Lipo charging and Turnigy charger

[Tincan]

Hey guys,

Finally got my lipo and starting to play with it.

I have 6 x 6 cell 22v 5ah turnigys in series giving me (what i thought) was 132v.

Hot off the charger at 4.2v im cracking the 151v mark and is upsetting my lyen controllers mav 150v threshold with the regen.

This is the charger i am using.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7523

Nothing i can see in the menus is able to let me set the max cell voltage. The only thing i can see to do is charge it as life (4.15) or buy a balance dis-charger and manually set the cell voltage.

My question is, is it dangerous to charge it using the life setting, being that the voltage is lower, I cant see any reason why it would be, but thought i would check first.

I really don't want to be taking it up to 4.2v every charge anyway after reading what doctorbass has proved with charging to 4.1v in relation to lifespan.

 

[adrian_sm]

I have the same charger. Just set it to LiIo. This will charge to a max of 4.1v per cell, which should give you ~147.6v hot.

- Adrian

 

[Tincan]

I see

And the way it charges the cells doesn't have any effect?

 

[AussieJester]

I really don't want to be taking it up to 4.2v every charge anyway after reading what doctorbass has proved with charging to 4.1v in relation to lifespan.

DocBass hasn't "proved" anything in regards to this, he started using Lipo only in the last 3-4 months, nobody on E.S anywayz, to my knowledge has proven this theory.. Liveforphysics however, who has been using lipo for years has stated several times charging to 4.10-4.15v and leaving 20% charge in the pack will likely greatly increase the cycle number of lithium polymer packs, if anyone knows the ins and outs of lipo its Luke.

KiM

 

[adrian_sm]

I see

And the way it charges the cells doesn't have any effect?

AFAIK the charge profile is identical for LiIo and LiPo, it is just a different end voltage.

 

[Tincan]

Kim, you are right, I get lost reading so much

Thanks Adrian!

I have just discharged a pack and now pulling it back up as lilo.

 

[El_Steak]

Li-Ion mode @ 4.1V will work. You could also get to something in between through calibration tweaking. I don't know about this particular model, but other Accucell chargers allow you to recalibrate them.

You can tweak the calibration to reach the desired end-voltage. While the charger thinks your cells have reached 4.2V, in reality they are just at 4.15V (or whatever value you set through calibration). I don't think the calibration procedure is in the manual, but it has been discussed before, just search the board.

 

[adrian_sm]

I couldn't find the calibration process on ES, so I started a thread with the info I found else where.
Check in out here: HOWTO: Calibrate your charger

- Adrian

 

[jonescg]

While we are here, I have bought a Universal LiPo charger from Jaycar Electronics and I planned on using it to balance charge my LiFePO4 A123 cells. Not that they will need much, but it's handy to have.
http://www.jaycar.com.au/ShowLargephoto.asp?id=10631&PRODNAME=Universal%20Programmable%20Balanced%20Battery%20Charger&IMAGE=


I'm putting beefier balance leads on my batteries so there is no voltage drop worth mentioning while it's in the balance phase (burning off excess current as heat), but they will double as easy access leads for this little charger. Now, I still need to put the main charge leads across a pack of 4 cells won't I? Can I not simply double onto the first and last balance lead for the same effect? I'll only be charging to an amp or two at the most.

Cheers,
CHRIS

 

[jonescg]

Woohoo! Gotta love online shopping!

My 10 4S balance lead extensions arrived this morning. I will wire the female ends to my battery packs and the male ends to the BMS boards. Should be a bit neater than IDC plugs, and take a higher balance current too. Any advice on balance charging while they are in place? Would the outermost leads of these take a 2 amp charge?