Charging a battery faster than 1C

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Quick

Fairly New Member
Messages
61
Reaction score
28
Hi,

If a battery is advertised as being able to charge at 3C for example, is there any reason not to charge it at 3C?

I’ve read 1C is the default, would it be better to always charge at 1C?

Is it still possible to balance charge at 3C or does this need to be done at 1C?

I’m trying to choose a suitable charger and trying figure out how many watts I need. Obviously don’t need as many if I’m only ever going to charge at 1C.

Thanks.
 
This is what SMC lists for the battery I've got.
_20210610_194017.png

If the manufacturer indicates that it's safe to charge at more than 1c, you shouldn't run into any problems and you can still balance charge at the higher rate. In my opinion, 1c is fast enough so I don't bother going above that.
 
As said above by SMC you can charge at a higher rate to get a shorter charge time but ultimately you end up with less battery. Also as they state it puts more stress on the lipo which will shorten it's life over time. So if your in a hurry sure charge at 3c if your not charge at like 1.5-2c👍
 
Thanks for the replies.

That SMC statement just seems a bit ambiguous.

Does it mean:

1) It's fine to charge between 1C and 5C but the closer to 5C you charge then the less mAh will be put into the pack and more the cycle life will be reduced. And never charge above 5C.

2) It's fine to charge between 1C and 5C, makes no difference. But if you charge over 5C then the less mAh will be put into the pack and more the cycle life will be reduced.
 
I read into it that if you want to baby the pack and make it last the longest (along with stuffing the most mAh into it) then charge at 1c.
The higher C rate charging is just getting it to full charge with less capacity in a shorter time. I am sure you could charge a pack at 8c a few times without issues, but is it worth the risk?

The other question is can your charger even pull off charging at over 1C.
Many chargers cannot charge a 6s pack at high amperage. Usually they can for 2s or 3s packs though.
 
This is what SMC lists for the battery I've got.
View attachment 151333
If the manufacturer indicates that it's safe to charge at more than 1c, you shouldn't run into any problems and you can still balance charge at the higher rate. In my opinion, 1c is fast enough so I don't bother going above that.
Danny@SMC also says they recommend charging max charge rate whenever possible, so.... LOL

Charging at a high amp rate will heat up the cells. Hot cells have a lower IR than cold cells, so they can pass more amps. If you are RACING a class like 17.5 or 13.5, you can give your car a bit more punch (for the first few laps) by hammering the battery with high amps (30a-50a) right before you head to the starting line, so you start the race with a warm battery. But, heat will reduce the life of a Lipo, so pick you poison.

Myself, I often charge at 2c/10A. I do it for the time savings. I have 3 kids that like to run with me, so I often need 6-8 batteries charged before a bash. 2c balance charge, from a 3.8 storage charge gets done in about 20 minutes, so I can have half a dozen batteries ready in a bit over an hour. My charger is a Hobbyking Reaktor 2 channel with 20a/300w per channel. And yeah, sometimes I wish I had bought the 4 channel version of this charger... :)
 
Danny@SMC also says they recommend charging max charge rate whenever possible, so.... LOL

Charging at a high amp rate will heat up the cells. Hot cells have a lower IR than cold cells, so they can pass more amps. If you are RACING a class like 17.5 or 13.5, you can give your car a bit more punch (for the first few laps) by hammering the battery with high amps (30a-50a) right before you head to the starting line, so you start the race with a warm battery. But, heat will reduce the life of a Lipo, so pick you poison.

Myself, I often charge at 2c/10A. I do it for the time savings. I have 3 kids that like to run with me, so I often need 6-8 batteries charged before a bash. 2c balance charge, from a 3.8 storage charge gets done in about 20 minutes, so I can have half a dozen batteries ready in a bit over an hour. My charger is a Hobbyking Reaktor 2 channel with 20a/300w per channel. And yeah, sometimes I wish I had bought the 4 channel version of this charger... :)
What are you using for your power supply?
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies.

That SMC statement just seems a bit ambiguous.

Does it mean:

1) It's fine to charge between 1C and 5C but the closer to 5C you charge then the less mAh will be put into the pack and more the cycle life will be reduced. And never charge above 5C.

2) It's fine to charge between 1C and 5C, makes no difference. But if you charge over 5C then the less mAh will be put into the pack and more the cycle life will be reduced.

All those questions were upon me like you....one thing I had in common maybe not all people have....I am never in a rush to RC and I have not young children all adults. No need for a fast charge.

I have 5000, 5500, 8000mAh batteries and some of those are Spektrum that can charge really fast at a high AMP. 4A or 4C however you want to say it is my baseline for all those... If Traxxas EZ Charger max is 4A all my Traxxas friends have no battery issues they have large capacity batteries for their 6S rigs. Then this slower charger works for me and good for my battery although they can do more AMPs or higher C.
 
Same here. Always charge at 1c. Takes around an hour per battery and I can do 2 at a time.

But I've had batteries fail on me so I might up my charge rate.
 
I've always charged at 1C but will charge at 2C sometimes when time constraints or multiple lipos need to be charged. No doubt charging at 1C will be better for your lipos longevity, but as they get older who cares. The time you save charging at 2C or higher is nice, 6S lipos charge quick.
 
I have 5000, 5500, 8000mAh batteries and some of those are Spektrum that can charge really fast at a high AMP. 4A or 4C however you want to say it is my baseline for all those... If Traxxas EZ Charger max is 4A all my Traxxas friends have no battery issues they have large capacity batteries for their 6S rigs. Then this slower charger works for me and good for my battery although they can do more AMPs or higher C.

"C" is not amps. "C" is a factor of capacity. 1C is 1x the amp-hour rating of the battery. So 1c for your 5000mah packs is 5a, but for your 8000mah packs 1c is 8a.

Also, charging a full dead battery at 1c should take right around one hour, plus a bit extra for the balance cycle. If you are charging your 8000mah packs at 4a, that is 0.5C and would take about 2 hours to charge. From a storage charge, it will be a bit quicker, though.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 90 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.
Back
Top