lipo charging Q's
 

Hey everyone, how should I go about charging lipos that I am getting in the near future?

The other night I made a “charging station” where I have my power supply, ICE charger, and other accessories. I am planning on getting one 2s and one 3s lipo. (I am going to use them together in series)

First off, can I use 2 chargers off of one power supply at the same time? Should I get another ICE charger and charge the lipos separately? Or just get this charger http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXFWW2&P=7 and charge them together as 5s?

(I will probably have more Q’s later, I just can’t remember now)………


Thanks! :018:

To be honest, if you can afford to get another charger, sell the ICE and get something like the E-Station 701. You can charge them both at the same time though if your charger can handle 5S.

It's generally cheaper to get one charger to charge them all at once. Other than that, it's a personal preference IMO.

For the power supply question, there is the short answer and the long answer:

Short: Get a 30A power supply and you can hook 2 or 3, maybe even 4 chargers on it.

Long: Each charger will draw whatever current it needs at 12v to generate the energy it needs to charge the battery(s). If you are charging a 5s battery at 6A, that is a max of 126w (assuming the charger can do this current at that high voltage). The charger needs to pull this 126 watts from your power supply. So, at 12v, this will be a little more than 10.5A, figure 11-12A for various heat losses in the charger. So, do this math for each charger based on the battery you are charging and then add up all the currents. That will be the minimum current you need from the power supply with all of them hooked to it.

Whew! The short answer was easier.

looks like BrianG hit the nail on the head for me!

since i am using this power supply http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXL356&P=ML i might as well get the astro flight charger right? also, is it bad to charge a 2s and 3s together as a 5s?

:)

That supply is only rated for 11.5A, which will supply a max of 138W. Fine for one charger, not for two - unless you are charging at low current.

You can charge the 3s and 2s in series as long as they are the same capacity, life (meaning not one old and one new), and I would hook them to a balancer.

thanks very very much for your help Squee and BrianG!!!!!!

Np! :)

I wouldn't get the Astroflight...It's not CC/CV and won't work with most balancers. I would recommend something else...

Just FYI, you don't need to spend nearly that much on a power supply. You can get one from Hobby People that's 20amps for $60.
http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/158301.asp

Or you can go a slightly DIY route and get two 30amp power supplies (60amps total) for $40. I went this route, and sold one of the power supplies, since 30amps is more than enough.

............and what would that be squee? since i am getting one 2s and one 3s couldn't i balance them on my ICE charger seperately?

MetalMan- i allready have that power supply, also can you give me a link to the 30amp power supply?

thanks!

Woops, looks like I misread that.

You can charge/balance them separately. Just make sure that at the end of the charge the current of the CV phase is the same for both packs.