[benjhind]

I've just put a new-to-me electric in the air, and I'm having waaaay too much fun with it. I can't stop flying it whenever the weather is good.

Is it unsafe to cycle LiPos over-and-over in rapid succession? I'm charging at .6A on a 620mAh cheapo 3S pack. The charger is a Triton, and I don't have a balancer. Its on the charger as soon as it is cool from the last flight. Any danger in this?

Thanks!

[Nemesis]

Originally Posted by benjhind

I've just put a new-to-me electric in the air, and I'm having waaaay too much fun with it. I can't stop flying it whenever the weather is good.

Is it unsafe to cycle LiPos over-and-over in rapid succession? I'm charging at .6A on a 620mAh cheapo 3S pack. The charger is a Triton, and I don't have a balancer. Its on the charger as soon as it is cool from the last flight. Any danger in this?

Thanks!

no no problem - just cool them like ur doing. - balancing is a good idea though.

[benjhind]

Its just a matter of buying a $XX balancer for a $12 battery... I thought balancers were to prolong battery life? I only have one electric, and a $12 battery... I can just buy a new one when this thing quits.

[astrofler]

The idea behind balancers is to prevent cell imbalance and thus prevent the possibility of one or more cells being overcharged.

Overcharging a lipo cell is a bad idea! So it might well mean saving $xx and burning down your house.

I used to be on your side of the fence and pooh pooh the lipo cautions until I saw one that had never been balanced catch on fire while being charged at the field. It's a very violent thing, a lipo fire.

[benjhind]

That I didn't know, astro! I thought it just affected the overall lifetime of the battery. I'll have to put some more thought into it :/

Back to the original topic, we have concensus that there's no harm in 3 or 4 charges a day?

[astrofler]

None at all. I often fly the same battery several times a day. Cooling it before the next charge is a good idea though.

[benjhind]

Thanks again, astro. I have several LiPos that don't even have balancing connectors... are these too dangerous to use?

[Squidbait]

Ben,

I've got lipos that I've been using for 4 years without a balancing tap - they don't have one. One of them finally puffed this year.

Just like eating omega-3's will reduce your risk of heart disease, balancing your battery packs will reduce the risk of premature failure. In both cases, you're not guaranteed a jackpot (heart attack or lipo failure) if you don't, you just lower the chances of it happening by doing it.

You really have to abuse a pack to get it to explode - either by over-discharging (too low or too fast) or by over-charging. But seriously over-charging. As long as you're charging at 1C with the Triton, you should be fine. The Triton has a very conservative lipo charge profile, and is pretty easy on your packs.

[benjhind]

Thanks for the info, Squidbait

I'm still going to consider getting a balancer for the pack that does have a balancing connecter. I might get more batteries in the future, and I might as well have it now as later.

Thanks,

Ben

[Squidbait]

Ben,

It's a good plan, and they're not that expensive. I've been using the Astro Blinky with my Triton for over a year now, with no problems.

At some point I'm going to upgrade my charger, since the Triton's 2.5A max for lipos just isn't cutting it anymore. At that point I may wind up with a balancing charger... but until then, I'm quite happy with the Triton/Blinky setup.