Hey everyone,
I have a hobby charger in which I want to connect two connectors of 5s so 10s in total. I don’t have the right leads I have only ones that fit 3s, so I can either make 5s out of what I have which may be problematic or order the right ones…
How bad is it if I charge my batteries without balancing for a month? (until the new cables arrive)
If they are already low than it’s highly recommended that u get soon, but if it’s sort of in the middle like let’s says 36-38v should be ok but I would keep an eye on them just in case
It is pretty bad. If you have LiPo batteries then don’t do it! You can charge Li-Ion without balancing them, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
I forgot to say, it’s 18650s and charged them separately so they are all fully charged now. Maybe during this month I could now drain the batteries all the way…
But if it is bad I’d just try to improvise a connector for the hobby charger and order in the meantime while doing the build.
If they are fuller charged I wouldn’t leave them for more then 2 weeks
if you have a volt meter, check each cell’s voltage after you charge. And leave room for a bit of drift, charge to like 4.1v per cell.
Check religiously the first time you charge pretty frequently in case you have faults.
Check a few times during charge the next few times.
If it’s behaving consistently, you can gradually wean off to maybe checking once every 10 charges.
If you see cells drifting a lot, fix your pack.
If drifting a little, you can use it until it doesn’t feel safe then wait for your balance leads and balance charge.
Also check voltages if you’re close to empty. if you’re out of balance at the bottom you can cook a cell.
This is diy so everyone must set their own safety tolerance. Don’t do above if you’re not comfortable with elecricity.
Sounds good, I guess I will either just connect the wires to the cells in the meantime and will only assemble things together until the 5s leads arrive, or even try to improvise and turn a 3s plug to 5… need to do some fine cutting…
I personally think you would be best to wait. There is no point trying to charge your batteries without the right connections, it is highly likely you will make a mistake and fry your pack.