How long should battery be charged (SkyRC charger) ?

[dxer]

I have this charger SkyRC D100 V2 for charge/storage of my Typhoon H original batteries.
Charge configuration is set to 5.4 A in mode balance.

The thing is that from storage voltage which is approx 15.2 V , battery is charged approx 1,5 hours and most of the time about 3 amps are displayed when charging. I thought that this charger should be charging these batteries much faster than that.
I am sure some of you guys are using this or similar charger so please comment this, am I doing something wrong ?

 

[PatR]

Same basic arrangement as a Hitec X2 and Yuneec A2. Check you settings again to assure the charge rate is set for 1C. If it’s set at 3A it will take longer.

Read the manual.

 

[dxer]

As I can see I can only set amps and cell number. It is set to 5.4 A and 4 cells.
Where is this charge rate you are talking about ?

How long should charger charge battery from storage 15.2 to 16.8 V ?

 

[PatR]

If you were charging a 5400mA battery about 46 minutes. But if you are charging a factory H battery you are not charging a 5400mA battery, you are instead charging a mislabeled 6300mA battery so it takes longer to charge at 5.4A.

Yes, I do know what the label on the battery says. If you want to personally verify the capacity, discharge a fully charged battery at a 1C rate down to 3.2v/cell. Note the time and mA discharged. 1C=5.4A for a 5400mA battery, 6.3A for a 6300mA battery. A 1C discharge rate works out to about 1 hour to discharge an appropriately sized battery. The downside of that is discharging to that level risks damaging the battery.

An alternative would be to visit a few websites that specialize in battery education and start reading. The reason I made those suggestions is to help you learn. For someone that doesn’t understand lipo technology much of what you were told may not make sense. The more you learn the better you will understand.

 

[Dustoff]

As I can see I can only set amps and cell number. It is set to 5.4 A and 4 cells.
Where is this charge rate you are talking about ?

How long should charger charge battery from storage 15.2 to 16.8 V ?

Have to watch the amp specs on chargers most base there 6amp capability on charging one cell at 3.7 volts . I have a venom pro 3whichnis rated at 6 amps but only charges to H battery at a 3 to 4 amp rate . If you use the balance function it’s going to take longer .

Remember as the battery starts reaching a full charge your charge rate in current will drop. The longest part of the charge is towards the end .

Charger should either shut off when the battery reaches full charge or if a safety time limit is reached.

Mine takes about 90 min to charge a battery that reach the first battery warning. And almost the same from storage levels . The stock charger takes 2 hours

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

@PatR So the point of balance charging is to bring all cells to 4.20V, compensating for the differing cell starting voltage and IR. But as @Dustoff stated the charge rate drops the closer you get to the 4.20 mark... could you not cut the charge time by a certain degree by stopping the charge process for instance, when 2 cells are at 4.20 and 2 cells are at 4.18 ? Are those last couple of hundredths of a volt really going to impact flight performance? Many times I have seen those last couple of hundredths V take 30 minutes.

At a certain point are you spinning your wheels?

 

[PatR]

Depends a lot on how a manufacturer designed their software. They really aren’t all the same. As an example I have two Hitec chargers, an X2 and an X2-400. The X2-400 always completes the charge cycle a little faster than the X2. One charges a 4S 15.2v battery to 16.6v in around 45-47 minutes, the other does the same in an hour and 6 minutes. The balancing process does add some to the charging time, the more they are out of balance the longer it takes, which is why discharging is a better means of determining battery capacity.

A cell seriously out of balance can cause the charge cycle to hit the time cut off and still not be complete. One thing for sure though, you want all the cells to be within 1/10v of each other to have a happy battery. Using that 1/10v max delta for a guide you can interrupt a charge cycle at any time to use them.

 

[dxer]

@PatR
Ok so oyu are saying that actually original H batteries are 6300 mAh and should be charged with 6.3 A, right ? But if they were mislabeled at first, why they didn't fix that labels for later manufactured batteries ?

@Dustoff
I am charging with Lipo balance mode always so like you said this would be longer charge. This is partly answer to my question, but it might be faster probably if I set amps to 6.3 ? But then again, like I said from storage it is charging with approx 3 A no matter I set 5.4 A.

 

[PatR]

@PatR
Ok so oyu are saying that actually original H batteries are 6300 mAh and should be charged with 6.3 A, right ? But if they were mislabeled at first, why they didn't fix that labels for later manufactured batteries ?

@Dustoff
I am charging with Lipo balance mode always so like you said this would be longer charge. This is partly answer to my question, but it might be faster probably if I set amps to 6.3 ? But then again, like I said from storage it is charging with approx 3 A no matter I set 5.4 A.

The charger is only providing 3 amps because the battery is not fully discharged. The charge rate decreases automatically as voltage increases.

What are the individual cell voltages when fully charged?

If your charger has this feature,
what are the individual cell IR (internal resistance) values?

The answers are important before going further.

 

[DurianFlyer]

Not intending to hijack, but we share the same topic. Just got my d100 v2 and using it now to balance/store my 3 batteries.

Initial readout before starting...

1 stock battery at 10 months old, and 2 Ultrax about 3 months, 3 cycles old.

 

[DurianFlyer]

1 Ultrax was alteady at storage level, so proceeded to bring the other 2 to storage level as well. Using the charger's interface is easy enough, set to storage, set A at 6.3, then start. After that, I tried the app and since it's already charging, showed me the display to monitor the process... Also showed me that the stock battery is kinda sick.

 

[Cablejohn]

has anybody tried this charger seems pretty simple
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N28RH1Z/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=A2P4WQ7IOJ56WV&psc=1

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

has anybody tried this charger seems pretty simple
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N28RH1Z/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=A2P4WQ7IOJ56WV&psc=1

If you want simple you can go with that, but:

Pros:

As you mentioned, simple to use... pretty much plug-n-play.
Capacity, can charge 4 batteries simultaneously.

Cons:

Very expensive... you can purchase 2 Morpilot DY-3s for less,
have the same capacity, each charging 2 batteries... however if one ever goes out, you have a built-in backup with the second one.

Flexibility... dedicated to one type of battery... if you as an example, choose at a later time to move up say to an H Plus... this charger will not charge the Plus batteries.

Provides an incomplete picture of the health of your batteries. Does not provide any information regarding the internal resistance of your batteries. IR = heat produced during both use and charging. Easily measuring IR is the most effective way to know when your batteries are starting to show stress.

The best solution to the Cons above, is to use a charger that is not dedicated to Yuneec batteries exclusively. Many pilots, including myself have gone with the Hitec series of chargers. It does require the use of a 3rd party charging cable, which are available in both Typhoon H and H Plus flavors.

It is not a greater investment for this setup either, with the Hitec X2 AC Plus charger only running about $120

Hitec X2 AC Plus Black

Adapter cables for the Typhoon H can be found here for $10

Typhoon H Battery Cable

 

[Cablejohn]

Thanks for the feedback . Perhaps a hasty post on my part after a few moment's reflection, flexibility came to mind.

I noted that the H + adapter is 20.00 x4 =80 ,,,,2 hitecs at 110 X 2 total =300. A bit more and the coveted flexibility is there and as you mention if one fails you are not stuck on the beach.

I will add I have read a number of your posts and am appreciative of the information you provide.
Thanks

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

No problem at all... I was the babe in the woods here a mere 27 months ago... The knowledge is all here, if you are willing to invest time looking for it or subsequently asking on the board.