SkyRC RS16 1S charging
 

Any RS16 owners tried this and got it to work?

I've tried to use a 1S charging lead that has a balance plug on it. When I start the charge it says 'No Battery'. If I disconnect the balance plug it works fine. There's no option on the menu for Balance Charge with a 1S setting, so it's not that.

I know that some chargers can't work with the balance plug input on 1S, but thought the RS16 could?

TIA

I didn't realise you could get a 1s lead with a balance plug.

I never used the balance plug on the side of my rs16 charger for 1s lipos. I only connected the two 4mm plugs and set it to charge instead of balance and it worked fine.

I'd be surprised if any charger would need the balance plug input to charge a 1s lipo as there's only one cell so there's nothing to balance it with or multiple cells to monitor.

What 1 cell Lipo do you have that has a balance port on it?

1S packs don't have balance ports but the main outputs are also wired to the balance port on cell 1. I've attached a pic of how it looks (thanks to MC).

The theory is that the balance port reads the battery voltage whilst charging more accurately as it would on a 2S, and it's not confused by the current flowing down the main leads and the voltage drop across the main leads etc. You can see this if you put a DVM on the battery while charging and it will show different from that the charger is showing on it's display.

I'm aware of chargers that can do it this way, but don't know which. Anyone doing it and can you post which charger model you have?

TIA

I have 2 Skyrc chargers (rs16 and d100 V2) and both of them read cell error when using the balance port wile charging a 1 cell lipo.

The theory has been around for years, and I believe it's a sound theory, but not when implemented the way that everyone does it. Even on your pic, the balance wires are connected to the current carrying cables, and hence uses the current carrying connectors at the battery. For it to work, you need to connect as closely to the cell as possible, and make a different connection to the one carrying the current.

Good point! I hadn't noticed that the balance connection was at the charger end of the cable instead of the battery end. And I think you're right, most of the cables I've seen are made up are like the picture which won't provide the most accurate voltage reading.

Well so far I can see it won't work at all with the RS16 but hopefully Mark will tell us which charger he uses his lead with. I suspect the answer will be iCharger but he may have tried others.

TIA

I would love to see the electrical principles being applied to come up with these theories.

Sky rs16 does not work using the balance port, as you say i use the icharger, though many other chargers do allow the balance port to be uused on 1s mode, as matt says the balance leads need to be to the balance port and the battery main terminals at the battery end.

Thats not my lead but a generic picture.(2s lead will not work as the pins on the blance lead are wrong, needs to be wired as picture in op)


Principles are

It gives a safer charge, far less chance of end user sellecting wrong cell count.

It gives a more accurate charge, where the main leads are carrying amps to charge the cell, voltage losses can result in the internal charger voltage readings being out, using the balance function is efectivly sticking an external mutlimeter to monitor voltage.

My icharger on 1s regulary sees 4.3 volts on the main cable voltage, yet the balance port reading is 4.2, at scruteneering on thier claibrated meters its allways 4.2 and never over or under.

Many chargers do do this including the newer skyrc ones.
Its widley used in 1s racing, and if you think about it , its just how a 2s plus voltage is measured


Im sure some one will argue the case its aload of maloney, but as stated widley used in 1s racing and if it had no benifit manufactures would not add it as a feature to thier chargers)

I would imagine that the only reason you are seeing a difference in voltage reading is that the two circuits measuring the voltage in the charger are not calibrated the same. There may be a slight increase in lead resistance on the balance lead as it's a smaller diameter cable, but over the distance involved it will be negligible.
As a safety feature, totally understand it.

Thinking further about it, I suspect the voltage measuring circuit on the balance port is just a better set of components compared to the main output circuit. nothing to do with volt drop or resistance of leads.

Thanks for all the input, at least I now have a confirmation that the RS16 can't do it and now I can stop trying to work out what I'm doing wrong :)

The main port reading is definitely flawed and the balance port is more accurate regardless of the quality of the main charging leads, so it's the easiest way to ensure consistency. In my case just charging 1S with no balance port gives me a result of 4.15V but I can compensate with the TVC setting. My balance port is also not totally accurate, it's 0.02V per cell out when charging 2S, but again I can compensate with TVC. TBH, these minor variances probably don't notice in performance but maybe it's my OCD side that would like to see it right.

Anyone know if the Orion or Corally chargers can use the balance port on 1S?

TIA

Could be when i dont use the balance port the main leads will measure 4.2, but its allways under at scruteneering, the only reason the main goes to 4.3 is the balance circuit is taking over.

Still have my rs16 good charger but spent a bit of time testing on 1s and found it did not work.
Also a pain the tvc resets on power down

Agreed, I have a label on top of mine to remind me to set TVC and what to set it to :)

I have to set mine to 4.24 to end up with 4.2 in 1S which I do from the BATT MEMORY 2 for 1S, however I found and luckily quickly spotted that this seems to be a global setting as on a mixed night when running a 2S TC as well, I spotted it had gone just over 8.4v despite not having changed the setting from 4.2 per cell in BATT MEMORY 1 for 2S. Luckily no issues/explosions/swollen lipo.

Yes, the TVC setting is for all charge modes even though it implies you're saving it with the particular charge profile. It just sets it internally and loses the setting again when you power off.

Once I've started the charge I've got in the habit of pressing down arrow to see what End Voltage it's aiming for just in case I've not set it right.

You had yours from new?

Good idea Rumbler, will do that if I run mixed on the same night again

Bought it second hand about 2 years ago Mark if that's what you mean :)

Yes sorry dam predictive text