Tiny bit of confusion about balance charging Admiral 2s pack.

[Rob1970]

Well, my charger came in (imax B6AC and the menu is simple enough. Looked at the manual and some videos and it kinda says "You charge at the amps your battery delivers. So a 3500mAh pack should charge at 3,5A.

But the Admiral 7,4V 2S 3500mAh battery itself says "Max Charging Current: 1,75A" on the label...
Is that per cell? So I need to double it and indeed charge at 3,5A?

TTFN
Rob

[xviper]

Your charger is telling you to charge LiPo batteries at "1C". IE, 1 times total amps of the battery. In your case, a 3500mah battery should be charged at 3.5A, so yes, that's 1.75A/cell.

PS. Looking at the MotionRC site for batteries, I don't even see an Admiral 2s LiPo that comes in a 3500mah size. 🤔 I see a 350mah, 2s. Are you sure it's 3500mah? A 350mah would charge at 0.35A.

[Rob1970]

It's an Admiral 2s LiIon actually. And this is what the label says;

So... that's also "per cell"? Because then it makes sense. I know it's a lot of questions, but since just about every page in the charger's manual keeps saying the battery is gonna blow up my house if I get it wrong, I kinda wanna make sure... ;-)

TTFN
Rob]

P.S. Also gonna pop a battery alarm into the tank, since I've got one laying around anyway... Gonna set it for 2.8V for the Admiral battery as per the label, any idea what I should set it for for the Heng Long 1800mAh battery? Because that label says nothing.

[xviper]

You should have specified that it's a LiIon. The same principles should apply regarding charge rate and alarm.

[mshagg]

Lithium ion will typically have lower charge and discharge capabilities than lithium polymer. That's the trade off in this world without free lunches :)

So set the charge rate at 1.75A for the whole pack (0.5C).

The 2.8v specification is the minimum, so I would suggest setting your voltage alarm slightly higher than that (3.0V per cell or 6.0V total). The heng long pack can be set up the same. I assume the tank electronics have a low voltage cutoff anyway that will prevent you from discharging the pack completely.

[xviper]

The voice of experience (LiIon experience). 👍

[Rob1970]

Lithium ion will typically have lower charge and discharge capabilities than lithium polymer. That's the trade off in this world without free lunches :)

So set the charge rate at 1.75A for the whole pack (0.5C).

The 2.8v specification is the minimum, so I would suggest setting your voltage alarm slightly higher than that (3.0V per cell or 6.0V total). The heng long pack can be set up the same. I assume the tank electronics have a low voltage cutoff anyway that will prevent you from discharging the pack completely.

\

Sooo... indeed set it at 1.75A. Charger only does 1.7 or 1.8, so go with... 1.8? And do I kill the pack when I charge it at 3.5? Because I already kinda did... 🤔
On the question of LiPo Vs. LiIon.... which is better? Are there even LiPo packs that fit inside the Sherman? Measuring time I guess.

And yes, the tank just stops at a certain point. Not sure if that's an actual cut-off tho. Still gonna pop in an alarm as soon as I installed the metal grills on the engine deck so I can put the alarm in easy reach.

TTFN
Rob