Originally Posted by krefi

Ordered one last night and looking forward to joining the ranks of the cheap-ass quad community!

I've got a bunch of 300mah nanotechs I use with my mcpx. Anyone try a battery this size on the X1?

I took a 300mah 2s nano tech and with a spare jst lead I made 2 more batteries for my x1. As was noted earlier in this thread, DO NOT USE THE USB CHARGER to charge batteries that didn't come with the helicopter. I put one of mine on and checked it until it hit 4.3 volts. The usb charger showed no signs of stopping.

Bummer, I just ordered an X-1 and these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/300841432839...84.m1439.l2649

If I shouldn't use the charger it came with, what should I use to charge them?

Originally Posted by Arr0wHead

Bummer, I just ordered an X-1 and these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/300841432839...84.m1439.l2649

If I shouldn't use the charger it came with, what should I use to charge them?

We were trying to get the word out as fast as we could. At least you got the message before you receive the batteries.

I have 3 thoughts. First, if you have a little bit of spare funds, go get a good balance charger. It is a bit overkill for this particular application, but you will find many good uses for it. It is a good investment. Recommended balanced chargers are the Thunder AC6, IMax B6AC, (and clones), and Accucel-6.

On a tight budget? Get a V949 AC charger. It's basic and crude, but at least it won't charge your Nano-Tech indefinitely. Note that it may still over-charge them a little. You get what you pay for.

On an even tighter budget? Rob an OCP from a Syma S107 type battery and solder it in-line with the USB charging cable. This will at least get you going. And the cost is next to nothing.

You mention the symas - I have three syma copters (108, 109, and 107) as well as two v911 with the new style battery and connectors (the little white end that snaps into place). Will either of those fit the connectors and charge the batteries I ordered?

Sorry to sound like a rube, I'm new to this. A good charger isn't out of the question, but in the last week I've ordered:

A syma 108
syma 109
syma 107
2X JDX Drift King
2X V911
V939
UDIRC U816
Syma X1

So in my eagerness to have it all I may have misappropriated the battery charger budget. And I'm reading all the lipo battery threads, but it seems even the basic ones might start a bit over my head.

If not then I might just hold off on using the spare batteries til I know what charger to buy and how to use it.

When starting off, the best thing to do is just use the charger that came with each specific heli. I got a nice little sticky label printer from a local office supply store and I mark each charger for the type of the heli that it came from.

This is important because the Syma helis and the JXD Drift King have identical-looking chargers but because they are different brands, there is NO reason to assume that the polarity between the two is the same!!! (I think it is, but don't take my word for it--measure it with a multmeter).

In general, you should be able to interchange the Syma 107, 108, 109 chargers but I don't. I use the same charger that came with each heli. I figure that way the battery gets the identical charge each time (within the electrical limits of the charger of course).

The V911 chargers can be used for all the V911 batteries at least.

The V939 uses a Walkera-style charger (be careful, Esky helis have been known to use this plug but the polarity is REVERSED)

The Syma X1 uses a standard JST plug.

No idea about the U816.

I've used the drift king and the syma chargers interchangeably. They work. Only difference is that the yellow syma chargers light up when charged, and turn off when charging. The black JXD chargers light up when charging and turn off when charged.

For the rest, I'll take your advice and use the charger that came with each. I'll sit on those batteries I ordered til I can afford a proper charger. After reading a bit about these batteries, I'm going to pick up a safe box and lipo bag to store/charge them in first. Watched too many scary videos today.

For chargers you might look at the thunderpower ac6 from xheli.com (also found at amazon and MANY other places). That is what I have now and I have cables for eflite, walkera, jst, and quite a few others. Not V911 though. I thought about taking a pair of V911 skid and soldering on a patkzone or jst connector but I just converted my V911 helis to use eflite batteries instead...

But there is no rush. I didn't get the ac6 until I has been flying for 6 months.

Focus on learning to fly and having fun first!

After reading this thread I haven't touched the "charger" (heavy air quotes) that came with my x1 that arrived yesterday. I soldered up a pair of jst charge adapters for a couple of my chargers (fairly new turnigy accucel-6 and an old great planes triton) and used those with the stock battery and the turnigy nanotech 600s I grabbed from hobby king. Holding onto that JST stuff (I'm all deans ultra and micro on my other models) I got from various models has paid off! This thing's all sorts of fun for $35.

A decent charger is a bit of overkill for 1s packs like these, but they come in really handy - definitely worth the investment.

Originally Posted by pbmax

A decent charger is a bit of overkill for 1s packs like these, but they come in really handy - definitely worth the investment.

Actually I disagree. The ability to put batteries into storage charge after flights is extremely important in my option.

Also you can parallel charge lots of 1s batteries at once (I do 12 at a time) is great AND getting a serial charger adapter lets you use the balance charge adapter and balance 3 or 6 1s batteries all at the same time. I love it!

Originally Posted by RoboHeli

Actually I disagree. The ability to put batteries into storage charge after flights is extremely important in my option.

Also you can parallel charge lots of 1s batteries at once (I do 12 at a time) is great AND getting a serial charger adapter lets you use the balance charge adapter and balance 3 or 6 1s batteries all at the same time. I love it!

I haven't had the same experience as far as storage goes. I've literally used batteries for 2 or 3 years on some of my models without ever putting them into "storage" voltage since I didn't have a charger that would discharge to storage until I got the accucel-6 a couple of months ago. Some of those batteries still hold good charge too.

Would they last longer being stored? Absolutely. That's why I bought the ac6 - to boost the lifespan of my more expensive batteries. But I don't "store" batts unless they are going to sit for 2 weeks or more without use.

$25 for a charger plus about the same or more for a power supply for it is a tough pill to swallow for someone who just bought a $35 toy. Storage is nice, but it's not necessary. I'd argue that a lot of these toy chargers are doing more damage charging low-capacity lipos at rates over 1C or to voltages above 4.20 than lack of storage voltage capability.

That said, if you have the means, definitely get a decent hobby charger; your batteries will thank you!

Originally Posted by RoboHeli

Also you can parallel charge lots of 1s batteries at once

I like that idea. Is their a board avail to directly plug into, or did you custom wire something?

On 2nd thought... I'm not sure if I can dial my old hyperion charger down low enough MAH wise.

Hmmm...

Originally Posted by RoboHeli

Also you can parallel charge lots of 1s batteries at once (I do 12 at a time) is great

Pardon my rookie question, but how do you do that? I just bought a Accucell 6 and have lots of Turnigy 600's on the way.

Hi guys. Parallel charging is a very common topic that you can find documented on this forum in great detail. Just search in the charging forums our do a google search on it.

I will be happy to write up something later but I cannot do that until I am on my computer at home tonight. I can't see writing up a big post using my phone right now!

Originally Posted by whitet777

Pardon my rookie question, but how do you do that? I just bought a Accucell 6 and have lots of Turnigy 600's on the way.

I believe you are looking for something like THESE (currently out of stock).

The idea is pretty simple. This is a parallel cable harness. Similar parallel charging board exists also. Each of the connector gets the same voltage. (1S 3.7V is what you set on the Accucel-6). Connect 1, 2, 3, up to 6 cells. For 1C charging of say, 500mAh, you want 500mA for each cell. For example, if you hook up 3 cells, just change the Output current to 1.5A on your Accucel-6, and each one will draw 500mA. The connected cells should have similar starting voltage, say, 3.7 for all of them, not mixing a 3.7 with a 4.0, etc.

Here

Read this post from Daryoon about parallel charging

http://www.hacksmods.com/2012/08/cheap-lipo-charging/