Originally Posted by
dgraham225
im new to this lipo stuff also, so how does the astro blinky work? i looked it up and see like 10 pins on the end of it, how would you wire a lead to balance the cells? i run team helotes lipo rx packs, i guess i need to start doing this, lol!
If you look at the hyperlink posted of the Blinky, it has a neg and pos side. What you do is align the Astro Blinky's neg side with the common negative of the Lipo on the balancing port. Most will have a black wire on the balance connector. Check it with a volt meter. Place the neg of the volt meter to the neg or wire you think is the neg (should be one of the wires at the outer end of the connector), and the positive lead of the meter to the other wires on the connector. If polarity is correct, then you should be reading all cells above 3.0v positive when connected to the common ground and each other wire on the balance port. If the readings are negative, you have the wrong ground terminal. I will post a picture later with one connected.
As for balancing, just connect the Blinky to the balance port. If all the cells are above 3.2V I believe, the led for each cell will light up, then go out. If you jst leave it connected, and the cells are above voltage of uneven, the light will start to flash. This is the balancing. Its discharging all the cells that are above the lowest cell to make them even.
When charging, it will do the same, but it will also discharge cells that are going above safe voltage till the lowest cell is charged to the correct level. Generally, once you balance it, you'll ntice they stay balanced for a few charges without the Blinky, but I stll use it every time I charge.