please help, newb question on charging 6s pack

[flingwing403]

hi and thanks in advance for your info..

heres the set up,
tp 6s 5000mah packs
bantam bc-8 charger.

first off my charger is set at 25.2 volts cut off, thus each cell is max 4.2v

after each flight(about 8minutes on t-600) i charge back up usually at 3.5amps since i am in no rush ...yet

it places roughly 2100mah pack into the pack( usually between 2050-2170)

when i first plug it in cells read at 3.89v each and total pack still around 23.7v

now the questions.

-is the cut off set at the right amount or should it be higher?
-according to my math 2100 back in is less than 50% of pack use??
-isnt 80% the magic number i keep reading?? this would mean almost 4000mah back into the pack?
-is 4.2v /cell as high as you want to go?
-i charge a 3.5A to be safe but isnt 1C equal to charging this pack at 5A?
-do any of you charge higher than 5A to speed things up?(not recommended i have read)

also my lower HS and gentle ff is givng me those flight times,no 3d,
all things staying the same i get the feeling i should be able to fly a few more minutes safely before i get near the 4000mah back into the pack?

of course as my skills progress the power demand will raise and time will lower

thanks for the help, its my first set of big packs and being this pricey i am in no position to "experiment" or do something wrong to wreck said pack.

thus my many newbish questions on caring for said pack :)

[Finless]

Well first you must really have a low head speed to get that much flight time and only use 50%...

But you are doing everything right.
4.22 per cell is fully charged so your right there.
Yes you can charge at 5 amp[s as that is 1C
Yes 80% is the max discharge you want to go so yes it looks like you can get more flight time.
Some people charge at more than 5 amps but like you I am in no hurry and stick to 1C charging for maximum battery life.

Bob

[kgfly]

Just to be clear, do NOT increase the cutoff above 4.20V/cell. Otherwise all sounds good and you get no benefit charging below 1C so you might as well crank it up to 5A.

[RC Accessory]

The cut off on all e-Station chargers is 4.20V per cell and you cannot change that. You can actually lower it by setting the charger to Li-Ion from Li-Poly, no value to doing that.

If you are only putting in 2100 back into the pack, extend your flight time 5 minutes at a time to get a better feel how how long you can go. Remember you waon't damage the battery fly flying on 50% of the battery, but you will if you go over 80%.

The BC-8 will allow you to set the charge rate from 100 mah to 7 amps with a maximum output of 150 watts. Most people charge at 1C, 5 Amps in your case. Charging lower has not proven to be better for the packs, but charging higher than 1C would shave some cycles off the life of the pack. That is disputed by some as well. If you are in no hurry, charge whatever you want below 1C. If you are recharging at the field, charge at 1C.