Don't want to build a para harness for your M1 or T-Rex 150? Then buy one: www.buddyrc.com/products/parallel-charge-cable-for-trex-150-on-sale?ref=-ptdbz6d-llb
Another tip that also works and is much less work for when you have a balance board anyway: Just solder a single XT60 or XT30 (depending on the board) to a single red wire with a plug at the end that you can pop into an unused size of the balance connectors on the board. How does this work? You plug in your balance board to the charger like normal (including the charging leads). Now you plug the trivial "bride cable" XTxx described above into the balance board like a battery, and plug the single positive lead that comes off into a corresponting slot on any of the balance plugs on the board. If you want to charge 2S, you plug it into the 3rd pin (1st is ground, 2nd pin is between 1st and 2nd cell, 3rd is positive of 2nd cell). And you're done. Plug in your batteries into the board like John did and off you go. One note on this: Depending on what you use as the plug that delivers the charging power into the balance connector (I used a 1-pin dupont, but that's really not ideal) this may handle even less current than Johns variant. a dupont only makes partial contact with the JST-socket, so charging a few packs at 1-2 A is probably fine, but don't go nuts and charge huge packs at 10A with this.
John,another great how-to and your delivery is top notch,really easy to follow and fun. I am still a newb so can i ask, charging like this ,using that charger,if a cell was suspect in a pack would you get a warning? Also that charger looks very good,does not seem overly complicated, would it be suitable for the small cells like these and upto 4s apx 5000mah? would like to charge 2 packs of the 4s at once,thanks
If you want to understand how parallel charging works along with the pros, cons & risks, my parallel charging page on my site covers the topic in detail: www.rchelicopterfun.com/parallel-lipo-charging.html The short of it is, if you have a bad pack or one with a suspect cell (high internal resistance or physical damage) don't parallel charge it. The charger simply sees voltage at the balance plugs and can't detect if one cell in the branch has a high internal resistance or some other issue. Your second question relates to selecting a charger with not only up to 6S LiPo cell capacity, but enough power to charge larger capacity packs, and even para-charge large capacity packs. This is too broad a subject to answer in an YT comment box because it also requires a power supply to handle that output. If you want to contact me directly on my website, that would be best. My page on RC chargers will help you understand RC chargers, what to look for, and power requirements: www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-battery-chargers.html To quickly answer your question specific to the iCharger 306B used in this video. It's rated at 1000W & 30A at 24V input. It certainly has the power to charge larger 6S packs. It can para-charge six 6S 5000 mAh packs at almost 1C (30 Amps). It however is not good for tiny micro packs. I wouldn't charge anything smaller than a 1S 500mah pack. It works fine however with several small packs hooked in parallel as demonstrated in the video.
I cover max cell delta voltage difference in depth when parallel charging on my how to parallel charge page which I link to in the description. My quick & dirty however is no larger than a 0.1V delta between cells.
You won't know how your specific computerized charger works with micro 1S pack parallel charging until you try it. Micro packs have high internal resistance numbers and some chargers as they switch to the constant voltage stage of the LiPo charge cycle during the last part of the charge will never reach the cut off voltage due to the high internal resistance. It's been my experience that as long as you have 4 or more micro (100 - 200 mAh 1S) batts hooked in parallel, it will work with most computerized chargers since the resistance drops when you hook the packs in parallel as per Ohms Law. Again, you won't know until you try with your specific charger, but definitely monitor the para-charge cycle closely or you may find all your small capacity 1S packs resembling cocktail wieners several hour later.
I can't stress enough that you have to make sure you're not plugging two or more packs with different charge levels together! The full(er) battery would quickcharge the low(er) one. Since these lipos have very low internal resistance you'll get a lot of amps - easily exceeding the max charge current of your low(er) charged battery. That would decrease the lifespan of your batteries considerably - not to mention the fire hazard.
