This is great, Steele. I think that the one thing that people often forget is that parallel charging can also damage your batteries if you parallel charge packs with very different internal resistance, or you parallel charge a pack with an iffy cell - it can damage your other packs. If you have a pack where one cell is consistently lower than the others, never put it on a parallel board with other packs. If you have a pack with high internal resistance, don't put it on a parallel board with other packs.
This is very true. That is what I stated to make sure your batteries are in good conditions :). Because yes. Charging crap batteries with new ones will for sure hurt the new Packs. Thanks for the comment m8.
@@MrSteeleFPV Word. do we still say that? How about: Werd. Or maybe we don't say that anymore either... :/ Anyways, thanks Steele for these howto videos. This is a valuable resource for everyone trying to get started in this hobby. We all take it for granted that we know all this stuff, but all of us who have been doing it for a long time had to learn the hard way - and it takes a LONG time. You're helping people get up & running much more quickly that we did years ago. The more people in the hobby, the better it is for all of us. You're doing God's work... or werk.
I think you’re doing it right, Steele. You’ve been working hard and making a lot of content in order to grow your brand... and I respect that! Keep it up, man. I think it’s gonna pay off for you in big ways. I’ve also noticed work you’ve done in other areas that I won’t mention, but let’s say these aspects are not going unnoticed by those who have an eye for such things. Props, man! Keep it up and go strong!!
Your videos couldn't be more descriptive and clear. Covering topics such as batteries will help me and everyone stay safe and keepin healthy batteries. Keep these vids comin!!
Love the expertise and experience you bring to the hobby Steele. Instead of looking at a bunch of forums or whatever, I can watch a 15min video and not only learn how to do things safely, but understand the basic concepts which is great for promoting active thinking and regard for safety. Keep it up mate!
Love the series. Never flown FPV. Never really flown RC either. I had an rc glider as a kid and recently found a dji tello for $5. This series makes me want to fly FPV, I dreamed of it growing up but the technology wasn’t around for consumers. Probably the best advice from the series is battery management. I have a boat that runs 4S and I never bothered to use the charger that came with it. I bought a Tenergy TB6B at the same time as the boat, batteries and one of those voltage checkers. The charger is supposed to be balanced but I can’t seem to get the cells to the same voltage. Maybe crappy batteries or a bad charger. Everyone safe flying, or piloting whatever RC you operate!
I have a EE degree and work for USRobotics. We eat lipo for breakfast. Fact#1 everything i heard you say is correct. Fact#2 charging in Parallel is best for your batteries, Especially if you religiously balance. Fact#3 charging is parallel balances your batteries better and faster. Unverified #1, lol I charge in parallel regardless of total battery voltage, I only check that each cell is close to its own battery. your extra careful method is fine. Great straight forward to the point video.
Im an owner of the largest Tungsten Steel mine in america. I would love to have Mr Steel film it with a freestyle. This place is rad. google springer tungsten mine. i film it all the time but i don't fly as good as you do. ROAD TRIP BRO @@MrSteeleFPV
im an owner of the largest Tungsten steel mine in america. It would be awesome if you guys would have an event here or at least come fly it... epic scenery and machinery to fly through. you're Mr Steel for gods sake man, i wanna show u a pic@@MrSteeleFPV
Good video ! I have parallel charged for several years . I only had one charging fire and it was because I got lazy that day and didn’t check all the packs prior to charging . Also might be good to mention that fireproofing your charging area is pretty easy to do . I charge on some old ceramic tiles and have a smoke detector and fire extinguisher in my charging area and it came in very handy !
I bought an ISDT charger and when it arrived it didn't have an plug adapter to power it. Took me a bit to figure out why they sell it like that but all of the reviewers and commentators talk like its common knowledge. What I ended up doing it re-purposing an HP charge brick and putting an XT60 on it. I'm sure that server power supply is better at producing juice and I'll probably rig something like that. This hobby is not really easy to get into and I think If I didn't work in IT and just have general problem solving skills all of this would be impossible. Thank you for the explanations and advice as I am still a noob and this is very helpful to me.
Very cool Steele. I use two WP power supplies in series for the 24v output mainly because that's how I started as I was flying planes before I flew quads. That said, starting with a higher voltage than that of the batteries, such as 24v to feed a charger that will charge 6s, 5s, 4s, 3s, etc is more efficient that upping the voltage from 12v to feed higher voltage batteries. That's why I've kept the setup. It is now about 6 years old and still ticking nicely.
Great video! Thank you!! How long would be considered "safe" to wait before charging a batterie when discharged after flying? Let them cool down etc.. Can't wait for part 8! :)
Hy Steele, i just watched all of your How to FPV Videos and i learned a lot! Thanks for that. I really hope you'll continue this series, because i'll need help putting together a quad in the future ;D
I think safest thing to do is charge your packs to storage individually, then when you are ready to fly parallel charging is key to getting them all charged up quickly and safely since all cells are at same voltage.
Thanks man, been to scared to plug in the parralel board I got day dot after some of the stories... Clarified! Much appreciated now where the f did i put it
Unsolder the right hand beeper which disables both on those checkers. Your batteries will even out if left for about 5 mins but as you say, watch them and don't plug batteries of great voltage difference as the rush current will create heat or pop a fuse on your balance plate. I regularly bulk charge batteries with a .5 V difference with zero issues and regular lifespan.
Thanks for the videos .. charging and battery care for fpv is by far some of the most confusing shit im trying to comprehend for this hobby . I dont have all my equipment yet so havent flown in real life yet but i ordered a hobbymate duo 6 pro today and im slowly getting to understand how I have to charge my batteries. Some things are still confusing me a little but im hoping once I have all the gear I need in hand a lot of whats confusing me will be clearer .
Thank you Mr Steele for the info. had a few mishaps with charging in earlier days. Lipo bags saved my garage. cant say it enough :) but can how did you connect the server psu? i got a few in my workshop. 1200w EU 230v from the wall socket. did you solder or used a circuit board adapter? ty and a new subber from Mountains of Norway
Thank you for the series, it is very useful for a novice quad owner. Can you please elaborate more on the use of server power supply, how is it connected to the charger or does it involve any tinkering inside the power supply inself? I might be able to get one from the outdated servers at work :)
Very insightful, I actually get it now! So, no parallel charging is the cell voltages that are more than 0.3V apart. You can only charge the same cell count in a single channel parallel charger. Don’t poke your battery with a nail. You can charge different cell count batteries on different channels. Batteries use DC, as do most electronics. ALWAYS CHECK YOUR BATTERIES BEFORE CHARGING OR YOU DIE As long as you follow the 0.3V rule, you can plug in the balance lead first with no problems Charging 3 batteries at (1c?) is taking the operating current and multiplying by 3. eg. 1100mA x 3 =3300mA Mr Steele is not responsible for human error. Get a great power setup. Reduce the risk of your house dying. Mr Steele, please reassure me that I’m correct. I want to make sure that I don’t have any problems with batteries.
Always use a battery checker like Steele says. Parallel charging can easily mask a bad cell in one battery. I learned that the hard way with an expensive camera rig.
