Balancing your lipo battery more quickly (and how cheap chargers work)
Вставка
- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- While I'm editing up the UHF RC series I thought I'd post this video showing a simple solution to getting an unbalanced lithium battery (lipo) to balance if one or more cells are significantly low.
The simple lead shown in this video makes it easy to charge the cells individually and the video explains why most cheap balance chargers have so much trouble charging a battery that is significantly unbalanced.
![Дон ДОН, Алаудинов и СБЕЖАВШИЕ из под Курска ахматовцы 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dEfCf5IK26Q/mqdefault.jpg)
Every RC channel has a video on lipo batteries and they all are the same content ---- except this one... This one is different. It is simply the best and most informative video on the subject I've ever seen. Well Done Bruce!
Tom Muhleman, Jr. Agreed, I learnt so much with this guy. Thanks Bruce.
Never mind. Figured it out
U right sir..
I agree, the amount of time he takes to explain it step by step is just amazing.
Tom Muhleman, Jr. you are right the best one I found in all UA-cam servers.
Hi there to the MAN behind RC Model Reviews. Never been to New Zealand but heard much about the beauty of its landscape. I'd like to thank you for this video which has given me a solution to a nightmare that's affecting everyone that's got a 2S and above LIPO battery in their arsenal. I made the charging link as prescribed and whilst typing this, I'm charging a 3 cell and getting the individual cells balanced using your idea. I'd like to add that I find your UA-cam channel very interesting and am grateful that I have learned much from it. As commented by Godfrey Poon recently, we mortals don't have your heat resistant fingers but we're slowly getting there!!! Cheers from up north-west in Malaysia. Ravi
You're not going to believe this, but after 3 or 4 years of charging Lipo batteries, one of Thomas' brand new batteries had a Time Out error which on balance Charge. I made up one of these and I'm charging it right now. Fingers crossed it brings the cell back up :) Anyway my point being this video came at the perfect time. If it was ages ago I would have forgotten about it.
This is exactly what I did a few days ago with an unbalanced battery. My charger kept telling me battery error, well after some fiddling around I said enough! I'll just charge each cell individually and be done with it. Now I just got to make a 0.1" pin header connector with a JST or Deans. Thank you very much for sharing this great info.
I come back to this video so many times to refresh before I start the process. Many thanks again for the excellent video.
Thank you so much for not only this video, but all your videos. I watched this one a week or so ago and just found myself in a situation where I needed to make and use a lead like you demonstrate here. Had I not watched the video I wouldn't have even known to do such a thing and been left with no immediate solution to my problem. I've learned so much from you. Please keep 'me coming.
I really appreciate you explaining how it works in a straight-forward fashion. No flowery prose from me, just a very genuine "Thank you." Please, do continue on your wonderful path to educate those of us who thought we knew and realize we don't. :) You do it in such a way that accepts we are human and that it is ok to make a mistake and continue on the correct path.
Wow, you just saved one of my most expensive batteries. I had 4.2, 4.2, 4.2 and 3.8V on a 4S lipo and couldn't get it to balance and I used this trick and it's now balanced like it was brand new. Thanks so much!!!
You could have discharged the battery by using it a bit and then gone for balancing but this guys technique is definitely so much faster!
What a great explanation of the basics of a balance charger. I love your delivery - clear, precise and engaging. Thankyou muchly.
I bought an iMax B6 charger and like yours, a bunch of various adapters came with the kit. One of those adapters, a small red one with a shroud around 2 pins, came in useful in place of your .1mm Pin Header, I simply used a small hobby fret saw to cut a groove around the base of the hood, not too deep or the pins will be damaged, and then used a pair of pliers to neatly snap off the hood, exposing 2 perfectly matched pins that fit into
the cell connector, I then set about charging each cell individually and balanced what was an ailing 36v 10ah LiFePo4 Ping battery pack. Now, during charging, the SIGNALAB BMS cell LED's flicker into life within seconds of each other and they come back up to working voltage in unison,...if you have one of those chargers, use a fret saw or craft knife to cut a groove around the base of the hood, and snap off the hood,....works perfectly and the red and black wires are already connected.
