Hi all,

I doubt this is easy to answer, but perhaps someone would be able to help me with this; especially if they do own one of these themselves.

Here's the problem. The charging cuts off at 12v (which I doubt is the battery's full capacity). So I guess the charging circuit doesn't know when it's actually full.

The battery is listed as 38,000mAh but we all know that's not true.

When the charging cuts off, the battery level indicator only shows 3/4 LEDs, which is annoying. The product is poorly designed.

Here's how much capacity I've got out of it:

I got it up to 12v. Jump started my boxer 3 times. Took it back in to charge a Nokia Lumia via USB. Then connected the 12v output to a universal Li-Ion charger to charge a small 3.6v cell. The charging cut off halfway because the power bank fell to 11.5v. At this point the battery indicator shows 2/4 LEDs. I then used the cable clamps to draw 12v at 2.5amps to turbo charge a set of 4 AA NiMH cells which took 15 minutes.

At the end of all these the indicator dropped to 1 light.

I would like to charge it up properly using an external charger like the IMaxB6, however to use it I need to know the battery's chemistry and capacity.

Do the output wires look like balancing leads? The look a lot for a 3S1P.

Also, I'm guessing this is Li-Po.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

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first, welcome to RCUniverse!
second; STOP WHAT YOU"RE TRYING!!!!

that is absolutely a Lipo battery and will explode, catch fire, and do all sorts of other horrible things if you try and charge it with anything other than a charger designed to charge lipos.

you should be able to tell how many cells by simply counting them if you can, if not then count the pins on the balance plug. the plug will have ONE additional pin than the pack has cells.
(4 pins = 3 cells, 5 pins = 4 cells, etc)
do a balance charge at 1000 mAhs for however many calls the pack has.
the pack is likely a 3800 mAh or 3.8 amps.

Hi,

Yes I'm aware of the dangers associated with LiPo batteries as I've built RC planes in the past.

I intend to use this charger:
http://www.skyrc.com/index.php?route...t&product_id=9

Could you tell what the wires coming out of the pack are? They look excessive for a balancing comnector. Thanks.

can you take a picture of the actual connector/ balance plug? all I can see is a pile of wires, so I can't count how many individual wires there are.
in your first picture, it LOOKS like you've got the balance plug connected to something, can you take a picture of the balance plug or count the number of wires going to the balance plug?

Yes I will open it up again to take the picture this evening. Please check back later. Thanks in advance.

Hello,

Here they are. I've taken pictures of the wiring and close up of the connector. I can tell the battery pack is a 3S1P from feeling it.

So how do I charge this externally as that doesn't look like a normal balancing connector?

Thanks again.

took those pics for you above. thanks.

hmmm, there certainly are too many wires on that balance plug, there seem to be six wires on that plug, I'd imagine that's the four required for balance charging plus the main pack + and - leads...
the safest thing to do would be to check with a voltmeter which of those wires shows 11-12.6volts ...
have a look at this picture, I'm pretty sure what you have there is this typical setup, but with a balance plug that includes the two 'extra' wires shown here...

Yes that's what I'm stuck with. Well if you look at my balance plug, I guess both reds are shorted and so are both black. Therefore, there are only 4 leads. reds, the two middle ones and the blacks. That is right for a 3S pack, as per your diagram. The problem is I won't be able to plug it in like that to a LiPo charger.

I guess my best bet is still to charge the lipo unbalanced, i.e. to use a lipo charger at 11.1V against the output.

you COULD wire up a balance plug and connect it to the wires on your current balance connector...
you can also check the individual cell voltage through the balance charger, (only connect the voltmeter to two wires at any time)

Yeah I was thinking of doing that. out of the 6 wires, take just the middle 4. I'll need to first measure stuff to make sure they are what I think they are. Will check what the wires are once I get home this weekend and have access to my multimeter. Thanks again.