Battery Problems

[mfkubak]

Hello everyone,

I am having a bit of trouble with the batteries I am using. A while back when I tried to charge both of my batteries (5000mAh, 3S1P 20C Zippy's) in series, I wired up the balance leads the way I believed they were supposed to be wired (I later learned that this was wrong), and when I plugged the connected balance leads into the 6S port of the charger (Turnigy Accucel-6 - 80W, 10A), the fan immediately turned on and was blowing smoke out of the device. I immediately unplugged it and decided to charge them separately, of which I have been doing for quite some time now. However, over time, one of the batteries' duration of time to charge increased until it never fully completed a charge.
One day, I had almost a fully charged set of batteries, and within about 30 minutes (unusual, since I can get a few hours) my board was drained. I opened the battery case to find that that specific battery had imploded.

Now, I don't exactly know if there is a procedure to charging lipo batteries, but once they reached their limit, I would wire up the batteries to the charger, the charger to the power supply (HobbyKing 350w 25A Power Supply (100v~120v)), and plug the power supply into the wall. I let it charge until it was done, and then plug them back into the board. I don't know what I did that caused the implosion, but I am not going to buy another battery until I know what caused this. Which is why I ask for the help of this wonderful forum!

From the experiences you guys have had, has this ever happened to you?
Am I making a stupid mistake with my charging set up?
Should I buy a new charger since the one I own started smoking?

I checked the voltage of the battery that didn't have any issues and it was perfectly fine after being charged (It took about an 50 minutes to an hour to fully charge).
I checked the voltage of the damaged battery and it only reached half of its full charge after about an hour to an hour and a half of charging.

I appreciate any feedback given!

Thank you!
Matt

 

[torqueboards]

One thing you need to remember is never to create a short circuit on accident. A short circuit and instantly create a fire and/or burn whatever is connected to it.

Here's a video I made in the past how to parallel charge - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydhyWHsc9rg

It can be a bit difficult in the beginning but once you learn how to charge your RC packs, your golden. It's a walk in the park.

I recommend and suggest to watch a few videos online on how to charge RC packs that way you are more experienced. It doesn't hurt to spend 10-15 minutes as it doesn't take that long.

Anyhow, I plug my packs in this order; (my items)
1. Plug in power supply to outlet. (HobbyKing 350w/550w)
2. Verify power supply is in the off position. (HobbyKing 350w/550w)
3. Connect charger to power supply. (iCharger 208B)
4. Connect parallel charging board or parallel charging wires to iCharger.
5. Plug in battery packs to parallel charging board or wires. Making sure to be careful about the orientation of the wires and not creating a short circuit.
6. Turn on power to the power supply to the on position. (HobbyKing 350w/550w)
7. Make sure the battery setting is correct to your battery chemistry and the amps you charge at are at the recommendation for your battery pack. When charging in parallel, you can charge at a higher amp rating which is a reason why I recommend charging in parallel. I can charge 3 sets (6 batteries) in about 30-60 minutes.

 

[mfkubak]

Torqueboards,

Thank you so much for that response! I really appreciate it!
In that case, I will buy a new charger since this one may as well be the culprit.
I will absolutely give parallel charging a shot. I wasn't sure if charging them differently then how they are wired would affect them.
Also, is discharging these batteries ever necessary?

Thanks again for the response!
Also, is discharging ever really needed with these batteries?

 

[torqueboards]

I do recommend getting at least an iCharger 208B at the bare minimum. If you get a higher quality charger I'd recommend PowerLab 6 but that's way more expensive and isn't really needed.

iCharger 208B $120 + HobbyKing 350W $40 = $160 USD.

Parallel Charging is the way to go IMO. You can charge faster (without ruining the facts) and charging multiple packs is easier since most of us end up wiring packs in series.

Discharging batteries - I typically don't do when charging or on the charger just because it takes forever. I think if you want to discharge packs your better running around the block. If you are storing 3.6-3.8v should be fine when storing lipo. If you store at 4.2v it won't do much immediate damage but it will damage the pack sooner than normal and the true mAh/ah capacity will be much less. Also charging up to 4.10v-4.15v will sustain the pack for much longer.

 

[mfkubak]

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to afford the iCharger 208B anytime soon. The Accucel wasn't bad in any way, it just didn't work properly because of a mistake that I made. Other than that, it seemed to work just fine.
But I will definitely start parallel charging!

Thanks again for all the help!
Matt

 

[torqueboards]

The only downside is with an Imax B6/Accucell 6 charger you charge at max 6Amps. 6 Amps is pretty slow if you are going to charge a 6x 6S 5ah packs which is 6S 30ah about 5+ hours or so.

Typically, it's not advisable to let Lipo packs charge unattended due to the bad chargers which may not stop the pack at it's correct 100% level. If it fails it will overcharge the pack and the LiPo pack will pop/catch on fire.

For this reason, due to using Lipo packs. I like charging faster (8 to 15 amps with iCharger 208B) so I only need to watch the pack for 1 hour or less.

With that said, it's not too often an RC charger will fail but at chances if it did.. If you were watching it, you could put out a fire.

But that's just the risk we take. Although, IMO if you watch the charging it's no risk at all.

 

[mfkubak]

I actually have the 10Amp version, which is why it takes about an hour for my battery packs to charge, IIRC.
I never leave my charger unattended while my lipos are charging. I've heard the stories and am in no way going to risk leaving them alone. If I do, I always have someone who can, watch them while I'm away for a bit.
But I never knew that bad chargers could do such a thing. I think that's exactly what happened to by damaged battery...it "inflated" quite a bit.

Anyway, I appreciate all of this wonderful information!
Thank you so much!