New to lipo's and have a charging/discharging question?

So, I am looking at buying a charger to charge mostly lipo cells and the occasional Ni cell. I have narrowed down to the Hyperion 0610i and the Bantam BC610. These two charges seem close in feature except for the discharge capability of the Bantam which it has. Looking at the latest software update for the Hyperion they have added a discharge but at only 300mA, very slow, correct me if I am wrong. So how important is discharge where lipo cells are concerned?

Thanks for your time and infrmation,

Darion

for me it never has been, If I had to dischargea pack I will just run it the vehicle, and with the 0610i you can program how much capacity you want to charge

Originally Posted by azjc

for me it never has been, If I had to dischargea pack I will just run it the vehicle, and with the 0610i you can program how much capacity you want to charge

Thanks for the reply. This is what I am thinking also, just run it till it is at the cutoff point then charge to whatever the need is, use or storage.

Thanks again,

Darion

The 0601i is super easy to charge to a %'age. After batt is setup, just enter what you want in TCS and start the charge. Will stop at the %'age you selected

I've updated my 0610i's firmware and like watching it work while connected to my laptop. I have yet to find any added discharge capability. Not sure that happened with the v1.5 firmware upgrade.

Still a super charger with the potential to get even better thru furure upgrades.

Duster_360, Thanks for the reply. The discharge information was found in firmware update 1.6 listed here,
http://media.hyperion.hk/dn/eos/EOS-...-ManUpdate.pdf
The discharge information can be found under store mode in the PDF file and Hyperion to their credit isn't billing it as an all out discharge but a function to get the battery down to store mode if needed. They even give an example of how long it would take to discharge a fully charged 5000mAh to 60% of 7 hours at 300mA. Take a look if ya get a second and let me know what ya think.

Thanks again,

Darion

Once I found a new update firmware, I updated my Duo to v1.6 . After the update was done, the lcd screen showed sort of "output connection problem" with loud buzz; even I rebooted my charger. I thought that tells me the damage of my charger components as is described in the manual. After I updated it all over again, the problem was gone and Duo functions well now, even in the balancing mode. No sign of output circuit error. Great.

Darion - thanks, the disch capability has been tossed around like 0610i wasgoing to be able to disch just like the Ice charger. Now after reading what you linked, I understand its just added feature required for STORE mode. Cool, I'll be upgrading to 1.6 in teh next few days (got a work deadline to meet right now and I shouldn't be over here...lol!!).

Gallagher - wonder if thats a quirk to making this firmware upgrade to the Duo model? Glad you didn't get it after updating it again.

[DRIFT_BUGGY]

Why discharge a lipo?

[tc3_racer_001]

i duno to test its discharge capacity?

Originally Posted by DRIFT_BUGGY

Why discharge a lipo?

Looking at my original question I stated that I am new to lipo and didn't know if discharge was an issue for them or not. I have come to find out the answer is not with the exception of getting a pack down to a storage charge, from a full charge, which can be done by running the car and charging back up to a storage charge. I have not had an electric car in some 15 years and those ran off of nimh cells, which a discharge could be a helful tool, and thats where my question came from. So, in the end I am just trying to catch up with the times and this forum has been very helpful.
Now I need to decide if I will get the Duo or not and I can wrap this up.

Thanks for the interest,

Darion

[QUOTE=Duster_360;192916]Darion - thanks, the disch capability has been tossed around like 0610i wasgoing to be able to disch just like the Ice charger. Now after reading what you linked, I understand its just added feature required for STORE mode. Cool, I'll be upgrading to 1.6 in teh next few days (got a work deadline to meet right now and I shouldn't be over here...lol!!).

No problem, glad that link was helpful. Ya never know, with the ability to just upgrade software to the charger, maybe the discharge function will get better over time for those who have the need. As for me, changing over to lipo cells means I really don't need it all that much.

Take it easy,

Darion