IMAX b6 lipro balance charger

[KirstinS]

Sorry to put here - I don't have rights to post in technical

I just got this charger through the post - on d8veh recommendation (and others ) to charge my booster packs. And ultimately my lipo packs which I will buy when my BMS -bypassed bottle battery eventually dies

Ii have a couple of questions please - instructions are pretty bad !

1) why do you need to connect main charge/discharge as well as balance leads . My cheap charger just does balance leads to balance charge

2) the default is 5000mah cutoff. My packs are around 10ah. Do I need to change this to 10ah or just under ?

3) what in earth does "supplied capacity" numbers in bottom right of screen actually mean ?!

Finally - any other tips or anything I should know then please shout

Many thanks
Kirstin

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Sorry to put here - I don't have rights to post in technical

I just got this charger through the post - on d8veh recommendation (and others ) to charge my booster packs. And ultimately my lipo packs which I will buy when my BMS -bypassed bottle battery eventually dies

Ii have a couple of questions please - instructions are pretty bad !

1) why do you need to connect main charge/discharge as well as balance leads . My cheap charger just does balance leads to balance charge

2) the default is 5000mah cutoff. My packs are around 10ah. Do I need to change this to 10ah or just under ?

3) what in earth does "supplied capacity" numbers in bottom right of screen actually mean ?!

Finally - any other tips or anything I should know then please shout

Many thanks
Kirstin

The charger charges through the main leads, reads the cell levels through the balance leads, and discharges to balance through the balance leads.

The 5ah is a safety feature to stop overcharging. You can make it anything you want, but bear in mind the actual amount of charge that you expext to put in the cells each time.

Supplied capacity means how many mah have been put into the pack.

These chargers aren't very good at balancing. They get it right but it can take a long time because they have to add charge and then they discharge to balance. It's worse when one or more cells have already reached maximum. It's no problem for a normal charge, but if your battery is nearly full but out of balance, it takes ages. You'll see what I mean if you observe what happens. Those cheapo wattmeters can balance, but only by discharging, so they're quicker. I used to balance with the wattmeter and charge with the Imax to save time.

I user s PC power supply to the Imax. A 300w one can give about 5 amps. You pull off the connector; join all the yellow wires (+12v); join about five black wires (0v); join the grey and any orange; put a switch between the green and any black.

 

[KirstinS]

Thanks as ever

I got a power supply with it - gave up trawling the local car boots !

Ahh, so the cutoff is for the amount of ah you expect a pack to take - not its actual capacity . So if my 10ah pack is half full then cutoff at 5ah is about right

Noted about the balance. Seems like if it's nearly full but tad out of balance best to just go for a short ride and then balance charge then. Or just wait

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Correct.

I think there's a time constraint of two hrs as well. So it will stop charging when full and balanced, after 2 hrs or after 5ah has been delivered. You can change the 2 hrs or 5ah.

 

[Erik]

Why would you want to guesstimate the needed amount of mAh's, in stead of entering the pack in hand's capacity and setting a one hour + a little time limit, if you can charge with 1C ?

 

[KirstinS]

I'm new to these funky chargers and still have lots to learn

Which is a roundabout way of saying - what do you mean please ?!

 

[Deleted member 4366]

No need to get too confused. These things are options for people that want to ensure safety. I just left mine on default settings (apart from selecting 6S lipos). It normally cuts out after 2 hours before fully charged, when it peeps at you to let you know. Then I switch it on again to finish off.

 

[muckymits]

I also have mine left on 2 hours for safety, so always takes 2 goes to fully charge. Just make a note of your AH before you reset it to add it to the next session, if like me you like to see how well you've done on the last run.

 

[manalog]

No need to get too confused. These things are options for people that want to ensure safety. I just left mine on default settings (apart from selecting 6S lipos). It normally cuts out after 2 hours before fully charged, when it peeps at you to let you know. Then I switch it on again to finish off.

This is interesting, I too have an imax b6 ac. I thought my pack is fully charged when it beeps at 120mins.
I have ,I beleive, is 11V 15AH (3 11V laptop batts in parallel) do I charge this 3 times? I'm charging at 2.5 amps.

 

[KirstinS]

My latest understanding is these are multiple safety features.

The charger will stop when any one of the following conditions is met

1) 5000mah has been delivered
2) 2 hours has passed
3) the voltage of the pack has reached maximum

If you press the right hand arrow button during charging it shows you the actual pack voltage ( broken down by each individual cell )

The 2hour limit and 5000mah settings can be changed but those are te default

When you charger beeps and stops next time hit start again and look at the voltages to see if charged or not. If your pack is 15ah and cutoff is 5ah they may well not be

At least this is my (current) understanding (pun absolutely intended

Kirstin


Sent from my iPhone

 

[Deleted member 4366]

This is interesting, I too have an imax b6 ac. I thought my pack is fully charged when it beeps at 120mins.
I have ,I beleive, is 11V 15AH (3 11V laptop batts in parallel) do I charge this 3 times? I'm charging at 2.5 amps.

You charge them until each cell is 4.2v however long that takes.

 

[manalog]

Thanks Kirstin. I'll give that a go.

 

[manalog]

You charge them until each cell is 4.2v however long that takes.

Aha! This explained my reduced range and alarm going off. Thanks Dave

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[Erik]

If your charger has a time limit set and activated, it will stop charging, even if the battery is not full by then.

 

[Erik]

Double posting