Battery Charge Rate Help

[th.son]

I personally don’t charge up to 4.2 as I read it shortens the battery life. I set my charger to charge up to 4.15.

Thank you. I updated the table to include this advice.

4.20v is the individual cell voltage that's correct.

Storage charge is 3.80v, you can charge at a lower current, if you're not in a hurry.

Updated the table above to put the storage profile to 3.8v

4.2V peak is where you want to go.
Storage for 3.8-3.83 is where you put them when your not going to use them. It's not good to store lipos for days at full charge and definitely not "empty".

Lipo's are very voltage sensitive. 3.2-4.2 is the working voltage. Although, 3.2 is pretty low, most set their LVC (low voltage cut off) to be at 3.4-3.5V.

If your charger has a cycling capability to discharge, running them down to 3.4V should be fine as it monitors each cell individually. It doesn't just drain from the main power tap like an ESC would.

I don't let mine ever sit at 4.2V or 3.5V. If I know I'm going to bash the next day, I get up early and charge. The first thing I do when I get home is put all my packs at storage voltage, even if I'm going to bash the next day. I get up early and charge them up again.

This sounds like a good habit to get into for when to charge/storage charge your LiPo's. I will try to follow this myself.

According to my chargers manual they do not recommend using the charger itself to do cycling. The manual says that most batteries will reach their maximum potential after around 10 charge cycles. They say though that you can achieve this just by general use of the device.

I am going to update my original post with a balance profile as well. Would I be using the same values to balance charge the cells?

One additional question, I am little confused about 1C vs 2C. How do I know I am charging at 1C vs 2C?

 

[nino]

1C (think "one Capacity") is e.g. 5 amps for a 5000mAh (aka 5Ah) lipo, or say 2.2 amps for a 2200mAh lipo.
2C is double that.

 

[BashingBrian]

So is it okay to charge at 2C? Everything I've read until now, says the correct charge rate is 1C, but after reading up from different manufacturers sites, even though they recommend 1C, they also claim that you should be able to charge a well balanced battery at 2C without affecting the quality or lifespan of it. Someone please tell me which it is! I've been charging at 1C for my 5000 mAh batteries since day one, and it takes about an hour to charge. If I could be cutting that time down to 30 minutes without affecting the battery, than why wouldn't I? Fyi, they are all gensacearespammers batteries, not some cheap knock offs.

@Notorious J Some of the gensacearespammers batteries can be charged at 5c..!! ??

 

[Primarrma]

Always try and balance charge the battery, that is the program you should use.

 

[olds97_lss]

Always try and balance charge the battery, that is the program you should use.

I have never NOT balance charged a lipo pack. (double negatives are fun!) I'm not sure anyone uses straight charge with lipo's if they are multicell packs. Not sure why you would want to.

Some chargers are more agressive/better at balancing than others. They allow more current via the balance tap. You will likely notice on your charger that as it gets close to full, the amperage it puts out drops significantly as it trickles charge into each cell individually to bring them up to the proper voltage.

 

[Primarrma]

I have never NOT balance charged a lipo pack. (double negatives are fun!) I'm not sure anyone uses straight charge with lipo's if they are multicell packs. Not sure why you would want to.

Some chargers are more agressive/better at balancing than others. They allow more current via the balance tap. You will likely notice on your charger that as it gets close to full, the amperage it puts out drops significantly as it trickles charge into each cell individually to bring them up to the proper voltage.

I had a charger that wouldn't charge if it thought the cells were too unbalanced, so you would have to charge it for a few minutes without the balance plug, then switch over to balance charging.

 

[PowerDubs]

If my charger was capable of more than 2c, I would do so - as to me the batteries are pretty much a consumable meaning I agree with the guy above if I can get them to last me a year or two I am perfectly fine with that.

Consider the rate of discharge when driving these cars....

I honestly don’t think 2 or 3C will hurt them whatsoever.

 

[crimsonfancy]

Lately I charge most packs at 2c but that's the highest I go. My packs seem to stay strong and still use 2s lipos i bought 3 years ago.

 

[th.son]

1C (think "one Capacity") is e.g. 5 amps for a 5000mAh (aka 5Ah) lipo, or say 2.2 amps for a 2200mAh lipo.
2C is double that.

