Lipo Charger. What are you using?

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My main charger is an iCharger 308 Duo. 2 channels, 30A/800W per channel, 1300W max. I have it paired with an industrial 24V 1500W power supply. At the time, the 1A of balance current was above average (2A with both channels running in parallel). It seems like things have moved on since then, though!

That's pretty cool that chargers have added nice features like integrated modest AC power supplies. That must be nice if you just want to charge SOMETHING, without needing the bulk of a separate power supply, as long as you don't need the full output from the charger.

There are some interesting features even on older chargers like mine, though. I built an external resistive load (made from a hair dryer), which lets me discharge from packs on one channel, into the resistive load on the second channel. I think my load lets me do this at around 500W, but the charger is capable of doing 800W. It's nice if you have a bunch of packs which need to be brought back down to storage voltage, much faster than an integrated 20W, 50W, etc, discharge capability.

https://www.progressiverc.com/products/icharger-308duo
I use the ISDT FD-200 "Discharger".
Discharges a fully charged 6s 6k mah brick in under 10 minutes.
 
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I use the ISDT FD-200 "Discharger".
Discharges a fully charged a 6s 6k mah brick in under 10 minutes.
Those sound great! Standalone dischargers didn't exist when I was buying this setup, unfortunately. But they seem like a great product, and are far simpler (and probably safer) than the DIY solutions.

I kept it simple last night, and used my little charger, with 20W discharge, to bring down a 6S 4100 pack. It probably took around an hour. My big charger does 80W/channel internal discharge, I think, which is at least significantly faster. And I can hook up the 500W external load if I'm in a hurry.

But a dedicated device for doing that sounds really nice. Simple, and fast. Plus you aren't cooking your expensive charger the entire time.
 
Yeah I was using Automotive light bulbs and Auto ignition coil resistors to discharge my nims and Nicads back in the day. A properly sourced discharge Load can discharge any type of battery. Just need to carefully monitor them.
I also have another Discharger, that actually "Balance Discharges" lipos, uses both the Balance Lead and Mains lead for discharging. Probably even better than the ISDT FD-200. I have both here. Hard to say which is better. :unsure: Balance discharging, in theory, should be better?? Maybe splitting hairs. Because when we bash/ run our rigs, they don't balance discharge. IDK. I play with both types. FD-200 discharges slightly faster. Only because it doesn't balance discharge at the end of the cycle. FD-200 is BT capable FWIW. I don't use that feature however.

ORI M12

https://www.michaelsrchobbies.com/smca12-ori-a12-storage-discharger.html
 
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It's great that we have multiple options! My big charger can balance them at storage voltage, but I have that option turned off.

The logic I read (which made sense to me) was to only balance at the fully-charged voltage. Since, the next time you charge, that's the one you care about, and the one the charger spends time on.

To exaggerate, if a pack had a pair of 5000mAh cells, and one cell that's effectively 4000mAh, that will slow you down if you balance it at storage voltage. Because during the next charge cycle, the 4000mAh cell will "fill up" more quickly, and the charger will then spend quite a while slowing down, and using the balancer to bleed current off that cell, to prevent it from going above 4.2V. Making the charge process take longer.

This may be "wrong", but it seemed reasonable to me. I would only balance-storage if the pack was going to sit for a long time, and if the cell voltages were otherwise going to be very different (like one at 3.6V or something). And, practically speaking, like you said, we don't balance discharge them when actually running them in the vehicles.

Sorry, for whatever reason I find the chargers aspect of the hobby to be interesting. Maybe from seeing how much time can be saved with a good charger, also giving more time to play!
 
Why do you turn off Balancing for storage volts? Balancing should always be left ON by default.:unsure:

Best for cells to remain/sit balanced when stored. How I see it.
When we run and discharge the packs, it is assumed we will place them in storage mode anyway. And balanced during the process.
I guess there are different camps on this subject?
That's why I also though the ORI M12 Discharger was a good option.
And using a Discharger is usually a rare occurrence in general. Like if you are stuck with a few charged packs because the rig is downed for repair all of a sudden.
 
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I geuss there are different camps on this subject?

It shouldn't matter much as long as all of the cells are within the storage voltage range. I don't see much benefit to balance charging for storage, other than maybe you could end up with some cells going out of range before others from self discharge if they are badly out of whack
 
It's great that we have multiple options! My big charger can balance them at storage voltage, but I have that option turned off.

The logic I read (which made sense to me) was to only balance at the fully-charged voltage. Since, the next time you charge, that's the one you care about, and the one the charger spends time on.

To exaggerate, if a pack had a pair of 5000mAh cells, and one cell that's effectively 4000mAh, that will slow you down if you balance it at storage voltage. Because during the next charge cycle, the 4000mAh cell will "fill up" more quickly, and the charger will then spend quite a while slowing down, and using the balancer to bleed current off that cell, to prevent it from going above 4.2V. Making the charge process take longer.

