Single cell lipo question
 

Hi guys,

I just bought a Blade 120 sr helicopter, it comes with a single cell lipo and charger with it.

My question is, since it's just a single cell, it doesn't require balancing and therefore doesn't have a balance tap. But how does the charger know what voltage the lipo is and how much juice to put in it?

Also, the supplied charger is extremely slow and i'd like to hook it up to my Hyperion Duo if that's possible?


Many thanks for any help given

Most chargers will have no problem charging a single cell

Still goes through the CC/CV but without balancing

Some chargers will shut off a little early when charging a single cell, adding a balance lead may help to get a bit more juice into it

Hyperion will charge it fine you just need to make up a charging lead to match

Cheers

The included charger already charges at .3A which is more than 1C for those little batteries.

The included charger won't go over 4.2 volts.

All that said, just pick up one of these to make a charge adapter for your Hyperion.

But how would my Hyperion charger know when to stop charging? Before i started the charge it said "balancer recommended", so without a balancer, how does the charger know the current voltage of the lipo and not overcharge it?

Charger will have a normal charge mode that does not need the balance lead connected

Voltage is still measured across the main leads

Cheers

Oh right, I thought voltage was measured along the balance leads.

One more quick thing, I just used my Hyperion charger to charge the lipo, and it charged it up to 4.19v. I then hooked it up to the included Celectra charger and it charged for a further 10 minutes. I reconnected the lipo to the Hyperion and it now read 4.23v. Is there any way to make the Hyperion charger squeeze more juice into the lipo?

4.19v is fine

4.23v is over-charging it and will damage it over time

Cheers

that's .04 of a volt, simply the difference in calibration between the 2 chargers, pretty normal really. You could check the voltage with a DVM but unless you have something like a high dollar Fluke you can't be sure the DVM is THAT accurate either. .04v is nothing really, use either charger and be done..IMO

Sorry to bring this back up again, I've just bought a pair of Hyperion 500mah lipo's for the heli, but I'm having trouble programming in the settings into the charger.

The charger won't let me input 550mah, it will only let me put in 500mah or 600mah. If I put in 500mah, i'll be undercharging it, but if I put in 600mah I'll be overcharging it. Is there any way to enter 550mah?

Also, it says they can be charged at up to 6C. That seems a bit high for me, does anyone know what settings I should set the charger to to charge at 3C?


Many thanks

Take the capacity of the pack and multiply it by the charge rating to get the charging amps. In your example: 500mah X 3 = 1.5 amp.

You can always charge a battery under its capacity so you can charge a 500mah pack at 100mah (.1 amp) but it will take longer to fully charge, like five hours in this case but rarely do you ever charge from zero.

Ideally a 1C charge takes an hour or less to completely charge a pack. (C being Current)

But is there no way for me to charge the lipo to its fullest capacity using this charger?

Also, if voltage is measured through the charging leads, why is there any need for a balancer?

I noticed also that I cannot Store Charge the single cell lipo's, I can only charge them. Does anyone know why this is?


Thanks

You don't need to and can't balance charge a single cell, charge or fast charge is all.

Can you set your charger at 1/2 an amp (.5A)?

Sure you can storage charge/discharge a single cell if your charger has that function. If not, then storage voltage is 3.85 V.

I'm not familiar with your charger but I'm sure there are others who aRE.