Charging larger batterys/ Time needed ?

[lou1984]

in the process of going large eletric in my warbirds , on the fence about big eflight or going gas ... can someone please tell me the avg time or proper time needed to charge the following batterys , i will be usieng two .
I have the astro flight charger that is designed for big lipos and I also have a Triton charger
Thanks

Capacity: 5000mAh
Voltage: 5S1P / 5 Cell / 18.5V
Discharge: 45C Constant / 90C Burst
Weight: 715g (including wire, plug & case)
Dimensions: 161x50x44mm

[Heli Jim]

Assuming the charger is capable of charging a 5 cell / 18.5 Volt pack,
you would want to charge at 1C rate which would be at 5 amps for 1 hour.

[lou1984]

THanks , thats not bad considering that will be the largest batterys in my fleet . I now have to investgate my chargers to make sure they can handle these batterys . I was told back two years ago when dabbeling in eflight that the astro charger I bought would be the last charger I ever needed !!!

[slipstick]

If the charger you have is the Astro 109d (they've made a number of different chargers over the years) then it will easily charge your 5000mAh battery at 5A. From empty a full charge is likely to take around an hour.

If your Triton is really a Triton and not a Triton 2 it's not going to be much use because it's limited to 3 cells. Even if it's a Triton 2 it's limited to 90W so can only get up to about 4A on a 5-cell pack.

Steve

[lou1984]

Thanks Steve looks like I will be getting another Astro flight , unless I can charge two at the same time from my Astro 109D (yes that is the one I have )

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by lou1984

Thanks Steve looks like I will be getting another Astro flight , unless I can charge two at the same time from my Astro 109D (yes that is the one I have )

Or check into the Cellpro 10 chargers. I don't own one, but from what I understand, they have built in cell balance technology that charges each cell to the proper maximum voltage. IMHO, that's better than the charge process where each cell is discharged to the same voltage. From what I've found, discharging cells to the same voltage doesn't work with the A123 cells.

[cliffh]

Here is a point that is often missed about charging lipos.

Most lipos are charged at 1C. 1C = the battery capacity in AMP HOURS. So, a 5,000 mAh battery would be charged at 5 amps. A 1,300 mAh battery would be charged at 1.3 amps. A 500 mAh battery would be charged at 0.5 amps and so on. Notice no mention was made of the number of cells.

All lipos charged at 1C will take a little less than an hour to charge if almost drained without regard to the number of cells or battery capacity. A 5,000 mAh single cell will take as long to charge as a 5,000 mAh 6 cell or a single 138 mAh single cell.

1C = 1C with any battery.

Big battery or small battery, single cell or 10 cell.

That is a concept that is a little difficult for beginners to grasp sometimes.

Hope this helps someone

Cliff

[MustangMan]

Another point regarding Lipo charging. You don't have to charge at the 1C rate if your charger can't do it. Charge at whatever current your charger CAN handle and just know that it will take correspondingly longer to reach full capacity. Note, though, that your charger MUST be capable of the number of cells (thus voltage) of your pack.