Best method for charging lipos

[RC-Flyer63]

Hello, I got a question about charging lipos. What is the best method to assure their longest life? I currently charge all my lipos, regardless of capacity, in balance mode on my charger and I have never charged them faster than 2C. It sometimes takes a bit of time but my thoughts were that useing balance mode to make sure all the cells were always even that that was the best way for insureing the longest life. Lat me know your thoughts and perfered methods. I have also recently started using a board to allow me to charge multiple packs of the same capacity and so far I can see no ill effects, please tell me your thoughts on this also. Thanks

 

[aiidanwings]

Regardless of the battery specs, mine are always balance charged at .5c using a temp sensor driven cut off in case of boom.

 

[willsonman]

Sounds like you are doing what I do. I have one of the 9$ 2200 3S zippy batteries and have nearly 100 charges on it. I use a fine tipped marker to write on the side of the pack after every flight. After a 5th flight I use a discharge cycle and balance charge. I only charge at 1C unless I am at the field or a fly-in where I want it to go a bit faster.