These packs actually have fairly moderate internal resistances at least compared to big packs. Regardless, you are fine with 0.1 delta V between cells. That's my general delta V para - charge rule when charging big packs or tiny ones like the OMPM1's Here's a current flow video showing current flow rates at different states of charge: th-cam.com/video/9UlWF4Qjax4/w-d-xo.html There are of course lots of variables involved in para-charging and you can't encompass every para-charge scenario with any blanketed or hyperbolic statement. My 0.1V delta rule is playing it on the safe side. The ONLY WAY to know for sure how safe the delta V can be with any combination of packs is to take actual current flow readings between packs (as I did in that video link), to determine if you're sending too much current to the lower charged pack/s that is much higher than their max charge rate and for any duration of time. That's another big consideration, because even with a larger delta V, the initial current flow is short lived and likely not that big of a problem if we are talking about long term cell degradation. Assuming healthy packs to start with of course. It's doubtful much if any electrolyte decomposition (off gassing) would occur because temperature would not increase much in that short a time frame and that is the killer. But to play it safe, I stick to the 0.1V rule regardless of cell size.
@@Rchelicopterfun Hi John, I agree with all you said, but keep in mind, here are people following your tips who might not see the full picture and it may happen someone will connect a fully charged lipo with an empty one :( What I did already ten years ago: do a serial connection harness and charge three 2S packs on a 6S charger - that way no risks involved - the charger is taking care of the imbalance.
@@Rchelicopterfun I just found in the manual, OMP is actually selling an accessory that does exactly what I described in my last comment. Have a look at page 17 / "step 11" of the manual :-)
Don't want to build a para harness for your M1 or T-Rex 150? Then buy one:
www.buddyrc.com/products/parallel-charge-cable-for-trex-150-on-sale?ref=-ptdbz6d-llb
Another tip that also works and is much less work for when you have a balance board anyway: Just solder a single XT60 or XT30 (depending on the board) to a single red wire with a plug at the end that you can pop into an unused size of the balance connectors on the board.
How does this work? You plug in your balance board to the charger like normal (including the charging leads). Now you plug the trivial "bride cable" XTxx described above into the balance board like a battery, and plug the single positive lead that comes off into a corresponting slot on any of the balance plugs on the board. If you want to charge 2S, you plug it into the 3rd pin (1st is ground, 2nd pin is between 1st and 2nd cell, 3rd is positive of 2nd cell). And you're done. Plug in your batteries into the board like John did and off you go.
One note on this: Depending on what you use as the plug that delivers the charging power into the balance connector (I used a 1-pin dupont, but that's really not ideal) this may handle even less current than Johns variant. a dupont only makes partial contact with the JST-socket, so charging a few packs at 1-2 A is probably fine, but don't go nuts and charge huge packs at 10A with this.
Praise the lord! Thank you so much!
Just had my maiden with the M1 - my first proper Heli. So nice and stable it is.
Glad you are enjoying your M1 too. Wonderful little birds 🙂
A great fundamental
video. Very informative.
Glad you liked it
Thank you sir,good education on electronics 👍🇺🇸🇨🇱✌️
Can I just take the power from the xt60 connector on the board. To the balance connector?
I found a really cheap eflite harness that’s pre made, as a small Blade mcpx bl2 used the 2s 280mah eflite with the same connection 👍
I have a traxxas charger. It asks for the mah number. So if i want to parallel charge 5 at once do i input the mah as 1750?
John,another great how-to and your delivery is top notch,really easy to follow and fun. I am still a newb so can i ask, charging like this ,using that charger,if a cell was suspect in a pack would you get a warning? Also that charger looks very good,does not seem overly complicated, would it be suitable for the small cells like these and upto 4s apx 5000mah? would like to charge 2 packs of the 4s at once,thanks
If you want to understand how parallel charging works along with the pros, cons & risks, my parallel charging page on my site covers the topic in detail: www.rchelicopterfun.com/parallel-lipo-charging.html
The short of it is, if you have a bad pack or one with a suspect cell (high internal resistance or physical damage) don't parallel charge it. The charger simply sees voltage at the balance plugs and can't detect if one cell in the branch has a high internal resistance or some other issue.
