General Operating Information - GRAUPNER LiPo Balancer Plus Operating Manual

General Operating Information

1st edition, printed in Korea PN.JL-01
The purpose of this manual is exclusively to pro-
vide information. It is subject to modification wit-
hout prior notification, and must not be conside-
red to constitute an obligation on the part of the
GRAUPNER company. GRAUPNER accepts no
responsibility or liability for errors or inaccuracies
which may be found in the information section
of this manual.
Check before using the charging system
Are all connections firm, or is there an intermit-
tent contact at any point in the circuit?
Please bear in mind that it can be dangerous to
fast-charge batteries. For example, if there is a
brief interruption due to an intermittent contact,
the result is inevitably a malfunction, and this
could cause the charge process to restart.
Charging batteries
• Batteries must be supervised constantly when
on charge.
• Batteries must ALWAYS be placed on a
fire-proof surface for charging. (Graupner
LiPo Safety Case, Order No. 8370 (small) or
Order No. 8371 (large)).
• Faulty or swollen Lithium cells must never be
recharged again.
• The battery to be charged must be con-
nected using the two original connectors for
GRAUPNER Lithium-Polymer cells.
• Ensure that there are no intermittent contacts
at any point in the charge circuit. If there is a
brief interruption due to an intermittent con-
tact, the result could be a restart of the charge
process, which would result in the pack being
massively overcharged.
Lithium-Polymer cells
The LiPo Balancer plus is designed solely for ba-
lancing Lithium-Polymer batteries with a nominal
cell voltage of 3.7 V per cell, or Lithium-Ion batte-
ries with a nominal voltage of 3.6 V per cell.
Compared to other battery types, the outstanding
feature of Lithium batteries is their much higher
energy density.
However, this important advantage is balanced
by increased risks, and it is necessary to adopt
different charging and discharging methods in
order to reduce the risk to a minimum.
It is essential at all times to observe the basic in-
structions provided here. Please be sure to read
the information and safety notes provided by the
battery manufacturer, and keep within the stated
technical limits.
The basic rule is that Lithium-based batteries can
ONLY be charged using special chargers desig-
ned and adjusted to suit the specific battery type
(final charge voltage and capacity).
In contrast to NiCd and NiMH batteries, Lithium
batteries have to be charged using what is known
as a constant current / constant voltage method.
The LiPo Balancer is connected between the
charger and the battery to be charged, and starts
to balance the voltages of the individual cells as
soon as it is connected.
LiPo Balancer plus with charge / discharge
protection for 2 to 5 cells
The LiPo Balancer plus features protection
against overcharging and deep-discharging, and
represents the ideal circuit for every modeller.
The unit is absolutely essential for maximum
safety and effective useful life with these batte-
ries, because it reliably eliminates the problem
of overcharging individual cells. Used together
with the deep-discharge guard, Order No. 3065.
x, which is fitted in the model, you can be sure
of much safer operation and higher cycle counts
from your valuable battery packs.
The LiPo Balancer plus brings all the series-
connected cells in a LiPo battery to the same
voltage level. This is necessary, because ageing
effects and discharge processes can produce
differences in states of charge, i.e. cell voltage.
The balancing of the cells starts immediately
when the pack is connected to the balancer, and
this process continues for the full duration of the
charge.
General Operating Information 9