Charging Lithium Ion without balance lead

[DaRox]

Hi - can someone help me understand how I would charge this battery? It's a Lithium Ion battery with what looks like two pack/cells but no balance lead. I swapped out the connecter with a XT30 plug. My charger is the gensacearespammers IMARS D300.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1N5DXDS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title


Thanks

 

[bill_delong]

I have charged 2S packs in the past without the balance harness connected using basic "LiPo" mode, the balance harness needs to be connected when using the "BAL" mode for any of the B6 series chargers where the following charger can charge without the balance harness connected:
https://www.amazon.com/Hobby-Fans-Battery-Charger-Discharger/dp/B0CC934HBK/

It's possible your D300 may have a similar setting, the manual is fairly basic and not clear if it can do it.

The product page you linked appears that the battery was designed to be charged within the radio perhaps.

 

[DaRox]

Thanks. Its seems NiMH is the only method I can use with my charger without a balance connection.

 

[bill_delong]

Thanks. Its seems NiMH is the only method I can use with my charger without a balance connection.

I wouldn't use NiMh mode unless you are prepared to monitor the voltage and manually shut off the charger when the voltage hits 8.4V... you won't get a full saturation charge, and you'll risk causing a fire if you walk away and forget the charger is on NiMh mode with no ability to shut off without knowing exactly how much capacity to put back into the pack with a partial charge remaining.

 

[DaRox]

I wouldn't use NiMh mode unless you are prepared to monitor the voltage and manually shut off the charger when the voltage hits 8.4V... you won't get a full saturation charge, and you'll risk causing a fire if you walk away and forget the charger is on NiMh mode with no ability to shut off without knowing exactly how much capacity to put back into the pack with a partial charge remaining.

Thanks, I will not do that.

 

[tntpoof]

Its never a good idea to charge any kind of lithium battery without a balance led.. the wires and plug can be purchased for cheap thru many places and the heat shrink for batteries can also be purchased... what you are risking is one cell becoming over charged then you get distracted for a few minutes walk away from battery(off charger ) then battery Goes thermal catches fire and Burns stuff down...

Never charge without balancing
Dont buy a battery without this simple thing on them balance plug
Dont fall for some hogwash
Lithium packs are High energy

Dislike BAD info..

 

[Greywolf74]

Hi - can someone help me understand how I would charge this battery? It's a Lithium Ion battery with what looks like two pack/cells but no balance lead. I swapped out the connecter with a XT30 plug. My charger is the gensacearespammers IMARS D300.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1N5DXDS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title


Thanks

The Spektrum DX8, and I'm assuming the other similar radios to the DX8, are meant to charge those batteries in the radio. Do you have the charging cable for your radio?

 

[bill_delong]

I feel that installing a balance lead is overkill, especially for a low drain pack in a Tx. In the many years of testing I performed charging my 2S packs without balancing the cells, I never saw a cell go farther than 0.05V out of balance when fully charged. Yes the variance was greater at storage but that is more telling of the quality of mismatched cells rather than a safety concern. Just keep an eye on the pack over time and look for swelling, as soon as the pack begins to swell then replace it, or after a couple years, whichever comes first.

To recap, I used an IMAX B6AC charger to charge in basic "LiPo" mode without the balance lead hooked up, this allowed me to charge my older batteries significantly faster because the "balance current" was abysmal. At the end of the charge I would connect the balance connector to observe how far apart the cells were and the highest I ever saw a cell get was 4.23V which I feel is nominal. I did this testing with dozens of packs among a handful of brands and they all behaved in the similar manner.

I can't argue that balancing is safer, but it's not always practical. Just understand that there is some risk without balancing and you need to be present at all times to disconnect and toss the battery outside if it starts to puff. I experienced a LiPo fire once on 4 year old pack that was extremely swollen, I wanted to study how long it could be used in a custom conversion I did for my cordless drill from NiCd to LiPo. What I learned from this experience was to replace my packs sooner and discard them at the first hint of any swelling

 

[Greywolf74]

I feel that installing a balance lead is overkill, especially for a low drain pack in a Tx. In the many years of testing I performed charging my 2S packs without balancing the cells, I never saw a cell go farther than 0.05V out of balance when fully charged. Yes the variance was greater at storage but that is more telling of the quality of mismatched cells rather than a safety concern. Just keep an eye on the pack over time and look for swelling, as soon as the pack begins to swell then replace it, or after a couple years, whichever comes first.

To recap, I used an IMAX B6AC charger to charge in basic "LiPo" mode without the balance lead hooked up, this allowed me to charge my older batteries significantly faster because the "balance current" was abysmal. At the end of the charge I would connect the balance connector to observe how far apart the cells were and the highest I ever saw a cell get was 4.23V which I feel is nominal. I did this testing with dozens of packs among a handful of brands and they all behaved in the similar manner.

I can't argue that balancing is safer, but it's not always practical. Just understand that there is some risk without balancing and you need to be present at all times to disconnect and toss the battery outside if it starts to puff. I experienced a LiPo fire once on 4 year old pack that was extremely swollen, I wanted to study how long it could be used in a custom conversion I did for my cordless drill from NiCd to LiPo. What I learned from this experience was to replace my packs sooner and discard them at the first hint of any swelling

I agree, the voltage will equalize pretty well across the cells. The biggest danger is is during the actual charge itself but if you're trickle charging the battery, like through the charge port on the radio for example, it will have plenty of time to equalize as its charging so its relatively safe. I've owned my DX8 for well over 10 years and charge a LiPo pack in it this way and I've never even had the pack puff (except when a pack was really old) charging it this way and that Li-on battery is less sensitive than a LiPo pack is.