Total Noob - help too optimistic?

Move the voltmeter forward to the fork stem and then use a single tie wrap around the stem and through the clips on the sides of the meter.
vm1.JPGvm2.JPG
The LVC is just there to keep you from ruining your pack. I'd recharge when voltage dropped below 44V or sooner if possible. Running it to LVC is using close to 100% of the charge.
 
Thanks Ykick.

Yes, noob learning curve sucks ... especially when you say things like "check your home fire insurance policy". But that has to be good advice.

Charging is complete. Highest cell 4.210v. Lowest cell 4.157v.

FYI - I keep LiPo's that have been used in a LiPo bag overnight or when not in use for extended periods and I'm leaving the house. New LiPo's from the factory just sit in open air. And you saw my charging house that my cat was keeping an eye on.

I think I'll get a large flower pot to put all LiPo's in ... I'll have to start marking them to keep track.

I wish I was better at knowing what questions to ask as well as finding the answers via search.

Thanks for your help and please add more info. whenever possible.
 
A good pack should balance to within .01 volts during a balance charge. So 4.210V and 4.157V is not very good on a 12s pack. Make sure you or doing a balance charge and not just a bulk charge. As for safety, precautions or good. That said, I've been charging my packs on a wooden computer desk for over 2 years now and never had a problem. But I'm always awake and close by when charging. When not charging I leave the pack on the bike in the garage. Hopefully away from anything flamable in case it decides catch fire while I'm not there. Most fires are caused by user error. It's rare for them to just self combust when not in use.
 
OCMike said:
@e-beach & Ykick

What's considered over discharge? I let it run down to LVC (which I'm guessing is 41v) twice in a row - that's ~3.42v per a cell assuming they're perfectly balanced.

dogman's signature says this:

---------------------------
THE LIPO RULES. NEVER ABOVE 4.3V NEVER BELOW 2.7V DON'T PUNCTURE

Ideal charging /discharging range for Lipo, 3.65v minimum 4.1v maximum
---------------------------

Welcome to the e-bike "vertical learning curve."

I don't have a lipo battery pack. Mine is LiFePO4. Listen to Dogman and Wesnewell and Ykicks' caution. You will be fine. Just be very cautious with your battery pack at first until you are no longer a nube. Keep it someplace safe enough that your nubeness will only cost you the replacement of the lipo battery's themselves. Charge it some place safe. Read....read...and read some more until you are not a nube anymore.

:D
 
Good advice or not it's the reality of the situation. These cells are volatile unlike anything in your flashlight, car, etc. Hoping they're "balanced" under charge/discharge operation is foolish at best and deadly at worst.

'don't intend to harsh your mellow but please understand these things need to be treated with as much caution and respect as a can of Gasoline.

If you wish to have a long bulk charging run with RC Lipoly you're gonna need to learn how to qualify pack health and catch cell degradation long before it slides into regions that are dangerous and un-recoverable. Forget min/max - IDEAL is all that matters at this stage of the learning curve.

Old cookware and a relatively non-flammable location tends to provide most of what I need for storage. Charge/discharge is the highest risk but cells that puff in storage can suffer from sorted tabs and go fireball. Old cooking pots, BBQ grill, fireplace, etc.

Bare aligator clips, really? Figure out your connector, wire of choice and source the supplies needed to clean things up and expand upon as you evolve.
 
Hello gents ...

I'm not sure what the difference is between bulk charge and balance charge - my intuition tells me when I have the balance tabs hooked up the charger is doing a balanced charge.

I did a video of myself going through the charge process (pre-charge settings, battery hook up, start charging, cell level checking). The Thunder 1220 isn't all that involved to use so I think it's hard to mess up. But if anyone can mess it up, it's probably me. You know what they say, "when something is idiot proof, God makes a better idiot".

This is the first time I let the charger run to absolute completion. On prior charges, it would alert (two beeps) when the battery hits about 50v. At that time the charger would kind of "wind down" - the fan would stop working so hard and the amp output would start going down to 0 and then back up again and then down and up and keep cycling like that - during this time the battery voltage would creep up. After a while I would just end charge. I'm not sure what part of the charge cycle it's in when it does this - I think it's doing a balanced charge the whole time - at the end while it's "winding down" is it doing balance maintenance only?

Here's the link to video:

http://youtu.be/DU1EVk13nSs

I'm not sure if the charger has a defect or if I'm defective - but there are times when it won't go into cell checking mode: pressing both dec. and inc. buttons at the same time does nothing. This is the first time I had the charger run to absolute completion. So, this is the first time I've tried to go into cell checking mode after charger says it's done. All other times that it wouldn't go into cell checking mode, it was during the charging process and not after completion.

