Lipo Battery for Turnigy 9x (2xThrustfire) How to solder?

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Lipo Battery for Turnigy 9x (2xThrustfire) How to solder?

Postby Arduino » Wed Jun 29, 2011 9:24 am

Hi,

i want to build the lipo pack for my Turnigy 9x.

I have got the 2 Thrustfire batterys like in the review.

Soldering the connector from the old battery pack to the thrustfires is no problem.

But iam not sure how to solder the "charging" lead, to connect it to my balancer charger...

Can anybody maybe make a photo or a small picture in paint or something?

I iam experienced in soldering, but i am unsure how it has to be connected... And i dont want to destroy something :)

Does it need only 2 leads for charging? Or 3 leads for balancer charging? And how are they connected :)

Thank you very much.
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Re: Lipo Battery for Turnigy 9x (2xThrustfire) How to solder

Postby Kozmyk » Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:36 pm

If you get the protected version of the batteries then you shouldn't really need a separate balance lead.
If however your charger requires a balance lead connected to get going or you've go the unprotected type then this diagram may help:
N.B. I swapped the picture around so that the cell orientation is more like the physical positioning in the Tx, the connections are the same though.
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Last edited by Kozmyk on Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Lipo Battery for Turnigy 9x (2xThrustfire) How to solder

Postby Arduino » Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:44 pm

Hi,

first thank you very much for your help...

I have ordered 2 pairs of protected version. ( 4pcs )

I think my charger needs a balance lead connected to start charging :(

So i can connect it as shown on your picture even if they are protected, and wont have any problems?

And by the way it cant be wrong when the cells are really balanced, right?

Soldering with normal leadfree solder is okay ? Or do i need the special aluminium solder?

Just want to get sure it works like it should :)

Thank you very much...
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Re: Lipo Battery for Turnigy 9x (2xThrustfire) How to solder

Postby Arduino » Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:48 pm

Oh, one more question...

Is it better do disconnect the battery from the Turnigy every time it is charged on the balancer charger?

Or can it stay plugged into the Turnigy while loading over the second lead when the turnigy stays switched off?

(maybe it is not good for the plug on the turnigy do disconnect\connect so much times? )
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Re: Lipo Battery for Turnigy 9x (2xThrustfire) How to solder

Postby Kozmyk » Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:05 pm

Arduino wrote:
So i can connect it as shown on your picture even if they are protected, and wont have any problems?

And by the way it cant be wrong when the cells are really balanced, right?

I don't know if the protection circuits in the cells will interfere with your chargers balance sensing circuits, they might well do.
I think it'd be best to leave the balance leads off if you've got the protected type.
It may be possible to use the balance leads with the protected type, I'm not sure on that one.
We need someone else to put us both right on that score. ;)

Arduino wrote:Soldering with normal leadfree solder is okay ? Or do i need the special aluminium solder?

I'd use old fashioned normal resin cored 60/40 lead/tin solder. It melts at a lower temperature making it easier to use and less likely to cause heat damage to your batteries.

Arduino wrote:Is it better do disconnect the battery from the Turnigy every time it is charged on the balancer charger?

With this type of battery you must disconnect the pack from the Tx when charging.
To be charging via the balance leads while still connected to the Tx could damage your Tx.
Also, you can't use the Tx's charge socket as there is a diode in the circuit.
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Re: Lipo Battery for Turnigy 9x (2xThrustfire) How to solder

Postby Arduino » Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:11 pm

Okay,

now everything is a lot clearer for me...

last problem could be that i think that my charger needs the balance plug to start charging... And i use protected cells ...

Maybe somebody knows if it makes any problem when i connect a balancer lead for charging like shown on the picture to protected thrustfires...

Hope i dont get stuck at this problem, so that i cant use the batterys with my charger :(
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Re: Lipo Battery for Turnigy 9x (2xThrustfire) How to solder

Postby kaptain_zero » Thu Jun 30, 2011 1:56 am

The protection circuit is there to prevent charging a cell to too high a voltage or to discharge the cell below the minimum safe voltage. It should have zero effect otherwise. For the record, do not assume the protection circuit actually works and once it's tripped, you may not be able to use the cell anymore.

I made up two packs for two 9x radios and charge them with either one of my Turnigy accucell 6 chargers or one of my iCharger 106B+ units and I plug the balancing plug into both chargers, but it's not necessary as both chargers charge through the power plug and the balance plug is only used for balancing if I set the charger up that way. YMMV

Regards

Christian
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-- Pablo Picasso
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Re: Lipo Battery for Turnigy 9x (2xThrustfire) How to solder

Postby Arduino » Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:23 am

Cool, i will be using the Turnigy accucell 6 too. :)

I did not know that it will start charging without balance plug, so i was unsure...

I thought the protection circuit will just cut of charging or discharging if it gets too low or high, but after charging\discharging again it would work fine?

@kaptain_zero : Did you connect the balance plug like shown in the picture? And it works fine with protected cells on the turnigy accucell 6 ?

Regards, Armin
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Re: Lipo Battery for Turnigy 9x (2xThrustfire) How to solder

Postby kaptain_zero » Fri Jul 01, 2011 4:05 am

Most protection circuits on cheap Chinese LiIon cells will "trip" on an error ( that is if they work at all.... sometimes they don't) and you won't be able to re-set them. I believe some of the higher end batteries... not the "insert name here"+ fire types, can be reset by a charger made for that purpose. In other words, you want to avoid activating the protection circuit, and if it does activate, consider the cell damaged and get a new one. I've had trustfire branded cells just quit on me.... the battery was fine, it was just the protection circuit that failed and while new protection circuits can be purchased... it's not worth the effort on these cheap cells.

Yes, the diagram for the balance plug above is correct, and it works fine with my protected Trustfire 18650s and the Accucell 6. I do recommend using good technique when soldering things up.... you don't want to heat the battery more than absolutely necessary, so use a 50w iron with a nice clean tip, add some flux to the solder points on the battery and try to get things soldered in a few seconds per joint (don't forget to pre-tin the wire leads).

Regards

Christian
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-- Pablo Picasso
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Re: Lipo Battery for Turnigy 9x (2xThrustfire) How to solder

Postby Arduino » Fri Jul 01, 2011 9:57 am

On a german forum i have read that you can reset the trustfire protection by connecting it to 5V for about 1 sec. ( + to + and - to - )
They also said that if you dont have a 5V source you can use a 9V block battery also ( 1 sec connection only + to + and - to - )

Idont know if that is true, but i hope i wont come into the situation to try that... :D

Do you have any suggestion which settings on Accucell6 should be used? For 2S ( Trustfire 2400mah pack) ?

Regards, Armin
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