Is it bad to charge at less than 1C?

[desmobob]

My charger is just a little bit short on power to parallel charge four 2S 5000mah Lipos at 1C. I could do it at a little less than 1C, though (.8C). Is that an acceptable and safe practice?

There's lots of discussion about charging LiPos at multiples of their C-rating but I don't recall reading about charging them at less than 1C. I seem to remember reading that charging them at too low a rate is not good. Anyone know the safe low limit for charging?

Thanks for any info,
desmobob

[Boaterguy]

I don't think it's a problem, batteries don't state a minimum amp rating anywhere, so i wouldn't think so.
in order to keep a consistent variable (don't think it matters), charge at .5 C

[785boats]

It'a all good Bob.
I nearly always parallel charge two 5000 mah packs at once on a 7 amp charger. So each pack is only getting about 3.5 amps of charge up until they hit cv. It's still a bit quicker than charging two packs individually at 5 amps. Better for the packs too.
What is the max output of the charger you have?

[desmobob]

It'a all good Bob.
I nearly always parallel charge two 5000 mah packs at once on a 7 amp charger. So each pack is only getting about 3.5 amps of charge up until they hit cv. It's still a bit quicker than charging two packs individually at 5 amps. Better for the packs too.
What is the max output of the charger you have?

My charger puts out 250W with max amperage being 10A, I believe (iCharger 106B+). I was wrong in my original post about being able to charge four LiPos at .8C... it would be .5C. (I forgot about my charger's amperage limitations and was thinking only of the Watts.)

My power supply is 200W. I have a bigger, 350W power supply on the way right now.

Take it easy,
desmobob

[785boats]

Bob.
With your charger set to 10A it will charge the 4 packs at a bit less than 0.5C or 2.5A each. It will take a long time though, so if the charger has an adjustable timer cut out you will need to set it to about 2 hours or the charge will be terminated early by the timer.
Just make sure you plug all the main power leads together first & let stand for a few minutes before you plug in the balance leads. This gives the packs a chance to equalise voltages through the main leads & not the balance leads. If the packs are ad different levels of charge there can be considerable current flow & the balance leads & pins don't like it.
Have you read through the link posted by Propperchopper? There's a section on parallel charging there. The rest of the site is great reading too. Here it is.

https://sites.google.com/site/tjinguytech/charging-how-tos

Cheers.
Paul.