Really looking forward to part 8. I'm hoping you can stay in the beginner vein. Talk about some of the etiquette that's in the fpv bible. Discuss where to fly (and not). How to interact with others when you arrive at an active site, maybe talk about vTx channels and avoiding overlap. Things to watch out for as you start flying outside? I'm hoping you'll get to the next step up from the Whoop soon, too.
Hi Mr Steele. Thanks for sharing =) Just a small question: do you use some lifehack to keep all batteries at about the same voltage? When I'm flying and watching at my OSD and see some battery voltage left, but after the flight this voltage slightly differs from what I've seen on the screen. Or maybe you know some method to quickly make batteries the same voltage, to then parallel-charge them? Hope haven't confused you. Thanks in advance
i use the Mah consumed in the osd. if i dont wanna spend ages settting storage charge, i only run 70% of the battery down during flight. so in 1300 mah i only fly about 1000
Speaking of batteries ... What would cause a quad to flip right under punchout power on a 5s, but be okay if giving smooth slower power to full throttle? Does fine on 4s, but 5s and 6s causes it to flip to the right on a punchout. Any ideas? 45A X-Rotor Stack ... XNova 2204-2900KV motors ... 35V-1000uf Cap
This is one of the scariest thing about FPV, Catching fire... bcos am very paranoid i always charge my battery one by one,,, i always spend 1/4 day just to looking into my charger and making sure it wont acting up Thank u for all this knowledge *that duck tho
You've said 0.3V difference per cell (4:50)? I've always thought that this "rule" applies to the entire pack. I might have been doing this wrong but I'm always ensuring that the entire pack is within ~0.2-.3V plus checking each individual cell.
FYI: I just learning FPV (I'm no expert) but something I noticed in watching a few recent videos. At 6:52 in your video you mention charging all 3 of those batteries at 1C (1.1amp x 3 = 3.3amp). However, in a video Joshua Barwell did a while back he showed if you parallel charge and you don't want to go over a 1C rating than you can't take the 1C rate and multiple it by the number of batteries, because he showed on his testing meter some batteries are actually getting 2C while others in parallel may be getting 0.5C. Can see Joshua's video from *Feb 26, 2016* . You've been doing it for 4 yrs so appears to work...just making notes for myself and letting others know your not actually getting a 1C rating as one may think. Feel free to correct if I've misunderstood.......great video though! I'm trying not to make any mistakes which is why I'm watching these videos so intensely. Have seen the damage these LIPOs can do when mishandled......
RGMG was josh referring to when you are charging in parallel with batteries of same cell count BUT different capacity? Steele is referring to cell count same capacity scenario here....I’m not certain but I think this may be the confusion
@@OswaldBeef Good catch..I've watched so many videos on LiPo charging I referenced the wrong Joshua Bardwell video. The one I should have referenced is the one *Dated Feb. 26, 2016* (NOT Jan 26, 2016). It's titled "Balance Charging - Can you Parallel Charge". On that video go to 6:47 time-stamp. Here's the exact video (hopefuly RUclips let's me post the link). I also corrected the date in my comments above. ruclips.net/video/1GhPXw_BQlc/видео.html
@@OswaldBeef Good catch..I've watched so many videos on LiPo charging I referenced the wrong Joshua Bardwell video. The one I should have referenced is the one *Dated Feb. 26, 2016* (NOT Jan 26, 2016). It's titled "Balance Charging - Can you Parallel Charge". On that video go to 6:47 time-stamp. Here's the exact video (hopefuly RUclips let's me post the link). I also corrected the date in my comments above. ruclips.net/video/1GhPXw_BQlc/видео.html
RGMG I see where he says that and he goes onto say it’s because if any of the cells have a different internet resistance this different C rating charge issue can happen. This is important piece here I agree and I’m about to begin using a parallel board on very large batteries at very large amps so I’m researching all this. After watching this video of Steele’s my only concern was that he always has new batteries and if any cells internal resistance is off he Won’t use it.....I don’t think most of us have this luxury and that many of the batteries I buy new have off resistance cells right from the beginning.....does this mean I basically won’t be able to parallel charge basically ever? Maybe for first weeks of new batteries and that’s it? I’m not sure,, but yea I’m sure josh is referring to this cell resistance value and yes Steele does state that clearly too, but as usual josh has gone slightly deeper here in stating that if you have a different resistance per cell you will also get different Charge ratings happening despite you thinking they all are happening at your C rating you chose to push amps to.
RGMG I think basically though if a cell or two does have a larger resistance than the others it means that one won’t charge at the full C rating want....subsequently I think that means the other cells....will be charging above the C rating you wanted.....I’m hoping this only would be a problem if you select so high a C rating amps push that the extra C going to the better cells exceeds the wires or batteries ability.....I’m going with the logic of sticking to 0.5 C charge rates when doing paralel charging with varying cell redidtance....if I’ve a few bad cells the extra C going the the good cells won’t be into any extreme value for it to be a concern. If I'm in a rush...and I've checked all my cell resistance are good maybe I'll push to 1C knowing none of them will be getting more than others
Mr steel 8m start this hobby after watching some of your videos an as usual you nailed it this is so informative an appreciated thanks alot I've watched it 4 times lol just make sure I was right even shhh ed the wife lol 😂 you are truly appreciated
'storage' from a higher voltage is essentially running the battery through a resistor at a controlled rate. it will be slow compared to charging as a lot of chargers can't handle the heat dissapation (the fan will always be on while discharging) I don't think the c rating changes how fast they discharge.
There's no way to fry the cables if you follow the method of checking and making sure the difference isn't higher than 0.3v as explained in the video, every time you charge.
That is partially the point of doing balance connectors first. It's better to have the balance wires fry because YOU fucked up and didn't confirm the packs were within a safe voltages of each other. If you do xt60 side first. Those wires/plugs aren't gonna care that you accidentally plugged a discharged and full battery together. What is gonna end up caring there is the battery that is puffing and getting ready to explode on your workbench.
This is where Joshua Bardwell's V2 parallel chargers stand out; they have polyfuses between the balance sockets, so if you do plug in the balance connectors of an empty pack and a full pack, the fuse(s) will trip and protect everything, then when you unplug the battery(s) the fuse(s) will cool down and reset.
Great video! I haven't driven a drone yet but I am wondering how we can put a battery that seem so fragile on a expensive drone that flies around in fast speeds? Isn't it very unsafe and high chance for the battery to start a fire and break the drone? Glad for answers!
So Ive seen conflicting info on what to plug in first. The balance lead or the discharge lead? Can you please go into more detail about plugging the balance lead in 1st rather than the discharge lead. Thank you for the great videos!
Thanks for Good video- I made a Lifepo4 battery for my van house power 3 yrs ago - Tons of Bad info out there about Li ion batteries - took a long time to sift threw the bogus noise - think it was lead acid battery companies putting out bad info to scare people into using lead batteries
Looks like I'll need to buy a 'She Shed'...LOL. Just when I thought I was learning so much about FPV...had no idea charging FPV batteries was such an issue. More to learn...great video!
