Charging off brand Lipo's with e-flite celectra charger

[Wolfingsworth]

I purchased cheap 3.7v 600mah batteries for my 120sr. I am now a little leery of charging th with the charger that came with the Heli as it's intended for the E-flite battery. I know I should invest in a good charger but that is going to have to wait for the bank account to recover from Christmas. Can I safely charge my batteries with the Celectra charger? Thanks in advance!

[SplashN'Crash]

Should be fine. I've done it with many different types of batteries.

[airshot]

The charger does not know a cheap battery from a top quality battery as long as the charger qualifies to charge at the batteries recommended charge rate.

[Wolfingsworth]

Cool thanks guys. I was more or less concerned because the stock battery is 500mAh and the new ones are 600mAh. I'm a noob and am just starting to learn all the ins and outs. From the looks of it, one could write a thesis on Lipo batteries alone!

[airshot]

Think of the 500 vs 600 mah as the amount of capacity a battery will hold, it will take longer to fill the 600 but also longer run times by a little as it takes longer to empty. As long as number of cells (voltage) is a match to the charger then you are good to go.

[ChrisFurman]

Originally Posted by Wolfingsworth

I purchased cheap 3.7v 600mah batteries for my 120sr. I am now a little leery of charging th with the charger that came with the Heli as it's intended for the E-flite battery. I know I should invest in a good charger but that is going to have to wait for the bank account to recover from Christmas. Can I safely charge my batteries with the Celectra charger? Thanks in advance!

Just like the other poster stated, E-Flite batteries are *not* special. There are only a few LIPO manufactures that everyone purchases from and puts their sticker on them. Yes, there are cheaper one and better ones, but the charging characteristics for LIPO batteries is the same for ALL of them.

You will have no problem charging *any* of of LIPO with *any* type of LIPO charger.

2 important things to remember:

1. make sure the charge rate is *not* higher than what is recommended on the battery. *If* it is not stated, 1C is Max. (ie. 500mah = .5 amps, 600mah = .6 amps)

2. always use a LIPO bag during charging, they only cost $10 and it is not worth losing your HOUSE over not having/using one. If you crashed hard or if there is something wrong with the LIPO, at least the bag will protect your valuables.

Happy Flying!

[Wolfingsworth]

Thanks for the help guys! Another thing I am curious about is parallel charging. If say I am charging five 1 cell Lipo's in parallel it could take longer to achieve 4.20 volts per cell but at least this way I can charge them all at the same time without damaging the charger or the batteries right? I am in the process of studying all the great materials from this forum but in the mean time I appreciate all the specific help I can get.