Lipo Calculator

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
Most of the math looks right, but the units . . .

Capacity is in mAh or Ah . . . how many amps you can pull continuously for an hour.

Your Max Charge and Max Discharge should be Max Charge Rate and Max Discharge Rate. Pedantic, I know, but as long as you understand those differences, the labels are just text.

Your charge time . . . well that's off. A typical charger will:

- start at a "constant current", feathering the set voltage to dump the set current into the battery.
- when it nears the max set voltage it will switch to a "constant voltage", feathering the current to keep the voltage at the max set point
- Smarter chargers will declares itself "done" When the battery draws below a minimum current. Dumber chargers will just let continue to charge (usually giving it a burst of current when the voltage drops far enough, and stopping when the the voltage rises to the set point again).

Complexity goes up a bit when you're balance charging (charging each cell individually, simultaneously), but that strategy is fundamentally the same.

The problem of prediction has two issues -- Variation in the chargers and in the batteries.

While the general strategy is the same for the chemestry, the way a charger decides when to switch between the two modes, how it approaches balanced charging and when it declares "done" has a lot of wiggle room for the charger's designer, and can dramatically affect the charging time.

The battery health will also dramatically affect the charging time as well, especially with balance charging -- if you've got a weak but still functional cell it can dramatically increase the charge cycle.

Running some notional numbers, everything but that last block checks out. The last block pops out with a 1C rate taking less than an hour -- it's my experience a good balance charger at a 1C, even with 20% left on the pack, will *still* take over an hour slowly bringing each cell up to full charge. An old, weak pack might take over two (but those, I seldom used for flying).
 
Most of the math looks right, but the units . . .

Capacity is in mAh or Ah . . . how many amps you can pull continuously for an hour.

Your Max Charge and Max Discharge should be Max Charge Rate and Max Discharge Rate. Pedantic, I know, but as long as you understand those differences, the labels are just text.

Your charge time . . . well that's off. A typical charger will:

- start at a "constant current", feathering the set voltage to dump the set current into the battery.
- when it nears the max set voltage it will switch to a "constant voltage", feathering the current to keep the voltage at the max set point
- Smarter chargers will declares itself "done" When the battery draws below a minimum current. Dumber chargers will just let continue to charge (usually giving it a burst of current when the voltage drops far enough, and stopping when the the voltage rises to the set point again).

Complexity goes up a bit when you're balance charging (charging each cell individually, simultaneously), but that strategy is fundamentally the same.

The problem of prediction has two issues -- Variation in the chargers and in the batteries.

While the general strategy is the same for the chemestry, the way a charger decides when to switch between the two modes, how it approaches balanced charging and when it declares "done" has a lot of wiggle room for the charger's designer, and can dramatically affect the charging time.

The battery health will also dramatically affect the charging time as well, especially with balance charging -- if you've got a weak but still functional cell it can dramatically increase the charge cycle.

Running some notional numbers, everything but that last block checks out. The last block pops out with a 1C rate taking less than an hour -- it's my experience a good balance charger at a 1C, even with 20% left on the pack, will *still* take over an hour slowly bringing each cell up to full charge. An old, weak pack might take over two (but those, I seldom used for flying).

I see what you mean about the units. I made some changes based on your suggestions.

How should I alter the math to me more accurate?

I also added a list of terms and definitions for clarity. Should be helpful for people with a non-english primary language.

I am thinking it would be more clear and consistent if I use A instead of amp. What do you guys think?

Can anyone recommend any links to add to the More Resources block?

I am considering registering something like lipo-calc.com and putting it up with a banner add at the bottom to offset cost. Do you think it would be used?
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
How should I alter the math to me more accurate?

That's kinda my point . . . you can't.

It will depend heavily on the charger's hardware, programming, what mode it's charging in, and the overall age/health of the battery. These things at best are hard to quantify, and will have a somewhat chaotic effect on your predictions.

In the end, you're still left with "it will take as long as it takes" . . . that and "faster isn't always better". Some things are easy to predict. This one is not.
 

mjmccarron

Member
The top of the constant current phase is approximately 80% full charge. As Dan said, the remainder is dependent on the cell capacity and charger algorithm. In the past I have used 30% of the time to reach 80% to estimate the remainder or absorption phase. This isn't accurate but its an educated guess. Perhaps just word it "Estimated time to full charge".

Mike