BATTERY CHARGING USING THE B6 - Part 1

Here are the instructions for using the B6 computerized, battery charger to charge 5X LIPO batteries in parallel. I charge my UDI 500 or 600 mAh batteries using this method. The B6 is a Chinese made battery charger that can charge LIPO, LION, LiFe, NiMH and lead acid (Pb) batteries. 

It can handle multiple cell batteries and has a balancing function. It will charge all small drone batteries up to and include DJI Phantom quadcopters 11.1 V @ 5200 mAh battery. It comes with everything you need except:

1) The 5 way cables

2) The power supply

TECHNICAL STUFF

I use a 500 mAh 16 VDC out, wall wart as a power supply 'cause that's what I have as the power supply. You can use any DC output wall wart that outputs between 11 and 18 volts. Even a car battery!

Note that some B6s use a 2.1x5.5mm power input plug and others use a 2.5x5.5mm plug. I have 3 chargers. 2 are 2.1x5.5mm, and 1 is 2.5x5.5mm! It appears from all the literature I have read that the 2.5mm is the current charger jack size being shipped.

There is nothing included in the printed manual giving the size of the power source's required plug size. I suggest getting a charger with a 2.5x5.5mm plug. That's what vendors are selling on eBay now:

B6 Charger with 2.5x5.5mm plug on eBay

To charge 5x 600 mAh LIPOs, at 1.2 Amps,  you need a charger with at least 500 mA output. If you use a charger with less than that (as I initially did), the voltage output of the charger will drop to below 11 volts DC and the B6 will not charge.

I experimented and found that I can use a 500 mAh "wall wart" charger and charge at 1.2 Amps maximum for 5X 600 mAh batteries. The 5 batteries are "spread over" the 1.2 amps for about 240 milliamps each.

COMPUTE THE REQUIREMENTS

The total input "wall wart" wattage required is not shown in the B6 manual, but the input charging wattage can be calculated. The 4.5 V (approximate charger charging voltage) multiplied by the target charging current of 1.2 Amps is 5.4 watts. 

You'll need something higher ( maybe 20-30% higher - depends in the chargers efficiency ) to charge at the 5.4 watts required. 30-50% is safe - lower stress on the charger and wall wart. This means the charger will have to output at LEAST 200% of the required 5.4 watts. That's about 11 watts.

11 watts divided by low lowest allowable input voltage of 11 volts is 1 ampere. Therefore, as calculated here, you will need a 11-18 volts, with a 1 Amp output charger to do the job. There will be some "cushion" as the charger will put of slightly more voltage. 

The result is the charger will last longer as it will not run hot. If the charger gets too hot, it means the charger is outputting too much current and may damage itself. Can't have that!

SO GET A WALL WART, A B6, 5X CABLE AND LETS GET STARTED

After flying, individually test the voltage of all the batteries using a voltmeter set to DC and with a maximum voltage selected that it higher that batteries highest voltage which is 4.2V.

I use the 20 volts DC scale. The next DC scale down is 2 volts - too low. You can use a higher meter setting but NOT a lower setting. If you get a "weird reading" check to see if your on "DC settings". DON'T use AC settings. Reads wrong :(

KEEP ON FLYING