I've found the Fractal Engineering serial charging board paired with an ISDT Q6 Nano charger to be my favorite 1S battery maintenance setup so far. I like how it show's each cell's internal resistance values when I charge them from storage values, and that it can be used to charge other things as well. Using a relatively weak 12V / 3A power supply has met all of my 1S charging needs on the bench. This charger's balancing capabilities are limited to 500 mAh, which is of no concern for my whoop batteries (for longevity, I never exceed 1C rating when charging my batteries). I soldered in my own BT2.0 connectors onto the Fractal Engineering board, but it did require removal of the foam backing.
I like my ViFly use it almost every day, ordered a 2nd one. They finally fixed the PH2.0 connectors. On my first one, as others have noted, the PH2.0 connectors were problematic. They work well now. Also, they got it right by putting the PH2.0 connectors on the top so as not to stress the connectors. Some others have them on the side.
The Vifly is a great charger , I have two of them. There is however a flaw in the design that drives me crazy.. when using BT2.0 450Mah lipos , you can only plug in 4 of them at a time as they physically will not fit next to each other. If the BT2.0 sockets were turned 90 degrees , then you could put 6 450mah lipos on charge. I have to use two ph2.0 -> BT2.0 cables in the middle charge ports to charge 6 450mah lipos at a time.
ah yes, I saw this too when I tried to plug 2 450 BT2 next to each other... Well is not the end of the world and we can give that feedback to ViFly, they listen!
Quick question - I have the same serial balance charging board like that Fractal Engineering one. I put a jumper on 2S, because I have two Tattu R-Line 500mAH 1S batteries I want to charge. So two 1S batteries connected to this serial charging board. I connected it to my ToolkitRC M7AC. What should be the End Voltage and Charge Current set in my M7AC? I am guessing 8.4V and 0.5A (if I want to charge it at 1C rating, normal speed). Is this correct, or what is the End Voltage I should be setting in my M7AC charger to charge these two batteries through this serial board? Thanks in advance!
Yes. You are right. Normally the chargers have a “lipo” program that determines the end voltage. The current you chose yourself, and as you are saying if you want 1C is 0.5A. The only case were this doesn’t apply is if the battery is HV, and then you have a higher voltage limit, but those batteries are not HV if I remember correctly.
@@NordFPV - Amazing! Yes, M7AC charger uses cell voltage (as End Voltage), not total pack voltage, so I had to pick 4.2V as end voltage. Current sitting a 0.5A because I am really in no rush, I am totally OK with that speed/rate. And yes, there are some charger presets as well as AUTO mode. But I like to create presets for couple of my scenarios, some 6S batteries, some 5S, and some 4S. This is actually the very first time I am dealing with 1S/2S batteries (just got my first whoop, Mobula 7). As always, there is so much to learn from your channel and it's always a pleasure watching!
Storage charging is not such a big issue for whoops. Probably only for beginners. I fly my micros till 3.3 volts, and a battery recovers to 3.8V. I steeled that from Nick Burns, I believe. It has two major benefits 1) no need for storage change 2) fewer charging cycles
The voltage may recover - but the amount of mah in the lipo wont. I thought my lipos would be ok too if I landed at 3.3 / 3.2 volts - but they all start to lose capacity and die if you do not fly them everyday. Once I started to storage charge them after flying , I could leave them for weeks and they still feel like new lipos after a year. It also has a lot to do with the brand and quality of the lipo though.
I do this too, but started running a 1s3p setup on my Nanohawk X and since each battery is only supplying 1/3rd the load, I can really drain them. Pulled almost 3500mah out of 3 650 mah batteries on a 13 minute flight. It's pretty easy to just stop at storage voltage though. That has been my strategy up till now.
The concept of balancing batteries started with 2s and up. So the 1s was neglected in terms of maintenance. Also only in the last year or so has the 1s quad been taken alittle more serious as it can finally do some acro, fly longer, and even have digital video. I remember when all 1s were considered toy grade and finally got capability to record video that you had to watch later on your PC via SD card, and I thought that was exciting at the time 😂 The board is cool but they forgot some eachine and flywoo have the GNB27 connectors or maybe they just don't care....lol
I've found the Fractal Engineering serial charging board paired with an ISDT Q6 Nano charger to be my favorite 1S battery maintenance setup so far. I like how it show's each cell's internal resistance values when I charge them from storage values, and that it can be used to charge other things as well. Using a relatively weak 12V / 3A power supply has met all of my 1S charging needs on the bench. This charger's balancing capabilities are limited to 500 mAh, which is of no concern for my whoop batteries (for longevity, I never exceed 1C rating when charging my batteries). I soldered in my own BT2.0 connectors onto the Fractal Engineering board, but it did require removal of the foam backing.
