Charger Calibration

[cymaz]

I found that my chargers needed to be calibrated. They weren’t reading the battery voltage correctly, only by a few milli volts

Hope the video helps

[Romeo Whisky]

I realise that this is of no practical help, but I have 5 chargers of various brands and models including an IMax B6.

Some time ago I checked the voltage reading of all of these on a single 3S LiPo battery, plus a Kinzo voltmeter, three different battery-checkers and two different wattmeters which also show start voltage. None of them agreed with any other!

Whether this is due to variations in the gadget design tolerances or possibly fluctuating lipo battery voltage, I can't say. I even have one (my most expensive auto-balancing charger) which routinely charges some cells to just slightly above 4.2V to get as close to a fully charged 3S battery as possible. (I rarely use that one any more).

All I can say is that for practical purposes the chargers all charge OK and it doesn't seem to have any effect (that I can detect) on flight performance or duration.

[cymaz]

Copies of original chargers will have been made with less expensive components. Tolerances won’t be as good so I assume values and charge rates will wander a bit.

I assume calibration may be a way of getting around these issues.

[Chris Walby]

Nice idea there Cymaz, but I am still using my Fluke 87 that I was given as an apprentice 35 years ago...not sure what will be more accurate the charger or the multimeter? Then again to calibrate anything its normal to have your test instrument calibrated against a known accurate standard source on a regular basis. If the charger is very close it won't make much difference (IMO) and if its way out then point taken.

Now where did I leave my UKAS calibration certificate...