**sticky** Understanding Lithium Polymer Batteries

[Planecraz3d]

A word about this Discharge Limits, the capital 'C' rating written on some batteries (Incl nanotech), i would take it with a pinch of salt, more often than not they are overrated, !! IMHO

The Max Amps 150C lipos come to mind immediaty!

Another thing to note (especially on the Turnigy packs) is how the rating is written on the packs, it can be misleading. My Turnigy packs are labeled 30-45C discharge rate. This means they are a 30C rated pack with a 45C burst rating. It is not a 45C pack. I have seen several at my field running Turnigy packs based on the higher number and they come down so puffy and hot you couldn't hold them to get them out of the plane (this also comes back to the overrated thing).

 

[orthobird]

hello Battery gurus!! Quick question?
let's say i have a 5000 Mah 2S battery
I want to charge it at a 1 amp rate, not 1c.
what should i program the discharge rate to be on the charger when i balance charge?
2 amps?, 1 amp? or 0.5 amps?

 

[bigblueswope]

Discharge rate is independent from charge rate. I amp will be fine. Any rate less than the Capacity X C Rating will do.


BJ Swope

 

[Krzy4RC]

hello Battery gurus!! Quick question?
let's say i have a 5000 Mah 2S battery
I want to charge it at a 1 amp rate, not 1c.
what should i program the discharge rate to be on the charger when i balance charge?
2 amps?, 1 amp? or 0.5 amps?

Cam, what charger are you using?

 

[orthobird]

Thank you both very much for replying.
I am using a Cellpro Powerlab 8 charger.

 

[Krzy4RC]

You don't have to set the balance current when charging, just your charge rate. I charge just about all my lipos at 2c. You can discharge your batts at whatever the charger will handle, which usually is not much.

 

[orthobird]

2C!! Wow!
ok, my 5000 mAh batteries can be charged at 10 amp rate?

 

[Bartman]

2C!! Wow!
ok, my 5000 mAh batteries can be charged at 10 amp rate?

yes, a 10 amp total rate (not per cell) would be a 2C charge rate for a 5000 mah pack

Max charge rate should be designated on your pack and keep in mind that rates of 1C or less are desirable for extending pack health. In other words, if you're not pressed for time then charge at 1C or less.

 

[Bartman]

hello Battery gurus!! Quick question?
let's say i have a 5000 Mah 2S battery
I want to charge it at a 1 amp rate, not 1c.
what should i program the discharge rate to be on the charger when i balance charge?
2 amps?, 1 amp? or 0.5 amps?

charging a 5000 mah (or 5 amp-hour) pack at 1 amp is a .2C charge rate.

charging at 1C is supposed to yield a full charge in one hour which might work if you ever had to put all of the mah back into a pack. but since we typically discharge to 20%-of-capacity remaining we only have to replace 80% when charging. so if you're discharging to 20% remaining then a 1C charge rate will take about 48 minutes to complete and a .2C rate will take 5 times that or 240 minutes (4 hours!). chances are your charger will auto shut-off well before the batteries are fully charged so you might want to use a faster rate.

give it a try and let us know how it works for you!

 

[quadracer]

I charge my lipos at half their max charge rating. Most of them are rated at 5C, which which for a 5000 mah pack is 25A, so I usually keep it at 12A on the big batteries.