Actually, the "keep under 0.3 V difference" advice is good if you are in a hurry, but it's not more dangerous to do packs with large differences if you are not to much in a rush. What happens when you have differing pack charges is that as soon as you plug them in the charge will rush from the pack with more charge to the one with less, equalizing them. What people worry about is that there is a massive inrush of current from the pack with more charge to the one with less and this would be dangerous. In reality, it's not that big of an issue: if we take a full and a flat 6s pack, the full being at 25.2V and the flat at 22.2V and the packs have an internal resistance of 0.018 Ohm (assuming a pretty average cell resistance of 3 mOhm) this would give in theory give a current flow of 3/0.018 = 83.3 Amps which sounds pretty bad. However, this math fails to take into account that a pack under load drops in voltage as we all know from flying them. At the same time, the discharged pack's voltage will increase when you give it a charging load. This means the actual current flow will be considerably less. It's difficult to come up with a calculation since it will vary depending on pack specifics, I have however tested this quite a lot, and even when hooking up a fully charged pack (4.2V per cell) to one really flat (3.3V per cell) I never got more than 31 Amps current and that lasted for 0.35 seconds before dropping and after 15 seconds no combination of charges yielded more than 5 Amps. So, in reality, the worst effect of hooking up a full pack with a discharged one is that you waste the cycle of the full pack. It should be noted though that this goes for connecting the main leads first and then waiting before connecting the balance leads since 30 Amps through the balance leads will most definitely damage them and potentially set something on fire, which is never good around lipos. Yes, people argue that doing the balance leads first uses them as a faux fuse, protecting the low charge pack if you hooks up one with to much charge, but as far as I can tell this is a non issue according to above and thus I would always connect the main leads first, and even with packs of similar charge I wait at least 5 seconds before connecting the balance wires. Now in reality, there's rarely a good reason to charge packs with widely differing voltages and avoiding doing so does eliminate some considerations, but there are the occasions where you have 4 packs, 3 are close to each other, but the last one is 0.4 higher because you broke the quad/it started to rain/some angry security guard ran you off etc. In this case you can still charge them all, and in that case you can be extra safe by first connecting the 3 similar packs and then the one with more charge, at which point the current surge will be split between the 3 already connected. This said, after the packs are equalized, the difference in charge has no further impact on charging, which means that as long as you wait long enough after plugging in the main connectors to the board before doing the balance leads and beginning to charge there is no further danger due to the charge difference.
That's incorrect, even if the fuller battery can easily handle the discharge, the more empty one can't handle so many amps without damaging itself, so you lose a lot of battery life by doing this and can even cause a fire for other reasons, for example a bad or cheap charger
been paralell charging for years, only issue i had was when i accidentally hooked up an empty battery with 1 almost fully chargeed, it blue out the balance traces o the balance board. always double check each cell are same voltage. i do them at 2c, got several groups of battereis, 3s 2200, 3s , 1000, 4s 1300, 2s 450. 4s 1400. would take all day charging individually even with my duo charger. paralell charging can do it in a couple hours.
100% perfectly fine. Just make sure the voltages are the same. And ensure the batteries are in good condition. For example. You can charge a 3300mAh 4S and a 1300mAh 4S In parallel perfectly safely the Voltage keeps the charger in check. (It acts as if there is a pressure on the charger) (smaller battery has more pressure bigger has less). This insured the small battery doesn’t just charge 2200mAh and explode lol. You don’t have to worry about it. It’s all science and physics at that point. Just make sure the voltages are the same and you’ll be perfectly fine. I’ve been doing it for years
@@MrSteeleFPV that's great news I've been group changing all my 1.3ah, 1.5ah and 2.2ah batteries together for ages thinking I couldn't mix them. You've just saved me hours of changing time!
I wanted to say this is what I believe caused a battery fire for me. I had 4 x 1300Mah & 2 x 1800Mah parallel charging. They were all coming from storage voltage 3.80v +-.01v charging to 4.20. I had them charging at 6 amps (not even 1c). These were relatively new quality batteries also. It was definitely my fault for not checking the charger more frequently that day. I figured it would take a while with the low charge rate. Luckily no houses were harmed, lost all those batteries and 1channel of my isdt d2. Now I just run multiple dual chagers, only using parallel in a squeeze.
@@latenights145 Have a isdt d2 myself, and 4s's with different mah. 3x 1300mah and 3x 1550mah. Guess it's just safer to buy another Parallel board and use the 2 channels that the isdt d2 comes with? Any idea why your battery blew?
When you charge a battery pack, you're running current through it to replenish its energy. During this process, its voltage will rise, until we consider the battery charged and disconnect it from the charger. Since you keep all packs in parallel, the voltage over all packs remains the same. That's a basic property of parallel circuits. Therefore, it will rise at the same rate over the entire set. The only thing that can go wrong is that a bunch of those packs have too much resistance, so that the bulk of the current must flow through the other cells: in a parallel circuit, the current seeks the path of least resistance. Depending on how severe this is, it can lead to an overcurrent in some of the packs. If I were charging in parallel, I'd charge at a considerably lower rate just to be on the safe side.
i guess i can combine some questions from the comments together: 1.) what's the difference between balance charging and charging? doesn't it balance the packs as soon as it recognizes the balance lead? 2.) does EVERY single cell from like 3x 6s pack get balanced out while parallel charging? or just every pack as a whole at the same voltage than the other 2? 3.) if you plug one pack just into the balance lead will it balance the cells without charging it 🤔 the last one was my personal i'm still new..... and waiting for my ICharger 4010 duo 😅
I also have a bad story too lol i accidentally charged a lipo on the nihm setting and it puffed and exploded so always make sure your on lipo woth lipos lol
I did but barley and then for fun i took it to my driveway and hit it with a hammer and it exploded and caught on fire lol but i never charge unless in with it just incase
Is there a difference in charging, and balance charging? Is it safe to charge fx: a 2s, to about 8V and then balance charge to full, or doesn't it make a difference? Thanks for this video
Hey Mr. steele, quick question. IF you have a large designated charging space in your workshop and regularly charge batteries in parallel while you are tinkering in the shop, is it a good idea to construct some kind of "battery bunker" to contain a possible Lipo fire? I had a bunch of "fire bricks" left over from building a backyard forge last year and I was thinking of turning them into some kind of enclosure that would protect my shop from the heat generated by a lipo fire reaction.
Very useful video- thank you. I'm new to rc drones, and have a flying wing. The wing I have is usually powered by a 3s lipo, but I have seen many guys power this particular wing with 3s2p lithium ion 18650 battery packs. My question is, can I charge 3s2p 18650 li ion packs in the same way? Is there a different setting I need to put on the balance charger compared to the lipo?
To be on the safe side (usually .1 to .2) .. I always check packs .. plug them in to balance board.. wait about 10 mins then charge .. it will balance the packs on the board I’m never in a hurry to charge it’s not worth the fire to me lol
9:43 C is internal resistance right? Charging or discharging past 1 C alters chemistry. Batteries don't like discharging over 1 C but because their short pulse discharges, the chemistry is less altered than charging it at the same rate because the consistency of the RMS charging is too much compared to the show pulse discharging right? It's not that the battery likes discharging higher current any moreso than charging, yeah?
