IMAX B6 balancer question

ebike11

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Hi guys
Im trying to balance my cells, actually only 2 or 3 are not at normal voltage. I just got my B6 today. After i plug the wall power cord into the B6 do I also need to connect the Lipo pack power leads to the B6 or just only the JST plug since I dont need charging..just balancing or discharging the cells to the other cells rating?
Thanks
 
I'm pretty sure it will bitch if the main "pack" leads aren't connected. I use the B8 on my 16S pack and I had to install a pair of leads for each 8S for balancing with the imax. They don't need to be very big though.
 
dustNbone said:
I'm pretty sure it will bitch if the main "pack" leads aren't connected. I use the B8 on my 16S pack and I had to install a pair of leads for each 8S for balancing with the imax. They don't need to be very big though.

I see...so the Maximum OUTPUT voltage that i should connect to the pack leads is around 20V? 6x3.6V
 
Yeah you just need to connect a "pack" lead to where the first and last wires of the balance cable you're working with connect to, the charger doesn't know it's balancing/charging half of a 12S pack (or whatever). It just sees a 6S pack, with the appropriate voltages on the main leads and the balance leads. If the charger is set to 6S you can plug a full 6S pack into it without a problem, so 25.6V. I've only used it for my A123 pack and it charges those to 3.65V, so I'd think it charges LiPo to 4.2 or similar. I know you can adjust the final voltage somewhere in the menu.

I'm not certain, but I think it bulk charges through the main leads even in balance mode, so if you're using really thin wires it might be a good idea to limit the current in the menu accordingly.
 
dustNbone said:
Yeah you just need to connect a "pack" lead to where the first and last wires of the balance cable you're working with connect to, the charger doesn't know it's balancing/charging half of a 12S pack (or whatever). It just sees a 6S pack, with the appropriate voltages on the main leads and the balance leads. If the charger is set to 6S you can plug a full 6S pack into it without a problem, so 25.6V. I've only used it for my A123 pack and it charges those to 3.65V, so I'd think it charges LiPo to 4.2 or similar. I know you can adjust the final voltage somewhere in the menu.

I'm not certain, but I think it bulk charges through the main leads even in balance mode, so if you're using really thin wires it might be a good idea to limit the current in the menu accordingly.

Ok thanks for the advice!
This may be an odd question but do you think its possible to tap into the negative and last positive jst wires and run those to the output? The wires are very thin though
 
If you limit the charger to 2A I don't think it will be a problem. Also make sure you are careful about not mixing up the 2 sets of leads. If you have a JST for one plugged in and the main lead for the other, you could end up sending full pack voltage through the charger, or running a short through it. It might not like that.
 
dustNbone said:
If you limit the charger to 2A I don't think it will be a problem. Also make sure you are careful about not mixing up the 2 sets of leads. If you have a JST for one plugged in and the main lead for the other, you could end up sending full pack voltage through the charger, or running a short through it. It might not like that.

Ok i tried connecting everything and everything seems to be operating normally. I tapped into the JST for the main leads to the B6 and plugged in the JST.
I am doing a 5 cell pack at the moment. 4 cells are at 4.05v but 1 cell is down to 3.85v...should i balance or is it easier to charge or discharge to get that cell even with the others? I also set it at 1.0A since the main leads are coming from the pos. and neg. of the JST....ill try to increase to 2A as you suggested. Any higher is risky??
Thanks!!!
 
Just leave it on balance for a while, the charger might have a time limit set so you might have to restart it if it doesn't finish before then. I wouldn't go much past 2A on those tiny wires, but you really shouldn't need to. 3.85V should not be too far from full, might take a few hours though as it slows down quite a bit near the end of the cycle.

If you're impatient and have easy access to the individual cell group connections, you could put the alligator clips that come with the imax on the low cell group and charge it individually on the 1S setting to bring it closer to the rest. Just make sure you disconnect the balance (JST) connector first.
 
dustNbone said:
If you're impatient and have easy access to the individual cell group connections, you could put the alligator clips that come with the imax on the low cell group and charge it individually on the 1S setting to bring it closer to the rest. Just make sure you disconnect the balance (JST) connector first.

