I have been lurking for some time and reading alot about these chargers and how you guys do it and I wanted to pick your brain a bit.
See I have several of the AW 1600 18650s and will be converting over to the Panny Hybrid IMR 2250mAh batteries as I go.
I am now to the point where I am constantly charging something. I need to charge in batches. Here is the deal.
I use an electronic cigarette as well as a couple cheap LED flashlights that run 18650 batteries. i bought a Turnigy acucell 6 charger and have just been charging 1 battery at a time. I would like to be able to batch charge them 2-4 at a time.
I know that I am going to need to use the balance port but have no clue (even with seeing some pictured here) how to make this work. As I can have batteries ranging from 3.7 -3.4V I know just strapping all the + together and the - together and letting it run would not benefit me as it would be hard on the batteries.
I have put together a picture to show you kinda what I mean.
All the batteries I have are of the same chemistry and same mAh rating just get used in different devices and I would like to be able to charge say 4 at a time.
The batteries are in series. The main negative and positive leads are on the outer end battery terminals. Negative to - and positive to +. The balance leads go on either end and are what is joining the batteries together with magnets. The balance leads sense the individual voltages of each battery. Before you start joining things together make sure that you know exactly what you are doing.
I do not see what is so interesting about this thread, just simple questions. I will refine my question later on tonight when I get home. I was taught to always ask questions before you do, that way when you do you can figure out snafus and glitches on the fly.
I have read the very thread listed but the witring is never real explained as if you have to use the leads in a certain order coming of the balance port or not. HKJs site is nice and it was one that I looked at the most to decide whether or not a hobby charger would work for me. I see he talks about parallel charging but i did not see a section on balance charging.
My main thing is the wiring. i have seen some websites that describe wiring a battery holder for simultaneous single cell charging but the wiring is the one thing that is just briefly skimmed.
is there a particular order that I must wire the leads coming out out of the balance port? or do I just stick one there?
I am pretty sure that I would need to batch charge my 18650s by type and mAh as to not over work a cell in the "temporary pack".
I ditched the 2 and 4 and cell cell Trustfires and Xtars stuff for more consistent charging and a more proper CC/CV algorithm charge curve. I could tell a difference in my older cells after a cycle or two and decided only a hobby charger would do.... even if I have to charge them one at a time. I am just looking for a eaiser way but i still want it to be correct.
