Balancing your lipo battery more quickly (and how cheap chargers work)
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- čas přidán 23. 05. 2015
- While I'm editing up the UHF RC series I thought I'd post this video showing a simple solution to getting an unbalanced lithium battery (lipo) to balance if one or more cells are significantly low.
The simple lead shown in this video makes it easy to charge the cells individually and the video explains why most cheap balance chargers have so much trouble charging a battery that is significantly unbalanced. - Věda a technologie
Every RC channel has a video on lipo batteries and they all are the same content ---- except this one... This one is different. It is simply the best and most informative video on the subject I've ever seen. Well Done Bruce!
Tom Muhleman, Jr. Agreed, I learnt so much with this guy. Thanks Bruce.
Never mind. Figured it out
U right sir..
I agree, the amount of time he takes to explain it step by step is just amazing.
Tom Muhleman, Jr. you are right the best one I found in all CZcams servers.
Hi there to the MAN behind RC Model Reviews. Never been to New Zealand but heard much about the beauty of its landscape. I'd like to thank you for this video which has given me a solution to a nightmare that's affecting everyone that's got a 2S and above LIPO battery in their arsenal. I made the charging link as prescribed and whilst typing this, I'm charging a 3 cell and getting the individual cells balanced using your idea. I'd like to add that I find your CZcams channel very interesting and am grateful that I have learned much from it. As commented by Godfrey Poon recently, we mortals don't have your heat resistant fingers but we're slowly getting there!!! Cheers from up north-west in Malaysia. Ravi
Thank you so much for not only this video, but all your videos. I watched this one a week or so ago and just found myself in a situation where I needed to make and use a lead like you demonstrate here. Had I not watched the video I wouldn't have even known to do such a thing and been left with no immediate solution to my problem. I've learned so much from you. Please keep 'me coming.
Wow, you just saved one of my most expensive batteries. I had 4.2, 4.2, 4.2 and 3.8V on a 4S lipo and couldn't get it to balance and I used this trick and it's now balanced like it was brand new. Thanks so much!!!
You could have discharged the battery by using it a bit and then gone for balancing but this guys technique is definitely so much faster!
Love it, you explain things in a way all can understand and then tell them how to get something done. Love the work you do to help others.
I come back to this video so many times to refresh before I start the process. Many thanks again for the excellent video.
You're not going to believe this, but after 3 or 4 years of charging Lipo batteries, one of Thomas' brand new batteries had a Time Out error which on balance Charge. I made up one of these and I'm charging it right now. Fingers crossed it brings the cell back up :) Anyway my point being this video came at the perfect time. If it was ages ago I would have forgotten about it.
This is exactly what I did a few days ago with an unbalanced battery. My charger kept telling me battery error, well after some fiddling around I said enough! I'll just charge each cell individually and be done with it. Now I just got to make a 0.1" pin header connector with a JST or Deans. Thank you very much for sharing this great info.
What a great explanation of the basics of a balance charger. I love your delivery - clear, precise and engaging. Thankyou muchly.
I really appreciate you explaining how it works in a straight-forward fashion. No flowery prose from me, just a very genuine "Thank you." Please, do continue on your wonderful path to educate those of us who thought we knew and realize we don't. :) You do it in such a way that accepts we are human and that it is ok to make a mistake and continue on the correct path.
I always wondered how the whole balancing stuff worked and why it sometimes takes for ages to complete a almost finished charge process. Great video!
Great explanation on how a charger balances a multi-cell LiPo.That homemade charging lead looks like it'll come handy if needed.Thanks for posting this!
Great teacher. Great "splainer"! Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta would be happy to see this!
Bruce,
Very taken by your thoughts and remarks on bringing wayward cells back to balance. Thanks
Joe Homer
Awesome tutorial, I'm knew to the RC World and this video is a tremendous help in understanding the ins and out for charging damaged RC batteries. Great job thanks!!!
I couldn't figure out why one of my lipos seemed to only be charging one cell. Thanks for explaining this.
Thanks, this is very helpful information about how multi-cell batteries are connected internally and the concept behind balancing charger.
I love your ability to explain electronics with some humour Bruce! Great video.
Thanks! Couldn't have been explained better! I'm just getting started with a little 1S-8S battery alarm/meter, cheap chargers, and 2S batteries for my quadcopters, and will be sure to keep them maintained thanks to your help!
this video helped me so much to understand battery charging and design my own charging systems for robotics! Thanks so much! I come back to this video now and then to review and refresh my understanding!
Fantastic. I just brought back from the dead several three cell lipo packs where one cell had gotten way lower than the other two. No special harness required. My new (2019) charger was able to charge all 3 and repeatedly discharge the two high ones until the lower one "caught up" IF AND ONLY IF I set the charging amps to around .01 and let the unit take its time. Without your explanation of how balance chargers work, I wouldn't have known this was possible. So, thanks.
Finally...! Someone explained the "C" rating on the batteries, rather than just using it in a sentence. Thank you.
1:31 - Why do some batteries have the rating in amps, as well as milliamps...? For those of us who suck at math.
5:09 - 4 X .450 = 1.25 amps
Thanks again.
