Balance charge time - Newer SMC lipo

[tcv4]

So I finally got a 3s lipo and the power is great in my Typhon. What I'm noticing though is that my SMC 5400 true spec premium pack takes a lot longer to balance than my old 5200 mAh 50C lectron pro 2S did. It "switches over" to balancing at about 43 minutes coming from storage voltage (3.8v/cell) and then balances until about 69 minutes. At the start of balancing the cells almost always read 4.16/4.18/4.20 with that last cell being the limiting factor as my charger has 500mA balancing drain per cell. Balanced voltages read 4.19/4.21/4.19 at completion on the charger or 4.17/4.19/4.18 on my digital multimeter.

Does this seem normal? I only ask because my 2s, which is almost a year old, only ever takes 10-15 minutes to balance charge. I'm tempted to charge at above 1C as 25 minutes of balancing really adds a lot of time to the charge.

My charger is a Ultrapower UP100AC Plus by the way. Part of it might also be that my Lectron Pro pack seems to only take around 2000 mAh from storage voltage where as the SMC takes around 3400 mAh. I do notice that the SMC pack has much better run time as well.

 

[Sledgehog]

What are your amps set to when charging? It should be whatever the mah is on the battery, i.e. for the SMC 5400 it should be set to 5.4 amps.

 

[Mr.Duke]

I've used SMC batteries in the past and charge times were in line with my other packs. It sounds like the charger is taking more time than usual for it to balance the last few hundred mah in the pack.
I had a similar issue with my 1st charger (imaxb6) so I upgraded to an external power supply paired with the iSDT 6+ smart charger and went from charging packs in an hour and a half to two hours with the old setup down to 30-50min with the iSDT, depending on the size of the pack.
Yesterday it took a PowerHobby 5200mah 50c 4s pack from 3.80 storage charge to completely charged and balanced at in exactly 30min charging at 7.5A.

If it's in your budget to upgrade your charging station I think you'd be happier in the long run not having to spend so much time charging instead of out running. I know it did for me.

 

[Sledgehog]

Yeah I should mention as well I have no issues with either of my SMC packs. 4s 7200mah and a 6s 5400mah. Both charge times are in line with my other packs and balance perfectly on my Ultrapower 120AC duo, even when charging both at the same time.

 

[olds97_lss]

My older packs tend to take a while, especially on my hitec d7 for storage charge from empty. Don't know why, but it seems a bit more fussy. When I balance charge to full from empty or from storage, it's relatively quick.

My dynamite 4x100 charger isn't nearly as fussy until the pack get a lot of age on them. When that charger starts taking a long time to balance, the pack is usually about to drop a cell.

 

[tcv4]

What are your amps set to when charging? It should be whatever the mah is on the battery, i.e. for the SMC 5400 it should be set to 5.4 amps.

Yes, everything above was done at 1C (5.4 A) and that's what is taking almost 70 minutes to charge from storage voltage. I'm thinking of charging at 1.5C as SMC says 2C is fine.

I've used SMC batteries in the past and charge times were in line with my other packs. It sounds like the charger is taking more time than usual for it to balance the last few hundred mah in the pack.
I had a similar issue with my 1st charger (imaxb6) so I upgraded to an external power supply paired with the iSDT 6+ smart charger and went from charging packs in an hour and a half to two hours with the old setup down to 30-50min with the iSDT, depending on the size of the pack.
Yesterday it took a PowerHobby 5200mah 50c 4s pack from 3.80 storage charge to completely charged and balanced at in exactly 30min charging at 7.5A.
View attachment 38453

If it's in your budget to upgrade your charging station I think you'd be happier in the long run not having to spend so much time charging instead of out running. I know it did for me.

Yeah, I'm thinking the iSDT 1A of balancing current draw would really help my situation. What kind of power supply are you using with it?

 

[DetroitSlim]

Go out and get the hitec 2x700 1400 watt charger and be done with it.

 

[tcv4]

I've used SMC batteries in the past and charge times were in line with my other packs. It sounds like the charger is taking more time than usual for it to balance the last few hundred mah in the pack.
I had a similar issue with my 1st charger (imaxb6) so I upgraded to an external power supply paired with the iSDT 6+ smart charger and went from charging packs in an hour and a half to two hours with the old setup down to 30-50min with the iSDT, depending on the size of the pack.
Yesterday it took a PowerHobby 5200mah 50c 4s pack from 3.80 storage charge to completely charged and balanced at in exactly 30min charging at 7.5A.
View attachment 38453

If it's in your budget to upgrade your charging station I think you'd be happier in the long run not having to spend so much time charging instead of out running. I know it did for me.

Just thought I would update and say that I bought a ISDT Q6 Pro off eBay and am very happy. It charges in about 30 minutes from storage at 1.2C, so about half the time of my old charger at 1C. All cells finish at 4.20v too, so that's a great improvement. Thanks for the recommendation!