Possiable balancing idea? or am I nuts
#1
Thread Starter
Tech Apprentice
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 59
From: High Rockies of Colorado
Most of my batteries are 3 cell and most of the time they are in the 3.7 to 3.9 when I put them away and admitidly I don't often take them to an actuall storage state.
here's my idea, what if I took a dozen 3s ballance leads and soldered all of the negitive wires together, all the #1 cell wires together, #2 wires....,#3 you get the idea.
and then conect all of my batteries together. then all the cells would balance amongst themselves.
Is this just a stupid idea?
here's my idea, what if I took a dozen 3s ballance leads and soldered all of the negitive wires together, all the #1 cell wires together, #2 wires....,#3 you get the idea.
and then conect all of my batteries together. then all the cells would balance amongst themselves.
Is this just a stupid idea?
#2
Tech Addict
iTrader: (8)
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 717
I don't think your idea would work.
Many chargers don't balance the cells in the storage mode, and just bring the voltage back to approximately the total of 3.85 per cell, so 11.55 total for a 3s. Unless the charger does balance in storage, then they'll be slightly off from each other based on the resistance of each cell.
If your batteries are coming off in that voltage range they should be fine to store and then just balance charge them next time you use them.
Might be easier just to get in to the habit of storage charging? It doesn't take long especially if you run the batteries down to slightly below the storage voltage, then the charger can bring them up to voltage quickly. If the battery voltage is above storage voltage it will usually take longer to discharge. If your ESC allows you to set a custom lipo cutoff voltage, you can set this to 3.8-3.85 volts per cell and then you'll know they're close to storage voltage when the cutoff kicks in. If you've been running them hard, the voltage can recover slightly after a run so you may need to experiment with setting the cutoff a little lower to compensate for this.
Many chargers don't balance the cells in the storage mode, and just bring the voltage back to approximately the total of 3.85 per cell, so 11.55 total for a 3s. Unless the charger does balance in storage, then they'll be slightly off from each other based on the resistance of each cell.
If your batteries are coming off in that voltage range they should be fine to store and then just balance charge them next time you use them.
Might be easier just to get in to the habit of storage charging? It doesn't take long especially if you run the batteries down to slightly below the storage voltage, then the charger can bring them up to voltage quickly. If the battery voltage is above storage voltage it will usually take longer to discharge. If your ESC allows you to set a custom lipo cutoff voltage, you can set this to 3.8-3.85 volts per cell and then you'll know they're close to storage voltage when the cutoff kicks in. If you've been running them hard, the voltage can recover slightly after a run so you may need to experiment with setting the cutoff a little lower to compensate for this.
#3
Tech Master
iTrader: (19)
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,913
From: South Dakota
Most of my batteries are 3 cell and most of the time they are in the 3.7 to 3.9 when I put them away and admitidly I don't often take them to an actuall storage state.
here's my idea, what if I took a dozen 3s ballance leads and soldered all of the negitive wires together, all the #1 cell wires together, #2 wires....,#3 you get the idea.
and then conect all of my batteries together. then all the cells would balance amongst themselves.
Is this just a stupid idea?
here's my idea, what if I took a dozen 3s ballance leads and soldered all of the negitive wires together, all the #1 cell wires together, #2 wires....,#3 you get the idea.
and then conect all of my batteries together. then all the cells would balance amongst themselves.
Is this just a stupid idea?
The one thing I can remember for deep storage was simply make sure the connector solder joints were well insulated with heat shrink even coat the joint in dielectric grease and tape up the connector with quality electrical tape, when taking the battery out of bed and tape removed the plug must be fully cleaned of grease with electrical contact cleaner.
The thing I learned with lipos is they do like to sit at storage when not using them and not letting them when not in use may throw the balance off. I practice making sure my lipos are at storage voltage, it doesn’t seem to be a battery memory issue as I notice odd voltages as well without reason or apparent problem that even existed before hand.
Newer lipos do not seem to take damage from under volt-ing.. thou I do not purposely do so unless the battery is beyond the usage stage.
#5
Tech Champion

Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 7,342
The practical issue seems to be the small balance wires, they may not handle the inrush current when first connected?
This is out of the mainstream, but it is possible and some fly guys do connect unused charged packs with discharged packs for storage, but they do it with the main power wires, no balancing. And typically with a resistor for a margin of added safety, limit the inrush.
If you did try the balance wires as mentioned, all of the #1 cells would balance together, and the #2s and so on. The cells in each pack would not be balanced.
Possible option, pick up a parallel charging and balancing harness and use it with your charger to bring several packs at a time to your desired voltage.
Parallel charge cables
Parallel boards
How to: Parallel charging
This is out of the mainstream, but it is possible and some fly guys do connect unused charged packs with discharged packs for storage, but they do it with the main power wires, no balancing. And typically with a resistor for a margin of added safety, limit the inrush.
If you did try the balance wires as mentioned, all of the #1 cells would balance together, and the #2s and so on. The cells in each pack would not be balanced.
Possible option, pick up a parallel charging and balancing harness and use it with your charger to bring several packs at a time to your desired voltage.
Parallel charge cables
Parallel boards
How to: Parallel charging
#6
This will not work you will have a catastrophic failure.. heard some 1 try this back in 2002 and it went way wrong 3 batteries connected(2 cell batts) via balance wires and poof 1 batteries cell took the grunt.but cells where way outa balance..dont try the quick way. stay the safe way
#8



u funny, and probably right too 