Finally...! Someone explained the "C" rating on the batteries, rather than just using it in a sentence. Thank you.
1:31 - Why do some batteries have the rating in amps, as well as milliamps...? For those of us who suck at math.
5:09 - 4 X .450 = 1.25 amps
Thanks again.
Great teacher. Great "splainer"! Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta would be happy to see this!
Fantastic. I just brought back from the dead several three cell lipo packs where one cell had gotten way lower than the other two. No special harness required. My new (2019) charger was able to charge all 3 and repeatedly discharge the two high ones until the lower one "caught up" IF AND ONLY IF I set the charging amps to around .01 and let the unit take its time. Without your explanation of how balance chargers work, I wouldn't have known this was possible. So, thanks.
A source of pin header for a quick hack would be a servo extension lead.
Remove the outer shield that the female plug goes inside of. You'll then be left with 3 pins.
Either use a knife to lift the retaining tab and remove the pin to the signal (white or yellow) wire, or chop it off flush.
Then just plug into the servo connector on your multi lead.
Or chop the extension and solder into a spare plug, whatever floats your boat.
Benjamin Harvey Yea, or you could just hack the existing server connector charge lead sine it will most likely have only two in there to begin with.
I couldn't figure out why one of my lipos seemed to only be charging one cell. Thanks for explaining this.
Great explanation on how a charger balances a multi-cell LiPo.That homemade charging lead looks like it'll come handy if needed.Thanks for posting this!
I always wondered how the whole balancing stuff worked and why it sometimes takes for ages to complete a almost finished charge process. Great video!
Thanks, this is very helpful information about how multi-cell batteries are connected internally and the concept behind balancing charger.
Nice one Bruce. don't forget though that many chargers can be set from the common default of balancing in the constant voltage phase to balancing always or in the constant currant phase. Also when considering spending a bit more on a charger the balance circuit power is an important spec to consider. Keep up the good work Bro.
this video helped me so much to understand battery charging and design my own charging systems for robotics! Thanks so much! I come back to this video now and then to review and refresh my understanding!
Hi Bruce,
Thanks for this tip. Just received a new 2200 Zippy 20C Flightmax battery and it had exactly this problem. One cell was a bit low so the first time charge was taking forever. It started off 0.05 below and ended up at nearly 0.1 below by the time the charger was starting to balance and it was looking like it might take the rest of the year.
I didn't have any pin headers but it turns out the pins on a servo cable are close enough pitch that a pair of adjacent pins connects well with a pair of adjacent sockets in a common balance connector. So I just pulled the signal pin and used the servo cable. No need to get the soldering iron out. Nice. One thing I would caution is that you mut be very careful not to accidentally insert this hacked lead the wrong way around or bad things will happen.
Was able to use this method to get the errant cell up to par and balance out the battery. Can't say for sure if it saved me time but it gave me a bit more confidence in the whole process. Will have to keep an eye on that battery.
Beck to the binch.
very good idea and saves time.
Another way to do this is to use a separate balancer and balance the battery. After the battery is balanced then continue the balanced charging from that point with the charger.
Bruce,
Very taken by your thoughts and remarks on bringing wayward cells back to balance. Thanks
Joe Homer
Hey Bruce, Thanks for the great tip !!
As BMSWEB mentioned, this came at just the right time. I have a 3200 mah battery that was in the plane when it was lost during an FPV flight. Plane was returned to me 3 days later and of course , Batt was dead. I used the Nimh trick to bump it up to 3v so it would charge normally which worked well. However one cell has been hanging about .8 lower then the other 2 cells. I just bumped up the one cell using this method and hopefully the Batt will now live a longer happier life.
That's a brilliant lesson. I've often had the issue of one cell lower than the others and as a result, the battery has spent ages on the balance charger. Certainly takes some of the mystique out of Lipo's.