I think you charge multiple batteryes in series (for example 3x 2s battery =6s battrey) This you can do ONLY if you have a charger that support BALANCE CHARGE. I am not shore if batteries have very different capacity.
Newbie here who just bought Tinyhawk RTF package w/ 5 extra batts. Any recommended beginner chargers that will put them on a storage voltage when I'm planning to not fly for a bit?
ISDT chargers are great but there discharge rate is complete crap. The lowest budget charging setup I can thing of of quality would be an icharger x6. And then you convert one of those 12V HP server power supplies to power it from the wall. Should be all up about 160$ for an extremely capable charging and discharging setup that you can grow into.
Field charging: Can you confirm...: A fresh flown pack, still warm, has less internal resistance and therefor is good to be charged at 3-5c? Tried it, worked, but... just doesn't feel good! Like forcing "Julie" right after the first exhausting "round" xD
Just got into this hobby, bought a bunch of 2s 450mah batteries for my Tinyhawk Freestyle II, I chopped off the PH 2.0 connector and am put on an XT30. But I don't even have a charger and don't where to even begin. What kind of charger do I need? Is there an all in one type of charger?
DEAR STEELE, Good & Simple explanation. Thanks. I also want to share my ideas to support you. (A). Always parallel only same voltage packs. If you accidently parallel wrong packs... MIND !... it is a serious fire + all Batteries will get damage. (B) For the extra safety I always plug only ONE main leads to board. You don't need to connect all main leads into board. Because this will safe if any short happen. Because balance leads are thin wire, while short it burns and protect the battery. But main leads are thick it can't protect. So plugging Only one main battery lead is enough. Through the balance leads all batteries will get the shared current. (C) If you want to charge 2s/3s/4s/5s no matter. there is a idea. Need to program the higher voltage pack in your charger. Then you can connect all other balance leads parallel. (Never connect different MAIN leads parallel). (Always consider the C rating of the battery. it is not advisable to charge both very low C rating & very high C rating) . (D) Check all battery's cell voltage before putting to parallel. Never parallel different charged packs. Example. (3.0v-3.6V are ok), (Don't mix 3.5v - 3.8/3.9). (E) When you plug balance leads, be careful, accidently it may plug wrong side, it cause all battery damage. Always plug balance leads first and finally main lead. (F) When plug balance leads pls make sure all socket plugged well. Because if one battery's one lead miss, it has chance to get damage while connect with other full charged cell. Also note some time one cell may miss with the balance socket. (G) Never try to parallel old battery or damaged battery. If one battery get short then all battery get short. Try to avoid paralleling more batteries. try to charge 2-3 packs. So it safe always. (H). When you go flying field always have a charger. Because some time some a cell will go down unexpectedly. So you can charge that cell for a 2-3 min time to reach 3.5v. Otherwise cell get serious damage. (I) Stay close when parallel charging. Don't leave un attendant. Always charge parallel batteries in safe place, if any fire happen that will not spread. While parallel charging Better to keep batteries... inside a metal protected box. Thanks... Thiva, Sri lanka
How do you keep a 0.3 volt difference between cells on different packs from smoking your tiny balance wires? If you had really low internal resistance cells you could put 50 Amps through those wires with two batteries of 0.003 ohms.
Mr Steele I'm looking at buying my first set of Goggles and I wanted to ask what you recommend based on price and specs? Whats a good compromise as I didn't want to do £500 for HDO for a first set, any advice? Thanks
Did you ever finish this series? I’m pretty experienced but I have a lot of friends that are interested and it makes it easy for them to get into the hobby. I don’t really see anything after seven. Am I right on this? Youdamansteele
Just get a SkyRC Q200 for under 200$ and charge up to four batteries individually. This is saver and you don't need to check voltage beforehand. A much better solution than parallel charging. In fact better as each pack gets balanced individually.
I got 2 double port chargers for about $80 each, so I can safely charge any combination of packs. They do not have to provide much power If only using 1C, no need for those high power chargers. But good to know how parallel charging works. Would you recommend it for 1S packs used for whoops?
I gotta ask since you fly the adrenaline batts, do you always charge at 1c? Those say on them they can do 5c, that’s how I have done it since I picked them up but maybe I am damaging them more then I realize.
Joshua Bardwell started reciting equations so I came here and got an explanation I could understand. Thanks Steele.
Lmao..same here
Fk’n A 🇺🇸👊🔥
The most overlooked aspect of any powered hobby is battery management.
This is great, Steele. I think that the one thing that people often forget is that parallel charging can also damage your batteries if you parallel charge packs with very different internal resistance, or you parallel charge a pack with an iffy cell - it can damage your other packs. If you have a pack where one cell is consistently lower than the others, never put it on a parallel board with other packs. If you have a pack with high internal resistance, don't put it on a parallel board with other packs.
This is very true. That is what I stated to make sure your batteries are in good conditions :). Because yes. Charging crap batteries with new ones will for sure hurt the new
Packs. Thanks for the comment m8.
@@MrSteeleFPV Word. do we still say that? How about: Werd. Or maybe we don't say that anymore either... :/ Anyways, thanks Steele for these howto videos. This is a valuable resource for everyone trying to get started in this hobby. We all take it for granted that we know all this stuff, but all of us who have been doing it for a long time had to learn the hard way - and it takes a LONG time. You're helping people get up & running much more quickly that we did years ago. The more people in the hobby, the better it is for all of us. You're doing God's work... or werk.
he covered that in the video. anyone who didn't bother to watch isn't going to bother to read your comment and follow it.
How do you check what condition the batteries are in? How do you know if one cell isn't working? Etc
For safety, use a "Bat-Safe" for charging your LiPo's !
I think you’re doing it right, Steele. You’ve been working hard and making a lot of content in order to grow your brand... and I respect that! Keep it up, man. I think it’s gonna pay off for you in big ways. I’ve also noticed work you’ve done in other areas that I won’t mention, but let’s say these aspects are not going unnoticed by those who have an eye for such things. Props, man! Keep it up and go strong!!
Agreed.
Your videos couldn't be more descriptive and clear. Covering topics such as batteries will help me and everyone stay safe and keepin healthy batteries. Keep these vids comin!!
Im learning alot but mostly i need a second job to really get into this
I'm so glad you're talking the time to explain every little detail. This really helps people get into the hobby. Thank you keep up the good work.
I really hope I get a certificate of completion after watching this whole series... 📜🖋🐥 .
I always learn something
Spiro_fpv maybe if we’re lucky we’ll get a drone, goggles and radio instead 😏
Love the expertise and experience you bring to the hobby Steele. Instead of looking at a bunch of forums or whatever, I can watch a 15min video and not only learn how to do things safely, but understand the basic concepts which is great for promoting active thinking and regard for safety. Keep it up mate!
i really appreciate that your videos arent chopped up in editing. thanks for growing the hobby!
