Lipo cell count and charger
 

I just want to make sure I have this correct before I buy. A lipo battery 3s2p
would have a total of 6 cells, is this correct? If so I would need a charger that would be capable of charging at least 6 cells. If the charger was able to do 12 cells or more would I be able to charge 2 battery packs at the same time and if so would the 2 packs need to be connected in serial or parallel?

If this is possible what chargers are capable of doing at least 12 lipo cells?

Yes it has 6 cells total.The charger would see the pack as 3 cells of twice the capacity.You can charge these 2 packs in series as a 6s2p,6 cells as twice the mah.What Mah are the packs?.You'll want a charger with a good charge output,if they're high capacity,say 5.5amps or more.

So are you saying that a charger rated for say 1-6 cells would work to charge both packs at the same time. I was looking at 8000mah (each)packs.

I think so,wait for someone else to confirm this before you buy.8000mah!,that's going to take a while to charge unless you can find a charger with a very high charge output.Can i ask what the setup is,that sounds like an awful lot of runtime(and size and weight).

This is my previus thread for setup.
http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2542
These packs are 44mm x 132mm x 39mm and are 495 grams.
What is wrong with runtime???

What d'ya mean what's wrong with runtime? Nothing.

Does anyone else know??????

It's definately right,i was just being cautious since it's your money.What charger are you looking at? To charge 8000Mah at 1C would take 8 amps,if you charge them at only about 5 amps,it's going to take ages to charge and you can't leave them charging unattended.

Here are some TP chargers I am looking at (charge and balance at the same time).
TP1010c - the problem with this charger is the specs state 10 amp up to 5 cells and 5 amp at 10 cells. I do not know what 6-9 cells charge at.

TP1080c - is not out yet but will charge 8 amp up to 7 cells.

TP1380c - is not out yet but will charge 8 amp up to 8 cells and 6 amp up to 10 cells.

The Super Brain 989 may be good but I do not know what the specs are on it and I do not think they have a balancer.

Tower has some specs on the 989 here http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXLTW4&P=7
but according to them, it wont be available till "late spring early summer."

Johnnymaxxima I saw the listing at Tower Hobbies but it does not state amps per number of cells (example: 10 amps up to 8 cells). I am looking at some 6s 8000mah packs (2 3s packs charged at the same time on one charger). A lot of the chargers seem to drop the amperage after a certain cell count. I would also like one that can have a balancer hooked up so they can be charged and balanced at the same time. Do you or anyone else know of one?

i think a tp charger/balancer is your best bet. theres one supposed to come out that can charge 10s at like 9 amps i believe. its in another thread somewhere around here.

I see the Charge Rate for the 989 says "1.5C max for Lithium cells"
What does that meen? Sorry for the rookie question.

well the majority of lipos charge at 1c which is there capacity. so if there 4000mah you would charge them at 4 amps or 1c.

Still a little confused. So when the description on the 989 reads... "Charge Rate: 1.5C max for Lithium cells" does that mean I can charge my 4000mah packs at 6amps? (1.5c X 4)
Sorry about the hijack Tazz.

IMO, that 1.5C "rating" has no significance. Lipos should not be charged at greater than 1C (unless otherwise specified). 1.5C is also not a way to measure current, unless there is a capacity thrown into the mix. But since there isn't, we can't make any assumptions as to the actualy charge rate (in amps).

well it does say, "up to 9999mah"

But that doesn't mean that it can do 1.5C at 9999mah. I think they say 9999mah because the LCD display can only do up to 4 digits, so batteries with capacity into the 10Ah range won't display properly when fully charged. I'll email MRC and ask what the actual charge rate is at different cell counts.