lipo charger setup!! help me fast plz!
 

hey guys i just recently bought the lba10 balancer and the hyperion 1210? (something like that) and i got into town today and it all came in!!

i also bought that e-maxx with 2x2s2p team orion 4800 packs. they also came in!!

so my question is how the heck do i setup everything? holy crap it looks SOO confusing! all the ports and what not. if any of you got pics or something like that that can help id greatly appreciate it!

thanks!

i wanna charge these bad boys but i dont want to do it wrong..

just put deans on them also so they are ready to go!

lol read the manual. the balancer and charger should have instructions.. use them.

To charge both at the same time and balance the individual cells you would have to charge them up as an 8s1p pack then parallel them into a 4s2p after charging, I don't know the 1210 balancer but if you meant the hyperion LBA10 it is only capable of balancing 6s on its own, you would need 2 LBA10s and a datacable to let them balance up to 12s.

Alternatively you could charge them separately as 4s1p packs on your single balancer, but obviously charging 2 packs separately will take you twice as long as charging them all together as a long string making a 8s1p pack.

i did and it didnt help with the configuration

i know how to work the charger but it doesnt help me with the setting up part

If you are talking about the Orion 4800 packs that come encased in the plastic, I believe that they require some sort of proprietary balacing harness. The LBA10 won't work unless you come up with some sort of adapter that will allow you to access the individual cells.

Orion says that you really don't need to balance their packs. I don't buy it, but it's what they say.

You might want to look into the trakpower v-balancer (I think it's called). From the pictures I've seen, it appears to use a similar "socket" for balancing.

The next time you buy packs, look into the trakpowers, if that plastic case thing is what you like. The orions are, as you posted, in a 2P configuration and are only rated to 15C. The trakpowers are of a 1P configuration and are rated to 20C.

well i wasgoing to buy somemaxamps packs but then the orioin deal came along.. i basically spend 50 bucks on both of the packs.. so i figured why the hell not.

i will look into the trackpowers for my next packs if i buy some.

so in the meantime what can i do about the lipos that i have?

should i just charge them without balancing them?

Did you get them used? If so, you have no way of telling how many cycles they have on them. You really don't know if they are out of balance or not.

You can just plug the packs into a charger and charge them up. I don't own any of those packs, because I find them to be a PITA to tend to, so I don't want to assume anything and advise of you how to check the voltage of each cell before you charge them.

Perhaps someone that does own them can comment.

I suspect that the little hole in the pack taps into the series connection between the two cells. If this is true, then you should be able to get a reading on each cell by using a dmm and using the probes on the + connection and the center tap for one cell and then the center tap and - connection for the other. Please get confirmation on this before you do anything.

There is quite a bit on www.rctech.net about the platinum lipos (orion 4800's). You are correct AAngel that they don't say you need to balance them....

From Orion website• What is cell balancing and does the Team Orion Li-Po require it?
Cell balancing is a way of ensuring your Li-Po will deliver the maximum performance and capacity over a prolonged period of time.
With Kokam’s unique battery design, balancing is not absolutely required....
but they also say if you want to be sure you can charge each cell individually which will balance the pack. Find it on RCtech on how to hook up the charger leads... its something like + to +, - to balancing plug charges one cell and + to balancing plug, - to - charges the other. You would also do the same thing to check the voltage of each cell. Here is how they recommend rewiring the Orion Avionics balancer for the Platinums...http://press.teamorion.com/press/cli...ncingInstr.jpg. Should be similar for the LBA10.

Like I said, I don't know about all of that not needing balancing. I have Kokam 4800 packs and they are made up of better cells than those contained in the Orion packs, and everyonce in a while, my packs do need a bit of balancing. I'd hate to imagine how much they would be out of balance if I never balanced them.

I also don't just balance them to keep them in top form. I balance them to keep them from catching on fire.

I have several old LiPos from before balancers came along that have no way of getting to the individual cells, batterys are selfbalancing to a degree more so if you charge them at lower rates, my old cells I charge at 1/10C except when I really need them quickly and then I use the regular 1C but I never do 2 1C charges in a row.

ok so one of the lipos puffed today... i didnt charge them or anything. i was just messing around with the truck trying to fix everything (was not using the lipos) and then all of a sudden it expanded. like i was next to it the whole time and randomly it just like puffed up...

what the heck do i do now... i contacted the guy and said that something will be done so hopefully something good comes out of this...

no more buying lipos used.. ^_^

Balancing ensures that each cell in a lipo pack has the same exact voltage. A charger by itself will put out max of 4.2v times the number of cells. However, the charger doesn't know if one cell is higher and another cell is lower.

For example, when charging a 4s pack, the charger will put out a max voltage of 16.8v. If one cell is higher for whatever reason, say 4.5v, the other three cells could be at 4.1v and the charger would never know. A balancer would insure that 16.8v is divided perfectly equally among each cell for 4.2v each.

Higher quality packs like those might be matched so an imbalance is minimal, but it can happen, particularly if you exceed the discharge C rating, or drain them a bit too far.

In short, always balance. It may be unnecessary, but I would rather play it safe than sorry. Just my $0.02.

ya well after this lipo incident i may be done with lipos for now... i have 2x 3s1p a123s and they are amazing power and charge time. im probably going to be buying a couple more of them instead of lipos.

here are some pics of the puffed lipo... lol
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...2/DSC01022.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...2/DSC01023.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...2/DSC01024.jpg

noone prolly cares but o well! figured i would show people if they never have seen it before! lol..

so if i take a needle and pop the cell what would happen? i really want to because its all mushy... i dont want to catch my house on fire though:eek: :005: