wildbills rc

My Feedback: (1)

My sky lipos have always taken 60 minutes to fully charge. They are 5000 40c 2 cells. Now all of a sudden they are taking 100-120 minutes to charge. What gives? It seems later in the charge cycle the amps go way down. Usually the batteries charge at a consistant 5 amps. The volts stay high liek they should normaly. What gives? I have a nice tenergy balance charger

guver

My Feedback: (325)

As they wear out the IR goes up and sometimes even the two lead connections increase in resistance as time and use go on. (only if this isn't a balance issue) This is characteristic of a very long CV stage.

An imbalance issue can give certain chargers fits and cause them to slow down , but I suspect that isn't the trouble here because you said the voltage is high.

wildbills rc

My Feedback: (1)

they are still very new batteries. Same ocurance with my hexfly lipo. Maybe an issue with the charger? hmmm. They all still charge fully though

bgosselin

Sounds like the cells may be getting out of balance to the point where the charger has to slow the rate wayyy down to keep any single cell from exceeding 4.2v...

Not sure if your charger has it, but some allow you to look at each cell voltage during the charge cycle. If not (or to double-check) use a meter and measure each cell when the slow down happens.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

A good indication (depending upon how the particular charger works) will be to see at what point the cv is hit.

If the cv is hit very early on then my guess is right. If the cv isn't hit early on (and 1 cell is 4.2) then bgosselin's idea is right. OR we could both be wrong, lol.

Another way to differentiate between the two is to charge without balancing and see if it speeds up a lot.

bgosselin

Your idea of the high IR would make more sense for older packs, but the OP said these were newer packs where I would hope IR isn't increasing already.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

I should hope not , but some of us can degrade packs in a hurry.

Anything in that series circuit can add to the resistance. I've seen lots of old worn out banana jacks and connectors that might do this.

It does seem that it is occurring with more than one pack. Kinda points to a common item (charger or lead?)

wildbills rc

My Feedback: (1)

Im gonna try to charge but not balance and see what heppens tomorrow. Im also gonna make sure all my connectors are clean. I have been running in water and mud lately

Mikecam

If you take them down low even once the cells can become way off in balance and so the extra time it takes to charge. Check the separate cell voltages and see if they are out when charging.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

Please pay attention to the balance or max voltage of each cell during the charge if you do a non-balancing test charge. If it is way out of balance then 1 cell may grossly overcharge causing danger. If the pack was balanced before last use it will be in balance even with this non-balanced charge.