Xraycerboy

Hi,

Ive recently got hold of an orion platnum pack, at the 2 clubs i race at there is very little time between rounds to top the pack up, the max amount of time i will have will be 20 mins so charging is difficult in time.
I was curious about charging at a higer ampage just to speed the process up, im fully aware that there is no preformance advantage and that batterys should be treated with care. in the instructions for the battery it says they can acept a charge of up to 3c but it will sacrafice its usefull life cycle, if i charge at say 6 maybe 7 amps what sort of damage am i doing to there usefull life cycle?

cheers

or8ital

iTrader: (38)

I charge all mine at 2C and dont seem to have any problems. You should be able to get to 80% charge in 20 minutes at 2C. As long as you are fully charged before your first heat then you shouldnt have a problem running a single pack with only 20min between rounds. You wont get to practice between rounds though.

I believe ROAR only allows 1C charging though for safety. So make sure you are following the rules wherever you race.

POUNDITRACING

iTrader: (10)

You can get away with charging at 2C. but you must allow time for cooling after your race. I ran the same 3600 for about 3 clubrace days and the pack started to swell. I was only charging at 1C. You have to be careful. I would invest in another pack or two. I don't see your packs lasting long if you continue on this path.

or8ital

iTrader: (38)

Cooling? Most of the top racers heat them up. SMC recommends cycling the packs. If yours was swelling Im guessing it had nothing to do with the charging of the packs without cooling them.

On the otherhand, make sure you cool your electronics!

I've actually never even heard of an Orion pack swelling. That is interesting.

FOXY923

How is it that you only have 20 min between rounds? wow, is there only 3-4 heats? How many qualifiers do you run. 20 min a round you could get a lot of racing in in one day.

chris moore

iTrader: (96)

If you have the platnum pack you have the 4800 correct? This is a great pack and can run two heats without recharging(5 min heats). Then you can top the pack at 2C for the main. I would'nt recomend charging at odd rates, allways charge at 1 or 2C, 1C is 4.8, 2C is 9.6.

OSherman

iTrader: (3)

I use the ORION 4800.. witht the ORION Avionics Charger.. Set charge rate at Battery capacity per the Avionics instructions..

2 Batteries, 2 Chargers.. When I'm strapping in one to get ready for the race, the other is charging.. Works out great..

I can usually get two practice runs out of each full charge (be sure to have 'LiPo mode' set on your speedo just incase) before i have to re-charge the pack..

POUNDITRACING

iTrader: (10)

Cooling is for after racing. Yes they put out more power when they are warm but you can do internalk damage. I got the pack to see how long it would last with me running and charging back to back for about 6 rotations a night. Trust me when I say that the pack went through hell and back a couple times.

or8ital

iTrader: (38)

I guess I disagree on the cooling after the race. I never do and havent in 3 years. Rick when he was still with Orion said there was no need to cool the battery after using it so I havent.

POUNDITRACING

iTrader: (10)

No prolbem here. Joe told me to cool them and Rick said not to. so I tried Not and we know what happend. It might have a lot to do with what classes you are running and how long the races are. I run mostly 10.5 at clubraces at 7 min. long. I run mod at bigger clubrces at 5 min. long.

or8ital

iTrader: (38)

10.5 5 min for me. But Ive run in 500 lap enduros requiring back to back runs and charges for 4 hours using a 10.5. Im not sure it gets any worse then that. Running 12-15 min at a time. I really think if your pack was swelling it was due to some other reason. But maybe a lipo experts could chime in.

stuey

iTrader: (1)

i also never had any problems cahrging im not using orion but track power 3200 but thy are pretty much the same i charge at 5 amps at club with no balancer connected over a 5 min run i will use about 1500 mah running 10.5 and only ever run one pack

POUNDITRACING

iTrader: (10)

Well it's good to hear that there arn't others with prolbems. The only thing that I do different is charge it at 1C. I don't think that it make would make it harder on the battery though. I would like to do some 500 lap races. There is no oval here. I just get to play in parking lots.

RC MARKET

iTrader: (12)

1C , 1.5C & 2C charge your Li-Po have big different in your lap time & feel ?
2C charge have more power ?

because HK next week release Orion 30C 3800mah,
unknow use which C to charge , STD is 1C 3.8A ,
but use 5A have more power ?

or8ital

iTrader: (38)

Higher C charge rate just charges faster and possibly reduces overall life of pack. It should have no performance impact.