Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Charging Batteries

One component to the RC flying experience is propulsion systems. There are basically two types, internal combustion engines and electric motors.

I am considering an electric motor for my camera plane and electric motors need one or more batteries. This might sound simple enough but charging LIPOs, for some reason, is a matter of unending stress and frustration. Living in today's world certainly has plenty of that. Politics, writing and building RC model airplanes are just a few common examples. Sorry, I'm digressing, something I tell my students not to do in my class at New Horizon's Academy (The Exploratory Writing Workshop) here at WDC. So let me get back on point.

First one needs to select the correct battery. These can commonly be one to six cells. The battery is connected to the charger at two places. The power and the balancing port connection. The first is one with two thick wires, usually one red and one black. This connects to the Speed Control in the model airplane and the charging port on the charger. There is a wide array of connectors... one of many sources of angst, and they go together with a male and female component. I like to use Deans connectors. When the connectors on a batter are not Deans I have to cut them off and soder on a pair of the type I commonly use. What a pain in the "petoottie" this is. The second connector is a balancing plug which makes sure all the cells get their fair share of the charging amperage.

Next comes the charging part. There are hundreds of different types of LIPO chargers and while they have some things in common each is different enough to require a separate earning curve to operate. I have a tendency to lose the instructions and so I use intuition in learning or recalling how they work. Yesterday I spent an hour and never did figure out my new charger. In frustration I gave up and went out to the flying field to get some instruction. One of my flying friends showed me how to work it. I intend to extend this blog with the charging procedures so I won't forget the process. SOOOO...if you don't give a rat's ass about how this is accomplished don't bother to keep reading.