I just acquired the new JetCat LiPo ECU battery.....2s/7.4v/2500 mah.....I also have the Orbit Pocketlader charger.....Must this battery be charged through the balancing lead on the battery?.....And, is it possible to charge this battery through the power lead?.....If i can charge through the power lead, what amperage should i set the pocketlader to?.....If i must only charge through the balance lead, where can i get the adapter that goes between the pocketlader and the balance lead?.....i appreciate any thoughts or advice you guys can offer.....

Richard

I've been charging mine through the power lead as I had trouble finding the plug. Set the Pocketlader to 2.5A.

Selleri,

Thank you for your advice.....i will try your recommendation.....

Richard

it's OK to charge through the power lead but you should also acquire the balance charging plug to keep the cells in balance for maximum life expectancy of the battery as well as safety because when the cells become unbalanced you'll be over charging the higher cell and that drastically increases the chance of a fire. regardless of which way you're charging a LiPo can be charged at 1C (as Sverrir said that's 2.5A on a 2500 mAh battery)

Any idea what the balance charging plug is called or where to buy it?

KC36330,

thanks for the info.....would you have any idea where i can get the balancing plug adapter to properly charge and balance this lipo battery?.....i'd like to do this the safe way and be cautious....

Richard

i don't have a JetCat LiPo in hand so can you take a pic of the balance plug and post it, i've got an appt this morning but when i get back i'll take a look and tell you which brand the plug is.

this is a polyquest:

Hi KC,

The plastic plug on mine doesn't look like yours.....Mine is much smaller and has only 3 slots you can plug into/a red and black wire at the ends of the receptacle, and a blue wire in the middle.....hope this helps.....thanks again for your help.....

Richard

the above is a 4s connector (just used for a quick reference as i was walking out the door) but the only difference in a 4s and a 2s is the width of the plug, the 2s is 3 wires wide (the 4s above is 5 wide). i use Duralite lithiums so i'd hate to just guess what may be on your battery, it sounds like a E-sky, but there are quiet a few balance plugs floating around, why they can't use a common universal is beyond me. you might do a search for the E-sky or Thunder Power plug and see if they match up with yours, but be forewarned, some companies use the same plug with different polarity connections

Here is a bad picture of mine.

it kinda looks like an e-flite but hard to tell, who made the battery?

Mine is Jetcat original and only has Jetcat name/info on it.

the photo above is the exact same battery i have.....

richard

Guys this plug fits into the little hobby zone chargers, so it is a commercial connector than any well stocked hobby shop should have plenty of. You can go to the hobby shop to see what fits, but make sure the polarity is correct, you might have to carefully pull the pins out of the battery side and put them back in the proper orientation.

As Bob Wilcox said, you can charge through the power lead just fine. In my experience balancing is not a big issue on these packs with the relatively small draw we use. Would it be better to balance it? Sure, but it will work fine if you don't.

I am really going to encourage that JetCat remove these connectors or else start selling a balancer!

I wish it were that easy. I've gone to 6 hobby shops that all have a huge selection of plugs and connectors, and NONE of them matches the Jetcat battery.

Matt - if you have a local hobby shop that stocks these, next time you are in there please buy me a couple and I'll happily send you the necessary funds.

Seems to me that since Jetcat sells these, they ought to sell the matching connector in their webstore, or at least tell us exactly what it is so that we can do a Google search to find a source.

Gordon

I heard it is a JST connector, which should fit into something like this.

http://stores.servosandstuff.com/-st...cer/Detail.bok

I am going to my HS today so let me ask them

Nope this still does not look right. I will let you know more after my research.

But as I said, since we are never drawing more than maybe an amp rate from one of these packs I really don't think they are going to get unbalanced, but I will keep looking

Can't tell what ballance plug it is, but if you make the side of the plug flush it will fit most of the ballance leads for a 2 cell LiPo just make sure your pin spacing is the same before plugging it in and also that you have the black (-) lead on the correct side of the socket.

Mike

Yes, the pin spacing is either .1 inch or 2 mm. It looks like the wire orientation should be OK. It almost looks like a JR Tx battery connector but of course with more pins. I guess I am going to have to get one sent to me and track it down. I did speak to a very experience local electric guy and he said at our average current draw, the balancing is not such a big deal, but I have not given up yet!

Has anyone managed to find a source for these balancer plugs yet ?

I would love to find an adapter as well. I have several jetcat lipos I currently cannot charge because of this. Maybe JetCat could ask whoever is providing them with the lipos?

Thanks

Arnaud

Bob sent me one, it showed up today, I am heading to the HS with the batt in hand tomorrow.

Thanks very much for going out of your way to help Matt... if you find any and can bring a few to CA jets for Arnaud and I, we would realy appreciate it. If you can also determine a brand / part number to publish here for everyone else to use, that would be great.

Too bad the people who actually put the connector on the battery for Jetcat can't just tell us what they are using, to save all this hassle. []

Gordon

I left it at home!! But I will check tomorrow. It does not look like a JST, which is what the manufacturer told us it was.

I think with a simple mod (like trimming the ear off a futaba connector) it might fit in a JST. Fitting another outer shell might work. I know that is not the way things should be, but sometimes you got to do what is more expedient. Anyway I will check tomorrow.

WHAAAATTTT ?????? That's it … you're FIRED !!

Oh, hang on … you weren't being paid for this to begin with. Hmmmm – OK, I have a solution for that. You're HIRED… and now you're FIRED

I already have a 'hack' solution in place just now, but with that hack the connector can be put in bass-ackwards etc., which I'd prefer to avoid.

Anyone who knows about me and batteries knows that if something CAN go wrong, it will go wrong with me. I've had several cases of nicads or NiMh going on fire in my aircraft, I've had my pants go on fire due to a cell shorting out in my pocket (ouch), I've had lead-acid car batteries spout flame just because I sat down nearby, and I've had Dave P and Bob Wilcox ban me from the vicinty of an aircraft whose ECU battery died whenever I got within a few feet of it, etc.

With that kind of track record, its kinda important for me to get my setup as idiot & accident-proof as possible.

Thanks again for the help.

Gordon