Battery Charging Settings and Connectors
I bought a very good charger on Amazon. It being super versatile, I needed to research the best settings for it for our various batteries. The table below summarizes our battery inventory. We'll grow the info as our battery collection grows.
-Sean and Connor Miller 7/31/2022
Battery Specs
| Battery Type |
Stated Nominal Voltage |
Max Charge Voltage | Minimum Discharge Voltage | Cells | Capacity | Recommended Charge Amps | Max Discharge Rate | Notes | |
 |
LiPo | 12V | 12.6V | 9.6V | 3S | 15000mAh | 2A | 1-2 Amps | Bought probably around 2014. Using 2A as charge rate since the factory says 1-2Amps discharge rate. However, this is very low. Other LiPos charge at 1C, so it should be able to take a lot more amps for charging. This battery is great for powering our battery charger to charge other batteries or provide power when camping. |
 |
LiPo | 14.8V | 16.8V | 12.8V | 4S | 3300mAh | 3.3A(1C) | 198A - 60C | Awesome for Raspberry Pi projects. 3Hrs runtime |
 |
LiPo | 11.1V | 12.6V | 9.6V | 3S | 2200mAh | 2.2A(1C) | 66A - 30C | The size of this is difficult to fit in Airsoft guns. Good for raspberry pi projects. We buldged and smoked one of these trying to resurrect it from under voltage. The smoke towered out and then settled heavily to the ground and barely floated away. Luckily, we got it outside in time after hearing it plump up. |
 |
LiPo | 11.1V | 12.6V | 9.6V | 3S | 1400mAh | 1.4A(1C) | 42A - 30C | Good for Airsoft Guns that require 11.1V like the MP-5 |
 |
LiPo | 7.4V | 8.4V | 6.4V | 1100mAh | 1.1A(1C) | 38.5A - 35C | We found this voltage wasn't good enough to lift our large quad copter, but it doesn't hurt to have it around the house for most microController based projects. | |
 |
LiPo | 3.7V | 4.2V | 3.2V | 1S | 2500mAh | 2.5A(1C) | 2.5A (1C) | The product didn't list its C rating. So, I'm assuming it is the normal 1C discharge rate. Good for microController projects, but not Raspberry Pi due to insufficient discharge rating. Since it is a single cell, designing a simple charging solution should be easy. |
 |
NiMh | 8.4V | 9.8V | 7V | 7 | 3000mAh | 0.4A | 30A (10C) | Bought 8/2020. I found these specs by researching NiMh discharge rates. For NiMh, .1C seems to be the consensus for normal charging with .3C being fast charge. Opened and modified, it makes a great airsoft battery that will last for all afternoon. Something in between seems to never get hot. |
 |
NiMh | 8.4V | 9.8V | 7V | 7 | 1600mAh | .16A | 16A (10C) | Decent air soft battery designed to fit well in the stock of a rifle. |
 |
NiMh | 8.4V | 9.8V | 7V | 7 | 1100mAh | 0.2A | 11A (10C) | For NiMh, .1C seems to be the consensus for normal charging with .3C being fast charge. It is more common to find 1600mAh now. |
CHARGER SPECS
BATTERY CHARGING BASICS
C = Capacity measured in amps that can continuously be drained over the course of an hour before depleting the battery. It is typically measured in milliamp hours (mAh). With LiPO, you can drain the amps much faster than an hour without hurting for most batteries.
0.001A= 1mA, 0.01A = 10 mA, 0.1A = 100mA, 1A = 1000 mA
| Type | Nominal Cell Voltage | Cell Minimum Allowed Voltage | Cell Charge Voltage | Charge Rate | Notes |
| LiPo/Lithium Ion | 3.7V | 3.2V* | 4.2V | 1C (typically = capacity/1000 mA/A) | Never Parallel Charge |
| NiMH/NiCd | 1.2V | 1.0V | 1.4V | .1C (.3C fast charge) | If parallel charging, multiply charge rate by number of batteries being charged. 1C charging can be done if attended and temperature is monitored. |
*Some sources say 3.0V and some say 3.4V.
BATTERY CONNECTORS
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