what charge rate to use for this 3s lipo Help!

[Spence]

Hi all, I have a turnigy acucell 6 from hobbyking and three turnigy 3s 1300mah lipos. What is the reccomended and safe charge rate that is recommended in 0. amps? I know 0.20 amps is way too much. What is a good charge and discharge rate? Also It says like cutoff of 5000mah(no idea what that means) Any help would be much appreciated. I feel too lazy to read the manual, but I will get around to it. I don't know where the manual is for it.

Thanks,
Spence

 

[stay-fun]

I think you can find most of the answers here.
Feel free to come back if you are still having issues.

 

[Spence]

I can't really find the part about the proper charge rate sorry

 

[brettp2004]

A 1300mah LiPo should be charged at 1.3amps. Charge batteries at 1c, for example 2200mah at 2.2A, 1300mah at 1.3A, 800mah at 0.8A etc.

 

[stay-fun]

There isn't, I hoped you would derive it from the tutorial.

On the battery there will be a statement about charge C rating. It can be charged at that C rating maximum, although I would advise to go lower, like half or down to 1C or so. No need to stress your pack more than necessary

 

[xuzme720]

To make it easier, remember that 1C is 1 x the Ah rating of the battery. Most packs are given in milliamps though so if you have a 2200 mAh pack, dividing by 100 will give you the Ah rating, or just move the decimal, at the end, to the left 3 spaces.
2200 mAh = 2.200 Ah

Ah=amp hour
mAh=milliamp hour

Does that help?

 

[mjmccarron]

If I'm not mistaken, the Accucell 6 asks for cells and mAh settings initially. In other words you set it up for 3S and 1300mAh and it takes care of the rest. i.e.: charge current of 1.3Amp or 1300mA. You should familiarize yourself with the charger setup procedure to avoid accidents or issues. the manual for that charger is available at: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uploads/ACCUCEL_manual(2).pdf

Page 10 begins the section on LiPo charging. If you don't understand it, please come back here. It's an important part of the mass of information needed to fly RC electrics.
Mike

 

[xuzme720]

It actually asks for chemistry as well as cell count and it does the charge rate in amps, not milliamps. Unless that's changed since I bought mine...But learning what all those settings are for is VERY important.

 

[mjmccarron]

Thanks for clarifying that xuzme720. I have only seen the Accucel-6 briefly but it is similar to my Triton as far as software goes and you are spot on.

 

[xuzme720]

No worries. Only trying to help in a confusing area...lol but most of the programmable chargers will ask for the same basic info.


But it's one area we all deal with in the beginning and live through, so it can be done, Spence. Stick with it and let us know if you still have trouble or need advice on anything else.

 

[joshuabardwell]

The Accucel 6 lets you fill in the pack size, but it's just for your own mental reference when loading the profile. You can set whatever charge rate you want, regardless of the pack size. So, for example, memory profile 1 might be a 3S 2200 mAh pack with a default charge rate of 2.2 Amps. Memory profile 2 might be a 3S 2200 mAh pack with a default charge rate of 4.4 Amps. It's totally up to you, with whatever you set the profile to when you create it.

 

[stay-fun]

Geez, reminds me of my hyperion charger that blew up. It wanted to know all these things, and if you have 10 different batteries, it's a pain man.

I'll take my icharger any day. Just set the charge rate and go! (it detects cell count by the balancer) No BS about what battery it is... It's pretty easy to get 1C, just put the capacity number in that's on the pack! And if you want to charge at 2C, just multiply that number by two!
[oh geez, that's... math! ]

Is it me, or are those chargers you guys talk about just unnecessarily complicated?

 

[xuzme720]

Not really. It starts up in Lipo mode and it selects voltage by you selecting cell count. the only other thing is popping in the charge rate and hit start. So, one extra step unless you need a different chemistry like LiFe, nicad or Nimh. But since most of us are using lipos, it's pretty easy to get charging. I like the extra options since I still have a few of the old chems and one LiFe for one of the radios.