BATTERY CHARGING USING THE B6 - Part 2

You can buy a voltmeter at Amazon,  Home Depot, or Lowes, Harbor Freight, etc. $10 to $20 and up. Doesn't have to be a "Fluke" brand meter (very expensive), any meter will do and save you from overcharging your LIPO's. 

As you test the batteries, sort them into groups of "like voltages" using increments of .1 ( 1/10th ) of a volt as follows:

PILE #1   3.7 to 3.79 volts

PILE #2   3.8 volts and above

PILE #3   below 3.7 volts. 

3.7 is the "nominal voltage" of a 3.7 V LIPO battery. It's effectively "dead" (for flying purposes) at 3.7 V, but does leave about 15% of a useful battery charge left. You DO NOT want to take the battery voltage below 3.2 V. 

3.2 V is the critical "I'm about to really, really, really - go dead - and forever!", voltage. Fortunately, the quad's computer will "cutoff" at somewhere around or typically slightly below 3.7V. The charging voltage is about 4.5 volts and the correct 100% fully charged voltage (and charger auto cutoff) is 4.2 Volts.

WHERE TO GET THE 5 WAYS

You can get 5X 600 mAh batteries with a 5 way cable for a UDI U818A for about $24.00 from Amazon.com.

     UDI Batteries and 5 way Cable

Make sure if you buy batteries and cable as a package that the batteries actually fit your quad. I like to buy the batteries with the 5 way cable, included. It's cheaper buying in bulk too and I take a LOT of batteries when I go to fly. 

Buying the cable alone is about $2.00 with free shipping from China. About 3-4 weeks delivery. But, hey! Free shipping! Same cable sold in the USA, $5-7.00, each. 

I recently bought 3 each from China:

     5 Way Cables From China

$5.87 for 3 pieces. Free shipping! Can't have enough 5 way cables.

EQUALIZE

I take 5x "dead" batteries out of the pre-sort pile and put them on a 5 way cable. Do the same for the remaining batteries. I leave them on the 5 way cable for about 20 minutes or so. 

Note: they are NOT hooked up to charger. The weaker ones are charged up slightly by the stronger ones. The pack tends to equalize itself - but not perfectly. And that's ok.

You have finished the equalization and you have 1 to x number of piles of 5 each batteries on a separate 5 way cable and they are about the same voltage. 

If you have a lot of batteries and only one B6, charge each pile of 5 separately on a 5 way cable to 3.9 to 4.0 volts using the any LIPO charger. If your are JUST using the B6, skip to the "START CHARGER, otherwise you'll need to check the batteries occasionally to see what the actual voltage. 

If not using the B6, stop at less than 4.0 volts to be safe.

KEEP ON FLYING