Love it, you explain things in a way all can understand and then tell them how to get something done. Love the work you do to help others.
i first got into rc about 8 years ago but havent really touched anything rc in about 6 years. now that i am building an ebike that will be powered via lipo, i am finally zeroing in on exactly how these chargers and balance ports work. it helps that i also got into solar and battery bank building recently. anyways you have confirmed what i thought was true about the theory of operation on these chargers. thank you
I think i liked more the detailed explanation on how the charge works (whiteboard part) than the conector itself. Nevertheless, i've just made one myself to "rebalance" a Lipo. Just trying it now.
Thank you Bruce for the effort and always detailed classes, not only this one, but many other topics i got lectured remotely :)
Gotta love the white board sessions!
Very educational.
*****
*Bruce*, to make nice *"connectors"* out of pin headers, use *hotglue*. Put a dab of it on *baking paper* (the hot glue won't stick to it after it cooled down!) and push the soldered header into it (try not to get too much glue under the black plastic part). Depending on the glue amount either take a second piece of paper and push from the top or, which makes the nicer connectors, just use less glue for the first dab and then after cooled down, repeat with the other side of the connector. The excess on the sides can easily be cut away with flush trim wire cutters. With some practice such connectors can almost look like injection molded ones, including the strain relief and protection against kinks near the solder joint.
Thanks! Couldn't have been explained better! I'm just getting started with a little 1S-8S battery alarm/meter, cheap chargers, and 2S batteries for my quadcopters, and will be sure to keep them maintained thanks to your help!
THANK YOU sir when building your own batteries your advice makes it possible. Only video like it from those of us who refuse to use BMS. Thanks again my hero
VERY interesting and informative. I will be in the shed tomorrow checking batteries and making these leads up.
Hello,
I know this is an old video, but I hope you see that you have continually helped folks such as me. Great Intel and tip(s). Thanks so much.
cheers
Boots Langley
La Mesa, Ca
New to Lipos. Just found your videos. They have been soooo helpful.
Thank you, very informative. The sad thing is I used to try and discharge all cells and then charge them all again. This worked on probably 80% of the batteries. I used to get a few slightly puffed batteries that still worked OKish. I wonder how many batteries I messed up because I did not think of this resourceful 'trick'. Life lets those that still want to learn, another lesson, thanks
I love your ability to explain electronics with some humour Bruce! Great video.
so it is that simple! I was trying to figure it out how the charger can balance the 3 cells battery! All those inventions always suprise me by their simplicity! Usuelly people think that it is much more complecated than it really is !
Been years since I last watched your videos, and about 3 years later still thoroughly enjoying them as much as I did back then. Not sure if I sent regards the last time I watched your enjoyable and informative videos, so heres a big thank you. Cheers. PS: so very curious to know if you were ever a teacher or a professor or the like, you have a great style and energy about you in the way you share knowledge!
Awesome tutorial, I'm knew to the RC World and this video is a tremendous help in understanding the ins and out for charging damaged RC batteries. Great job thanks!!!
you should be nicknamed "Ohm's" cause you get it! my uncle totally understood, and he would explain in a way that folks would or could...get it. Uncle Ohm's. salute and thanks
Good info Bruce. One thing you can di if you use those 4 button chargers is to charge it on Fast mode. this stops the battery when one of the cells reaches 4.20V Then since charge each cell.
But I use Hyperion Chargers and it keeps the cells balanced during the entire charge. So if one cell is higher it will bring it back within spec (.01V difference) during the charge of the battery this leaves my packs charged without over charging them.
I wish I watched this about two years ago! Sometimes I've been desperate enough to put crocodile clips on the positive and negative cell that needed balancing fast on my ebike battery without realising all this time I could have just done what you do! Many thanks!
Best informative lipo charge and discharge!
3:35 Ron, The "L" in solder is like the "P" in swimming; both are silent. Greetings from A-MUR-CA. Love your channel for the education and entertainment.
Please make more of these how to and technical whiteboard videos. I find them very informative.
for those like me who have trouble finding the pins Bruce is talking about, type "pin header" in your favorite shopping website (I got mines from AliExpress)
great video BTW, I wish I had known that a few months ago ;)
Sincerest Thankyou. The explanation and insight is very much appreciated. TonyC from Canada
Bruce, you've just justified your existence on earth and anything goes from here on!