Love the series. Never flown FPV. Never really flown RC either. I had an rc glider as a kid and recently found a dji tello for $5. This series makes me want to fly FPV, I dreamed of it growing up but the technology wasn’t around for consumers. Probably the best advice from the series is battery management. I have a boat that runs 4S and I never bothered to use the charger that came with it. I bought a Tenergy TB6B at the same time as the boat, batteries and one of those voltage checkers. The charger is supposed to be balanced but I can’t seem to get the cells to the same voltage. Maybe crappy batteries or a bad charger. Everyone safe flying, or piloting whatever RC you operate!
I have a EE degree and work for USRobotics. We eat lipo for breakfast. Fact#1 everything i heard you say is correct. Fact#2 charging in Parallel is best for your batteries, Especially if you religiously balance. Fact#3 charging is parallel balances your batteries better and faster. Unverified #1, lol I charge in parallel regardless of total battery voltage, I only check that each cell is close to its own battery. your extra careful method is fine. Great straight forward to the point video.
🙌. Finally someone who understands me :)
Im an owner of the largest Tungsten Steel mine in america. I would love to have Mr Steel film it with a freestyle. This place is rad. google springer tungsten mine. i film it all the time but i don't fly as good as you do. ROAD TRIP BRO @@MrSteeleFPV
im an owner of the largest Tungsten steel mine in america. It would be awesome if you guys would have an event here or at least come fly it... epic scenery and machinery to fly through. you're Mr Steel for gods sake man, i wanna show u a pic@@MrSteeleFPV
Good video ! I have parallel charged for several years . I only had one charging fire and it was because I got lazy that day and didn’t check all the packs prior to charging . Also might be good to mention that fireproofing your charging area is pretty easy to do . I charge on some old ceramic tiles and have a smoke detector and fire extinguisher in my charging area and it came in very handy !
I would love to see the next parts of this series man, can’t wait. Cheers!
Not sure
I parallel charge in my fireplace for safety.
Brilliant!
Bucket O sand for me
hahahaha... wait, that's actually genius! I'm gonna do the same
Imma try that😂
Seriously - the microwave is the shizzle - lots of LiPo sizzle.....
I bought an ISDT charger and when it arrived it didn't have an plug adapter to power it. Took me a bit to figure out why they sell it like that but all of the reviewers and commentators talk like its common knowledge. What I ended up doing it re-purposing an HP charge brick and putting an XT60 on it. I'm sure that server power supply is better at producing juice and I'll probably rig something like that. This hobby is not really easy to get into and I think If I didn't work in IT and just have general problem solving skills all of this would be impossible. Thank you for the explanations and advice as I am still a noob and this is very helpful to me.
Very cool Steele. I use two WP power supplies in series for the 24v output mainly because that's how I started as I was flying planes before I flew quads. That said, starting with a higher voltage than that of the batteries, such as 24v to feed a charger that will charge 6s, 5s, 4s, 3s, etc is more efficient that upping the voltage from 12v to feed higher voltage batteries. That's why I've kept the setup. It is now about 6 years old and still ticking nicely.
This is what i have been looking for. thanks for the series.
Great video! Thank you!! How long would be considered "safe" to wait before charging a batterie when discharged after flying? Let them cool down etc..
Can't wait for part 8! :)
Where is the video of you showing us what batteries/chargers/balance board/ power supply we need to buy?
Ryan Daugherty yep we need this
Hy Steele, i just watched all of your How to FPV Videos and i learned a lot! Thanks for that. I really hope you'll continue this series, because i'll need help putting together a quad in the future ;D
Realy simple explanation about charging 🙂
Great tutorial series. Tnx 👍
I think safest thing to do is charge your packs to storage individually, then when you are ready to fly parallel charging is key to getting them all charged up quickly and safely since all cells are at same voltage.
I’m loving this series. Thanks for sharing. Btw what’s the end song?
All right Mr. steele
Thanks for being one of the major influences that got me into the sick sport of FPV. Great vid on parallel charging.👍🏼
How much did it cost all together?
I damaged the same cell on 6 batterys one time due to 1 bad cell on one batt, now i always check every cell before parallel charging
Another awesome information video, thanks Steele 👍🏼
Thank you so much for this follow up video. I am currently charging my first Lipo.
Thanks so much for this info, priceless. Now I need me a parallel board. Thumbs in the air ! 👍👍👍
Do you plan to continue this series? I find them very useful and to the point. Thanks!
Wow your videos are awesome. Thanks for taking the time to show us all these how to videos
I'm glad to see someone that's not ultra-paranoid about lipos. They don't "just blow up," it's always a case of violating rules. :)
Teach you all about batteries, Master Steele will
Just getting started . Amazing videos and instruction!!! FPV Bible is crucial!! Thanks for the hard work.
Thanks man, been to scared to plug in the parralel board I got day dot after some of the stories... Clarified! Much appreciated now where the f did i put it
Unsolder the right hand beeper which disables both on those checkers. Your batteries will even out if left for about 5 mins but as you say, watch them and don't plug batteries of great voltage difference as the rush current will create heat or pop a fuse on your balance plate. I regularly bulk charge batteries with a .5 V difference with zero issues and regular lifespan.
Aww, balls! I was hoping I could binge watch the entire series, but you're still making 'em. ;)
Thanks for the videos .. charging and battery care for fpv is by far some of the most confusing shit im trying to comprehend for this hobby . I dont have all my equipment yet so havent flown in real life yet but i ordered a hobbymate duo 6 pro today and im slowly getting to understand how I have to charge my batteries. Some things are still confusing me a little but im hoping once I have all the gear I need in hand a lot of whats confusing me will be clearer .
Thank you Mr Steele for the info. had a few mishaps with charging in earlier days. Lipo bags saved my garage. cant say it enough :)
but can how did you connect the server psu? i got a few in my workshop. 1200w EU 230v from the wall socket.
did you solder or used a circuit board adapter?
ty and a new subber from Mountains of Norway
Thank you for the series, it is very useful for a novice quad owner. Can you please elaborate more on the use of server power supply, how is it connected to the charger or does it involve any tinkering inside the power supply inself? I might be able to get one from the outdated servers at work :)
Very insightful, I actually get it now!
So, no parallel charging is the cell voltages that are more than 0.3V apart.
You can only charge the same cell count in a single channel parallel charger.
Don’t poke your battery with a nail.
You can charge different cell count batteries on different channels.
Batteries use DC, as do most electronics.
ALWAYS CHECK YOUR BATTERIES BEFORE CHARGING OR YOU DIE
As long as you follow the 0.3V rule, you can plug in the balance lead first with no problems
Charging 3 batteries at (1c?) is taking the operating current and multiplying by 3. eg. 1100mA x 3 =3300mA
Mr Steele is not responsible for human error.
Get a great power setup. Reduce the risk of your house dying.
Mr Steele, please reassure me that I’m correct. I want to make sure that I don’t have any problems with batteries.
😆
You’re videos are amazingly helpful broo 👌🏽💯
Always use a battery checker like Steele says. Parallel charging can easily mask a bad cell in one battery. I learned that the hard way with an expensive camera rig.
sorry noob question, just a bit confused about the 1c charging. If i have 3 850mah 4s batteries in parallel do i set up 3x.8 amp? = 2.4amp output ?
