A charger for Blue Li-Po's

[tramcar trev]

The charger that came with my blue Li-Po is garbage it charges the battery but the green led is totally unpredictable. The Ebayist I bought it off gave me a refund so I'm not bitching about it... I was thinking of buying another battery and hopefully get a decent charger with it.....
I did however come across this on Ebay for charging these batteries, same connector etc... Only thing I don't like is that they charge at 5AMPS!!!!! You think 5 A may be a tad tooooo much to charge one of these batteries with?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-110-...Batteries_Chargers&hash=item2c6f06a06c&_uhb=1

This may be a better solution it runs at 800mA;
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Lipo-Bat...ontrolled_Vehicles&hash=item257751a6a7&_uhb=1

Would need a 12 V supply though.....

 

[spoz]

Well, presuming the "don't charge above 0.5C" rule applies then you could charge down to a 1600 mAH battery I guess, although I seem to remember that 0.3C (so about a min 2500 mAH) is actually better although I'm not sure that's not just relating to NiMH!

 

[tramcar trev]

The charger seems to be defunct now... no leds no power from it. I'm using my power supply set at 12.6V current at 300mA.... The battery wants to take more current but I'm not game...
In the interim I checked out replacement chargers and discovered that its cheaper to by them with a battery 8|8|8|8|
I also found these which give both 5V and 12 V....
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12V-5V-4...argeable_Batteries&hash=item3ccd02a7aa&_uhb=1
I shall get one just for the charger....

 

[tramcar trev]

I mentioned before..only ever had one of the original chargers that come with the battery go u/s on me. Non of the others are a problem.
Seems some of the 2 pin types with adapter were the problem.
The three pin types that come with them appear to be ok and I recommend those to buy (UK modellers) if you see them advertised. As regards buying a charger..most seem the same in a different package and do the same job at different cost but if a charge of reputable make outputs 12.6v @350 or 360mA then it should be ok.

Well 3 pin AU plugs are not available so we end up with either a Euro or American plug with adaptor ( and that I suspect maybe the issue)....
I'll use my power supply for the interim, lets me control either/or voltage and/or current.

Its very handy for twiddling around with strings of leds etc... Hyacinth gave it to me for Xmas, made a difference to clothes and/or toiletries.....
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DAZHENG-...cal_Test_Equipment&hash=item53ff5794fc&_uhb=1

 

[GAP]

Trev

Maybe you could use one of these, I'm buying one with a built in 240V supply to charge a LiPo.

You could just run it off your bench supply, I connect my current charger to my bench supply which is an old ATX computer power supply.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__5548__IMAX_B6_Charger_Discharger_1_6_Cells_GENUINE_.html

 

[ge_rik]

Trev
Maybe you could use one of these, I'm buying one with a built in 240V supply to charge a LiPo.
You could just run it off your bench supply, I connect my current charger to my bench supply which is an old ATX computer power supply.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__5548__IMAX_B6_Charger_Discharger_1_6_Cells_GENUINE_.html

I use one of these. It's very versatile, will charge NiCd, NiMH, Li-ion, Lipo and Lead acid. It can be programmed for a range of different set-ups and will charge, discharge, refresh or charge for over-winter storage. You can set the charge rate for fast, quick or slow charge.

I see they have now come down in price quite a bit since I bought mine.

Rik

 

[tramcar trev]

Trev
Maybe you could use one of these, I'm buying one with a built in 240V supply to charge a LiPo.
You could just run it off your bench supply, I connect my current charger to my bench supply which is an old ATX computer power supply.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__5548__IMAX_B6_Charger_Discharger_1_6_Cells_GENUINE_.html

I use one of these. It's very versatile, will charge NiCd, NiMH, Li-ion, Lipo and Lead acid. It can be programmed for a range of different set-ups and will charge, discharge, refresh or charge for over-winter storage. You can set the charge rate for fast, quick or slow charge.

I see they have now come down in price quite a bit since I bought mine.

Rik

Not sure if they could charge these "Blue" batteries as there is no provision to charge cells individually. Apparently the cells are "matched and balanced" at manufacture....

 

[ge_rik]

I use it for the blue batteries. You set it up with the rate of charge and it detects the number of cells when you start charging - you then confirm and away it goes.

I've also used it to charge individual cells. When one of the Chinese Blues didn't work on receipt, I snipped the wires between each cell and charged each one separately - it turned out two cells were OK and one was duff so I'm going to use it as a 2 cell battery. I've not separated the cells, though. Read some horror stories about what happens if you accidentally puncture a cell.

Rik

 

[beavercreek]

I use the four-bank version and they are really worth their weight in gold as it can do either 4 of the same type chemistry of battery at the same time or four totally different ones with different power capacity.