Ah...so I wouldnt need to use "pack" leads to the OUTPUT of the B6, just run the alligator clips fron the OUTPUT of the B6 to the individual cell..correct? Positive to the low cell and Negative to pack negative?
Thanks again!!
 
No you need to isolate that one cell (group), so + to cell + and - to cell -

Where ever you can measure that low cells voltage with a multimeter, just as if it weren't connected to the rest of the pack.
 
dustNbone said:
No you need to isolate that one cell (group), so + to cell + and - to cell -

Where ever you can measure that low cells voltage with a multimeter, just as if it weren't connected to the rest of the pack.

Hi
I have a 20 cell pack but it is separated into 4 packs with 5 cells each. I have access to the 4 JST plugs that I made for each pack. Each JST plug has 6 wires. 1 negative and 5 positive.
For example..in one pack the bad/low cell is in the middle of the pack.
If i touch the negative prong of the multimeter to the bad cell wire it gives a reading of about 12V total because the multimeter is reading/including the 2 cells before the bad cell.
So do I have to charge or discharge or balance all 3 cells in order to get the 3rd low cell to match the others?
Or is there another way to isolate the single cell?

Hopefully you know what I mean thanks again
 
kind of same question you just asked on another thread. but this time I have a bit more info.

What you need for your b6, or other rc charger is an adapter to charge or discharge one cell in your string through the jst plug.

Take a male jst plug, and strip out the black wire and the red wire, by pulling that pin out of the plug. Then attach plugs on the other end of your wires, so they can plug into the main output wires of the rc charger.

set your charger to 1s and non balance charge, and now you can charge or discharge one cell through the jst plug. set the charger to 2 amps max, so it doesn't over load the balance wires. Your chargers main wires are now able to plug directly into any two contacts on your jst plug using those bare male jst pins. Connect those bare pins to the pack, then using the not bare plug on the other end, connect to the charger. never have those bare pins powered up.

Like I said in the other thread answer, any two contacts on your female jst balance plug is one cell in the string. Cell one has the negative wire, usually black, and the next pin on the plug is its positive. To get at cell two, the next two pins on the plug, and the next two after that is cell three, and so on.

Using this method, you can charge or discharge one cell with any device that works, 5v cell phone power supply, a turn signal light bulb, etc. But of course you get much more control with an RC charger.

You could also, pretty easily, run a balance charge on the 5s pack, if its disconnected from the rest. But I took to single cell charging to balance my packs because it is quicker, when just one cell is low. Quicker to just charge one cell, than discharge 4 cells, then begin to charge all 5 to same level.
 
dogman dan said:
kind of same question you just asked on another thread. but this time I have a bit more info.

What you need for your b6, or other rc charger is an adapter to charge or discharge one cell in your string through the jst plug.

Take a male jst plug, and strip out the black wire and the red wire, by pulling that pin out of the plug. Then attach plugs on the other end of your wires, so they can plug into the main output wires of the rc charger.

set your charger to 1s and non balance charge, and now you can charge or discharge one cell through the jst plug. set the charger to 2 amps max, so it doesn't over load the balance wires. Your chargers main wires are now able to plug directly into any two contacts on your jst plug using those bare male jst pins. Connect those bare pins to the pack, then using the not bare plug on the other end, connect to the charger. never have those bare pins powered up.

Like I said in the other thread answer, any two contacts on your female jst balance plug is one cell in the string. Cell one has the negative wire, usually black, and the next pin on the plug is its positive. To get at cell two, the next two pins on the plug, and the next two after that is cell three, and so on.

Using this method, you can charge or discharge one cell with any device that works, 5v cell phone power supply, a turn signal light bulb, etc. But of course you get much more control with an RC charger.

You could also, pretty easily, run a balance charge on the 5s pack, if its disconnected from the rest. But I took to single cell charging to balance my packs because it is quicker, when just one cell is low. Quicker to just charge one cell, than discharge 4 cells, then begin to charge all 5 to same level.

Thx for your time and reply!
Yes id rather also charge only 1 cell then discharge all 5 and charge again.
Actually instead of a male adapter, i just removed the Pin1 negative and Pin3 from the female connector. The other 4 wires are still in the connector.
Can i simply put that negative and positive to alligator clips that go to the OUTPUT of the charger??
Thanks again
 
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