Really looking forward to part 8. I'm hoping you can stay in the beginner vein. Talk about some of the etiquette that's in the fpv bible. Discuss where to fly (and not). How to interact with others when you arrive at an active site, maybe talk about vTx channels and avoiding overlap. Things to watch out for as you start flying outside? I'm hoping you'll get to the next step up from the Whoop soon, too.
Hi Mr Steele. Thanks for sharing =) Just a small question: do you use some lifehack to keep all batteries at about the same voltage? When I'm flying and watching at my OSD and see some battery voltage left, but after the flight this voltage slightly differs from what I've seen on the screen. Or maybe you know some method to quickly make batteries the same voltage, to then parallel-charge them? Hope haven't confused you. Thanks in advance
batteries recover over a short time after discharge so that's why the measured voltage is different than the voltage you see in the screen.
i use the Mah consumed in the osd. if i dont wanna spend ages settting storage charge, i only run 70% of the battery down during flight. so in 1300 mah i only fly about 1000
Charge them single to the highest Value.
Like u got 1x3.85 per cell & 1x3.5 per cell i charge both to 3.9 per cell and than together the for the Rest.
Speaking of batteries ... What would cause a quad to flip right under punchout power on a 5s, but be okay if giving smooth slower power to full throttle? Does fine on 4s, but 5s and 6s causes it to flip to the right on a punchout. Any ideas? 45A X-Rotor Stack ... XNova 2204-2900KV motors ... 35V-1000uf Cap
This is one of the scariest thing about FPV, Catching fire... bcos am very paranoid i always charge my battery one by one,,, i always spend 1/4 day just to looking into my charger and making sure it wont acting up
Thank u for all this knowledge
*that duck tho
Are you ever coming to P.A? I just started drone flying, you are the best freestyle pilot I've seen should do a Meetup out this way.
I want to start getting into FPV I all ready have a fpv tiny whoop and it is very fun I have it on my channel
You've said 0.3V difference per cell (4:50)? I've always thought that this "rule" applies to the entire pack.
I might have been doing this wrong but I'm always ensuring that the entire pack is within ~0.2-.3V plus checking each individual cell.
FYI: I just learning FPV (I'm no expert) but something I noticed in watching a few recent videos. At 6:52 in your video you mention charging all 3 of those batteries at 1C (1.1amp x 3 = 3.3amp). However, in a video Joshua Barwell did a while back he showed if you parallel charge and you don't want to go over a 1C rating than you can't take the 1C rate and multiple it by the number of batteries, because he showed on his testing meter some batteries are actually getting 2C while others in parallel may be getting 0.5C. Can see Joshua's video from *Feb 26, 2016* . You've been doing it for 4 yrs so appears to work...just making notes for myself and letting others know your not actually getting a 1C rating as one may think. Feel free to correct if I've misunderstood.......great video though! I'm trying not to make any mistakes which is why I'm watching these videos so intensely. Have seen the damage these LIPOs can do when mishandled......
RGMG was josh referring to when you are charging in parallel with batteries of same cell count BUT different capacity? Steele is referring to cell count same capacity scenario here....I’m not certain but I think this may be the confusion
@@OswaldBeef Good catch..I've watched so many videos on LiPo charging I referenced the wrong Joshua Bardwell video. The one I should have referenced is the one *Dated Feb. 26, 2016* (NOT Jan 26, 2016). It's titled "Balance Charging - Can you Parallel Charge". On that video go to 6:47 time-stamp. Here's the exact video (hopefuly RUclips let's me post the link). I also corrected the date in my comments above. ruclips.net/video/1GhPXw_BQlc/видео.html
@@OswaldBeef Good catch..I've watched so many videos on LiPo charging I referenced the wrong Joshua Bardwell video. The one I should have referenced is the one *Dated Feb. 26, 2016* (NOT Jan 26, 2016). It's titled "Balance Charging - Can you Parallel Charge". On that video go to 6:47 time-stamp. Here's the exact video (hopefuly RUclips let's me post the link). I also corrected the date in my comments above. ruclips.net/video/1GhPXw_BQlc/видео.html
RGMG I see where he says that and he goes onto say it’s because if any of the cells have a different internet resistance this different C rating charge issue can happen. This is important piece here I agree and I’m about to begin using a parallel board on very large batteries at very large amps so I’m researching all this. After watching this video of Steele’s my only concern was that he always has new batteries and if any cells internal resistance is off he Won’t use it.....I don’t think most of us have this luxury and that many of the batteries I buy new have off resistance cells right from the beginning.....does this mean I basically won’t be able to parallel charge basically ever? Maybe for first weeks of new batteries and that’s it? I’m not sure,, but yea I’m sure josh is referring to this cell resistance value and yes Steele does state that clearly too, but as usual josh has gone slightly deeper here in stating that if you have a different resistance per cell you will also get different Charge ratings happening despite you thinking they all are happening at your C rating you chose to push amps to.
RGMG I think basically though if a cell or two does have a larger resistance than the others it means that one won’t charge at the full C rating want....subsequently I think that means the other cells....will be charging above the C rating you wanted.....I’m hoping this only would be a problem if you select so high a C rating amps push that the extra C going to the better cells exceeds the wires or batteries ability.....I’m going with the logic of sticking to 0.5 C charge rates when doing paralel charging with varying cell redidtance....if I’ve a few bad cells the extra C going the the good cells won’t be into any extreme value for it to be a concern.
If I'm in a rush...and I've checked all my cell resistance are good maybe I'll push to 1C knowing none of them will be getting more than others
Mr steel 8m start this hobby after watching some of your videos an as usual you nailed it this is so informative an appreciated thanks alot I've watched it 4 times lol just make sure I was right even shhh ed the wife lol 😂 you are truly appreciated
can i charge 850mah 4s and 650mah 4s on same parallel board?
Super-duper. Thanks. If you storage (dis)charge a bunch of 4.2V batteries, do you still use 1C?
'storage' from a higher voltage is essentially running the battery through a resistor at a controlled rate. it will be slow compared to charging as a lot of chargers can't handle the heat dissapation (the fan will always be on while discharging) I don't think the c rating changes how fast they discharge.
I would connect the xt60s first, because the balancing current between differently charged batteries can be high and fry the small jst connector.
Your completely right my friend I said the same thing
There's no way to fry the cables if you follow the method of checking and making sure the difference isn't higher than 0.3v as explained in the video, every time you charge.
That is partially the point of doing balance connectors first. It's better to have the balance wires fry because YOU fucked up and didn't confirm the packs were within a safe voltages of each other. If you do xt60 side first. Those wires/plugs aren't gonna care that you accidentally plugged a discharged and full battery together. What is gonna end up caring there is the battery that is puffing and getting ready to explode on your workbench.
This is where Joshua Bardwell's V2 parallel chargers stand out; they have polyfuses between the balance sockets, so if you do plug in the balance connectors of an empty pack and a full pack, the fuse(s) will trip and protect everything, then when you unplug the battery(s) the fuse(s) will cool down and reset.
Great video! I haven't driven a drone yet but I am wondering how we can put a battery that seem so fragile on a expensive drone that flies around in fast speeds? Isn't it very unsafe and high chance for the battery to start a fire and break the drone?