Your second question relates to selecting a charger with not only up to 6S LiPo cell capacity, but enough power to charge larger capacity packs, and even para-charge large capacity packs. This is too broad a subject to answer in an YT comment box because it also requires a power supply to handle that output. If you want to contact me directly on my website, that would be best. My page on RC chargers will help you understand RC chargers, what to look for, and power requirements: www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-battery-chargers.html
To quickly answer your question specific to the iCharger 306B used in this video. It's rated at 1000W & 30A at 24V input. It certainly has the power to charge larger 6S packs. It can para-charge six 6S 5000 mAh packs at almost 1C (30 Amps). It however is not good for tiny micro packs. I wouldn't charge anything smaller than a 1S 500mah pack. It works fine however with several small packs hooked in parallel as demonstrated in the video.
Thanks for the video John . I assume each battery must have the same starting voltages, or very close to, before plugging them into the harness?
I cover max cell delta voltage difference in depth when parallel charging on my how to parallel charge page which I link to in the description. My quick & dirty however is no larger than a 0.1V delta between cells.
Thanks John, great video :)
Glad you enjoyed it
Great video! I fly the micro helis and would like to do something similar on my B6 balance charger for my 1S mcx batteries. Thoughts?
You won't know how your specific computerized charger works with micro 1S pack parallel charging until you try it. Micro packs have high internal resistance numbers and some chargers as they switch to the constant voltage stage of the LiPo charge cycle during the last part of the charge will never reach the cut off voltage due to the high internal resistance. It's been my experience that as long as you have 4 or more micro (100 - 200 mAh 1S) batts hooked in parallel, it will work with most computerized chargers since the resistance drops when you hook the packs in parallel as per Ohms Law. Again, you won't know until you try with your specific charger, but definitely monitor the para-charge cycle closely or you may find all your small capacity 1S packs resembling cocktail wieners several hour later.
I can't stress enough that you have to make sure you're not plugging two or more packs with different charge levels together! The full(er) battery would quickcharge the low(er) one. Since these lipos have very low internal resistance you'll get a lot of amps - easily exceeding the max charge current of your low(er) charged battery. That would decrease the lifespan of your batteries considerably - not to mention the fire hazard.
These packs actually have fairly moderate internal resistances at least compared to big packs. Regardless, you are fine with 0.1 delta V between cells. That's my general delta V para - charge rule when charging big packs or tiny ones like the OMPM1's
Here's a current flow video showing current flow rates at different states of charge: th-cam.com/video/9UlWF4Qjax4/w-d-xo.html
There are of course lots of variables involved in para-charging and you can't encompass every para-charge scenario with any blanketed or hyperbolic statement. My 0.1V delta rule is playing it on the safe side.
The ONLY WAY to know for sure how safe the delta V can be with any combination of packs is to take actual current flow readings between packs (as I did in that video link), to determine if you're sending too much current to the lower charged pack/s that is much higher than their max charge rate and for any duration of time.
That's another big consideration, because even with a larger delta V, the initial current flow is short lived and likely not that big of a problem if we are talking about long term cell degradation. Assuming healthy packs to start with of course. It's doubtful much if any electrolyte decomposition (off gassing) would occur because temperature would not increase much in that short a time frame and that is the killer. But to play it safe, I stick to the 0.1V rule regardless of cell size.
@@Rchelicopterfun Hi John, I agree with all you said, but keep in mind, here are people following your tips who might not see the full picture and it may happen someone will connect a fully charged lipo with an empty one :(
What I did already ten years ago: do a serial connection harness and charge three 2S packs on a 6S charger - that way no risks involved - the charger is taking care of the imbalance.
@@Rchelicopterfun I just found in the manual, OMP is actually selling an accessory that does exactly what I described in my last comment. Have a look at page 17 / "step 11" of the manual :-)
Unless you already have the components it’s cheaper to just buy one
Yep - but where's the fun in that 😀