Swift427

Andrew,

Didn't mean to confuse the issue, but the Triton EQ instruction manual talks about charging balanced and unbalanced lipos. Basically there is no such thing as a new manufactured unbalanced lipo pack(from reputable company). All reputable lipo manufacturers test each individual cell and mate packs with cells of near identical quality. If you happen to purchase a lower grade lipo with unequal cells or you slightly damage one of your good packs then it would make sense to always charge via the Triton 4-pin connector to your lipo's white 4-pin connector. Because most all lipo's have equal cell quality it is a little faster to charge thru your lipo's larger blue connector via Titon's unbalanced banana plug outlet. So in short you can always plug in your lipo's white 4-pin connector into the Triton's 4-pin connector.

The main reason most make up a patch cable and charge thru the unbalanced banana plug outlet is because the lipo charge time is slightly faster than charging via the smaller white 4-pin balanced connector. However, a new lipo in good condition with equal cells doesn't need to be balance charged every time. The thinking seems to be that you can charge quality lipos via the banana plug outlet, but then about every 5 or so charge/discharge cycles charge it via the smaller white 4-pin(3 cell) connector just in case the cells are slightly out of balance. With a new quality lipo the overall charge time should be almost identical(within a couple minutes) whether using the banana plug unbalanced outlet and the larger blue lipo connector or charging via the smaller white 4-pin balancing port connector.

By 80% charge I meant that I use a charge rate that is 80% of C so if your lipo is 1300mAH (1.3amps) then I use a charge rate that is 80% of 1.3amps or about 1 amp. HOWEVER, that's just me. Most everyone charges their lipo battery at 1C(in your case 1.3amps) and some eager beavers even charge at a higher rate. I let my lipos rest between 15-30 minutes until the bounce back voltage reaches approx. 10.8-11.0 volts before recharging. This rest period will depend upon how much your lipo has been discharged during flight as well as the condition of the cells. Realistically, most pilots have two or three battery packs and don't recharge until back home several hours later. With TLC a lipo should last a long time ~ a good lipo is not cheap so treat it well.