can i charge my battery on just my board with the balance port?

[scoopy]

was wondering if it was ok to charge my battery with it hooked up to the balance port on the chip or does it need to be grounded and have the b+ and b- hooked up to.....cuz I ytried and I'm getting reading but cell 1 on 2 different batterys in about a volt or more lower

[VapingBad]

You need it all connected.

[scoopy]

I figured that was probably why but didn't understand why it all read the same but cell 1

[VapingBad]

The balance taps will not carry enough current, but they may charge at a low rate John said they never carry more than 40 mA per pin.

[KTMRider]

Check the 4 resistors to the right of the USB port. The far right resistor on my board was knocked off a bit and caused cell 1 to read very low (~1v). 

[Legros]

Connecter b+ /b- for the board to read correctly your batt

[scoopy]

The resistors look fine...... is that true that u have to have the b+ and b- connected for it to charge right ....maybe John can comment on this

[Legros]

John confirmed to me you need battery connection to charge and  to display cell voltage correctly


https://forum.evolvapor.com/topic/68428-topic/?do=findComment&comment=915419

[scoopy]

OK thank u....l was hoping that was the case

[techbearus]

Huh.. that's interesting..

As the voltages are not consistent, do you think the board should limit users from charging if the power cables are not connected. I saw an instagram video earlier that shows the battery charging while the power leads doesn't seem to be connected.

Link: https://instagram.com/p/4776UAj0KT/

[scoopy]

Man this has me worried now......I just don't understand why all the voltages are right except cell 1....guess I'll find out if my board is bad when I get my case and everything connected

[VapingBad]

Could be a bad cell, damaged balance wire, dry solder joint or resistor damaged.  Can you test the battery even a mulit metre will tell you what voltage is present on the balance plug.

[scoopy]

2 different batteries do it.....everyone keeps saying once I connect the battery all the way and ground it that it will be fine but I'm unsure and worried

[KTMRider]

scoopy said:

2 different batteries do it.....everyone keeps saying once I connect the battery all the way and ground it that it will be fine but I'm unsure and worried

Who is "everybody"? 

I bought one of these battery checkers to test multi-cell lipos:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121680867706?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[scoopy]

I looked at all my resistors and solder joints and checked the batterys on a meter and all is good.....I just don't understand why it reads cells 2 and 3 normal but cell one is like a volt lower

[Brandon]

Scoopy, have you check the battery voltage with a multimeter.  I think that is a good starting place.

[protovapor]

You can meter the cells directly to check them, but it is true that the board will not read all cells properly without the B+ and B- connected. It will do exactly what you are seeing.

The charge symbol comes on even in that condition.

[scoopy]

ya I get 3.84 on pin 1 7.69 on pin 2 and 11.54 on pin 3....pin 4 is ground right......this reads like this on 2 different packs....I though all 3 should read the same....it seems pin 1 is reading 1 single cell and pin 2 is reading 2 cells combined and pinn 3 is the total voltage.......these readings were taken directly from the balance plug of 2 different batteries

[protovapor]

That is correct if you go from ground to each pin. If you want each cell measure adjacent pin pairs.

[Brandon]

I should have read all the way through the thread, with only the tap connected you won't get an accurate reading.

[John]

With only the tap connected, the board is grounding through the lowest balance resistor. So the lowest cell will read wrong. 

Without the main power leads connected, it is dumping the energy from the charger into the overvoltage protection diode, not the battery. The battery never even sees the charge current. So you're heating the board up for no gain. Don't do that. 

[scoopy]

thank you john....wont happen again lol

[blueridgedog]

How is the balance performed?  In prior RC implementations the balance port would drain cells that reached peak early and the charge was solely through the main connection.  There was some discussion on other forums that implied the Evolv balancer was adding a micro charge to achieve balance.  Is it charging or discharging to balance?

[John]

It is discharging to balance.