What’s your high charge rate experience?

[bladefan]

Hey guys, I’m under the impression that lots of folks charge over 2C

Have you had any bad experiences doing this? Or good? My understanding that good batteries ought to be able to accept high charge rates.
Thanks

 

[RedondoBeachRC]

Hey guys, I’m under the impression that lots of folks charge over 2C

Have you had any bad experiences doing this? Or good? My understanding that good batteries ought to be able to accept high charge rates.
Thanks

I’ve been testing out 15-20amps but I’m also using some good high discharge batteries.

5C will definitely save you time with charging, if your battery supports it, but it will have decreased mAh and a shorter overall lifespan

 

[Dan B.]

Dude, I’m a ninny. I never charge over 1c balance. Keeps those cells nice and tight with one another. Batteries are expensive, man….

 

[real_name_hidden]

Depends on what pack I’m using but typically follow the rule, for example 5000mah 5.0 volts. But if it’s an older battery or in a rush I’ll zap a chnl battery up to 15amps. They tend to swell up tho

 

[Cheez]

Dumb question here…. I’ve never used it on my chargers, but don’t most chargers have a “ fast charge” setting? What is that?

 

[slick2500]

Dumb question here…. I’ve never used it on my chargers, but don’t most chargers have a “ fast charge” setting? What is that?

It charges without balancing.

One thing to note is that not all batteries are capable of being charged above 1c. Charging a lipo at a charge rate that it isn't rated for is asking trouble and could cause damage to the battery or even worse the battery could start on fire.

 

[arrmadillo]

I charged at 2c even 3c before because of time constraints, but 1c mostly. Haven't noticed any problems by doing so and lipos still going strong.

 

[ZooKeeper]

1C for me! As @Dan B. mentioned, batteries are expensive, especially the good batteries that give you great performance. I want to make my batteries last as long as possible. I do have some cheaper batteries for my kids car, those I may push an extra half amp or whole amp above the 1C calculation, but never comes close to 2C.

 

[Armarookie43]

Dude, I’m a ninny. I never charge over 1c balance. Keeps those cells nice and tight with one another. Batteries are expensive, man….

I don't need help destroying them that way. I'm already doing enough damage to with big jumps and crashes

 

[dk10438]

2C here

 

[Diem Turner]

1C for me. My batteries charge in 25 minutes at a 1C rate. That's plenty fast enough for me. They spend an hour and a half in the warmer after that so the 25 minutes charge time is a small bit player in the grand scheme of things. I too want my batteries to last as long as possible and, as already mentioned, charging at higher rates will decrease the capacity.

 

[Adiabatic]

I don't buy the fake news claims that you can only charge at 1C and I normally charge at 10-20C. Takes about as long as filling up my car at the gas station. It's not very dangerous, but I wrap the batteries in aluminum foil to contain any fire just in case.

 

[bladefan]

I’m curious if any of you track your IR. I haven’t been but it occurs to me that I should. I plan to charge mostly 2C. But maybe push it higher. My nice batteries I just got are these SMC specials.

 

[Diem Turner]

I’m curious if any of you track your IR. I haven’t been but it occurs to me that I should. I plan to charge mostly 2C. But maybe push it higher. My nice batteries I just got are these SMC specials.

I don't document it, but I do monitor it.

 

[slick2500]

I charged at 2c even 3c before because of time constraints, but 1c mostly. Haven't noticed any problems by doing so and lipos still going strong.

Well after my experience trying to charge batteries at 3c that were labeled as 3c and having them puff up on me I was like nope. Better safe then sorry.

I don't document it, but I do monitor it.

Ditto. The numbers will rise over time no matter what you do.

 

[bladefan]

Well after my experience trying to charge batteries at 3c that were labeled as 3c and having them puff up on me I was like nope. Better safe then sorry.

Ditto. The numbers will rise over time no matter what you do.

Thanks slick2500. This is the kind of response I’m hoping to hear.

It’s kind of funny. I have all sort of lipos I have abused with high charge rates and as far as I can tell, they lasted long enough that I feel I got my moneys worth.

For example, I had a two hobbyking lipos, 2s 5000 mah I charged at 3c fairly frequently. It’s really hard for me to tell with those since I had them forever. But I had to literally cram them into my 2wd slash since they didn’t fit right. I didn’t use them a whole lot. Until last few years. They did finally die tho.

And I have had 1550mah 2s lipos I used for my 1/18 traxxas rally. Man I charged the poop out of those. They’re still good. And I know for a fact I charged them at 3c all the time. What I had read said that any DECENT lipo should be able to do 2-3c w a good (at the time) charger. And a quality lipo should do 5c. Longevity would suffer. But it wasn’t THAT much and your time savings was worth it.

Edit- this forum is hilarious. It changed what I originally wrote from s*** to poop

 

[Dan B.]

Edit- this forum is hilarious. It changed what I originally wrote from s*** to poop

Yes, I also find it amusing. If you should type the dreaded F-bomb it changes to “fiddlesticking.” I should merge that into my lexicon, as F-bombs probably comprise about 27% of my vocabulary. I’m not even fiddlesticking kidding.

 

[bladefan]

Yes, I also find it amusing. If you should type the dreaded F-bomb it changes to “fiddlesticking.” I should merge that into my lexicon, as F-bombs probably comprise about 27% of my vocabulary. I’m not even fiddlesticking kidding.

That’s awesome. Me too. I like that your f word vocabulary hasn’t stunted your SAT vocab.

Lexicon

You rule dude
It tied the paragraph together too

 

[carckton driver]

i saw it mentioned more than once that people charge at 1c but if they have a cheaper is well used pack that they don't care about they will charge faster. isnt that the exact opposite of what you want to do? take a pack thats either of lesser known quality or has higher IR and pump more juice into it? doesn't see smart.

I don't buy the fake news claims that you can only charge at 1C and I normally charge at 10-20C. Takes about as long as filling up my car at the gas station. It's not very dangerous, but I wrap the batteries in aluminum foil to contain any fire just in case.

you really think tin foil will stop a lipo fire? if the tin foil doesn't blow apart the fire will burn right through it like it wasnt there. tin foil melts at 1,200F, lithium burns at over 3,600F. also, i would imagine when your pumping that much power that quickly into a battery its gonna be worse than if you were charging at 1c.

 

[#ARRMArcfanboy4life]

As @Dan B. mentioned, batteries are expensive, especially the good batteries that give you great performance.

I spent $60 for 6s lipos for my talion. They run great. Still not something that I am going to risk destroying just to only spend 30 minutes waiting for a charge.

It's not very dangerous, but I wrap the batteries in aluminum foil to contain any fire just in case.

Maybe next time you should try to wrap them in C4 to make it more safe.