Led Finger

iTrader: (8)

Alright guys, Im running 4s 5000 lipos in my 1/8 E-buggys. As a charger im using a venom pro charger. Heres the deal, It wont charge at 5 amps.. its taking FOREVER to charge these batteries. I set it on 5 amps then it changes down to 3 or so amps when I go to charge them. My 2s 5000mah that I run in my 1/10 buggy will charge at 5 amps. Whats the deal? I have looked at all the setting.. not to sure. Do I need a different charger or power supply to actually charge these -BRICKS- any quicker? Whats my options? I dont like to wait almost 2 hours to charge a battery at the track. Thanks

Duster_360

iTrader: (21)

Its a real simple answer - your charger is a 50watt charger, it has 50watts of output power. The charger will limit charging current to stay under this limit, so when you plug in a 4S lipo thats at say 14.8volts, all the charger can only charge at is 50watts/14.8v = ~3.3amps. There is nothing else going on - just the charger limiting charge current to stay under its 50watt power limit.

The only thing that reduces charge time for any lipo is to charge at 2C or higher charge rates. Obviously this is not an option with your charger since it doesn't have the power to do a 1C charge (1C = 5000/1000 = 5amps) on a 4S lipo. A 50watt charger is only good for 1C charge on a 5000mah or less capacity 2S. Anything bigger or with higher cell counts will result in some current limiting by the charger to stay under its power limit.

If your lipos are rated for 2C charging, you can get a more powerful charger that will charge them at 10amps and they should charge in 30-40min. If your lipos are 1C rated, a more powerful charger will let you charge at a full 1C rate and they should charge in 50 - 60min. These are the expected times for the lipo charge process. I'd suggest a better charger, like an iCharger 106b, 250watts of power and 10amp max charge rate. Even better would be a 206b with 300watts, but more importantly, 20amps max charge rate. You'd also need a new power supply with enough power to run either charger. Your 4S lipos require 168watts of charging power to charge at 2C. I like having the extra max charge rate - it can come in handy.

Led Finger

iTrader: (8)

WOW! thanks, what kind of power supply do I need to run that charger? LINK?

Duster_360

iTrader: (21)

This would work, provide full power for the 106b and let the 206b run almost at full power, hard to beat for the price -

http://www.progressiverc.com/p350-power-supply.html


I have an iCharger 3010b, 1000watts and 30amp max charge rate and have been happy with it. I use a 24v power supply with mine. I got mine from Progresssive, they were great to deal with.

Led Finger

iTrader: (8)

Perfect! Thanks for you help

pgk

iTrader: (10)

+1 On Progrssive being great to deal with! I just ordered a FMA ProLab 8 late Friday and received it this morning.. Thanks Dave!
Pete

Duster_360

iTrader: (21)

Besides my iCharger, I bought my Powerlog 6S logger and a couple of power supplies from Progressive. Whatever I've ordered from Dave at Progressive has been in the mail that same day, priority.