Charging in serial or parallel

[BHChieftain]

Hi,
I was trying to research the best way to charge multiple lipo packs either in series or //, and I've seen a bunch of conflicting information.

Here's my situation-- I have a bunch of packs that are the same manufacturer, C-rating, cell count, and mah.

I have a hyperion duo charger, with a 300+watt power supply.

What's the best way to charge multiple packs on each charger port? Serial or //? How do I connect up the balance leads while charging multiple packs?

Thanks,
jq

[kookie_guy]

Hi,
I was trying to research the best way to charge multiple lipo packs either in series or //, and I've seen a bunch of conflicting information.

Here's my situation-- I have a bunch of packs that are the same manufacturer, C-rating, cell count, and mah.

I have a hyperion duo charger, with a 300+watt power supply.

What's the best way to charge multiple packs on each charger port? Serial or //? How do I connect up the balance leads while charging multiple packs?

Thanks,
jq

With the hyperion DUO, you can do a couple of things. Your power supply will limit how fast you can charge.

1) charge them one pack per port. You can do so in solo mode, where only that 1 pack on the port gets balanced, or in sync mode, where both ports will be charged and balanced as one system (or series). This is generally the most common.

2) You can also take, for example, 2x 2s packs, hook them up in series to creat a 4s system, and charge it as a 4s system on one port. You will of course need a balance adapter, which will take each of the 2s balance connectors, and turn it into a 4s balance connector. You can also do this on the other port. You would have to set it to charge as a 4s battery. So essentially, you would be capable of charging 4x 2s packs at once. Again, your power supply will limit your full potential.

3) hell, if you are doing 2s packs, you can wire 3 of them in series (making it 6s) with a balance adapter, and you can charge 6 packs all at once on both ports. But again, power supply will be your limiter.

I personally wouldn't do parallel charging. But to do it, you would leave it, for example, as 2s battery, but double the capacity. You would also have to parallel the balance connectors. The problem is that if something goes wrong with 1 pack, your charger will keep dumping a charge into the good pack, and you can guess where that leads.

In my personal opinion, if you do decide to charge multiple packs, do so in series like option 2.

I hope I didn't confuse you even more. lol.

[BHChieftain]

I was thinking about option 2...
Where would i find the balance boards for this?

Chief

[kookie_guy]

You would use your existing balance boards. You need harness adapters. Where it takes each of the 2s (for example) balance connectors from the batteries, and merges them into 1 4s balance connector, which gets plugged into the 4s slot on the existing balance board.

here's an example....you just gotta make sure you are getting the correct connector type.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Align-XH-JST-type-Lipo-battery-balance-4s-2s-adapter-/170556441191?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item27b5f4c267

[Brushlessracev]

I was thinking about option 2...
Where would i find the balance boards for this?

Chief

Hobby king has balance boards and Y- adapters. i use a Y to do 2x2s and that makes a 4s i do that x2 making it a 8s pack i do not know if your charger will do 8s but mine does.
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...idProduct=7444