 5s4000s (20 minute main) they read 15.5 volts going on the charger and hold 4100 mah and 21 volts

so im getting a full 4100 mah of capacity out of my 4000 5s lipos and your getting 3300-3500 mah of capacity out of your 4800s???????? that sounds bad

Rootar, I think you are looking at it backwards. My original question was what is the meaning of the mah reading the charger gives at the end of a charge. It was answered that it is the amount that was "put back in", not the total capacitiy of the pack.

That logic is somewhat flawed; if you were to drain a lipo down to 0amps, then recharge it back upto 4.2v, it would more than likely say on the charger that you have pumped in the full rated capcity. Saddly your lipos would also be dead as you cant discharge then down below about 2.6v per cell; that is where you are 'loosing' some of total capacity- there is a difference between rated mah and usable mah quantities.

With my 2300mah A123 packs, I usually pump back in about 2000mah (I run them in the truck till they dump). With my 4000mah lipos, I usally put about 3000mah back into them- you cant drain a battery and refill it like a nitro fuel tank, you have to leave some energy in there to prevent the voltage from dropping too low and killing the pack.

I'd love to explain the difference observed between the Protech and Zippy lipos, but the only thing I can think of is that the Protechs actually hold somewhat more mah than they are rated at, and that the LVC is set a bit high for the Zippies... :neutral:

JT my post was off subject towards the zippy lipos, someone else ahd already answered your question. i was just questioning how much usable mah the zippy had compared to others.

and Neil,
my flightpower 5s 5000 use to hold 4950 mah if i dumped it to 15.5 volts (3.1v cutoff same as i always use) heck even my maxamps 3s 5000 will hold a FULL 5000mah if i take it down to 9.3 volts. my question was valid in that why do the zippys only hold 3300-3500mah after they are taken to the cutoff when they are rated for 4800.

?????? i thought it was pretty good question ........ i mean i didnt think there was a set in stone standard for rating lipo capacity, i thought it was up to each manufacturer and i was pointing out that the some brands seem to rate their packs by usable mah while others seem to be rated in TOTAL mah as if you took them all the way down and not just to a 3-3.2v cutoff......... is that clearer on my question?

It was a good question, I dont think I read it properly the first time.

I would very much hope that all manufacturers list the capacity of thier lipos or nimhs etc based on the total mah of the pack, rather than the usuable mah you can attain from them, otherwise that would lead to all manner of confusion. Maybe the zippies just need to be cycled a few times before they deliver their full potential... :neutral:

well with an nimh you can run them till them dead (not great for them but they hold up) like nicad so the usuable mah would be the total mah, with a lipo id rather know the Usable mah becasue what the hell good is a 4800 lipo if im only getting 3300-3500 out of it? maybe lasts just me but i every brand lipo ive seen run personally and charged, when taken tot he cutoff accpeted right at the rated capacity id be pretty pissed if i thought i was getting a good deal by running zippys, and then not have the run time of and equally rated pack of a different pack.......

For what it's worth, my 2 x 3s Zippy 4000's consistently take 4100mAh back in with the MMM auto cut-off.

Well, the rating has to be for what you can use. The capacity of the lipo 3v and below is irrelavent. So the rated capcity would be from 4.2v to 3v. Every lipo I have used has generally been good for its rated capcity, as long as it was used within its discharge capabilities. If you push a pack beyond its cont c rating then you may not get the full discharge out of it before it hits the lvc. That was my issue with maxamps 3000, 4000, 5000, and 10000 cells.