karolh

I know it is an important requirement but is it absolutely necessary to balance charge a 2S Life battery pack at every charge ??

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

You will get varied answers.

Unless you have a reason not to, I suggest that it doesn't take much longer so I always do it. Over charge or over discharge a lipo cell and you can get problems.

On the plus side, most 2S are used for receiver packs and the discharge rate is much lower than those used for motors and thus less likely for the cells to be badly unbalanced.

rgburrill

One of the primary reasons to balance charge a LiPO is that one of the cells can become negatively charged with heavy use. That can lead to significant overcharging of the other cells if it is not balanced. A 2 cell LiPO won't have that problem.

That being said the only reason I can see to NOT balance charge a 2S battery is for quick charging at the field between runs. But charging time is a also a time to get with your friends to see what they are doing.

karolh

My question was Life batteries specific but I suppose the same advice goes for Lipo batteries as well. Thanks.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Yep, even more so with LiPo but unless you're in a real hurry there's no reason not to balance charge

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

As BH said, answers will vary. I'm no expert on these but when I started using LiFe batteries some years ago (8 -9 seasons?) I balance charged every time. After a year or so, I got lazy and from then on, I just balance every 3rd or 4th recharge. I've seen no change in battery performance since going to the occasional balance. The cells are always quite well balanced regardless of whether they were balance charged or not. I've never had a balance problem with any LiFe battery.

Regarding storage, while I faithfully store LiPo batters at storage voltage, I've always stored LiFe batteries fully charged. Most of my LiFe batteries are A123 and are rated for full charge storage. The several poly pack LiFe batteries I have don't seem to degrade from the practice.

karolh

Like you Truckracer when I switched to using Life batteries a few years ago I balanced charged them without fail every time. But recently every now and then I have omitted balancing them and just straight charged. So far I have not noticed any change in their behavior or any out of balance of cells but wondered if I might be hurting their longevity by not balancing them every time I do a charge.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

I'm happy with the charge routine I'm currently following and see no reason to change. I do check cell voltages more often than I balance and rarely if ever see a cell that I would consider out of balance. I do cycle my batteries once or twice a year to confirm they still have good capacity and monitor the cell voltage during that time also.

pilotpete2

With the chargers I own, non-balancing charging is not an option
Pete

Four Stroker

I balance charge through the balance lead - 3 wires that can go into a servo connector. My charger has a fast and slow balance charge. I use the slow even for field charging. Check out Hangtimes Hobbies on A123 balance tap charging.