BC20-4 settings for stock Phantom battery

ududidj · Oct 17, 2013

Hello group.

I am new to the LiPo RC battery type. After reading so much about the importance of proper charge/storage/disposal and seeing fires on YT and such, I have a question about the stock charger and battery that comes with the Phantom.

Which amperage should be used for the stock battery? Aside from charging time, are there any other effects on how the battery performs or lifecycle amount? Is using the 3A setting OK for the stock battery?

I have 5 of these chargers now and all behave the same. The all get warm when charging and when the red/green top-off mode starts, they begin to cool back down. They also exhibit a bit of a smell when they get warm (this is at the 3A setting). The batteries stay cool and do not emit an odor when charging.

Is all of this normal? You would think that a manual/quick-start on proper use on these would be included due to the risk of fires and such. I can't find one anywhere. I also looked around on this forum and couldn't really find an answer either. I just want to reduce the risk of fire as much as possible.

Thanks!

rsfoto · Oct 17, 2013

Yes that is normal. The charging current set at 3A is OK as it really does not deliver more then 1.8A as the charging power is limited to 20W which means 20Watt/11.1Volt = 1.8A so you can set it on 2A too and it will not make a big difference. What I noticed after buying a better charger that the balancing is not that good. You can measure with a multimeter on the balance cable the voltage of each cell. Just measure adjacent point and you will have each cell voltage.