David Jacobs Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Just received Turnigy 5000 4S from Hobbyking. As usual with a new battery I have Balance charged at 5a. However unusually I the charger has not reported Full (and stopped charging) after three full cycles now. I have four of these and all are doing the same. I also received some 2200 3S they charged fine. Do I continue balance charging or zap in a normal charge? I am well used of charging LI-PO's but never had this before. Any advice appreciated. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Watkins Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Which charger is it David . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Gorham_ Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Balance charging IS normal charging when using multi-cell Lipo batteries! I would check the individual cell voltages with the battery off the charger. My guess is that the charger cannot get the cells to balance, so measuring the cell voltages will tell you how far out of balance they are (if they are). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Jacobs Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 Denis, Its a Hobby King HK4B6. I use it all the time works fine on my old batteries. Alan, They are all balanced @ 4.21/2 - I always charge on the balance option rather than normal charge option. I have three charge options, normal, fast and balanced. I've done a normal charge and all worked fine. Really strange why it would'nt balance charge - I guess i'll need to keep an eye on them. Thanks Edited By David Jacobs on 30/03/2017 16:55:49 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Sounds like you have a time or max capacity limit set, hence why it is terminating early. See page 11 of the manual for further details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Watkins Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Thanks David, what do you plug the charger into? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Jacobs Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 Denis - Its a 20a Power Supply Matty - Yeah I do have a limit for safety reasons. I t has been suggested that "Discharge some down to about 50% and charge again at .5 or 1 amp max. Problem is your charger balance circuit is not heavy enough to get these in balance. This is becoming "the new normal" due to shipping regulations requiring them to discharge much lower than in the past and causing an imbalance that many chargers cannot correct at high output charges." I'll give that a try.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Watkins Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 This is where I was leading David Do your stuff now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Posted by David Jacobs on 30/03/2017 17:09:44: Matty - Yeah I do have a limit for safety reasons. It has been suggested that "Discharge some down to about 50% and charge again at .5 or 1 amp max. Problem is your charger balance circuit is not heavy enough to get these in balance. This is becoming "the new normal" due to shipping regulations requiring them to discharge much lower than in the past and causing an imbalance that many chargers cannot correct at high output charges." I'll give that a try.... Hmm, not sure I hold with that argument. It's true that packs are shipped at lower voltages now (3.7-3.75V/cell), but that should be well within the scope of any decent charger. I took delivery of 4 Graphene packs the other day and they were all at 3.75V/cell +-0.01V. If your packs were well out of balance (i.e. say >0.07V difference) on arrival the solution is not to try and balance them up; send em back. Your charger has a max balance current of 300ma. I agree that is on the low side, but if you are charging a single pack rather than trying to use all 4 outputs it should be sufficient. What are your time/capacity limits set at? If you are charging a 5000mah at 1C I would suggest you set the capacity limit at at least 6000mH and the timer at 1h30, then try again; hitting the limiter is still the most likely cause of your issue. Charging at 1A however does seem a bit extreme; if the pack won't balance on a 0.5C/2.5A charge it is a duffer and should be returned; it's that or your charger is no good. Edited By MattyB on 30/03/2017 20:01:28 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Ps - when they come off charge after a "failed" balance charge what are the cell voltages? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Jacobs Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 Cell voltages are all as they should be. I was charging at 5a - I always do and for a limit of 110 minutes. These are replacements to old ones I had so just doing what I would normally. I'll run them now that they are all fully charged and balanced and see whether the next time they will charge on the balance option . Thanks for all your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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