It's a very good solution
I like my ViFly use it almost every day, ordered a 2nd one. They finally fixed the PH2.0 connectors. On my first one, as others have noted, the PH2.0 connectors were problematic. They work well now. Also, they got it right by putting the PH2.0 connectors on the top so as not to stress the connectors. Some others have them on the side.
Loved the video. I have a fractal board for my 1s batteries and it is amazing. Stay well and safe my friend.
Finally it’s about time we have a small charger that can storage discharge 👏
Yes Sr. Sean!
I did fancy buying the whoopstor but it seems to be getting negative reviews on Facebook. The BT2.0 connectors are cut down connectors to save money.
V2 the New Version says they added real BT2.0 connectors.
The Vifly is a great charger , I have two of them. There is however a flaw in the design that drives me crazy.. when using BT2.0 450Mah lipos , you can only plug in 4 of them at a time as they physically will not fit next to each other. If the BT2.0 sockets were turned 90 degrees , then you could put 6 450mah lipos on charge. I have to use two ph2.0 -> BT2.0 cables in the middle charge ports to charge 6 450mah lipos at a time.
ah yes, I saw this too when I tried to plug 2 450 BT2 next to each other... Well is not the end of the world and we can give that feedback to ViFly, they listen!
Just got to use a vifly v3 for the first time today to discharge my first set of 1s batteries. Handled all 6 at the same time which was neat.
Quick question - I have the same serial balance charging board like that Fractal Engineering one. I put a jumper on 2S, because I have two Tattu R-Line 500mAH 1S batteries I want to charge. So two 1S batteries connected to this serial charging board. I connected it to my ToolkitRC M7AC. What should be the End Voltage and Charge Current set in my M7AC? I am guessing 8.4V and 0.5A (if I want to charge it at 1C rating, normal speed). Is this correct, or what is the End Voltage I should be setting in my M7AC charger to charge these two batteries through this serial board? Thanks in advance!
Yes. You are right. Normally the chargers have a “lipo” program that determines the end voltage. The current you chose yourself, and as you are saying if you want 1C is 0.5A. The only case were this doesn’t apply is if the battery is HV, and then you have a higher voltage limit, but those batteries are not HV if I remember correctly.
@@NordFPV - Amazing! Yes, M7AC charger uses cell voltage (as End Voltage), not total pack voltage, so I had to pick 4.2V as end voltage. Current sitting a 0.5A because I am really in no rush, I am totally OK with that speed/rate. And yes, there are some charger presets as well as AUTO mode. But I like to create presets for couple of my scenarios, some 6S batteries, some 5S, and some 4S. This is actually the very first time I am dealing with 1S/2S batteries (just got my first whoop, Mobula 7). As always, there is so much to learn from your channel and it's always a pleasure watching!
Storage charging is not such a big issue for whoops. Probably only for beginners. I fly my micros till 3.3 volts, and a battery recovers to 3.8V. I steeled that from Nick Burns, I believe. It has two major benefits 1) no need for storage change 2) fewer charging cycles
The voltage may recover - but the amount of mah in the lipo wont. I thought my lipos would be ok too if I landed at 3.3 / 3.2 volts - but they all start to lose capacity and die if you do not fly them everyday. Once I started to storage charge them after flying , I could leave them for weeks and they still feel like new lipos after a year. It also has a lot to do with the brand and quality of the lipo though.
@@ScowlerJase There is no difference. Your charger knows nothing about capacity. If a battery has 3.85 votes charging stops. as simple as that.
I do this too, but started running a 1s3p setup on my Nanohawk X and since each battery is only supplying 1/3rd the load, I can really drain them. Pulled almost 3500mah out of 3 650 mah batteries on a 13 minute flight. It's pretty easy to just stop at storage voltage though. That has been my strategy up till now.
Great video. We would like u also to talk about 6 S batteries
Thanks Zack. I will see what I can do about bigger batteries
The concept of balancing batteries started with 2s and up. So the 1s was neglected in terms of maintenance. Also only in the last year or so has the 1s quad been taken alittle more serious as it can finally do some acro, fly longer, and even have digital video. I remember when all 1s were considered toy grade and finally got capability to record video that you had to watch later on your PC via SD card, and I thought that was exciting at the time 😂 The board is cool but they forgot some eachine and flywoo have the GNB27 connectors or maybe they just don't care....lol
Eric, pretty good information, I would have liked to know this before doing the video :D. Thanks
Probably from buying "better" (more expensive) chargers? Both my HobbyKing chargers did/do 1s...