Li-po Battery Charging

by Dabeer Ahmed
(Islamabad, Pakistan)

On the Li-Po batteries it is mentioned "Do not charge over 1C". What does that mean?

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Li-po Battery Charging

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Aug 15, 2008
Li-Po battery charging
by: Pete

The 'C' rating indicates the discharge rate of the Li-Po battery pack, as well as the charge rate of the charger. It's normal for most rc Li-Po packs to be charged at or under 1C so that the battery doesn't overheat.

Basically, charging a battery at 1C means that it's being charged at the equivelent of the battery's capacity eg charging a 1000mAh pack at 1000mA, or 1A.
Charging a 1000mAh pack at 0.8A, or 800mAh, would give a charge rate of 0.8C (typo corrected, see comments below!), and so on...

An example of charging a pack at over 1C would be charging a 1000mAh pack at 1.2A - this would more than likely cook the battery, possibly even set it on fire!

Charging Li-Po battery packs correctly is very important, and you need to be very sure that your charger is safe for your pack.

Jul 01, 2009
Wouldn't a 800mAh charge on a 1000mAh battery be 0.8C ?? Instead of 0.08C??
by: Anonymous

Wouldn't a 800mAh charge on a 1000mAh battery be 0.8C ?? Instead of 0.08C??

Jul 02, 2009
Oops!
by: Pete

Yes, absolutely - that was a complete typo on my part. Thanks for spotting it and making the comment ;-)

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