Postby Dave Wilshere » March 12th, 2017, 8:45 pm
You cannot ever charge without a balance lead. Early Li-Po's may have come without balance leads, but that was 2006! I have customers who say they 'balance charger every now and then' NO Every charge the chance of an over voltage cell is high, even charging well below C.
You would all have kittens if you saw my charging bench, 8' 4' covered in Li-po's 100's of them. I have never had a fire that was not intended..I have blown up a lot of Li-Pos on purpose to understand the limits. I've been using them since 2004 right in the earliest days. The EDF Hawk video I posted has 14s (59v DC) at 10A (10,000mAh) capable of discharging at 10kw! I had three sets in my warehouse charging and discharging, never left alone, constantly monitored for temps (touch) and sound!! Li-Pos talk to you way before they erupt, they give off a sweat smell also.
Temperature the cells are stored and then charged at makes a difference to final voltages, never charge really cold cells they might over voltage.
There are so many variables, but Li-Pos can be perfectly safe, I charged up fourteen 2200mAh packs yesterday pm for today's flying session, I'd say I charge 30 plus packs every week of the year and have been for years, never a single issue.
BUT they are not to be underestimated, even the 1.0A packs can be scary when they let go, 4 ft of flame and a fire extinguisher is not much more than a ice pack to cool the temperature for a short time.
I'm also Dave ;-)
