Charger compatibility question: E-flite 2S LiPo Battery 30C + Spektrum RC S2100

[warpforge]

Hi all. I'm working with my father on helping him return to a hobby that he has long shelved: RC airplanes. I've been trying to help him get into modern electric equipment, and I'm trying to work out the charging situation.

He has a Turbo Timber (the small one), and we bought the recommended batteries for it (EFLB2802S30). Because he's getting started, I read that a smart charger is the safe way to go. Since he'll probably want to move up to larger planes soon after getting back into the hobby, we went with the Spektrum RC S2100. This charger says it should handle basically any battery chemistry and 2S configurations (and of course much, much more).

Unfortunately, this battery and pack don't quite work together on their own. So, I looked into the connectors and found this E-flite adapter, which says that it should work to connect the battery to normal balance chargers.

I have three questions I'm hoping to get help on. I've scoured the Internet looking for answers, and I still feel like it's inconclusive.

• In addition to the balance charging port on the charger, there's an IC3/EC3 port. The adapter has banana plugs. Do we need to connect these using an EC3/banana plug adapter like this? Or is the balance port sufficient for this relatively small battery? Is there a more appropriate adapter?
• When plugging the battery into the charger with the adapter and leaving the banana plug leads disconnected, the battery got very hot even though the charger was still unplugged. My father thinks the charger was running off some stored power, but I'm worried about a short.
• Given that these are two-cell batteries, do you have any advice on choosing a balance board that might allow charging multiple packs off of each channel on the charger? It seems like, electrically, it should be possible to charge up to three 2S packs off of one 6S connector and even have the charger balance everything.

If the answer is that we should just switch to a more basic charger, that's okay, but I'm hoping we can make this work.

I hope you're all having an enjoyable New Year in this hobby that works so well at social distance.

 

[PsyBorg]

I think you have the yellow Xt60 connectors confused with EC3 (worst plug type ever IMO)

I did some quick searching on what you bought. Seemed standard enough. What confused me was the battery itself. Usually any multi cell pack has a power tap used for powering and charging then an additional balance port for charging. Your pack only seems to have the balance port which made me do more digging. After some quick browsing It seems to me that style of pack is meant to be charged with a usb charger.

I have not found a solution for parallel charging that would not require you to swap the banana plugs for an XT 60. Leave it to spectrum to go against the industry norm and limit charging to only xt 60 or have to buy or make adapters. That said you can buy
https://www.hobbytown.com/protek-rc...9VSZCI-T7sv6xUrvrSXV3UBSDaQ2VEbwaAqJlEALw_wcB Then just cut off the banana plugs and solder on an XT60 to mate to the charger.

As for the packs getting hot sitting on a dormant charger I would say read up on your charger as that may be how they discharge packs simply putting a load on them thru the charger itself but even that may be a stretch. I will ask if he is sure the packs did not get warm charging due to higher then usb trickle charge levels and he just assumed they got hot sitting dormant?

Finally this is Flite Test and I am sure someone with more experience with this style battery from Eflite will chime in with actual experience with those specific products.

 

[quorneng]

I do not know if the Spektrum RC S2100 can charge through its balance port. I would be surprised if it did. What does the manual say?
As the eflb2802s30 battery can only be charged through what is a balance connector it may be easier to buy a cheap balance port charger and save the Spektrum RC S2100 for bigger batteries.
If you use Spektrum Smart batteries they don't use the balance port but you will have to in conjunction with the EC3 plug with any other LiPo.

 

[warpforge]

Thank you, everyone, for the advice so far.

I think you have the yellow Xt60 connectors confused with EC3 (worst plug type ever IMO)

It's entirely possible I'm misunderstanding the manual, but it describes the orange ports as "Battery Output Port (iC3, EC3)" and the product page on HobbyTown says it the charger has "Output Connector: IC3 x2 - compatible with EC3". I know IC3 is a "smart" connector that seems somewhat specific to some larger Spektrum batteries, but it seemed like EC3 was just a polarized connector for high-amperage charging.

 

[quorneng]

Yes the IC3 has a small centre connection in what is just solid plastic in the EC3 so they are interchangeable but only the Spektrum Smart batteries make use of that extra connection in the IC3 on the RC S2100 charger. These smart batteries have a chip inside them that completely controls the balance charge process so you don't have worry but you do pay for the privilege.
Spektrum Smart 2200mAh 3s 30C about £30. A Hobby King 2200 3s 30C around £10. Hmmm.
You will have to use an appropriate adapter to connect with the XT60, Deans or JST plugs commonly found on LiPo.

 

[PsyBorg]

Thank you, everyone, for the advice so far.



It's entirely possible I'm misunderstanding the manual, but it describes the orange ports as "Battery Output Port (iC3, EC3)" and the product page on HobbyTown says it the charger has "Output Connector: IC3 x2 - compatible with EC3". I know IC3 is a "smart" connector that seems somewhat specific to some larger Spektrum batteries, but it seemed like EC3 was just a polarized connector for high-amperage charging.

I am truly sorry for the misinformation mate. I glanced at the poor pictures Tower hobbies used on the product page and my brain saw the yellow and locked on XT60 connectors I use on all my stuff. After looking on another sales page it is more obvious for my old eyes.