This is awesome Bruce. I learn something every time I visit your channel
Really hanging out for your results on the UHF systems Bruce.
Your feedback will determine who gets my money, but hoping sooner other than later please mate.
Cheers.
Sir!
I would love to thank your for your great demonstration about the function of BMS cinrcuits. I was searching the internet for that till i found your video, and it was all I ever wanted to know
Thank you very much.
Hi Bruce, very useful tips as usual, the battery symbol, the long terminal should be positive in your diagram :)
I wish I had asbestos fingers like you when tanning those terminal pins!!!!
Must be used to the hot weather down here in Australia.
Happy New Year Bruce. Your a top bloke. Hope to get up north and fly with you some day. This vid was brilliant . Just made myself a field charger with 18650s 4x6 but one cell (4 x 2500mah) was 0.11 difference from the other cells. Was painful to try balance through charger at .5amp so i made a rig and got them back up to match the rest. Thankyou have a wonderful new year champ.
For those of you who don't want to bother using this way, discharge your battery to 3.3 volts, don't go lower than 3V per cell. Afterwards balance charge them to 3.7 volts. The balancing will indeed take some time - one or two hours but the result should be close to perfectly balanced cells. Once you do this, discharge again to 3.3V to make sure your cells are keeping the right voltage and then charge to full. If there is still a difference in the voltage maybe the cell /cells is/are damaged.
Thanks, Bruce this addressed my problem and provided a solution. Now to get my hands on the pin headers.
long time bruce,,, nice , very informative ,,, But who on earth would even dislike your video ?
Thank you for your channel! Really very useful information. And I get smarter and smarter each time I watch your videos!
Superb, as always, Bruce.
Excellent explanation, i am new to the li-ion battery world an now have a good view on the balance charge method.
Thanks.
Thank you for passing on your excellent knowledge, I have learned more today.
Top content Bruce! I wish I saw this vid a couple days ago, I spent the whole day yesterday charging 2 unbalanced lipos, well I just made my individual cell charging cable, thanks!
A nice tip on soldering pins: Stick them into the connector. This way they won't disalign if the get a bit too hot.
The explanation portion after 06:00 is great! Thanks
Nice example and explanations! Perfect as this is happening on a couple of battery cells! Thanks and hope you're going well!
I need a nap after watching this, but great information.
Ill have to crack out the soldering iron and make one of these tonight.
Great video Bruce.
Thank u so much I don’t know if I ever would have come to that on my own! Super helpful
Thank you boss. This is by far the best/easiest way to balance very unbalanced batteries 😁👍
Thank you for the explanation, we have problems with drone parrot bebop 1 batteries and as the drone needs a lot of power to fly and the charger has no way to balance we hope individual cell charging will help, or buy new.
The pins I just bought to copy your cable are called: 40Pin 2.54mm Male PCB Single Row Straight Header Strip Connector Arduino
Great explanation! I am new at this so thank you for getting me up to speed on charging and discharging these batteries! Great video!
Thank you for this video. I purchased a brand new venom battery with one cell staying at 3.9v I tried your method and revived the battery. It took well over 3hrs to fix one cell but it worked.
Thank you very much for explaining the whole charge process in a very good way!
1:37 - I just instantly took off to change the battery. I came back fairly confused, un-paused the video and you finished the sentence. LOL.
Excellent, will spoken and easy to understand, thank you.
Awesome video! I over discharged a small 3S 300mha battery on its first use and I’ll try reviving the one cell that got too low with this (in a fire safe environment of course). Thank you very much!
bruce, thanks for this vid. was having some problems with a couple older tattu batteries. I got them all balanced now. worked perfectly
Adding a red LED with a resistor to the adapter cable you made will help prevent reverse connection. Add the resistor+LED in backwards so when the adapter is plugged in the wrong way the LED will light up. Put the connector in the right way and the LED won't light up.
Amazing video. Watched a few others but this one gave me the confidence I needed to try this. Had everything I needed on hand and it's working as I type. Thank you for saving my battery!
