How do I set up my charger?
Which charger should I choose?
Charging a Lipo battery requires a special charger. Under no circumstances should you use a conventional Nimh charger. For model making, we recommend investing in a universal smart charger such as the Zeen Z65. This charger is compatible with most batteries (Lipo, Nimh, Lipo, NiCd, etc.) and we will use it as an example in this tutorial.
Connection and safety
Your charger comes with a power plug and various adapters depending on the connections available on your battery. We recommend that you always connect and disconnect your battery at the junction between the two cables and not at the charger. This is to avoid contact between the red and black cables
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which could cause an electric shock that could injure you and damage your battery.
How to use the charger
Most chargers have a "BATT/PROG" button to select the desired program, a START (or ENTER) button to select an entry, and navigation is possible using the < > arrows. To start a program, press and hold the Start button for a few seconds. To stop it, press the "STOP" button. During charging, you can also use the arrows to access various types of information, such as battery status, charge level, etc.
How do I configure the charger?
Several settings are available on your universal charger. In the case of the Zeen Z60 charger, we recommend turning off the Safety Tiner. This is a safety feature to prevent overcharging the battery if it is defective, but it can slow down the charging time when you connect a large battery.
Our method for charger a Lipo battery
To recharge a Lipo battery, you must first connect the two connectors, the first corresponding to the sum of the battery cells, the second giving access to each of the cells in order to balance the charge. We recommend always using the BAL CHARG mode to recharge your Lipo battery and not the FAST CHG mode to avoid damaging it.
Charging programs for a Lipo battery
The most common charging programs for a Lipo battery are:
- CHARGE allows you to charge Lipo batteries in normal mode.
- DISCHARGE is used to discharge the battery.
- STORAGE is a mode that allows you to charger the battery to the ideal voltage for storage in the best conditions.
- FAST CHG allows you to charger the Lipo battery more quickly, but the charged capacity may be slightly reduced.
- BAL CHARGE allows you to charger and balance the batteries; this is the charging mode we recommend.
How do I start charging the Lipo battery?
In this example, we will recharge a 2S 5400 mAh Lipo battery.
- Select "BAL CHARGE" mode and confirm with Start.
- Then enter the amperage, in this case 5.4 A, followed by the number of cells, in this case 2S.
- Start charging by pressing the Start button for a few seconds.
- Don't forget to monitor the charge of your Lipo battery.
- Press Stop when charging is complete.
Some additional information
Here are the Information displayed on the screen during charging:
- 5.4A indicates the amperage sent to the battery
- 11.85V indicates the battery voltage, which will increase to 7.4V for a 2s battery
- BAL indicates the Balance program
- 1:33 indicates the time elapsed since the start of charging
- 00033 indicates the number of mA sent to the battery
How do I charge my NiMH battery?
Most universal chargers have special programs for Nimh batteries. With the Zéen Z60 charger, simply select the desired mode using the arrows, then start charging by holding down the START button.
Charging programs for a Nimh battery
The most common charging programs for a Nimh battery are:
- CHARGE is the basic mode to select for most Nimh batteries.
- AUTO CHG is a mode with automatic battery status detection, but you must be sure to set the maximum charging current.
- DISCHARGE is used to discharge the NiMH battery.
- RE-PEAK allows you to recharge the battery more quickly, but the charged capacity may be slightly reduced.
- CYCLE is used to perform several charge/discharge cycles in order to refresh, balance, or stimulate the battery.
