Difference between balancer chargers and chargers

[liang]

Hi,

Does any body could share with me what's different between balancer chargers and chargers? I'm very confuse both of them.

In this case, is it I need use both of them together to charge my Li batter pack?

many thanks
Tan

[Mercuriell]

A battery pack is a collection of cells wired together in series, parallel or both to give the desired volatge and capacity eg an Align 22.V pack has 6 pairs of 2200 mAh lipos wired in series to give a nominal 22V pack (actually 25.2V fully charged). Each of these cells has a wire going to them known as a tap. The reason for taps is that all cells are not created equal - some have slightly different states of charge and discharge or charge and varying rates.

Now lipos are real sensitive to overcharging (above 4.2V) or over discharging (below 3V) and do nasty things like catch fire or blow up. It is therefore important to make sure each cell in a pack doesn't stray beyond these limits - this is where the balancer comes in - it monitors - via the tap each cell voltage and makes sure it stays within range and cuts out any cell that is over voltage.

A charger applies a voltage to the whole battery pack via the main wires and only monitors the overall voltage ie it wouldn;t ket the above Align 6S2P pack charge over 25.2V - if used alone though one cell in the pack could go overvoltage.

There are a few combined chargers and balancers which provide the charge and also monitor each tap individually. There are also many separate chargers and balancers. Most balancers can be used with any lipo charger as long as it can supply enough current and voltage for the pack. The reason there are separate balancers is that there are a plethora of different tap connectors and many lipo manufacturers make a balancer to fit their own brand of battery - others need an adaptor cable.

When you buy make sure the charger and balancer go up to the number of cells you may need now and in the future (6S for most mere mortals - 8 or 10S for the superheroes who thirst for eternal power at any cost)

Hope this helps !

[liang]

A battery pack is a collection of cells wired together in series, parallel or both to give the desired volatge and capacity eg an Align 22.V pack has 6 pairs of 2200 mAh lipos wired in series to give a nominal 22V pack (actually 25.2V fully charged). Each of these cells has a wire going to them known as a tap. The reason for taps is that all cells are not created equal - some have slightly different states of charge and discharge or charge and varying rates.

Now lipos are real sensitive to overcharging (above 4.2V) or over discharging (below 3V) and do nasty things like catch fire or blow up. It is therefore important to make sure each cell in a pack doesn't stray beyond these limits - this is where the balancer comes in - it monitors - via the tap each cell voltage and makes sure it stays within range and cuts out any cell that is over voltage.

A charger applies a voltage to the whole battery pack via the main wires and only monitors the overall voltage ie it wouldn;t ket the above Align 6S2P pack charge over 25.2V - if used alone though one cell in the pack could go overvoltage.

There are a few combined chargers and balancers which provide the charge and also monitor each tap individually. There are also many separate chargers and balancers. Most balancers can be used with any lipo charger as long as it can supply enough current and voltage for the pack. The reason there are separate balancers is that there are a plethora of different tap connectors and many lipo manufacturers make a balancer to fit their own brand of battery - others need an adaptor cable.

When you buy make sure the charger and balancer go up to the number of cells you may need now and in the future (6S for most mere mortals - 8 or 10S for the superheroes who thirst for eternal power at any cost)

Hope this helps !

Thank you so much! It's really helpful from your information.
Beside that, is it we need using the same brand chargers to charge the same brand battery? For example, if we use the Thunder Tiger chargers to charge the Align battery, is workable?

May I know this brand of MCU Auto-Adjusted Closed Loop Current Feedback LCD Smart Charger is good enough? As I know this model have both combined chargers and balancers.

many thanks
Tan

[Mercuriell]

No need to use same brand chargers and batteries just as long as they can cope with the number of cells (ie voltage or S number - pack voltage = S x 3.6).

I don't know the MCU Auto-Adjusted Closed Loop Current Feedback LCD Smart Charger but from the specs it looks OK - just make sure the brand of battery you buy will fit the balance leads - it's also limited to 4S so won't be any good if you for a TREX600 in future though OK for TREX 450.