I have a Trampa Mountainboard I’ve had for awhile that has dual Max6 ESCs and was powered by dual 4S Turnigy Graphenes 10.0 (10,000mah) that were connected in series to give me 8S. Well, one of the batteries recently started only showing 2 cells instead 4 when charging and puffed up. I haven’t been able to recover it.
But still have one of the Turnigy Graphene 4S batteries working.
The other day I went and picked up 4 new lipos along w a parallel charging board.
I connected these 4 as follows: 2 sets of 2 batteries in parallel that are then connected in series. Which gives me a comparable battery at 8S 10,400mah.
The question I have is it possible/safe to connect the remaining Turnigy Graphene 4S lipo in series w the 4 new lipo batteries to make it 12S? The reason for me wanting to do this, besides the added range and power, is bc I’m wanting to switch over my ESC to a Focbox Unity. Thanks for your help in advance.
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If it was up to me, I wouldn’t. Different batteries and possibly different cycles and chemistry. But I’m not an battery expert, especially when it comes to lipo and different c rating (which I assume is why i wouldn’t do it). Maybe someone else who uses lipos can answer.
Edit: found it. No. Do not do it. It has to be the same in c-rating, age and company it came from. Yes, they use different chemistry.
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Okay, that’s what I was afraid of. Thanks for your response.
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Any idea how I would wire a BMS to the 4 - 4S batteries that are making up the 8S2P pack? Would I use all 4 sets of the balance leads or just pick one balance lead from each parallel group?
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Lipos with and wthout graphene can be mixed but they have slightly different levels of performance. There is a chance that one pack would get depleted before the other one leaving it to do almost double duty. Its typically not good to mix batteries in series or parallel unless they have matching C ratings and a similar cycle count.
I recommend not using Lipo batteries at all for an Esk8 because they are not designed for it and can be easily damaged. Those soft sided packs are designed for aircraft and cannot handle all the bouncing and jarring around they would see on a skateboard. Which is possibly why one of them puffed.
The other reasons they puff is too high of a charge or discharge rate which is unlikely since the aircraft and heli guys sometimes draw a lot more amps from them than a skateboard typically would.
Leaving Lipos in direct sunlight is also a no-no especially on very hot days. Even leaving them inside of a car on a hot day is dangerous and can puff them.
At the very least make sure those lipos are well padded and isolated from vibrations as much as possible and use a light colored housing for them so they dont bake in the sun.
I’m fairly new to Esk8 but I’ve been in the Rc hobby for over 10 years.
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There should be a tutorial on this site or the other about it. I normally use li-ion.
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