I think I need and I want to get a standalone handheld LiPo checker. Can you recommend a good one?

@Ykick - I will be fixing the gator clamp situation soon. It's just a matter of time until an accident happens ... I understand that ... and there's really no excuse for me doing what I've been doing - especially since I have a curious cat.

Thanks guys!

btw - my battery was full (49.8v - no load) when I wanted to do this so I rode at WOT for 7 miles (just a couple of stops at lights and two small hills - pretty flat other than that). Under full load the battery went as low at 42.8v. After 7 miles of WOT the battery was at 45.4v under no load. The battery pack is 12S1P - 8ah.
 
I went to the hobby store to get connectors to correct my "Gator Clamp" issue AND to see about a hand held LiPo battery tester.

I brought my battery pack with me ... the one that is freshly charged from my last post. They let me use their LiPo tester on it and I recorded the numbers -

The battery pack consists of two of these in series:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__20647__ZIPPY_Flightmax_8000mAh_6S1P_30C_USA_Warehouse_.html

Spec.
Capacity: 8000mAh
Voltage: 6S1P / 6 Cell / 22.2v
Discharge: 30C Constant / 40C Burst
Weight: 1220g (including wire, plug & case)
Dimensions: 165x69x52mm
Balance Plug: JST-XH
Discharge plug: 5.5mm Bullet-connector (without housing)

Here are the voltage results:

Battery1:
4.200
4.119
4.167
4.114
4.235
4.119

Battery2:
4.227
4.182
4.171
4.177
4.212
4.102

Remember, this is after a complete cycle on the balance charger - the only time I've run the charger until it decided it was done. The guys at the hobby store thought these numbers were fine and dandy. I'm not happy with the numbers (I'm not distraught or anything ... but). It seems like after a full charge cycle on the balance charger, the cells should be MUCH closer in voltage. The difference between my highest and lowest cell is 4.235 - 4.102 = 0.133 >>> 0.01! Again, I'm in the dark with respect to the significance of this but it seems outside of what is deemed satisfactory -- at the same time my intuition tells me 0.133v isn't much.

This was after a full charge cycle. May be I want to be testing these puppies after a full discharge cycle too?

What do you guys think re: The numbers AND testing before and after discharge cycles?
 
OCMike, don't always believe what you read. Your battery might be balanced perfectly. The little battery checkers are not very reliable so do not panic. I do not have experience with your charger, but in balance mode, each cell should read 4.20 when the charger shuts off, if not, you might not be set-up correctly. After a few hours, they will be closer to 4.17 or so.

Good luck!
 
mcintyretj makes a good point,

@OCMike, when you say your pack if fully charged, how long are you leaving it on the charger?

:D
 
Definitely a good idea to verify any volt reading made on your cells. I dunno your charger but .1v diff doesn't sound like a balance charge to me. Of course, that's "if" those readings are accurate.

Hard to beat having a couple different meters to compare things like this so that you can determine what's real from error.

These devices - chargers, meters, etc., are simply Chinese Hobby junk. They can and do work but must never rely on only one to qualify pack health.
 
Can't find an online manual for the charger. I'd adjust PSU voltage up to 14V. The charger should have a balance mode. Find it and and balance the pack. If you can't find that, do a store charge. That should balance the pack as good as possible, On some chargers you have to specify a balance charge or they will just do a bulk charge without balancing. Not sure how the Thunder 1220 works since I can't find a manual for it.
 
Thanks.

Just ordered 2 of these from Amazon:

Bluecell Lipo Digital Battery Voltage Checker

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005HG54UI/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The reviews are very good. I don't care about accuracy as much as I care about precision. Although the reviews suggest accuracy will be good too. Precision will give me relative difference of voltage in cells. I'll rely on the charger to do it's job and not overcharge. I'll always let the charger run to completion (when it decides it's done) from now on. I'll also adjust the target voltage to 4.1 volts per cell. Having two of them will allow me to cross check precision, but not accuracy.

I'm going to look again at the manual and see what it says about balance charging. I don't know why I'd be hooking up the balance leads if it's not doing a balance type charge. I guess it's required for the charger to monitor at the cell level. Also, when you look at the video I made the display alternates between CHG and BLC. That has to mean it's charging and balancing?? I hope the charger let's me look into what's happening at the cell level whenever I want during charge ... it doesn't seem to want to do that at all times. I also think it would be better if the output and balance leads were in the back instead of the front ... that way I could have everything nicely tucked inside my charging house and still be able to operate the charger. As it is now, if disaster happens the charger is probably going to get melted or suffer significant abuse.

