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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This is just an FYI based on my
experience.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>At the WRAM Show I attended a seminar by the
Kokam Battery guys and was advised that it would be completely safe to
charge my Lithium Poly batteries at a rate of 3C if one was using one of their
Balance Pro Chargers. Well, needless to say, I didn't purchase one of
their chargers, however, after hearing about several others who were
charging at 3C I decided that I would try the 3C rate and find out what my
experience would be like.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have some small packs for foamies so I decided to
try one of them expecting to find some negative result, but the opposite seemed
to be the case. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A couple of weeks ago I attended a contest where I
was shooting my mouth off about how I had been charging at 3C and was brought up
short by one of those listening and advised that charging at this rate would
cause the batteries to overheat, to which I responded rather emphatically that
my batteries were remaining cool. This particular gentleman became rather
insensed and insistant that he knew for a fact that the heat build-up would be
destructive to the health of the batteries. The gentleman walked away with
a look of disgust and I felt bad that I had come across so
forcefully (happens too often).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Well, the gist of all this is that this A.M. I went
to the flying field and informed all in attendance that I was intending to
perform and experiment in which I would charge a Lithium Poly pack in 12 minutes
at a rate of 5C and we would see what would happen, I being ready to sacrifice
the pack if that indeed took place. Well, in 12 minutes exactly, the charger
shut down and indicated that charge completion had occurred. I immediately
disconnected the pack and ran to the rest of the group in attendance and had
everybody feel the temperature of the pack and to everyone's amazement the pack
was not even luke warm. I subsequently flew the pack and thought that I got a
little longer flight time than I normally do (probably all in my head).
Now, these packs have never been balanced, and in fact have no balance
plugs.</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So, am I recommending that everyone start charging
at 5C? Definitely not ! I'm certainly no battery guru, but I am of the
opinion that there may be a lot more for us to learn about the current
technology and I'm certain the developments in the near future will surprise
many (including me).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Georgie</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>