I'm ready to go lipo, but need advice

[MrKang]

Good job ! you are on your way to lipo world !

I can't wait to see some pics of your total setup/creation

ps. why didn't you order a power supply at HK ?

 

[mud2005]

ps. why didn't you order a power supply at HK ?

I thought I had read the HK power supplys were junk. maybe I'm wrong, but anyway I ended up buying this power supply for the charger. http://www.progressiverc.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=65&category_id=2&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1
its more $, but it should last forever

 

[number1cruncher]

ok, I'm thinking about this more and trying to wrap my head around some concepts.
hypothetical question: so if I have 2 6s packs wired in parallel and say the voltage on cell 4 is low because cell 4 is going bad, will cell 4 on the other pack also have low voltage even if it's not going bad? I mean will the cells auto balance themselves and always have the same voltage
the reason I ask is because I am wondering if there is any situation where not paralleling the balance leads and using one cell-log per 6s pack would make it easier to locate a bad cell? or balance the cells.
in other words, in a situation where a cell is going bad, if I'm using the cell-logs as an alarm for low voltage on a single cell and the leads are paralleled how will I know which of the paralleled cells is the problem?
maybe I should be asking if it's possible for 2 cells in parallel to go out of balance?

Paralleling the balance taps combines each cells capacity and hopefully increases that groups resilience. Otherwise, a weak cell has more of a chance to collapse.

However, I have wondered what effect a poor cell has on a good cell. When I have found these combonations in the past, it seemed one cell was low, while the other was high. Sort of a recipricle relationship. Can't be good for it, is my instinct. I have found it useful to leave the balance taps unconnected to trace problem cells, but usually leave them paralleled in normal operation.

Welcome to the Lipo addiction!

 

[mud2005]

HK has issues. when I ordered my batteries it said they had 10+ in stock. I paid for the fastest air shipping hoping they would be here in a week.

I checked HK site daily to see if the order shipped. it said "prossesing" for 1.5 weeks. finally it informs me the batteries are "temporarily out of stock due to factory error"

I got the option to either cancel the batteries and receive the rest of my order with no shipping discount or cancel entire order and get a refund IN POINTS. great, so they screw up and I get store credit.

anyway, I reordered the same stuff, but this time went with nano-tech bwaaahaaaaa

$ also, I noticed that if I wait a few minutes on some HK product pages a note pops up in the lower right corner saying something like "having troble deciding, try this discount" and it offers the product at a lower price. the nano-tech were <$100 for 6s1p 6000mah

 

[MrKang]

anyway, I reordered the same stuff, but this time went with nano-tech bwaaahaaaaa

Now were talking!

 

[liveforphysics]

anyway, I reordered the same stuff, but this time went with nano-tech bwaaahaaaaa

Hidden blessing.

 

[dogman dan]

You really wanted those anyway. 8) Just don't do the pay later thing. Not a bad idea though, to watch the stock levels, and patiently wait for a restock. Then pounce on it.

 

[mud2005]

new toys arrived today now I just have to figure out how to use them
206B icharger
turnigy watt mater
kill a watt meter
48V meanwell
12V power supply
2 cellog 8m
2 magicshines
2 dc-dc converters from Lyen
4 6s 6000mah nanotech packs
and a bunch of that cool flexy wire

I plugged a cellog into each pack to check to voltages
3 packs were 3.83V for almost every cell and a couple were 3.84V
the forth pack had cells from 3.80-3.83
seems pretty good to me

now I just have to build a pack. get ready for a bunch of noob questions as I have never built or charged a lipo pack before and I really don't want to short anything out.

 

[MrKang]

It's always a nice picture to see your goodies all on the table !

Ok...question...did you have the male 6S connectors and bulletplugs to parralel your two 6S lipo's ?

i don't see them on your shopping list..this you need to configure your 12S2P pack..

anyway...charge your lipo's one by one with the icharger set on a 6S pack with a current of 1A Balanced mode

This way you are sure that all 4 packs are nicely charged with the same cell levels.

after that you can make your balance parralel wiring and your parralel tap for the power leads.

 

[mud2005]

Ok...question...did you have the male 6S connectors and bulletplugs to parralel your two 6S lipo's ?

I knew I'd miss something

I do have plenty of bullet connects, but I did not get any male 6s connectors. do you have a link to the right connectors? I'm not sure what all else I still need.

do I need to make a wiring harness like on this site? http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/parallel-lipo-charging.html



thanks much

 

[number1cruncher]

If you can solder, buy these http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=455-2252-ND (you will still need one male connector) and solder to this http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102846. I cut the board up to reduce size. Or you could buy a couple of Gary's lvc boards instead of the RS board. You do not NEED to parallel the balance taps, but it is HIGHLY advised. Good Luck!

 

[texaspyro]

new toys arrived today now I just have to figure out how to use them

No you don't. Just send it all to me and I will figure it all out. Should be able to report back to you in a couple of gigaseconds...

 

[tysonmotorcycle]

Hey there Mud,

Thanks everyone for this informative post; I'm doing something similar.

Let me see if I have this straight:
Are you planning to use the icharger/12v supply combo only to initially charge and balance each of the 6s packs before you build them (and occasionally re-balance?) If so, what the heck is the meanwell for? I assume once they are installed as 12s packs, you'll use the meanwell to charge as a full pack at around 7A? If so, are you leaving the cellogs installed as you charge and only charging to, say 49.8v? I'm probably wrong about that, but if so, isn't there a mode on the icharger to bulk charge the pack in the same way at closer to 20A?

This seems like a good way to simplify the charging process; I like having a simple power supply to charge daily, (only one thing to plug in) and a balance charger to use every once in a while to put the cells back in balance if need be.

thanks for setting me straight..

 

[mud2005]

I'm probably wrong about that, but if so, isn't there a mode on the icharger to bulk charge the pack in the same way at closer to 20A?

I bought the 206b icharger which can only do 6s.

I've been working long days since I bought the batteries and haven't even taken them out of the box yet I want to solder something right now, but too tired to do anything but watch a movie and go to bed.

I don't have a good plan yet for charging the batteries. I'm first going to mess around with the icharger and go from there.

 

[mud2005]

think I have the final pieces of the puzzle. got 2 parallel adapters for the balance wires and a fireproof charging/storing bag

View attachment battery_bag.JPG