Hello,
I know this is an old video, but I hope you see that you have continually helped folks such as me. Great Intel and tip(s). Thanks so much.
cheers
Boots Langley
La Mesa, Ca
Been years since I last watched your videos, and about 3 years later still thoroughly enjoying them as much as I did back then. Not sure if I sent regards the last time I watched your enjoyable and informative videos, so heres a big thank you. Cheers. PS: so very curious to know if you were ever a teacher or a professor or the like, you have a great style and energy about you in the way you share knowledge!
THANK YOU sir when building your own batteries your advice makes it possible. Only video like it from those of us who refuse to use BMS. Thanks again my hero
Top content Bruce! I wish I saw this vid a couple days ago, I spent the whole day yesterday charging 2 unbalanced lipos, well I just made my individual cell charging cable, thanks!
New to Lipos. Just found your videos. They have been soooo helpful.
This is awesome Bruce. I learn something every time I visit your channel
Gotta love the white board sessions!
Very educational.
Amazing video. Watched a few others but this one gave me the confidence I needed to try this. Had everything I needed on hand and it's working as I type. Thank you for saving my battery!
I bought an iMax B6 charger and like yours, a bunch of various adapters came with the kit. One of those adapters, a small red one with a shroud around 2 pins, came in useful in place of your .1mm Pin Header, I simply used a small hobby fret saw to cut a groove around the base of the hood, not too deep or the pins will be damaged, and then used a pair of pliers to neatly snap off the hood, exposing 2 perfectly matched pins that fit into
the cell connector, I then set about charging each cell individually and balanced what was an ailing 36v 10ah LiFePo4 Ping battery pack. Now, during charging, the SIGNALAB BMS cell LED's flicker into life within seconds of each other and they come back up to working voltage in unison,...if you have one of those chargers, use a fret saw or craft knife to cut a groove around the base of the hood, and snap off the hood,....works perfectly and the red and black wires are already connected.
Another great video Bruce, very clear and informative.
Thanks, I will make a lead up now.
so back to the bench!!!
Thank you for your channel! Really very useful information. And I get smarter and smarter each time I watch your videos!
Superb, as always, Bruce.
I think i liked more the detailed explanation on how the charge works (whiteboard part) than the conector itself. Nevertheless, i've just made one myself to "rebalance" a Lipo. Just trying it now.
Thank you Bruce for the effort and always detailed classes, not only this one, but many other topics i got lectured remotely :)
Love your videos and your website, Bruce - thanks!
VERY interesting and informative. I will be in the shed tomorrow checking batteries and making these leads up.
Awesome explanation Bruce! I never knew the intricacies of these chargers.
Happy New Year Bruce. Your a top bloke. Hope to get up north and fly with you some day. This vid was brilliant . Just made myself a field charger with 18650s 4x6 but one cell (4 x 2500mah) was 0.11 difference from the other cells. Was painful to try balance through charger at .5amp so i made a rig and got them back up to match the rest. Thankyou have a wonderful new year champ.
Great explanation! I am new at this so thank you for getting me up to speed on charging and discharging these batteries! Great video!
Thank you very much for explaining the whole charge process in a very good way!
Thank you boss. This is by far the best/easiest way to balance very unbalanced batteries 😁👍
Nice example and explanations! Perfect as this is happening on a couple of battery cells! Thanks and hope you're going well!
thank you so much for helping newbies like me. i love all of your videos. very informative yet entertaining. keep it up my good sir.
Sir!
I would love to thank your for your great demonstration about the function of BMS cinrcuits. I was searching the internet for that till i found your video, and it was all I ever wanted to know
Thank you very much.
best rc plane channel on yt. Thanks Bruce
his a good teacher, but a shity cheer leader!
very good idea and saves time.
Another way to do this is to use a separate balancer and balance the battery. After the battery is balanced then continue the balanced charging from that point with the charger.
Sincerest Thankyou. The explanation and insight is very much appreciated. TonyC from Canada
That's a brilliant lesson. I've often had the issue of one cell lower than the others and as a result, the battery has spent ages on the balance charger. Certainly takes some of the mystique out of Lipo's.
As always, Vvery informative! Thanks Bruce.
Best informative lipo charge and discharge!
i first got into rc about 8 years ago but havent really touched anything rc in about 6 years. now that i am building an ebike that will be powered via lipo, i am finally zeroing in on exactly how these chargers and balance ports work. it helps that i also got into solar and battery bank building recently. anyways you have confirmed what i thought was true about the theory of operation on these chargers. thank you
I enjoy so much to see your lessons :) You make thinks so easy to understand.
You Rock!
I wish I watched this about two years ago! Sometimes I've been desperate enough to put crocodile clips on the positive and negative cell that needed balancing fast on my ebike battery without realising all this time I could have just done what you do! Many thanks!
you should be nicknamed "Ohm's" cause you get it! my uncle totally understood, and he would explain in a way that folks would or could...get it. Uncle Ohm's. salute and thanks
Thank you for passing on your excellent knowledge, I have learned more today.
