deviltrigger529

Hey guys, I have a couple Turnigy 3s 4500mah LiFe batts from hobbyking and after about a week of being uncharged I charged one up and at the end of the charge the cells read 3.6, 3.5 and 3.5. Is that still ok? This is only maybe the 10th cycle on them. Everytime before then they finished the balance charge at 3.60, 3.59 and 3.59 in any given order. That was only .01v difference, is .1v still ok? I know I'm probably being paranoid about it but I just want to make sure since its a little different than every other balance charge. Thanks.

Orion1024

I've had that happen with one of my packs. What I do is to put in balance charge mode at 1 to 1.5A to even it out. It might have something to do with the pack being new, as several people have reported the packs gaining capacity after being cycled. If it won't even out, I wouldn't worry about it since there's not much difference in capacity between 3.5 and 3.6V. Just don't run the packs down too low. I originally thought 2.3V per cell was a good cutoff, but now I'm going to say no lower than 2.4V per cell.

deviltrigger529

I actually dont run with a cutoff, I just stop when I notice the truck losing significant punch. The second battery ended the charge with the cells at 3.56, 3.57 and 3.56, all within .1v of each other which is how the other pack always did until this charge. After I run it thru the next cycle I will charge at 1 or 1.5 amps. I have always charged them at 10 amps to start and then the charger decreases the rate when its getting close to being done. Should I just throw it on another balance charge but only at .5 or 1 amp to let it finish off and maybe better balance or just run it thru another cycle then try?

Orion1024

I would put that pack on for another balance charge at a much lower charge rate. At least with the Accucel-6, doing this gives the cells more chance to even out. If it won't balance I would just keep using it and see what happens. I've got one pack with about 50 cycles on it and it balances OK, the other one has about ten cycles on it and it's gone out of balance like yours did a couple times. After I put that pack on at a low charge rate it balanced out and has been fine since. The LiFe cells seem to be pretty robust, so I wouldn't worry about it like you would have to with a LiPo.

deviltrigger529

Ok cool I'll do that, I have the Hot Charger which is the same as the Thunder Power 610C charger so it should do basically the same thing as the Accucell. Yeah I kinda figured it wasnt that big a deal but I wanted to make sure, and that is also why I chose to go straight to LiFe and not bother with LiPo.

deviltrigger529

Alright just got done a second balance charge on that pack at .5 amps and it took 2 hours but all 3 cells are now perfect at 3.6 and it took another 230mah. Thanks Orion.

I'm also going to start charging at a lower amp rate if I'm charging them for the final time for another day. Every time I've charged them has been a 10 amp balance charge, so from now on if I dont want the pack quick I'm going to try to balance charge at alot lower rate.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

How do you like the LiFe batteries? Thats what ill be going with soon. How long do they take to charge at 10 amps?

Eric

deviltrigger529

Well I jumped straight from NiMH to LiFe, skipped LiPo, but I love them and dont regret it one bit. I timed a run on my iPhone and it was a solid 22 minutes of punch in my VXL slash. I've only done 10 amp balance charges so it only charges at 10 amps until it reaches about 2000-ish MAH and then the amps drop slowly so it can equal out the cells. It usually takes between 40 mins to an hour, it always fluctuates. And actually, since the amps drop the battery is barely warm at the end of a charge so I could probably take it right off the charger and run it again. There is a LiFe quick charge option on my charger but I havent used it yet. I'm not sure how the quick charge option works. It actually saddens me when my 2 LiFes are done and I have to use an NiMH lol, I cant wait to stock up on more of them. I will be using them in a BL E-maxx I'm building up also.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Well, ill be going straight from NiMh to LiFe too, so no lipo for me either[8D]

How is power output compared to NiMh? Thanks

Eric

deviltrigger529

I have 6-, 7- and 8-cell NiMH batts and the 9.9v LiFe is like night and day over the 6- and 7-cells and a little better than the 8-cell in terms of power, but the constant supply of power is what I love about them. No more strong running for a few minutes and then the rest of the run being mediocre. I have a great time the entire run with virtually no loss in power until the pack is dead, and it drops very quickly once it gets to that point. Case in point, with my VXL slash, tightened slipper and Anaconda tires, the 8-cell would pull wheelies only from a stop and not every time, while the LiFe pulls them everytime almost on command and even rolling wheelies.