Multiple battery charging

[ghostrunner]

New here and got me a different charger now along with a parralel board for charging 6 batteries at once instead of just one. I have gotten a bigger bird now and stepped up on the charger with a 306b with two HP's got from a seller on eBay. When I charge the multiple batteries at what amperage rate do I use? My batteries are 3000 mah rated. Do use the same used for one or do I add up for 6 and time that by 3000? With the one was at 3amp rate, seems now maybe should be at 18amps. Help.

[Xrayted]

Yes, parallel charging is just combining all the packs capacity together into one giant single high capacity pack of the same voltage.

In your case the six 3000 mAh packs become one 18,000 mAh pack, so a 1C charge rate would be 18A and should charge all the packs in approximately one hour.

Keep in mind its OK to mix pack capacity sizes when parallel charging if needed, but NEVER mix different voltage packs!

You also want the starting voltages of all the cells to be similar to each other. No combining packs with cells that are at 3.7V with other packs that are at 4.0 for example, as there can be a large rush of current from the higher voltage pack cells into the lower charged cells when you connect the packs together.

Always connect up the main power leads to the board first to allow the voltage between the packs to equalize using the large gauge wire first before connecting up the smaller balance leads

[acidla]

Tony knows his stuff

[ghostrunner]

Originally Posted by Xrayted

Yes, parallel charging is just combining all the packs capacity together into one giant single high capacity pack of the same voltage.

In your case the six 3000 mAh packs become one 18,000 mAh pack, so a 1C charge rate would be 18A and should charge all the packs in approximately one hour.

Keep in mind its OK to mix pack capacity sizes when parallel charging if needed, but NEVER mix different voltage packs!

You also want the starting voltages of all the cells to be similar to each other. No combining packs with cells that are at 3.7V with other packs that are at 4.0 for example, as there can be a large rush of current from the higher voltage pack cells into the lower charged cells when you connect the packs together.

Always connect up the main power leads to the board first to allow the voltage between the packs to equalize using the large gauge wire first before connecting up the smaller balance leads

Thank you. I thought so but had to make sure

[Slyster]

I always charge at 3C (takes 15 mins).. so a 6s5000mah pack would get 15A or a 12s5000 stick pack (really just 2 6s packs shrink wrapped together) gets 30A.