This may be "wrong", but it seemed reasonable to me. I would only balance-storage if the pack was going to sit for a long time, and if the cell voltages were otherwise going to be very different (like one at 3.6V or something). And, practically speaking, like you said, we don't balance discharge them when actually running them in the vehicles.

Sorry, for whatever reason I find the chargers aspect of the hobby to be interesting. Maybe from seeing how much time can be saved with a good charger, also giving more time to play!
Your logic seems it would apply more to Nimpacks or older Nicads. Not with Lipos
 
Venom Pro Duo LiPo Battery Charger | 80W X2 AC DC
Great charger so far.
 
Why do you turn off Balancing for storage volts? Balancing should always be left ON by default.:unsure:

Best for cells to remain/sit balanced when stored. How I see it.
When we run and discharge the packs, it is assumed we will place them in storage mode anyway. And balanced during the process.
I guess there are different camps on this subject?
That's why I also though the ORI M12 Discharger was a good option.
And using a Discharger is usually a rare occurrence in general. Like if you are stuck with a few charged packs because the rig is downed for repair all of a sudden.
I guess I was making certain assumptions, which I did not state. I was assuming we're talking about putting things to storage voltage (whether that is charging them up, or discharging down to storage voltage) when you're going to be using them again tomorrow, or whatever. So you'll be doing this a lot. Not talking about long-term storing them like for 6 months.

So for the storage process, and charging them for the next time, the charge time "matters", because you're doing it frequently. For long-term storage, like 6 months, sure, I wouldn't care about some added time for balancing during storage charging.

I think my smaller charger does not offer the option to balance while storage charging (whether bringing them up or down to storage), so I guess I'd never considered that to be a typical thing.

The charger is going to balance charge them during a full charge (and I always use that balancing, of course), which is what matters. But I don't think it really makes a difference if a cell is at 3.82V, or 3.87V, for short-term storage, so I'm not worried about balancing when bringing packs to storage voltage.

I think that just creates extra work for the charger's next full-charge cycle, since balanced cells at storage voltage will become unbalanced as you fully-charge the pack. They were balanced when fully-charged, so being unbalanced at storage is pretty much an indication of slight performance/capacity differences between the cells in the pack. So if you balance them at storage, that will make them less-balanced when fully charged.

To illustrate how I'm thinking of the cells, imagine your 1000mAh 3S pack is holding 1000mL of water in each "cell", or glass, and is fully charged, at 100%. But the last "cell", or glass, is smaller, and actually only holds 800mL. You fill all 3 glasses to 100%, so they're balanced, and fully "charged". Now you take 600mL of water out of each glass (like running them), so they have 400mL, 400mL, and 200mL. And are imbalanced while at this storage voltage (they are 40% full, 40% full, and 25% full).

A normal balance "charge" would put 600mL back into each glass, and they're all full again, at 100%. 1000mL, 1000mL, and 800mL.

But say you balance "charge" them first, at storage, to bring them all to 40% full. So you add 120mL to the 800mL glass, bringing it to 320mL, or 40%, same percentage as the others. That took some time. Now you balance charge them fully, by adding 600mL. Glasses 1 & 2 are back to 1000mL, and 100%. But glass 3 would "overcharge", overflowing the 800mL size of the glass. It would charge to 320 + 600mL, so 920mL, but the glass only holds 800mL. So the charger has to take the time to bleed off that excess 120mL as you do a full balance charge.

But if you simply brought the pack to storage voltage, without balancing at storage, you haven't deliberately added that excess 120mL, which needs to be dealt with by the balancer, when fully-charging the next time.

Your logic seems it would apply more to Nimpacks or older Nicads. Not with Lipos
Curious what you mean by this? Not saying you're wrong, but I guess it doesn't seem that way to me :) And I'm not trying to be argumentative or anything, just having a discussion, and looking to learn!

But I'm sorry, I apologize for steering the discussion off-course, this was not the core topic. I wasn't intending to derail the conversation, sorry about that. And I don't think either approach will cause any harm, or is "bad".
 
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Had a couple SkyRC b6's. Then the boys gifted me a Lectron Pro with the 1/10 Summit for fathers day last June. Gave the B6's to my son and grandkids to use with the RC's they all got for Christmas this year. Because I picked up a Venom Duo Pro from another member here. They do everything I need. That may change in the future.
 
I am used to using smart lipo chargers, they are very friendly for beginners like me, such as spectrum, ovonic X1. i believe smart chargers will become mainstream in the near future.
 
It shouldn't matter much as long as all of the cells are within the storage voltage range. I don't see much benefit to balance charging for storage, other than maybe you could end up with some cells going out of range before others from self discharge if they are badly out of whack
If they are always balanced during the storage charge mode , you then have a base line reference of each cells condition when you go to use them and evaluate them. IR's will also be more consistent from one to the next. The cells work best together if they are always kept equal. They are mfr. and sold in this condition. Why not treat them that way with normal use and maintenance? :unsure: Balancing cycle only takes a bit more time. And ensures longevity IMHO.
 
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