I guess I can also UNseries the batteries and hook them up in parallel at the cell level and just let them sit for a day or two. I think this will allow cells that are in parallel to naturally trickle balance with each other over time.

I did order and receive two of these:

JST-XH Parallel Balance Lead 6S 250mm (2xJST-XH)

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=27080

My goal is to have one 12S2P 44.4v 16ah battery and one 12S1P 44.4v 8ah battery. I've been using the 12S1P. I do have 4 more batteries fresh from the factory. But I don't have a good way to carry them on the bike yet. So, they're just sitting. And I also need to make y-connectors for them as well.

Many many thanks!
 
OCMike, I like your battery plan. When I balance charge one of my 6s, 5ah batteries, I first bulk charge to about 4.10 a cell (24.5volts), then put it on the balance charger. It takes about 3 hours for each balance charge. That’s 12 hours for a 12s, 2p pack that is less than 0.1 out of balance. No cell ever gets above 4.2 according the charger. Needless to say, I do not balance charge much. If you are up for a ride to Seal Beach, I have an extra 6s battery checker you can have and we could bulk charge your pack.
 
mcintyretj said:
OCMike, I like your battery plan. When I balance charge one of my 6s, 5ah batteries, I first bulk charge to about 4.10 a cell (24.5volts), then put it on the balance charger. It takes about 3 hours for each balance charge. That’s 12 hours for a 12s, 2p pack that is less than 0.1 out of balance. No cell ever gets above 4.2 according the charger. Needless to say, I do not balance charge much. If you are up for a ride to Seal Beach, I have an extra 6s battery checker you can have and we could bulk charge your pack.

Sounds like a great plan! It's 13.5 miles from my house to PCH and 2nd. That's about the range of my battery pack. If we can charge me up while I'm at your place, that'd be GREAT. :)

I think you said you have an Anderson Crimper. The 45amp Anderson's look like they'd do much better with a crimper that's made for them. I've been using a cheap crimper for the 30amp Anderson's. You mind if we do a couple of crimps too? I've got the hardware - I just don't have the crimper.

Wednesday, if you have time on a weekday? PM me :).

Balance charging takes that long? Sh*t! I've been pulling my pack off the charger early because I didn't know what the heck it's doing (current level going up and down - total battery voltage going up and down - :? )
 
I think it's coming together :D

I still can't find in the manual where it says bulk vs. balance charge. May be if you hook it up without the balance tabs, it does a bulk charge? Does that make any sense? But it has to monitor the cells to be properly safe, doesn't it? I think if I exit the cell information screen when it's not on "input voltage" it loses where it is and the dec./inc. keys become inactive. Pressing both dec. & inc. at the same time is how you enter the cell information screen. This video is much shorter.

http://youtu.be/CM3QF4Xj5vY

I've checked a couple of times since I recorded and I'm happy with the readings :)

It's done - Balance Charge Ended in 69:13. I did set it to 4.1v/c for this charge. Highest Cell = 4.100v, Lowest Cell = 4.082v, Diff. = 0.018v. Much higher than the recommended 0.1v, but look at the video. I'm happy ... I'm going to celebrate with an evening ride. :D

http://youtu.be/2bwPza0vSC4
 
I shorted :(

I was putting together a 12S2P and I shorted when I put the last balance tap together. Here's a picture:

IMAG0762.jpg

Of the not connected balance taps you can see the black on the parallel balance tap connector and the battery balance tap.

When this happened I got confused. I thought I put the balance tap in wrong but that's impossible! You can see 3 of the four batteries have balance taps connected. Each parallel balance tap connector has 2 males going to one female. I thought I tried to connect the female to female ... but then I realized that's not possible. I kept looking and looking. I think now that I series the batteries in different directions. The top row is left black to right red and the bottom row is left red to right black. Is that what's wrong? I was paralleling the left two and the right two together. I thought I was mirroring the diagram. Damn! How the F!

Now the balance taps on the battery Shorted are fried/melted! Aaargh! And the parallel balance connector is fried too! Dang it! What an idiot I am! Is that what was wrong? Geez, I'm scared now ... I'm having trouble following the flow of energy with the parallel balance connectors connected.

Please help :(

Is this battery salvageable? I have to attach a new balance connector to it now and I need another parallel balance connector. WTF!

Any help is appreciated. I hope this is clear.
 
I am having trouble seeing the two shorted connectors. Could you please post another picture, a close-up of the two shorted connectors with no other wires in the way?

Thanks.
 