If one watches the video, it is important to pick up on some subtle revaluations! One that I caught me was that the wires that were being spliced were not silicon insulation and was, instead, plastic. It's very relevant. My experience with the stuff that I've purchased off of Banggood.com ... I bought wires for this purpose were silicon based - it's easy to manage and does distinguish the better cable insulation material. Cheers. Ravi
If you were my professor when I took Circuit Designs, I would have actually aced the class. Excellent explanation Bruce!
Another topic I'm interested in, How do ESCs work? and why do they produce so much heat?
Great video! And me thinking my 4-button charger was some wonderful piece of high-tech, that charged cells independently, only to learn that it just uses a dirty trick to do it. 😁
I am also a fan of electron flow. Used to be very popular in the old valve technology. Made explaining how they worked easier.
I enjoy so much to see your lessons :) You make thinks so easy to understand.
You Rock!
Another thing to keep in mind is that the cheap 4 button chargers don't have precise voltage measuring capabilities. So the accuracies of the cell voltages shown (3 are shown in the 3S case) will vary for each cell, and are certainly not calibrated to one hundredth of a volt as the readout shows. If you take your expensive digital multimeter and measure the individual cell voltages after a balance charge, you will probably see that the cells are not perfectly balanced. They will be slightly out of balance the same way after each charge because the cheap charger is working within its own (fixed) tolerances. This is not a big deal in most cases, just something to keep in mind.
For example, with my cheap 4-button charger if I put on a charged and perfectly balanced (according to my multimeter) 3S battery, it will think that cell 1 is about 0.02 volts low and take the time to bring it up. Similarly, if you take a Lipo charged on your cheap 4 button charger to a friend's place and hook it up to theirs, the voltage readouts will be slightly different and it may choose to "re-balance" your pack.
One or two hundredths of a volt is not significant, so there are no worries unless your charger's component tolerances are off much more than this.
It is a realy nice, well made and informative Video. You just did a small mistake: The wiring symbol for a battery has another polarity. The long line is the positive pole and the short line is the negative pole. But beside that, great Video!!!
Thank you making this video, great idea. I charge all my lipos in a metal container when I can. Store them in that to
Nice video something everyone should at least know about and how to do it.
Keep the great videos coming always enjoy them and always learn something from them. Thanks again
Wow ! What a way to describe complex things. You are my favorite. I like to meet you in person sometime if ever it happen.
Have you been a teacher? It feels like that. Very easy explonations. Thanks!
best rc plane channel on yt. Thanks Bruce
his a good teacher, but a shity cheer leader!
Another great video Bruce, very clear and informative.
Thanks, I will make a lead up now.
so back to the bench!!!
I found this video accidentally. Bruce thank you very much . Great idea
Sir, thank you for the video. I'd already built the cable for a rainy day and that day has come. I just got a new battery today and needed to bring up two of the four cells.
I need to test the maximum about of current I can run through the cable. 1.0A may be the safety limit.
Awesome explanation Bruce! I never knew the intricacies of these chargers.
I have done this also. Works great. Also if the battery gets 1 or more cells discharged too low it wont charge so put it on nicd or nimh till the voltage comes up to 3v on each cell. Then balance charge
Wow I You’re the ultimate guru! Thanks so much!
thank you so much for helping newbies like me. i love all of your videos. very informative yet entertaining. keep it up my good sir.
This method could work but in my case it didn't. The first cell of my battery was either discharging way to quickly or it was charging faster when comparing to the second cell even if I charged it to 4.2V. So, I discharged the battery with 20A current to 3.3 volts. Then I balanced it via the charger because there was a 0.1V difference and then discharged again the battery to 3.3V at 5 amps. I balanced it again and I discharged it for a third time at 0.1A. In this way I was sure that both cells are exactly at 3.3V each. Then I started charging the battery at 8 to 10A and the cell voltage difference never surpassed 0.006V from there on while charging or discharging. That is an acceptable difference so my battery is good now.
! just a detail but the +ve and -ve battery symbol lines are the wrong way around (sure you know that ;) the longer line is +ve - you can snap it in half to make the + sign :)