battery/charger question

[tomr33]

just ordered a 230s and now I'm looking to order a charger and batteries. my main question is with the stock batteries that they would give you with the rtf version the connectors are jst-rgy. the batteries I'm looking at are jst xh. the jst refers to the connection of the battery and the xh is the balancer connection correct? now when plugging into the heli do you use the balancer connection or is this just for the charging of the pack?

[JonJet]

Whether RTF or BNF the battery should be the same...JST-XH

The JST is connected to the charger power ports and the XH connector is plugged into the 3S port of an XH board...

Just be sure you always charge in Balance Mode

[Wargamer]

The balance connector is only used with the charger, not when flying the heli.

[JonJet]

And when your 230S arrives...it will be self-explanatory...

The 230S power lead to the battery is the JST

[tomr33]

OK so if I buy other types of batteries then I will have to either make sure the discharge connector is the same as what's on my heli. or make or buy an adapter or change the connectors on battery?

[JonJet]

Yes...if you buy 3S JST-XH batteries you wont need to change anything

http://www.ebay.com/itm/E-Flite-EFLB...QAAOSw3mpXJaA2

[tomr33]

OK thanks jon. I'm new to cp helis and these types of batteries. and when I looked on horizon hobbies website at 230s it was saying needed to complete the bnf package was a TX battery and charger. so I assumed the bnf didn't come with a battery or charger which I guess isn't right?

[JonJet]

BNF is just the heli and one battery...

TX and charger not included

RTF includes the TX but the charger is pretty crappy

[tomr33]

jonjet. I got my 230s bnf today. battery and charger included. however as stated before it is crappy lol.
what was confusing this whole time to me was which plug it was that you charge off of. I assumed it was the plug you plug into the heli and the balance connector was used separately. I thought both plugs were used together.

[JonJet]

Originally Posted by tomr33

jonjet. I got my 230s bnf today. battery and charger included. however as stated before it is crappy lol.
what was confusing this whole time to me was which plug it was that you charge off of. I assumed it was the plug you plug into the heli and the balance connector was used separately. I thought both plugs were used together.

The red plug powers the heli...the white plug is the balance connector used only for charging

What charger are you going to use?

I use the HiTec X4 and X1...they both come with multiple charging cables and an XH balance board

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hitec-X1-AC-...QAAOSwT-FZAjit

[tomr33]

I'm getting a kinesis kx80. I have that coming along with a couple more batteries. another 800 mah and a 1000mah.

[JonJet]

I have two of these...

http://www.progressiverc.com/paralle...st-xh-jst.html

Makes it easy to charge up to 8 at a time

[tomr33]

does that put strain on the charger or batteries. also is it slower charging that you've noticed?

[Xrayted]

Originally Posted by tomr33

does that put strain on the charger or batteries. also is it slower charging that you've noticed?

No, the charger or batteries dont know the difference as long as your charger has the ability to provide the amount of amps you need. Parallel charging multiple packs at a time is quite common from small micros all the way up to large 700+ sized helis. All you are doing is "tricking" the charger into thinking several small packs are actually one larger pack when combined on the board.

In this example a max of 8 batteries can be combined into one bigger one. For example if you have a model that uses an 800 mAh pack then charging one at a time at 1C would be a .8A charge rate which will take about 45-60 minutes depending on the starting voltage of the pack.

A parallel board such as this can handle up to 8 so that would be 8 X 800 mAh, or one single 6,400 mAh pack, which at 1C is 6.4 amps if charging all at once, once again charging 8 packs within the same amount of time.

The batteries dont know the difference, and as long as the charger can provide 6.4A, then no issues there either. Many batteries can handle higher charge rates of 2-3C, so you can charge multiple packs very quickly this way if the batteries and the charger are capable of doing so. 2 C would 2 X 6.4A for a 12.8A charge rate and so on.

For example, I have a very powerful charger and power supply setup for my 700 sized model, and I can charge 12, 6 cell 5000 mAh packs in parallel at a time at 2C like this within 30 minutes

[tomr33]

that's some great info on that I appreciate it. I will look into that. I will only have 3 batteries as of tomorrow afternoon when the 2 new ones are delivered. but I'm sure I will have more and more as I get deeper into the hobby with multiple models and what not.

[Wargamer]

A lot of good intormation from Xrayted. I'll just add a point that's easy to miss when you're getting started...Your charger has both a current rating (amps) and a power rating (amps x volts) and you can't exceed either. (The charger won't let you; it will just charge at a lower current than you are asking for if you accidentally try.)

A practical implication of all the above is that you can add more batteries in parallel, but at some point the charge rate in "c" is going to go down. For example, if you were charging two batteries in parallel that max out the capacity of your charger at 2c, you could charge 4 batteries in parallel, but they would only end up charging at 1c. The total charge time in both cases would be the same, but you might be better off charging only two at a time because you'd have 2 batteries to fly sooner.

[tomr33]

OK so apparently with this kx80 charger you have to use the balance board and the discharge connector together before the unit will charge the battery. it's not like the cheapo charger that came with the 230s.

[JonJet]

That is corrrect

[Mainboom]

I wouldn't have got that charger.... id send it back and order a skyrc..

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-...=skyrc+charger...

this is the new version I had the old version for 3 years no problem. this has every plug you would ever need and it does it all. it charges 2s to 6s and is very reliable and is actually one of the highest rated chargers out there. you wont need a balance board or anything. its pretty dummy proof

[Wargamer]

Originally Posted by Mainboom

you wont need a balance board or anything. its pretty dummy proof

Just to clarify, the SkyRC or any charger will require a balance board when charging multiple batteries in parallel. I know you know that, but things that seem obvious can be confusing to new pilots.
Cheers -