Idiots Guide to Charging/Discharging LIPOS

[losichris]

Ok, got myself 3 sets of 6200 lipos, and have a i-balance charger.
Whats recommended on charging with these cells, and how often should i discharge and balance them. And if anyone else has this charger, whats the best program to use etc
Never been the best at maintaining batteries.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Cheers
Chris

[VintageRacer]

Originally Posted by losichris

Never been the best at maintaining batteries.

You should like Lipos then.

Unless the batteries state otherwise, charge at a maximum of 1C (so 6.2Amps in your case). To be extra safe, balance as you charge every time and never discharge except in your car.

If you are storing them unused for a while it is advised to leave around 60-70% charge in them.

[tomtom]

Let say I charge some lipo before hiting the track. I didn't have time to run all of them or broke something.
I then have a fully charged lipo or more I will not use until one week.

Should I discharge them to storage voltage (I only got a 1A discharge function).

Thanks.

[VintageRacer]

Personally, if you it were only for one week, I'd leave them charged, but maybe someone else with more knowledge will advise otherwise.

My understanding is that it is only several weeks or months that are significant, if you are storing them for months, probably best to check the voltage periodically as well to make sure they don't drop too low (below 3v per cell).

[losichris]

Originally Posted by VintageRacer

You should like Lipos then.

Unless the batteries state otherwise, charge at a maximum of 1C (so 6.2Amps in your case). To be extra safe, balance as you charge every time and never discharge except in your car.

If you are storing them unused for a while it is advised to leave around 60-70% charge in them.

Ok great, for some reason my charger doesnt come with the balancing lead, will they been ok until i get this sorted?
Plus how long does a charge normally take at 5-6 amps?

[VintageRacer]

Originally Posted by losichris

Ok great, for some reason my charger doesnt come with the balancing lead, will they been ok until i get this sorted?
Plus how long does a charge normally take at 5-6 amps?

Should be OK.

In theory, charging at 1C from completely empty, for any cells, will take 1 hour. That is the definition of the capacity. A 5000mAh cell can deliver (or will take) 5000mA (5A) for 1 hour, 10A for half an hour or 2.5A for 2 hours, you get the idea.

In reality, the cells are rarely completely flat.

So for your 6200 mAh cells, charging at 5A assuming flat, should take about 1h 15m

[losichris]

ok great, thanks for the help!