Glad for answers!
So Ive seen conflicting info on what to plug in first. The balance lead or the discharge lead? Can you please go into more detail about plugging the balance lead in 1st rather than the discharge lead. Thank you for the great videos!
What charger setup/build do you have in the case on the left (your right) in this video? Awesome info.
More good stuff!
Soaking it up.
Thank you Sir!
Thanks for Good video- I made a Lifepo4 battery for my van house power 3 yrs ago - Tons of Bad info out there about Li ion batteries - took a long time to sift threw the bogus noise - think it was lead acid battery companies putting out bad info to scare people into using lead batteries
Looks like I'll need to buy a 'She Shed'...LOL. Just when I thought I was learning so much about FPV...had no idea charging FPV batteries was such an issue. More to learn...great video!
Actually, the "keep under 0.3 V difference" advice is good if you are in a hurry, but it's not more dangerous to do packs with large differences if you are not to much in a rush. What happens when you have differing pack charges is that as soon as you plug them in the charge will rush from the pack with more charge to the one with less, equalizing them. What people worry about is that there is a massive inrush of current from the pack with more charge to the one with less and this would be dangerous. In reality, it's not that big of an issue: if we take a full and a flat 6s pack, the full being at 25.2V and the flat at 22.2V and the packs have an internal resistance of 0.018 Ohm (assuming a pretty average cell resistance of 3 mOhm) this would give in theory give a current flow of 3/0.018 = 83.3 Amps which sounds pretty bad. However, this math fails to take into account that a pack under load drops in voltage as we all know from flying them. At the same time, the discharged pack's voltage will increase when you give it a charging load. This means the actual current flow will be considerably less. It's difficult to come up with a calculation since it will vary depending on pack specifics, I have however tested this quite a lot, and even when hooking up a fully charged pack (4.2V per cell) to one really flat (3.3V per cell) I never got more than 31 Amps current and that lasted for 0.35 seconds before dropping and after 15 seconds no combination of charges yielded more than 5 Amps. So, in reality, the worst effect of hooking up a full pack with a discharged one is that you waste the cycle of the full pack. It should be noted though that this goes for connecting the main leads first and then waiting before connecting the balance leads since 30 Amps through the balance leads will most definitely damage them and potentially set something on fire, which is never good around lipos. Yes, people argue that doing the balance leads first uses them as a faux fuse, protecting the low charge pack if you hooks up one with to much charge, but as far as I can tell this is a non issue according to above and thus I would always connect the main leads first, and even with packs of similar charge I wait at least 5 seconds before connecting the balance wires.
Now in reality, there's rarely a good reason to charge packs with widely differing voltages and avoiding doing so does eliminate some considerations, but there are the occasions where you have 4 packs, 3 are close to each other, but the last one is 0.4 higher because you broke the quad/it started to rain/some angry security guard ran you off etc. In this case you can still charge them all, and in that case you can be extra safe by first connecting the 3 similar packs and then the one with more charge, at which point the current surge will be split between the 3 already connected.
This said, after the packs are equalized, the difference in charge has no further impact on charging, which means that as long as you wait long enough after plugging in the main connectors to the board before doing the balance leads and beginning to charge there is no further danger due to the charge difference.
That's incorrect, even if the fuller battery can easily handle the discharge, the more empty one can't handle so many amps without damaging itself, so you lose a lot of battery life by doing this and can even cause a fire for other reasons, for example a bad or cheap charger
been paralell charging for years, only issue i had was when i accidentally hooked up an empty battery with 1 almost fully chargeed, it blue out the balance traces o the balance board.
always double check each cell are same voltage.
i do them at 2c, got several groups of battereis, 3s 2200, 3s , 1000, 4s 1300, 2s 450. 4s 1400.
would take all day charging individually even with my duo charger.
paralell charging can do it in a couple hours.
Good video. Question using parallel charger can or work with balance charging?
What about parallel charging multiple batteries with different mah rating?
100% perfectly fine. Just make sure the voltages are the same. And ensure the batteries are in good condition.
For example. You can charge a 3300mAh 4S and a 1300mAh 4S In parallel perfectly safely the Voltage keeps the charger in check. (It acts as if there is a pressure on the charger) (smaller battery has more pressure bigger has less). This insured the small battery doesn’t just charge 2200mAh and explode lol. You don’t have to worry about it. It’s all science and physics at that point. Just make sure the voltages are the same and you’ll be perfectly fine. I’ve been doing it for years
@@MrSteeleFPV that's great news I've been group changing all my 1.3ah, 1.5ah and 2.2ah batteries together for ages thinking I couldn't mix them. You've just saved me hours of changing time!
I wanted to say this is what I believe caused a battery fire for me. I had 4 x 1300Mah & 2 x 1800Mah parallel charging. They were all coming from storage voltage 3.80v +-.01v charging to 4.20. I had them charging at 6 amps (not even 1c). These were relatively new quality batteries also. It was definitely my fault for not checking the charger more frequently that day. I figured it would take a while with the low charge rate. Luckily no houses were harmed, lost all those batteries and 1channel of my isdt d2. Now I just run multiple dual chagers, only using parallel in a squeeze.
@@latenights145 Have a isdt d2 myself, and 4s's with different mah. 3x 1300mah and 3x 1550mah. Guess it's just safer to buy another Parallel board and use the 2 channels that the isdt d2 comes with? Any idea why your battery blew?
When you charge a battery pack, you're running current through it to replenish its energy. During this process, its voltage will rise, until we consider the battery charged and disconnect it from the charger.
Since you keep all packs in parallel, the voltage over all packs remains the same. That's a basic property of parallel circuits. Therefore, it will rise at the same rate over the entire set. The only thing that can go wrong is that a bunch of those packs have too much resistance, so that the bulk of the current must flow through the other cells: in a parallel circuit, the current seeks the path of least resistance. Depending on how severe this is, it can lead to an overcurrent in some of the packs. If I were charging in parallel, I'd charge at a considerably lower rate just to be on the safe side.
I'll be honest.. I got really excited when I spotted the paramotor in the background.
i guess i can combine some questions from the comments together:
1.) what's the difference between balance charging and charging?
doesn't it balance the packs as soon as it recognizes the balance lead?
2.) does EVERY single cell from like 3x 6s pack get balanced out while parallel charging? or just every pack as a whole at the same voltage than the other 2?
3.) if you plug one pack just into the balance lead will it balance the cells without charging it 🤔
the last one was my personal i'm still new..... and waiting for my ICharger 4010 duo 😅
Get the lipo checkers without the beepers- Cheaper AND load readout faster!
bro I got lucky I hit my notifications and he just posted.
Very Well Explained! You The Man & Thanks
Nice vid. What are the signs that a battery is nearing the end of its life? Will it just not output as well?
I got an Turnigy 4x6 (4 Port Charger) for around 45€. You can buy a car adapter or do it with a server PSU. That thing is pretty good for that Price.
Your my hero ! LOL, thanks for the lesson, very helpful.
