1C or 2C charging?
 

I just got a 4200 SS pack and was reading the instructions and noticed that 1C was recomended unless you had a balancing charger and then you could go 2C.

My question is with the Hyperion charger what is the best rate to charge the battery at? Is there a rate for long life and another for best power?

I have just been plodding along at 1C on all my batteries.

its just alwyas safe to charge at 1c. i have always done that and i have never had a problem at all. as i "usually" say always safe than sorry!

i just wana check charge at 1C = to what?

i am using a 4500 5S1P lipo battery 15C. btw 15C = what?

please advice

examples:

2400mah lipo/ charge at 2.4 amps
3200mah lipo/ charge at 3.2 amps
6000mah lipo/ charge at 6.0 amps

so in your case you have a 4500mah lipo. charge at 4.5amps. but just from experience, i have a 60004s2p lipo for my 8th scale. i used to charge it at 6.0 amps before i fried a power supply in doing so. i now charge it at 3.0 amps and i have had no problem since.


your 15c means top burst. the higher the "c" rating you have there the more punch you will have out of your lipo.



josh

wow josh,

thk for the reply.

really helps alot.

regards

MAH/1000=1C

[QUOTE=jrr102486;5459803]examples:

i used to charge it at 6.0 amps before i fried a power supply in doing so. i now charge it at 3.0 amps and i have had no problem since.



josh[/QUOTE


What was your power supply rated at? I run a duo charging two 6000s at 1C on a 25A, I have run this on a 15A but I don't like running high duty cycle stuff WFO.

[QUOTE=balistic;5460138]it was rated at 20 amps but the capacitors in there were light for a 20 amp. i would have upgraded them to better ones but i couldnt find the right ones.

Actually Josh that's a little flawed. The C rate that is listed on most packs is the constant rate not burst. And C rated doesn't determine how much punch your pack will have. A higher C rate will handle a higher amp draw with out stressing the pack and it'll make for much more efficient use of the power. Yes you will see a stronger start but that is because the pack can handle that surge that much easier. Punch is based on voltage. A pack under a high load that can hold a higher voltage is going to give you better punch than one that drops that voltage.

Jason

thanx for that jason. i thought i was a little off. also makes a little more sense now as well!:nod:

How about the original question?????????????????? 1C or 2C? and why?

Well the 1C or 2C isn't really a question it's more of if you want to you can do 1C but you can do 2C if you use a balancer while you charge. As far as why because the balancer is a safety device that will shut off a higher voltage cell from the charge current so that it doesn't over charge. Charging at higher rates can cause this to happen the balancer prevents it.


Jason

So you are saying there is no performance advantage or dis-advantage to charging at 2C? as long as the charger has a balancer? or is that just the Hyperion?

If it isn't going to hurt the battery I would like to charge them twice as fast!

No there is no performance change in doing 1C or 2C and by charging at 2C you'll shave 10 to 15 minutes off the charge time. In the long run 1C is better and easier on the packs.

Jason

Jason,

I noticed that seems that C charge rates are going up. seen some packs that can take a 5C charge rate now, if I recall correctly out there in the wild.

Can you explain how much of a degredation in pack life you see usually going from 1C - 2C or more within what the manufacturer states is a safe C Charge rate?

Long term affects you may see a slight decrease in cycle life at 2C. It's always better to charge at 1C. It is just easier on packs in the long run. As far as higher I don't think those packs have been around long enough to determine the long term affects not to mention there aren't that many charges on the market that can do a 5C rate. They are available Like the Hyperion 0720i we carry. I would rather be safe and stick with 2C or less.

Jason

Sometimes at the track I do not have time to fully charge my 7.4, 4200mah, 35 c Maxamps pack before the mains (charging at 1c). Am I better off charging the pack and running it when it is less than fully charged (1c). Or should I charge at 2c and get a full charge everytime. I always use the balancer and the charger is a hyperion eos o6010i Net.

it really doesn't matter. If your close to being say 75% fully charged you basically will be adding to the packs total capacity at that point rather then the Total voltage. I usually take my packs and just toss them onto the charger until I'm ready to go again sometimes they don't finish charging. It has no bad affects on them. Remembe they aren't like NimH cells.

Jason

Since you said that I have to ask about the 60% storage VS fully charged.

I was talking to one of the pro's and he said he stores his lipo's fully charged and the tops them off. If he just runs them he can notice a difference in punch.

I have been doing the 60% deal and so don't see this and when i was storing them full I would run practice and they were freshly charged for the race.

Any idea what that is? is this the why not to store full or just an indicator of the damage caused by storing them full?

Take what he says with a grain of salt or two. It's what he feels or thinks he feels. Punch is controlled by power which is controlled voltage. Yes a fully charged pack will be at it's max voltage and it will offer you a bit more power right at the start. But once the voltage levels off your back to normal power. What he is doing isn't changing a thing. All he's doing is risking damage to his packs in the long run. It is recommended to store at 60% plain and simple. If he doesn't want to do that then so be it. It has been proven that if they sit for long periods with a full charge that the cells to suffer. It just part of the whole Li-Po deal. If you store them at 60% the risk of long term storage damage is no where as high. I think I would go with the info from a guy like me who works with Li-Po's for a living rather than a "Pro" driver that just uses the packs and doesn't adhere to the safety and usage rules.

-J

Keeping the future in mind, do you recommend a min charge rate at which chargers should have? I am running TC stock and mod.

Also do you have a recommendation on the minimum mAh and C rating for mod (4.5) TC with 5 min mains?

Thanks

I think for the most part as of now you'll be safe with any 1C or 2C capable charger. As for your car look at nothing less than 4000 mAh and 20C

Jason

lipo vs Nanophosphate C rates
 

if charging more than 1C is possible to lipo battery as long wearing balancer.
1. What is the maximum temp for Lipo during charging ?
2. Safety range temp charge on the lipo battery ?
3. Could max temp on the lipo battery used as measuring the "C" charge limits ?
4. As Nanophosphate 6v they capable to be charged in Higher "C" rates rather than charging ordinary lipo batteries, with stable temp. without reducing the life of the battery.
What is the range of charge Nanophosphate battery, in "C" rates ?
5. What is the Nanophosphate battery temp charge range and limit's ?

Jason,
I was wondering if there is a way to set the Hyperion 0720i ( that I just got from max amps as well as 3 6500 4cells packs) to shut off at the 60% charged storage point
This way I could set that as one of the profiles in the charger
Thanks

Set your charger up to deal with the 4S 6500 and simply select store mode at the start in stead of charge. No need for another profile you just change what it does at the start. Either discharge, charge, store mode.

Jason

Thank you kindly

Your very welcome.

Jason

A question that I've had is, what exactly is a "long time"? If I have a practice session at my track at least every week, it is safer to put them in store mode after each session, or just charge them fully and keep them in my box until the next week?

If it's going to be more than a week, I generally run them through the Lipo store mode on my Hyperion charger, then just charge them back to full the night before I'm planning to run.

Unless you're storing them for more than a couple months, you don't need to keep them in storage mode.

We recommend right on our site that anything over a week they should be put in Storage Mode. The routine you have going is right on track.

Jason