charging 2s2p lipos in series

[blueb8llz]

how many of you guys run two lipo packs together in series in your truck/car charge/balance them in series as well? i heard it is highly recommended to charge/balance them in series but i just wanna see how many of you guys dont do this and have no problems. i will be running two 2s2p packs in my 3905 but not really in the mood to make the y harness for the charger.

[BrianG]

I do this for my buggy. Charging and balancing in the same manner you run them (in series) is perfectly fine. It would be the same thing as having a single 4s pack.

[lincpimp]

Personally, I run a pair of trakpower lipos in series, and charge them in series. One could charge sperately, but that takes twice as long with one charger. I have 5 chargers and 6 balancers so that is not really a problem.

I prefer to do it, as it balances all of the 4 cells the same. If you charge the packs seperately, they will be balanced, just not to each other. If you turn your lvc up to 12.4v, or even 12.8 it will give the cells more of a saftey net if one pair is lower than the others.

[blueb8llz]

ok yea i wasnt worried about charging them in series, i was actaully wondering if i can NOT charge them in series. i dont mind charging one lipo at a time. i just read that its very good to charge them in series so i was just wondering if i needed to. but good point lincpimp, maybe ill just set my lvc at 12.4.

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by blueb8llz

ok yea i wasnt worried about charging them in series, i was actaully wondering if i can NOT charge them in series. i dont mind charging one lipo at a time. i just read that its very good to charge them in series so i was just wondering if i needed to. but good point lincpimp, maybe ill just set my lvc at 12.4.

You will most likely not notice a difference in runtime with the higher lvc cutoff, maybe seconds different. I just like to give the cells some extra protection, just in case one goes out of balance during a run. It happened to me with maxamps packs, but so far the enerland based packs have not had this issue.

[blueb8llz]

ok got it. then i wont be charging/balancing them in series then. much easier to just set the lvc at 12.8 haha. thanks again.

[lutach]

I run my packs in series as well. I have adapters that I use to charge them in series or parallel. Just make sure before you start charging that he packs have equal voltage.

I don't mean to hijack threads or anything, but if u have a single charger that balances while it is charging, how do u hook up both balancing leads on the two batteries, or do u have to?

You would have to make a harness to pull all of the balance plugs together for the balance tap on the balancer.