[NSRCA-discussion] Li-Po and Regulators for 4C applications

Sun Feb 24 03:55:58 AKST 2008

Hi Lance,

I am not expert in this stuff.  However, I believe that it is a lot safer to use a balancer when charging Li-Po.  The charger should be tracking the cells voltage during the charging process, and shut down the charger if there is something out of order.  I agree that the chances to have problems with 2S batteries is lower than batteries with more cells that are use for high current draw applications.  However, why not having this feature when it is available and it is safer.  I know that TP-1010 you can read the voltage cells any moment during charging discharging and at rest.  I consider this very important for Li-Po.

Regards,

--
Vicente "Vince" Bortone

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Lance Van Nostrand" <patterndude at tx.rr.com> 

John,
That sounds very good.  This may be the answer.  After a short internet search it looks like the astro109, and TP have chargers in the same price range.  Some people swear by their Triton II.  There are a lot of more obscure companies making what seem to be combination chargers or Li chargers that do what I had requested.  your recommendation carries a lot of weight with me.  I'm not sure if balancing is important with a 2S pack but I do have a passive balancer that can be used after charging.  I think Falcon batteries believes that this is an acceptable way to balance a pack (doesn't have to be balanced during charging) so if this is correct the Sirius might be enough.  Red Sholefield used to do excellent reviews of NiCd/NimH chargers but for LiPo's he seems to just recommend FMA products.

I'd love to hear other peoples recommendations but only for chargers with displays that can show charging information.  For old-school packs I have 2 Robbe Infinity2 chargers and they have a pack diagnostic mode that is to die for.  It finds weaknesses in packs that seem to be operating OK.  Of course it may be a random number generator but I decided to run the diagnostic a few times a year and if it fails a pack I toss it.  After losing 4 planes to power problems a few years ago I think the $18 on a new NimH pack is cheap insurance if necessary, but I usually get well over a year on a pack.

--Lance
----- Original Message ----- 
From: John Pavlick 
To: NSRCA Mailing List 
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 11:35 PM
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Li-Po and Regulators for 4C applications

Lance,
 The Sirius Lithium charger tells you how much energy has gone back into the battery as well as showing what the charge current is and also if it's in constant current or constant voltage mode. That should be enough for you to figure out if it really charged the battery or not.

John Pavlick
http://www.idseng.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lance Van Nostrand 
To: NSRCA Mailing List 
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 8:55 PM
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Li-Po and Regulators for 4C applications

Colin,

I've been trying a similar setup. 1200maH 2S lipo with a Radio South 5.1v reg in my glow plane.  It's been performing fine so far but my charger is not a fancy one that tells me how much is put back in after a day flying.  I don't fly electric but still would like to use a charger that is not just a blinky light.  These got me in trouble with NiCds and I learned my lesson there.  Sadly, for this experiment all I have is the Great Planes blinky light charger that I use for my foamies.  Any recommendations?
--Lance

----- Original Message ----- 
From: colin chariandy 
To: NSRCA Mailing List 
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 9:57 AM
Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] Li-Po and Regulators for 4C applications

Hi all

Is anyone using the TP Voltage Regulators with Failsafe switch? They are available here in Canada (unlike most other things) and I would like to consider upgrading my ancient NiCD technology.

Considering the 1400mAH 2S TP with the TP 5.1V regulator in a 170 powered Integral. I am using an ARA170 mount...if that changes the assesment.

Any comments? 

Any reliability issues I may have missed ?

Colin.

Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk email the boot with the All-new Yahoo! Mail 

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From: "Lance Van Nostrand" <patterndude at tx.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Li-Po and Regulators for 4C applications
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