Can hobby chargers be used to test efficiency of led drivers at different voltages?
No, they are designed as constant current devices, not constant voltage devices. There voltage regulation is usual very slow, this works fine with batteries, but would not work very well with a led driver.
Just make sure the batteries have the same or very close in the same voltage
Yes, that is very important if your charging cells in parallel that they be no more than 0.5V difference. The sudden in rush of current will be greater due to the imbalance of voltage and thus cause damage to cells that can't handle that much charging current.
IMO your better off series balance charging
Not really, series balance charging requires all batteries to be of equal capacity (or else it’ll take years to charge them all), while parallel balance charging only requires similar SOC (easier to achieve, especially if you parellel-charge cells that you use in 1 multi-cell light)
IMO your better off series balance charging, even more so for muti cell lights
Even less so, you mean ;)
Balancers CAN be inaccurate (especially in cheap B6 knock-offs), parallel charging will ensure that all cells are at SAME voltage and there can't be any inaccuracies (like with balancers)
Right. I'm working on figuring that one out now. Have to buy the leads first I guess then I will figure out how to use them.
Ive just recieved my icharger last week. I ordered leads from where Benkie linked to and got magnets of ebay. Just be careful soldering the magnets though as heat kills them. Been playing today with a couple of Flea Bay batteries to get the hang of it. Very impresive. The wiring is not as complicated as it looks once you get your head around it.
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/3118
post 43
Unless your making sure cells are the same voltage its risky parallel charging, you will increase the IR of the batteries that will affect the end voltage of the cells and the amount power the cell can give over time as the cells fight each other with sudden discharging and charging to self balance when you connect them.
If you series balance with a cheap clone charger yes it might be out 0.04 volt out per cell, but there is a good chance in you parallel you still will be out around 0.04 to 0.06 volt due the inaccurate calibration of the main charge leads.
I series balance charge 2 x 2400 2 x 2600 and 2 x 3100 mAh cells all at once with in 0.001 volt and still can charge them a lot faster then a xtar wp 2 charger 2 at a time thats with in 0.03 volt and charge them faster then an imax clone.
It also depends on your charger the cheap clones can be slower to balance charge then the more bigger $$$ chargers, but you still will save time if you charge more then one or two at a time. IMHO lower amp charges in series your batteries will last longer then higher amp charges in parallel some thing Ive notice over years of RC.
I may have changed these settings when I was screwing around with the charger but I didn’t think I went into the NiMH settings. It looks like the default setting for NiMH discharge is .1A and down to .1V, seems to low on both counts. What should these values be? I must have changed them at some point.
Yeah way to low, i use these settings
AAA 0.2 amp AA 0.5 amp D 1 amp to 0.85 volt per cell for nimh, for nicad's 0.9 volt per cell max.
For some good cheap nimh and nicad battery holders and other hobby charger acc, check this thread out.
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/1621
Why just 0.2A for AAA and 0.5A for AA? They both can do 1A just fine (and test will take much less time).
I also use 200mA for AAA and 500mA for AA
Thanks
Any reason why no recommendation to set discharge final NiMH voltage to Auto? I would think that would be safer for new owners of B6 (N.O.O.B) rather than discharge too deep.
Oh I'm just aking, I'm a N.O.O.B too.
For many reason's slow charging the batteries will last longer, the internal resistance with stay lower for longer, the battery will be able to give more current for longer.
As an RC freak we always fast charge and hammer our batteries with high charge rates (C) and high discharge rates, but if you are not in a rush a lower charge rate IMHO is always best.
Nimh should never get hot while charging.
I charge 4 x AAA in series @ 0.2 amp, 2 x AA in series @ 0.5 amp, 8 x AA in series @ 0.5 amp, 4 x D in series @ 1 amp.
My AA nimh have a recommended charge of 0.65 amps Ive been using them for over 5 years for RC radios, GPS, xbox 360 controllers and a digital camera and they are still going strong, But a set i use for my RC radio i used to fast charge at 1 to 1.5 amps are dead.
I also charge my 18650's like this in series 2 x 18650 @ 0.5 amp, 3 x 18650 @ 0.5 amp, 6 x 18650 @ 0.5 amps, 3 x 26650 @ 1 amp. Single 1 x 18650 @ 0.5 amp or 1 x 26650 @ 1 amp with my hobby charger.
I do have some batteries with the Maxim charge rate of 1C 3.1 amps but i still charge them @ 0.5 amps, i have trustfire flames 12 months old still going strong.
Because you will get a deeper charge if you set the limits your self and you can cycle the batteries better it should not over charge or under charge the batteries, plus these clone chargers don't always charge nimh or nicads well.
I have made a couple of looms up using magnets as per your pictures for balance charging 18650 etc batteries which appears to be working fine. Do you use the same looms for charging NiMH aa aaa batteries in the NiMH setting part of the charger?
You can but i use these, picures on page one, link's on page 2.
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/1621
With your icharger set your Nimh sensitivity delta to 2mv/cell in the settings menue, now and then i form charge them its like nimh balancing, its in the icharger nimh menue and you can use the same holders from the above link.