lipo charging help needed

[jonnyhal]

i am trying to charge a lipo battery with a;

Turnigy 2 to 3 cell Balance/Charger

i have a standard wall plug adaptor that provides the battery charger with the 12v input that it recommends, the charger seems to be working fine, the red power light comes on when there is power and the green charging light comes on when the battery is attached to say it is charging.

i tried to charge a 7.4v 2250mAh 22c battery on it, i measured the voltage before i started it was in cell 1: 3.41, cell 2: 3.32 , total 6.72 on this led voltage display thing i have.

then left it on charge for an hour watching it waiting for the green charging light to go off but nothing, so i turn off the charger and remeasured the voltage and i had gone down to just above 3v is both cells.

my question is, what is going on?
thanks in advance for any help!

[dollar]

Re: lipo charging help needed

I'm no expert, but I think you may have to keep your finger on the button for a second or two before it actually starts charging, I may be wrong, but worth a try, I vaguely remember a friends charger doing something similar.

[jonnyhal]

Re: lipo charging help needed

thanks for the reply, here is a picture of the charger, not sure if there is a button?

[NitroJoe]

Re: lipo charging help needed

Have you connected the deans/tamiya as well as the balance lead? You need both.

[tisane]

Just leave it on untill the green light either flashes or goes out cant remember what one.

Those chargers charge at 0.5a through the balace tab alone, incredibly slow when you consider you can vary that upto about 2a on something like a B6 with both balance tab and output leads connected.

Just remember it has to both charge and balance through those three thin wires leading to the balance tab.

Have patience...lol

[Gaffa]

Re: lipo charging help needed

If you put a charge through anything to increase its output voltage, then it isn't going to decrease over an hour.

I think you've forgotten to put the balance leads in. The lower voltage reading suggests this (as the balance lead provides a reading, but none the less, its a more accurate reading than without). More expensive chargers will actually fail to charge without the balance lead in as a safety feature.

[tisane]

He can ONLY plug the balance tab in with that Gaffa.

[The General]

Re: lipo charging help needed

These chargers only charge via the balance lead.

I had one and dumped it. They are seriously crap. They don't balance charge correctly. At least mine did not.

Mine was the version with the figure of eight input built in. But essentially the same model.

Get an iMax B6 charger. Lipo batteries are cheap enough, don't skimp on the charger.

[Gaffa]

Re: lipo charging help needed

There's your problem...

To balance charge properly you need both the battery connector (Tamiya/ Deans/ Micro Deans/ XT60/ etc) as well as the multi-coloured balance lead - if this doesn't have both then that, in my eyes, is a serious issue in terms of battery maintenance/ safety.

[The General]

Re: lipo charging help needed

Just a thought, what are you powering this charger with?

I know it sounds stupid but did you use the actual battery itself as the power source? That would explain why the battery drained.

[The General]

Re: lipo charging help needed

There's your problem...

To balance charge properly you need both the battery connector (Tamiya/ Deans/ Micro Deans/ XT60/ etc) as well as the multi-coloured balance lead - if this doesn't have both then that, in my eyes, is a serious issue in terms of battery maintenance/ safety.

These range of cheap chargers only charge via the balance tab/lead. You cannot connect through any other means. I believe its why they are so inaccurate charging wise.

That and they are crap.

So I am in complete agreement with you.

[jonnyhal]

Re: lipo charging help needed

thanks for the help, i might buy a Turnigy Accucel 6 Charger as they seem to do the lot!

[The General]

Re: lipo charging help needed

thanks for the help, i might buy a Turnigy Accucel 6 Charger as they seem to do the lot!

Get the iMax B6 if you can. The Accucel is a clone of this charger and many claim they are not as good or accurate. Plus they are similar prices.

[Gaffa]

Re: lipo charging help needed

Just a thought... But those crocodile clips - aren't they for the battery... I can see two other ports (balance ports for 7.4v and 11.1v) on the other side.

Now before anyone screams at me, aren't those crocodile clips supposed to go to the battery?

I got a Turnigy Accucel 6 ages ago now, and when that came, the actual battery connection terminals were actually croc clip wires - I simply snipped them off, put a tamiya on and everything works fine now...?

Edit - the A6 is not a clone damnit. And the research actually suggests that the balancer on the I6 isn't as good... plus the A6 has a cooling fan. Not a clone...

[tisane]

No mate the croc clips are to connect to a car battery to power the charger itself.

Im sure low voltage would be the least of his probs if he connected those to the lipo aswell...lol