What Lipo Charger You Use?

[BrianG]

Technically, you could charge lipos with a NiMH charger, providing the charger lets you adjust the current on-the-fly. When the battery voltage gets close to 4.2v/cell, just reduce the current in small increments to keep the voltage at that point. Once the current reaches about 1/10th of what you started with, terminate the charge. This is pretty much what all lipo chargers do (which is why I call it "adaptive constant current" instead of a true constant voltage charge). Of course, you'd have to sit there and watch the voltage like a hawk, not to mention the potential for "problems" if you forget...

I know it's different on the 10s, but the 4s charged directly through the balance plug, and charged each cell by itself completely independent. I've seen as much as a 3c charge rate on my 4s, but it never lets the pack get even warm. Nifty.

Here is the manual on the 10s. It's on my shopping list just as soon as budget allows.

http://www.fmadirect.com/support_docs/item_1258.pdf

J>

[BrianG]

Yeah, I don't particularly like charging high currents through the balance taps as they aren't designed for that kind of current flow, but from I gather, the FMA 10s charger works like most of today's chargers: main charge current goes through the main leads and the balance connector is used for balancing and cell monitoring...

Originally Posted by BrianG

Yeah, I don't particularly like charging high currents through the balance taps as they aren't designed for that kind of current flow, but from I gather, the FMA 10s charger works like most of today's chargers: main charge current goes through the main leads and the balance connector is used for balancing and cell monitoring...

thats how the Flightpower V balancer works

[kingiggy262]

Originally Posted by BrianG

Yeah, I don't particularly like charging high currents through the balance taps as they aren't designed for that kind of current flow, but from I gather, the FMA 10s charger works like most of today's chargers: main charge current goes through the main leads and the balance connector is used for balancing and cell monitoring...

Yep, it charges through the main leads and balances through the balance connector. You can charge only through the balance connector but it will be limited to 4 amps max charge compared to 10 amps with the main leads. When charging you plug in the main leads from the battery to the charger and also the balance connector to the charger at the same time. During charging it will tell you the amount of maH put back in along with the internal resistance of each cell and the current charge rate.
I am still waiting for the PC interface cable so that I can view all the information while charging and even change settings on the fly from the computer. I have only had this thing for one day and so far I am really pleased with my purchase!

For a DC power supply I am just using a normal PC power supply that I had from an old computer and then installed banana jacks. It can output up to 25 amps so it has no problem supplying enough amps for charging.

[VintageMA]

MRC 989 chager and TP-205V balancer.

[gtxracer]

1210i and LBA10.