Spektrum Smart S2100 charger

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edit: watching a HH Q&A where James Haley mentions that to properly read internal resistance you need to connect the balance lead also suggesting later to always connect them as best practice
Can someone please elaborate on this. What does this mean if I consider charging with balance lead or without. If I charge multiple batteries in a lipo box it is a bit of hassle to connect the balance leads (also I need extensions and need to ensure the right balance cable is connected to the right battery). So, what exact disadvantage do I have if I charge without balance lead?
 
The cells within the Pack will get unbalanced. You will make the pack unstable. (each cell will have different voltage) Best case is you will have to keep buying new $lipos$ needlessly. Worse case, your house will burn down. Charging standard lipos without attaching the balance leads is not an option. They always get "balance charged". Its the rule. After you run your lipo packs return them to your charger and storage charge them to 3.8-3.85 volts. That's how they are shipped when new and that's the way you put them on your shelf to store them before they are charged fully to 4.2v for use again. Follow this rule. We all do. don't let fully charged (4.2v/cell) or just used lipos sit around in that condition. Depending whether they are above 3.8v or below, they are either discharged or charged to the proper storage volts of 3.8. Storage charge/discharge them within a few hours of actual use to put them away till you bash again another day or whenever. If you are bashing again, just balance charge them again. But when storing them for even a day or more or even months, bring them to 3.8v. The balance leads control all of that when attached to your charger. Balance leads monitor and balance the cells. The main power lipo leads are the actual charging leads. They work together to charge correctly with any decent charger.
Bret from Amain Hobby does a better video at explaining a Lipo's care and feeding.
Welcome to AF.:cool:

Edit:
If charging multiple Lipo's in a lipo box, get a quality balance board. Then you will only need one long Balance lead extension from the charger to the Bal. board and all the liopos get plugged into the bal. board within your lipo safty box.. Get a Bal. lead that has the appropriate # of leads based on how many cells your largest pack is. A long 8S lead if your charger and bal. boards can handle 8S ports. Just an idea.
If you have a Spektrum Smart charger and Smart lipos, then it does balancing on its own with no intervention needed.
 
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The cells within the Pack will get unbalanced. You will make the pack unstable. (each cell will have different voltage) Best case is you will have to keep buying new $lipos$ needlessly. Worse case, your house will burn down. Charging standard lipos without attaching the balance leads is not an option. They always get "balance charged". Its the rule. After you run your lipo packs return them to your charger and storage charge them to 3.8-3.85 volts. That's how they are shipped when new and that's the way you put them on your shelf to store them before they are charged fully to 4.2v for use again. Follow this rule. We all do. don't let fully charged (4.2v/cell) or just used lipos sit around in that condition. Depending whether they are above 3.8v or below, they are either discharged or charged to the proper storage volts of 3.8. Storage charge/discharge them within a few hours of actual use to put them away till you bash again another day or whenever. If you are bashing again, just balance charge them again. But when storing them for even a day or more or even months, bring them to 3.8v. The balance leads control all of that when attached to your charger. Balance leads monitor and balance the cells. The main power lipo leads are the actual charging leads. They work together to charge correctly with any decent charger.
Bret from Amain Hobby does a better video at explaining a Lipo's care and feeding.
Welcome to AF.:cool:

Edit:
If charging multiple Lipo's in a lipo box, get a quality balance board. Then you will only need one long Balance lead extension from the charger to the Bal. board and all the liopos get plugged into the bal. board within your lipo safty box.. Get a Bal. lead that has the appropriate # of leads based on how many cells your largest pack is. A long 8S lead if your charger and bal. boards can handle 8S ports. Just an idea.
If you have a Spektrum Smart charger and Smart lipos, then it does balancing on its own with no intervention needed.
They also make those octopus balance leads those work pretty nice but they are usually limited to 1 size of lipo at the least the ones I have are anyway I have 1 set that does 2s and one that does 3s.
 
If you have a Spektrum Smart charger and Smart lipos, then it does balancing on its own with no intervention needed.
Thank you for the detailed answer.
Apologies my question was related to this scenario. I have a spektrum smart charger and smart batteries. In that case the balance lead is not necessary, as the ic5 connector does some balancing?
Regaring storage, the spektrum batteries can do that automatically (discharging to storage voltage, even when disconnected)
 
Internally the cells balance and self storage. Yes. You can also read battery data and duty cycles etc with a Spektrum lipo analyzer.
 
Hello all,

Just received the spectrum charger along with a 4s 5000mha 100c battery. I am looking forward to using but I have a few questions and I can't find the answer.

Would anyone know how to do a balance charging, the only options are charge / storage / Discharge (I have read and watch a couple of YouTube video showing how to balance a lipo but with a different charger).

Probably there's an update and I can't find it.


Thank you in advance.
Just plug in your ic5 connector then your standard balance lead. The charger will then balance charge the battery. You can watch the voltage of each cell as they charge. Super simple. good luck
 
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If you got one of the new spektrum smart batteries it automatically balances during charge.
I know I’m all late on this but I’m having a issue on charging my 4s too just got it yesterday and it’s not reading it and I switch it to 4s then when I hit start it says are u sure u don’t want to balance it and I put on my regular charger and it says low voltage…

B9D61324-89C3-42B8-B9BC-C2A0D88C67B3.jpeg
 
Either bad bal. lead wire or bad cell(s). The charger is not seeing the cells properly to do a bal charge. It does not see them.
So it thinks there is no bal. connector attatched. And is asking if you want to charge without a balance. This happens from time to time. Lipo is damaged.
The balance lead can be repaired if you are so inclined and the lipo cells are still good.
But here , "Low Voltage" is a bad sign. And trying to charge a bad lipo can cause a fire. Beware. :rolleyes:
Need to always Balance charge any Lipo. Every time.
Use an inexpensive Lipo checker to verify the balance lead circuit at the lipo. Need to have one always on hand when you use any RC lipos. This can also rule out a bad Charger versus a bad lipo. One or the other. It will show you which cells are not doing well.
 
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Either bad bal. lead wire or bad cell(s). The charger is not seeing the cells properly to do a bal charge. It does not see them.
So it thinks there is no bal. connector attatched. And is asking if you want to charge without a balance. This happens from time to time. Lipo is damaged.
The balance lead can be repaired if you are so inclined and the lipo cells are still good.
But here , "Low Voltage" is a bad sign. And trying to charge a bad lipo can cause a fire. Beware. :rolleyes:
Need to always Balance charge any Lipo. Every time.
Use an inexpensive Lipo checker to verify the balance lead circuit at the lipo. Need to have one always on hand when you use any RC lipos. This can also rule out a bad Charger versus a bad lipo. One or the other. It will show you which cells are not doing well.
Oh yeah I just got my 4s battery yesterday so it’s a bad battery then well I contact horizon hobby this morning just waiting for response back to get it replace ..well I guess I’m gonna use my 3s battery for now until I get my 4s fix I just got the new kraton 4s couple of days ago and I wanted to try it out on 4s..lol
 
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