okay cool. Yeah I'll be using 3 x 8000mah in parallel and clearly label them as a set and make sure I only charge the 3 as a set.

Still haven't decided if its better to charge 2 in parallel on on side of the dual charger and 1 on the other side. This way I would get them charged faster.. 16000mah (2 x 8000mah) @ 20amp charge and 1 x 8000mah @ 20amp charge.

Would this have any negative effect to just charging all 3 as 24000mah @ 20amp charge? apart from it taking longer to charge?

The 8000mAh pack would be done charging prior to the two in parallel since you're charging at twice the rate. It would also have slightly lower resting voltage. You can certainly do this if you're in a hurry. If you have ample time, it's simpler leaving them all connected in parallel and charge as a single 24Ah pack.

Mark

Your charger is limited to 500W per port, meaning that you are able to charge all three packs at just under 1C on a single port. Of course, if you split them up, you can do 1.5C, which will probably save you 10 - 15 minutes, provided you have a 1000W power supply.

Originally Posted by Gedexas

Remember, when you parallel charge, all your packs must be at the same state of charge before you plug them all together, plug the thick wires first, then plug the balancing wires last.

If you plug a fully charged pack and a completely empty pack to the same parallel board, you will have a fire.

8 Amps X 21 Volts = 168 Watts @ 1C. Multiply that by 60C of a common modern LiPo and you have a nice number of 10080 Watts trying to squeeze themselves through that skinny deans plug. When a pack is plugged into another pack, they are by no means limited to their C rating, meaning that the pack will try to put as many electrons through the wire as possible.

I agree that it's generally wiser to connect the main connectors first but some disagree with this and prefer to connect the balance connectors prior to connecting the main discharge connector.

The notion that a fire will result if a charged pack is connected to a discharged pack is flawed and absolutely false. Myself and several others have done precisely this in the interest of 'science' and nothing bad happened. Still, it is inadvisable and one should ensure that packs are in the same general charge state prior to connecting in parallel. My personal rule is no greater than .1V/cell differential (.2V for 2S packs, .3V for 3S packs, etc...).

Mark

I have the 6 parallel cable. Looking to go for the one in, one out while charging multiple batteries. If a serial cable exist for 3 - S1 LiPo, will it work with the SigmaEq Mini?

Thanks in advance
Rick

Originally Posted by Rickcrash12

Looking to go for the one in, one out while charging multiple batteries.

Not sure what you mean by this. But if you mean what I think, you should never add/remove batteries while charging serial or parallel.

Originally Posted by Rickcrash12

If a serial cable exist for 3 - S1 LiPo, will it work with the SigmaEq Mini?

Yes it will work. Just make sure you always connect the balance port since the cells may not be discharged to the exact same amount. Here's a serial cable on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Charging-Cab...item2c637c9a77

[QUOTE=grimbeaver;24614604]Not sure what you mean by this. But if you mean what I think, you should never add/remove batteries while charging serial or parallel.
I'm aware to stop and start the charge cycle while swapping batteries.Thank you though.


Yes it will work. Just make sure you always connect the balance port since the cells may not be discharged to the exact same amount. Here's a serial cable on ebay:
This is why I want to go serial so I don’t have to make sure the batteries are drained equally for parallel..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Charging-Cab...item2c637c9a77

There is a really GOOD!! thread on parallel charging, any one interested in parallel charging more than 1s battery's should read the whole thread

It is generaly advised to charge multiple packs in parallel as apposed to in searies, much simpler and safer.

There have also been some safety issues with the cheap parallel boards, bad solder and not designed for higher curents used in parallel charging.


Search parallel charging

Dennis

Can any one explain why I get an error 5 when charging a singal S1 LiPo battery / Lectron Pro 3.7-600mAh 35C / 2C charge rate (120 sr style). This is my settings and readings right after starting the charge cycle .

V= 3.56
A- set at 1.2
mAh= 0000
Time=0000

I notice right before the error I had readings as follows;
V = 4.195
A=1.2
mAh= 750
Time= 1:05 (1hr 5min)

Im trying another battery of the same type. I'll post the resluts.

Rick H

Here is battery two results. (I stopped the cycle because didnt want a fire but probbally will auto stop and give an error 5)
V=4.194
A=1.00 (strange, I set it to 1.2 )
mAh= 741 (again my battery says 600mAh)
Time 1:14 (1hr 14min)

Even though it shows 741mAh, did it lose amperage while charging? Maybe I misunderstood how the charging process works.

Does the cell get warm when charging, esp towards the end of the charge?

Rick

According to the manual, error 5 means "Some type of electronic interuption or malfunction has occoured ..." Since broken connection is covered by a different error message, and it can't be a balance error because you're charging 1S, it seems to me it must indicate a fault with the charger.

4.195v is as near to 100% charged as makes no difference, and the fact that it's pumped more than the battery's rated capacity into it, makes me wonder why it hasn't stopped the charge with a "FULL" message.

I know your battery's rated for 2C charging, but have you tried 1C to see if you get the same message? 2C shouldn't be taking over an hour, as yours is.

Is the charger new, and has it worked properly in the past?

Yes the charger is new and so is the batteries. I did try the 500mAh battery my 120sr came with at 2C and an hour later it showed more Amps then what it can hold even though the volt has not reached full charge. It seems the charger cuts off by the volts readings, but I stopped it before it did due to the high input of amps. I never tried to multi charge the two 600mAh batteries since the readings are different.
I'm taking it back to the LHS. I don't have any other battery style to try. So far it seems that this charger is not compatible with S1 batteries. The battery stayed cool during the charging cycle, slighty warm but no alarming indication of over heating and did fly the Heli for the full stander time.
.

Thanks for the input.

Originally Posted by Rickcrash12

... It seems the charger cuts off by the volts readings, but I stopped it before it did due to the high input of amps. ....

The charger should normally keep pushing in the number of amps you've selected, until it reaches 4.20v per cell. Then it should decrease the amps, holding the voltage at 4.20v per cell, until the amps are down to maybe 5% (depends on the charger, I believe) of the value you started with.

The charger's info says it's good for 1S packs so, since it's new, taking it back is the correct course of action.

By the way, even though your batteries can be charged at 2C rate, I believe it's good practice to use only 1C rate for the first few charges. Have you tried 1C yet?

Could someone please help me.

I went and purchase the hobby king parallel balance charging board
https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=14856

I have the Hyperion duo charger
http://www.hyperion-world.com/produc...-EOS0720iSDUO3

The issue I now have is the balancing lead that comes of the hobby king board is different to the lead that goes into the Hyperion.

The Hyperion has 8 pins and the Hobby King has 7 pins.
Do I need an adaptor or did I get the wrong balancing board?

Thanks in advance
Rory