IMAG0763.jpg

The one on the right is the battery balance tap. The other three are all the part of the same paralleling balance connector.

Total buzz kill man - just sucks to high heaven!

I was all set - my plan was to make a 12S2P - 16ah. I have a way to carry the batts on my bike now :) . Was gonna love watching the volts go down more slowly. Road an easy 18 miles today with my 12S1P - 8ah (lots of heavy pedaling). And then I F up a battery and a parallel balance connector! AArrgh!

My new plan is to go to MarVac tomorrow and figure out how to crimp (or connect) tiny wires. I can use the one (still good) conector on my parallel balancing tap to replace my fried one on my battery. I hope only the connector is fried. I checked the voltage on the battery and it's 22.3v. I just hope that balancing wire didn't get fried on the connections to the cells themselves. If that's the case I'm screwed ... I'm not like you guys (yet) where you can just take the battery apart and work on the individual cells themselves. Safety guidance would be appreciated here.

If you look at these two diagrams I think it's obvious that what I think happened is what happened.

12s2p.jpeg

The above is what I was shooting for. This next one is equivalent but it's not necessary to parallel in the middle. But this next one is also impossible with what I did when you look at the real life picture of the batteries (the picture in the post where I started whining). If you tried to parallel in the middle would have connect red to black on batteries that are paralleled. :( :x I'm an idiot!

Thanks ... I think the way to go is to use a fused connection anytime you're not sure ... that way you don't fry it! I don't know how you'd do that with the balance taps but I could have connected the balance taps first and then done the main output wires last and just tested them with a fused wire before actual attaching bullet to bullet.

I hope the battery isn't unusable ... that will be MORE money and time! :( I don't even know if I can fix this blunder. I hope MarVac can tell me how to correctly connect tiny wires. I hope my local hobby store has the JST-XH Parallel Balance Lead 6S.

12s2p3.jpg
 
Go back and look at my drawing. Note how the main leads are connected together. Now look at your picture. You've got the top 2 batteries going negative to positive from the left. Now look at the bottom 2. They're reversed. Going positive to negative from the left. When done correctly, you'll have both red on one side and both black on the other like in my drawing. So yes, you shorted out the balance taps. You may or may not have ruined the balance connector pins on the bottom left battery. Can't tell from photo for sure but I suspect they are now shot. The taps that were already plugged in are probably still good, but you need to check them. The good news is that the batteries are fine and you'll only need to fix the balance plugs. Next time do it right.
 
Seeing new photos, you have the right idea. Cut the plug off the now ruined 2x balance cable and use it to replace the plug from the battery that's shot. You'll need another 2x balance cable of course. Hope you bought an extra. Anyway, make darn sure you put it back together right or you'll blow another one. Whern you go to splice the new plug on, do it one wire at a time so you can avoid shorting the cells. Personally, I'd solder each wire with heat shrink on each one, but something like Scotchl0ok or RB connectors should be quick and easy. Make sure they are for stranded wires.
 
OCMike, welcome to the fried connector club. I am a new member also.

I have some extra 6s balance extenders if you need any. Wesnewell is right, these wires are so thin and hard to see so only cut one at a time. A solder iron from the Dollar store will work fine. Give me a shout if you need anything, or, you become a member of the fried controller club.

Good luck!
 
Update -

Hunting for a parallel balance connector. I wen't to Hobby People - no dice. They said try Rob's Hobby's. I went to Rob's Hobby's - no dice. I then went to JK electronics to get a Tri-Crimp crimper because I need one for Anderson 45amp connectors.

While at JK I talk with a very helpful sales dude. They didn't have the Tri-Crimp but they had something else that he said was for Anderson's. It was $45 and I didn't like the way it looked. I showed him my melted stuff and he sales me this:

IMAG0764.jpg

He doesn't have any male housings. He says I can probably just pull the pins out, clean up the housing and reuse it with new pins. Just solder the wires on the new pins, cover with heat shrink and glue them into position. And he says I can crimp or solder the wires going to my fried female connector to these new connectors and insert the new connectors into the female housing. And I'm reusing almost all of it. I'm like "awesome ... $4.50 and I'm on my way". Then I'm just like what the heck, I'll ask - you don't have any of these, do you? Holding up my fried JST parallel balance connector. He says no, but you might try next door - they're an RC Helicopter shop. I think cool ... helicopters probably use big battery's. I go over to RC Depot - DICE/BINGO ... they've got the drug I need! But $6 - ouch! They're $0.99 at HK. I guess I should have bought more from HK. I get the JST. I'm happy.