Can you charge a 5300 mAh battery at 2C? What dictates a 1C vs a 2C? Sorry, still struggling with this.
If I wanted to charge at 2C would that mean I would have to charge at 10 amps?
I'm a legit derp when it comes to power and battery stats I am sorry

 

[crimsonfancy]

Can you charge a 5300 mAh battery at 2C? What dictates a 1C vs a 2C? Sorry, still struggling with this.
If I wanted to charge at 2C would that mean I would have to charge at 10 amps?
I'm a legit derp when it comes to power and battery stats I am sorry

If 1c is 5.3 amps then 2c is 10.6 amps. You should be able to charge any decent quality lipo at 2c but read the battery and any material that came with it just in case. Some packs will even specify.

 

[th.son]

If 1c is 5.3 amps then 2c is 10.6 amps. You should be able to charge any decent quality lipo at 2c but read the battery and any material that came with it just in case. Some packs will even specify.

That makes sense now thank you for explaining.
My charger will do up to 10 amps. But I will definitely read through the documentation before trying to charge at that higher rate. I would assume the benefit to charging at 2C vs 1C is the charge time?

 

[crimsonfancy]

That makes sense now thank you for explaining.
My charger will do up to 10 amps. But I will definitely read through the documentation before trying to charge at that higher rate. I would assume the benefit to charging at 2C vs 1C is the charge time?

Yes, charge time improved. My personal philosophy is to charge at 1c or even 1.5c unless I really can't wait and I always balance charge / never quick charge.

 

[Lazy Bushman]

So is it okay to charge at 2C? Everything I've read until now, says the correct charge rate is 1C, but after reading up from different manufacturers sites, even though they recommend 1C, they also claim that you should be able to charge a well balanced battery at 2C without affecting the quality or lifespan of it. Someone please tell me which it is! I've been charging at 1C for my 5000 mAh batteries since day one, and it takes about an hour to charge. If I could be cutting that time down to 30 minutes without affecting the battery, than why wouldn't I? Fyi, they are all gensacearespammers batteries, not some cheap knock offs.

If the manufacture states 2c charge rate then that is what I do. If there is no recommendation then I would charge it at 1c to be safe. I also, always balance charge. I have never even tried a quick charge from memory.

 

[arrmadillo]

I always balance charge at 1c max, no exceptions. Longevity is more important to me than faster charging no matter what the manufacturer says.

 

[slick2500]

I always balance charge at 1c max, no exceptions. Longevity is more important to me than faster charging no matter what the manufacturer says.

I have lipos rated at 5c

 

[Bri26]

When in doubt, balance charge at 1C. Some batteries can be charged at a higher C but it's best to be sure by checking the LiPo battery manufacturer recommendations. Safety should be the number one priority.

 

[Primarrma]

I tried a balanced charge today at 2c it really didn't seem to charge that much faster on my charger, I don't know if my balance port is limited? It was set on 10 amps, still took well over an hour to charge a 6s from 3.78 volts per cell.

 

[olds97_lss]

I tried a balanced charge today at 2c it really didn't seem to charge that much faster on my charger, I don't know if my balance port is limited? It was set on 10 amps, still took well over an hour to charge a 6s from 3.78 volts per cell.

What charger?

 

[crimsonfancy]

I tried a balanced charge today at 2c it really didn't seem to charge that much faster on my charger, I don't know if my balance port is limited? It was set on 10 amps, still took well over an hour to charge a 6s from 3.78 volts per cell.

What charger are you using, @Primarrma ?

 

[BashingBrian]

I tried a balanced charge today at 2c it really didn't seem to charge that much faster on my charger, I don't know if my balance port is limited? It was set on 10 amps, still took well over an hour to charge a 6s from 3.78 volts per cell.

What charger setup are you using..?? That seems slow to me..!!

I can do two 6s 6000mAh at 1c in parallel in just under 40 minutes..??? Haven't tried any higher 2c, 3c, etc as I don't think I need to..

Anything under an hour is good as far as I'm concerned, also safety is the number one priority..!!!

If you can't find any information on your batteries just charger at 1c..!!

Don't listen to some random muppet on the internet saying "Oh, it will be fine"..?? no point risking a fire or a ruined battery..?