Charge a King Arms 9.6v lipo with X-Charger B6?

[Drakker]

I just received a King Arms 9.6v lipo and was wondering how to charge it with an X-Charger B-6.

Link for the battery: http://kingarms.com/productpage.asp?prodid=1635

The charger can charge 3.3v (LiFe), 3.7v (LiPo) and 3.6v(LiIo) lithium batteries... there is 3 cells in the battery pack, this means that each cell is 3.2v (9.6v / 3). But the description for the battery on all sites (eHobby) state it's a LiPo... which should be 3.7v x 3 = 11.1v.

According to Wikipedia, LiFePO4 cells are 3.2v, which would make sense with this battery. My guess is that it would be ok to charge it using the LiFe setting (3.3v), but from having read about other people's mishaps with Lithium batteries, I would rather be on the safe side and seek the wisdom of those more experienced than me.

Can I charge this battery with my X-Charger B6? If yes, how should I proceed? If not, what kind of charger should I use?

Thanks!

[5kull]

From memory, choose Lipo, then choose INC for increase until you get to the right one, then push on Start until the screen changes. It will verify that the battery is okay and ask for confirmation to keep going, keep pushing on Start until it does.

[Adamlxlx]

9.6v lipo?? Never heard of that. Lipo normally come in 7.4 and 11.1, LiFE being 6.6 and 9.9.

[dwsage]

don't mean to hijack the thread but is it a bad idea to charge a lipo with a charger made specifically for a LiFe battery?
And does ANYONE have the X-charger b6 for sale? every retailer I check never has it in stock.

[XZIVR]

Yes it is. Different charging technique, different cutoff voltage etc. But I guess the worst that could happen is you burn your house down and maybe kill a few people. You decide. :P


Those look like 18650 cells in that KA battery.. I didn't know you could even RUN an airsoft gun on those.. Tried it once and the thing wouldn't even cycle with an m120 spring and torque gears. Though those cells were old.. I think you're supposed to charge 18650's as LiFE though. Check that part on wikipedia. Good news is 18650s are pretty hard to screw up, which is why they are used in power tools and laptops and so on..

[Drakker]

Originally Posted by XZIVR

Those look like 18650 cells in that KA battery.. I didn't know you could even RUN an airsoft gun on those.. Tried it once and the thing wouldn't even cycle with an m120 spring and torque gears. Though those cells were old.. I think you're supposed to charge 18650's as LiFE though. Check that part on wikipedia. Good news is 18650s are pretty hard to screw up, which is why they are used in power tools and laptops and so on..

This is the exact problem I have... I charged the battery with the life setting in balance mode, with a 0.2ma charge current (wanted to be extra safe). It stopped after 176ma, and the battery will not cycle my G&P V2 stock gearbox with an M120 spring and a G&P M120 motor. I bought this battery because my old Firefox nimh 1500mah 8.4v battery wouldn't cycle it either.

So, either my new lipo is not fully charged with the setting I used to charge it, or it really isn't strong enough to cycle my current setup...

[ThunderCactus]

charging at .2mA?? It must take you a week to charge a 1500mah battery lol

First, find out exactly what kind of chemistry your battery is.
Next, find out what the peak voltage per cell is of that chemistry
Then, test your pack to see what voltage it's at after charging
This will determine whether it's charging or not

[XZIVR]

Hm strange... even if it was actually a LiPO, a 3 cell 11.1 nominal voltage batt is considered completely d3ad at 3.2v per cell, or 9.6v. Sometimes people go as low as 3.0v per cell but it isnt reccomended. In any case, even a lipo that is right at its minimum voltage should still cycle the gun.

I dunno man, that battery just seems way too sketchy to me and tbh if i was you i would probably just toss it and go find something proper. Check out hobbyking.com for some actual good batteries. I uave ordered over a thousand dollars worth of batts from them for my friends and i over the last 3 years or so.

[Drakker]

Woops, I meant to type 0.2a, or 200ma. Should take about 8h to charge a completely discharged 1500mah battery.

Unfortunately, not much info is available on that King Arms battery, all I know is that it's 3.2v per cell. The only type of lithium battery I could find info on that runs at 3.2v is the LiFePo4.

So, I decided to give it a try in my AK (it has an m90 spring). The trigger response is amazing and the ROF is much higher than with a 1500mah 8.4v nimh battery... so the battery works. It was probably already charged, so that could explain why it charged for such a short time in balance mode.

Anyway, I will keep charging it with the LiFe setting on my charger and monitor it very carefully.

Thanks everyone for your inputs!

[ThunderCactus]

well is 3.2v the stated voltage, or the actual measured voltage?
Charge it to full, and measure the voltage on the cell, it wouldn't be the first time an asian company mislabeled their product

[Drakker]

Originally Posted by ThunderCactus

well is 3.2v the stated voltage, or the actual measured voltage?
Charge it to full, and measure the voltage on the cell, it wouldn't be the first time an asian company mislabeled their product

3.2 is the stated voltage. I'll get my hands on a multimeter and measure it... although it's a King Arms battery, not a random non-name company, and as far as I know, their stuff is usually pretty good.