But now I'm thinking my fried JST would be perfect to access individual cells on a battery. I can keep the good part and cut off the bad part replacing it with Andersons ... Now I can hook up the parallel balance connector to a battery. Hook up a hand held LiPo volt reader to the one of the connections and have anderson's on the other side giving me access to each individual cell. I'm a genius :D Idiot to genius in less than 24 hours - how do you like that? This, of course, only occurred to me because mcintyretj showed me how he does it yesterday.

So, I'm kind of happy. And Harbor Freight is on the way home. I go to Harbor Freight because it's a fun place to go and I'm a fun guy. At Harbor freight I get some things called Hook & Loop cable ties. They're velcro straps. I'll use those to make my battery packs more nifty. And I get this:

IMAG0765.jpg

It's an armored steel cable lock. It was $13. Any good? I can always take it back. I also got an assortment of needle nose pliers for $7.
 
OCMike said:
Update -

Hunting for a parallel balance connector. I wen't to Hobby People - no dice. They said try Rob's Hobby's. I went to Rob's Hobby's - no dice. I then went to JK electronics to get a Tri-Crimp crimper because I need one for Anderson 45amp connectors.

While at JK I talk with a very helpful sales dude. They didn't have the Tri-Crimp but they had something else that he said was for Anderson's. It was $45 and I didn't like the way it looked. I showed him my melted stuff and he sales me this:

View attachment 1

He doesn't have any male housings. He says I can probably just pull the pins out, clean up the housing and reuse it with new pins. Just solder the wires on the new pins, cover with heat shrink and glue them into position. And he says I can crimp or solder the wires going to my fried female connector to these new connectors and insert the new connectors into the female housing. And I'm reusing almost all of it. I'm like "awesome ... $4.50 and I'm on my way". Then I'm just like what the heck, I'll ask - you don't have any of these, do you? Holding up my fried JST parallel balance connector. He says no, but you might try next door - they're an RC Helicopter shop. I think cool ... helicopters probably use big battery's. I go over to RC Depot - DICE/BINGO ... they've got the drug I need! But $6 - ouch! They're $0.99 at HK. I guess I should have bought more from HK. I get the JST. I'm happy.

But now I'm thinking my fried JST would be perfect to access individual cells on a battery. I can keep the good part and cut off the bad part replacing it with Andersons ... Now I can hook up the parallel balance connector to a battery. Hook up a hand held LiPo volt reader to the one of the connections and have anderson's on the other side giving me access to each individual cell. I'm a genius :D Idiot to genius in less than 24 hours - how do you like that? This, of course, only occurred to me because mcintyretj showed me how he does it yesterday.

So, I'm kind of happy. And Harbor Freight is on the way home. I go to Harbor Freight because it's a fun place to go and I'm a fun guy. At Harbor freight I get some things called Hook & Loop cable ties. They're velcro straps. I'll use those to make my battery packs more nifty. And I get this:



It's an armored steel cable lock. It was $13. Any good? I can always take it back. I also got an assortment of needle nose pliers for $7.


Good job on the JST to Anderson idea. It's not a new one, but coming up with it yourself deserves a pat on the back.

I don't like the look or price of that lock. It's asking to be cut. $1000 bike : $13 lock ratio doesn't work for me. (But that's just me)
 
Here's my hatchet job of a fix on my fried balance tap.

Most of the shrink wrap is clear.

IMAG0769.jpg

I'll wait until tomorrow to hook it up. May be between now and then one of you guys will catch a mistake and save me from myself.

The old fried connector is above the newly soldered in connector.
 
looking through your battery posts, I think people have explained it but I'll do it one more time just in case.
Parallel first, series second. You are looking to also parallel your balance taps so that you can balance while charging.
You are looking to make 12s2p. So parallel first means two 6s chunks that are 2p.
Take two batteries. Connect their positives together with a y shaped connector; two positive plugs in become one. Connect their negatives together with a different connector. Now you have two batteries with a single positive and negative.
To parallel the balance taps connect your adaptor to those two batteries. This will get you one balance tap that could be used to balance every cell in the 6s chunk.
Make two of those chunks.
To connect them in series you will take a positive and a negative and connect the two chunks. This leaves you with a positive and a negative from each chunk hanging, these are your main discharge leads. You also have one balance tap from each half of the battery. These cannot be paralleled further.
This setup allows you to balance and monitor your cells while you charge. There are chargers out there that can easily charge 12s without further dismantling the pack. If yours charges only 6s then you have to charge each half independently. If your batteries are easy to get to you could take them out and further parallel them to 6s4p just for charging.
 
Back
Top