What about discharging batteries man ? Do I have to discharge it to 0 after X amount of flight ? Thnx man
No, don't do that, that will destroy your battery
I also have a bad story too lol i accidentally charged a lipo on the nihm setting and it puffed and exploded so always make sure your on lipo woth lipos lol
Hahha the stereotypical Lipo fire scenario. I hope you caught it in time
I did but barley and then for fun i took it to my driveway and hit it with a hammer and it exploded and caught on fire lol but i never charge unless in with it just incase
awesome video! thanks for all the info
Is there a difference in charging, and balance charging? Is it safe to charge fx: a 2s, to about 8V and then balance charge to full, or doesn't it make a difference? Thanks for this video
Hey Mr. steele, quick question. IF you have a large designated charging space in your workshop and regularly charge batteries in parallel while you are tinkering in the shop, is it a good idea to construct some kind of "battery bunker" to contain a possible Lipo fire? I had a bunch of "fire bricks" left over from building a backyard forge last year and I was thinking of turning them into some kind of enclosure that would protect my shop from the heat generated by a lipo fire reaction.
Very useful video- thank you. I'm new to rc drones, and have a flying wing. The wing I have is usually powered by a 3s lipo, but I have seen many guys power this particular wing with 3s2p lithium ion 18650 battery packs. My question is, can I charge 3s2p 18650 li ion packs in the same way? Is there a different setting I need to put on the balance charger compared to the lipo?
Hey Steele, I keep hearing different things as far the difference in voltage. I've heard .2 and .3 and . 4.. I normally use .4.. Safe?
Safe is a relative term. Yes. It’s safe and I go above the .2V mark sometimes. But as a rule of thumb the closer the safer.
To be on the safe side (usually .1 to .2) .. I always check packs .. plug them in to balance board.. wait about 10 mins then charge .. it will balance the packs on the board I’m never in a hurry to charge it’s not worth the fire to me lol
9:43 C is internal resistance right? Charging or discharging past 1 C alters chemistry. Batteries don't like discharging over 1 C but because their short pulse discharges, the chemistry is less altered than charging it at the same rate because the consistency of the RMS charging is too much compared to the show pulse discharging right? It's not that the battery likes discharging higher current any moreso than charging, yeah?
I think you charge multiple batteryes in series (for example 3x 2s battery =6s battrey) This you can do ONLY if you have a charger that support BALANCE CHARGE. I am not shore if batteries have very different capacity.
Newbie here who just bought Tinyhawk RTF package w/ 5 extra batts. Any recommended beginner chargers that will put them on a storage voltage when I'm planning to not fly for a bit?
ISDT chargers are great but there discharge rate is complete crap. The lowest budget charging setup I can thing of of quality would be an icharger x6. And then you convert one of those 12V HP server power supplies to power it from the wall. Should be all up about 160$ for an extremely capable charging and discharging setup that you can grow into.
Thanks dood! I'll chk it out. Really appreciate all the info you give us!
Oh, are you flying PPG?
Regards from Poland - Dudek Paragliders company ;)
I sold my PPG. It wasn’t a reliable motor
Field charging: Can you confirm...: A fresh flown pack, still warm, has less internal resistance and therefor is good to be charged at 3-5c?
Tried it, worked, but... just doesn't feel good! Like forcing "Julie" right after the first exhausting "round" xD
Yeah you’ve pretty much taught me everything I know about charging.
Just got into this hobby, bought a bunch of 2s 450mah batteries for my Tinyhawk Freestyle II, I chopped off the PH 2.0 connector and am put on an XT30. But I don't even have a charger and don't where to even begin. What kind of charger do I need? Is there an all in one type of charger?
This guy is iconic
DEAR STEELE, Good & Simple explanation. Thanks. I also want to share my ideas to support you. (A). Always parallel only same voltage packs. If you accidently parallel wrong packs... MIND !... it is a serious fire + all Batteries will get damage. (B) For the extra safety I always plug only ONE main leads to board. You don't need to connect all main leads into board. Because this will safe if any short happen. Because balance leads are thin wire, while short it burns and protect the battery. But main leads are thick it can't protect. So plugging Only one main battery lead is enough. Through the balance leads all batteries will get the shared current. (C) If you want to charge 2s/3s/4s/5s no matter. there is a idea. Need to program the higher voltage pack in your charger. Then you can connect all other balance leads parallel. (Never connect different MAIN leads parallel). (Always consider the C rating of the battery. it is not advisable to charge both very low C rating & very high C rating) . (D) Check all battery's cell voltage before putting to parallel. Never parallel different charged packs. Example. (3.0v-3.6V are ok), (Don't mix 3.5v - 3.8/3.9). (E) When you plug balance leads, be careful, accidently it may plug wrong side, it cause all battery damage. Always plug balance leads first and finally main lead. (F) When plug balance leads pls make sure all socket plugged well. Because if one battery's one lead miss, it has chance to get damage while connect with other full charged cell. Also note some time one cell may miss with the balance socket. (G) Never try to parallel old battery or damaged battery. If one battery get short then all battery get short. Try to avoid paralleling more batteries. try to charge 2-3 packs. So it safe always. (H). When you go flying field always have a charger. Because some time some a cell will go down unexpectedly. So you can charge that cell for a 2-3 min time to reach 3.5v. Otherwise cell get serious damage. (I) Stay close when parallel charging. Don't leave un attendant. Always charge parallel batteries in safe place, if any fire happen that will not spread. While parallel charging Better to keep batteries... inside a metal protected box. Thanks... Thiva, Sri lanka
How do you keep a 0.3 volt difference between cells on different packs from smoking your tiny balance wires? If you had really low internal resistance cells you could put 50 Amps through those wires with two batteries of 0.003 ohms.
Mr Steele I'm looking at buying my first set of Goggles and I wanted to ask what you recommend based on price and specs? Whats a good compromise as I didn't want to do £500 for HDO for a first set, any advice? Thanks
Did you ever finish this series? I’m pretty experienced but I have a lot of friends that are interested and it makes it easy for them to get into the hobby. I don’t really see anything after seven. Am I right on this? Youdamansteele
ohhhhhhh, rubber ducky, ur the 1. u make charge time so much fun!!!! rubber ducky ur the one for me, can't u seeeeeeeee!🎤
Just get a SkyRC Q200 for under 200$ and charge up to four batteries individually. This is saver and you don't need to check voltage beforehand. A much better solution than parallel charging. In fact better as each pack gets balanced individually.
I got 2 double port chargers for about $80 each, so I can safely charge any combination of packs. They do not have to provide much power If only using 1C, no need for those high power chargers. But good to know how parallel charging works. Would you recommend it for 1S packs used for whoops?
Great info,Thanks. Could I ask what power supply and box size that is on your field charger?
ETHIX 😎 good to know Mr Steele 😉 Greetings from Germany 🙂
Very nice video tanks :D
but you just talked about not to combine like 4s and 3s but what happens when i do this with one 4s 1500mah and a 4s 1000mah?
I gotta ask since you fly the adrenaline batts, do you always charge at 1c? Those say on them they can do 5c, that’s how I have done it since I picked them up but maybe I am damaging them more then I realize.