Feint Motion

iTrader: (24)

I'm looking for a charger that can quickly/safely charge; 2s 30-40c, 4000mah-5200mah lipo's for less than 1 hour a charge. I currently have a standard Ripmax ac/dc lipo charger, and it takes about 70mins to charge and balance a pack at 5amps, that being the max charge rate on that charger.

How can I decrease my charging times? I only have 1 lipo charger at the moment, with 4 2s lipo packs. On practice days, I would like to spend all day at the track, with little battery downtime.

Thanks.

etivac13

iTrader: (10)

http://www.hyperion-world.com/produc...-EOS0720iSDUO3


but can your batteries be charged for more than 1C?

Duster_360

iTrader: (21)

The only thing that shortens lipo charge time is the charge rate. Charging at higher than 1C charge rates will shorten charging times, but your lipos have to be rated for higher than 1C charging. Usually, the lipo manufacturer puts this on the label and if its not there, the safe thing to assume is its 1C.

There are a lot of DC powered chargers with max charge rates as high as 40amps. The charger's max charge rate is usually the limiting factor in charging at high C rates. A C charge rates increase the charge amps go up quickly if the lipo capacity is high since capacity partly determines the charge rate. For your 5200mah, 1C is 5.2amps, 2C is 10.4amps, 3C - 15.6amps and so on.

Charging at 2C will cut balance charge time by ~30-35%. 2C charging does cut the CC part of the charge in half, but the CV part (which takes the longer of the lipo charging sequence) is not cut in half.

There are several new high powered, high max charge rate chargers now available. If you're interested in a dual (two separate outputs) the Hyperion Super Duo and Thunderpower 820CD are both more than capable of charging 2S lipos at high C rates.

If the expense of a dual charger is a prob, there are many chargers with 20amp+ max charge rates available, like a Hyperion 1420, iCharger 306b or 3010b, and the Powerlab8. You will need a capable power supply as well.