Bruce, you've just justified your existence on earth and anything goes from here on!
for those like me who have trouble finding the pins Bruce is talking about, type "pin header" in your favorite shopping website (I got mines from AliExpress)
great video BTW, I wish I had known that a few months ago ;)
yet another very useful and excellent tutorial
Thank You master Bruce
Thanks, Bruce this addressed my problem and provided a solution. Now to get my hands on the pin headers.
Excellent explanation, i am new to the li-ion battery world an now have a good view on the balance charge method.
Thanks.
Nice one Bruce. don't forget though that many chargers can be set from the common default of balancing in the constant voltage phase to balancing always or in the constant currant phase. Also when considering spending a bit more on a charger the balance circuit power is an important spec to consider. Keep up the good work Bro.
bruce, thanks for this vid. was having some problems with a couple older tattu batteries. I got them all balanced now. worked perfectly
Excellent, will spoken and easy to understand, thank you.
Hey Bruce, Thanks for the great tip !!
As BMSWEB mentioned, this came at just the right time. I have a 3200 mah battery that was in the plane when it was lost during an FPV flight. Plane was returned to me 3 days later and of course , Batt was dead. I used the Nimh trick to bump it up to 3v so it would charge normally which worked well. However one cell has been hanging about .8 lower then the other 2 cells. I just bumped up the one cell using this method and hopefully the Batt will now live a longer happier life.
Thank you making this video, great idea. I charge all my lipos in a metal container when I can. Store them in that to
so it is that simple! I was trying to figure it out how the charger can balance the 3 cells battery! All those inventions always suprise me by their simplicity! Usuelly people think that it is much more complecated than it really is !
Thank you for taking the time to explain and demonstrated. Very valuable information for me. 👍🏽👍🏽
Superb tutorial as usual Bruce, thanks!... I'll see if I can put this in practice today :)
Thank you, very informative. The sad thing is I used to try and discharge all cells and then charge them all again. This worked on probably 80% of the batteries. I used to get a few slightly puffed batteries that still worked OKish. I wonder how many batteries I messed up because I did not think of this resourceful 'trick'. Life lets those that still want to learn, another lesson, thanks
Hi Bruce,
Thanks for this tip. Just received a new 2200 Zippy 20C Flightmax battery and it had exactly this problem. One cell was a bit low so the first time charge was taking forever. It started off 0.05 below and ended up at nearly 0.1 below by the time the charger was starting to balance and it was looking like it might take the rest of the year.
I didn't have any pin headers but it turns out the pins on a servo cable are close enough pitch that a pair of adjacent pins connects well with a pair of adjacent sockets in a common balance connector. So I just pulled the signal pin and used the servo cable. No need to get the soldering iron out. Nice. One thing I would caution is that you mut be very careful not to accidentally insert this hacked lead the wrong way around or bad things will happen.
Was able to use this method to get the errant cell up to par and balance out the battery. Can't say for sure if it saved me time but it gave me a bit more confidence in the whole process. Will have to keep an eye on that battery.
Beck to the binch.
Such a great explanation - thanks Bruce!
Great video. Very informative and helpful!
Thank u so much I don’t know if I ever would have come to that on my own! Super helpful
Great video Bruce, very informative.
Super awesome video... thank you for taking the time to do this...
3:35 Ron, The "L" in solder is like the "P" in swimming; both are silent. Greetings from A-MUR-CA. Love your channel for the education and entertainment.
Awesome video! Great explanation of balance chargers :)
Great video. Informative and practical
Hey Bruce.... salutations from Ford City PA,USA,i love your videos i find them rather informative and very useful,this here is a very clever idea .....carry on.
Ill have to crack out the soldering iron and make one of these tonight.
Great video Bruce.
Thank a lot my friend! This answers TONS OF MY QUESTIONS!!!
GREAT!
Really hanging out for your results on the UHF systems Bruce.
Your feedback will determine who gets my money, but hoping sooner other than later please mate.
Cheers.
Great video...loved the solution...hope you will make more videos....thanks for your effort for making such useful videos...
Please make more of these how to and technical whiteboard videos. I find them very informative.
Fantastic explanation. Thank you for this video. Have a good day.
best video explaining how charging batteries work thank you sir
Real smart and very well explained. Thank you. 👍
Once again an education, great vid.
good stuff bruce its good to see you doing handy stuff again cheers bazz
That's pretty cool ...Bruce
Awesome info
Well done and very helpfull, thanks Bruce.
Bruce you are the man!! great idea and works and thanks for the reason why.
Wow ! What a way to describe complex things. You are my favorite. I like to meet you in person sometime if ever it happen.
Thank you great video helped me a lot, i do enjoy your vids keep them coming
Sir, thank you for the video. I'd already built the cable for a rainy day and that day has come. I just got a new battery today and needed to bring up two of the four cells.
I need to test the maximum about of current I can run through the cable. 1.0A may be the safety limit.
You're genius, love your videos You're a great teacher thanks
Great video, Great explanation, Great job!!
Awesome video! I over discharged a small 3S 300mha battery on its first use and I’ll try reviving the one cell that got too low with this (in a fire safe environment of course). Thank you very much!
The explanation portion after 06:00 is great! Thanks