Balancing the Lipo's

[electric]

I got a new 4s Hyperion pack a week ago from Steven and could not get the darn packs to balance out. After some investigation and and really paying attention to what was happening I determined that my (Astro Flight Blinky LiPo Battery Balancer 106) balancers were behaving differently. I have four of them. One of the four correctly determined which cell was "high" and balanced out the pack to .001. Two of the four were trying to lower the voltage on the LOW cells thus throwing the pack MORE out of balance.

So here is the question, have others had issues with these balancers? Do they fail that often? The ones I am working with were made in 2010. I also need to look around for something to replace the faulty balancers, does anyone have anything they would like to recommend.

[Drax21]

I got a new 4s Hyperion pack a week ago from Steven and could not get the darn packs to balance out. After some investigation and and really paying attention to what was happening I determined that my (Astro Flight Blinky LiPo Battery Balancer 106) balancers were behaving differently. I have four of them. One of the four correctly determined which cell was "high" and balanced out the pack to .001. Two of the four were trying to lower the voltage on the LOW cells thus throwing the pack MORE out of balance.

So here is the question, have others had issues with these balancers? Do they fail that often? The ones I am working with were made in 2010. I also need to look around for something to replace the faulty balancers, does anyone have anything they would like to recommend.

This happens quite often between different Lipo balancers . My Eco 8 cheapy from HK balanced my batteries perfectly for over a year and then suddenly even when calibrated would not balance properly anymore. I have a Etronix battery doctor and it does the same thing. Match cells to the lowest. I just use it as a voltmeter now. Best to get a proper balance charger that does the job right.

I recommend an I-Charger. I just bought one and it balances the cells perfectly and has a few extra features such as an Internal Resistance checker.

[Fluid]

It is cheaper to replace the balancer if it goes bad - they are priced low enough to be considered expendable items. What happens when the balancers in the charger go wacky - buy a new charger? IME balance charging is over-rated. Rather than buying a new $200 charger I'd rather spend the $$$ on what really makes a difference - better cells. FWIW I have not had a balancer go bad, and I've used Astro, Hyperion and FlightPower. Just lucky I guess.

Frankly I never balance charge, never have either even though my Hyperion chargers will do it. I do check the pack balance every few charges, but few of my packs need balancing very often (no cheap Chinese packs). I charge through the power wires, never a problem in years of serious racing. But a disclaimer - cheap packs may need more frequent balancing.


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[electric]

It is cheaper to replace the balancer if it goes bad - they are priced low enough to be considered expendable items. What happens when the balancers in the charger go wacky - buy a new charger? IME balance charging is over-rated. Rather than buying a new $200 charger I'd rather spend the $$$ on what really makes a difference - better cells. FWIW I have not had a balancer go bad, and I've used Astro, Hyperion and FlightPower. Just lucky I guess.

Frankly I never balance charge, never have either even though my Hyperion chargers will do it. I do check the pack balance every few charges, but few of my packs need balancing very often (no cheap Chinese packs). I charge through the power wires, never a problem in years of serious racing. But a disclaimer - cheap packs may need more frequent balancing.




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Yes, I thought it was ODD that the astro's would go flaky on me? I am going to play with them a bit more and double check. At least one of them I know is working well and I will probably just buy a few more. Fluid, maybe I will give them to you the next race to check out, and see if it is just me. Right now they are my "unbalancing" balancers. I have tried the Turnigy balancing charger and it really did not work well at all. I just charge them through the power wires as you suggest. I am slowly building up my Hyperion battery arsenal, but it is an expensive painful process and I keep being tempted by whatever the latest "it's good as an hyperion battery, but half the price" discussion there is. So far, nothing I have tried comes close.

I will say if your are sport running there are other options that are fine, but once you start racing every component(including the batts) matters.

[sailr]

I just bought two of these chargers as backups. Can't beat it! These are in their Miami warehouse. They also have a Los Angeles warehouse. Cost for the charger? $30.53. Shipping for two? $10.35!

http://leaderhobby.com/product.asp?ID=9394001225187&Location=MIAMI

[sailr]

Yes, I thought it was ODD that the astro's would go flaky on me? I am going to play with them a bit more and double check. At least one of them I know is working well and I will probably just buy a few more. Fluid, maybe I will give them to you the next race to check out, and see if it is just me. Right now they are my "unbalancing" balancers. I have tried the Turnigy balancing charger and it really did not work well at all. I just charge them through the power wires as you suggest. I am slowly building up my Hyperion battery arsenal, but it is an expensive painful process and I keep being tempted by whatever the latest "it's good as an hyperion battery, but half the price" discussion there is. So far, nothing I have tried comes close.

I will say if your are sport running there are other options that are fine, but once you start racing every component(including the batts) matters.

Check out the new Haiyin batteries. www.haiyinstore.com . They don't claim to be as good as the hyperions but I have inside info that says that is their focus. I have two of their packs that so far are proving out to be very very good. The prices are great and they are shipped to you from a USA warehouse!