Batteries 5S + 5S or 6S +4S to equal 10S

[Derek]

I'm just wondering, to get a 10S setup, would it be ok to have a 6S and a 4S (of the same mah and C rating, of course) or should I be looking into a pair of 5S packs?

I have several 6S packs and I'm going to be ordering some 4S packs for my FPV wing. However, I have a 10S project in mind and I'm beginning to put thought into the battery packs. Everything else, I believe I have sorted.

 

[Slobberdog]

It's just a choice Derek, both will do exactly what it says on the tin,

Just 2x5s will be easier to charge than a 6s + 4s, the 5s's you can para charge the other combo you can't,

That's just my take anyway.

 

[Derek]

I have to be honest, I don't know what para charging is...I don't know how to para charge...I don't know the benefits of para charging. Lol.

I have an upcoming project in mind that will either be 10S or 12S. Not sure yet. I will be ordering several 4S packs for other planes and I already have several 6S packs. So, I guess I just need to decide what packs to use. I'll worry about that later, I guess. I don't even have the materials to start this project...but the start should be soon. I'm looking forward to sharing this one with the forum.

 

[Tony]

Para stands for parallel. Like the EP Buddy Para boards that I use as well as many others. Just means you can hook up to 6 of them to your charger at once. But they have to be the same voltage.

Speaking of voltage, man and C don't matter, only the voltage, or S matters. As long as they are the same S rating, then you will be fine. But I agree with teh above, do the double of the same battery. Much easier.

 

[Derek]

Hmmm, sounds like I need to investigate the para charging a bit so I can understand it better.

It also sounds like I'll be running a 12S setup on my next big project. I'm hoping to have twelve 12S packs by the time this project is completed.

 

[xokia]

Mah does matter C rating somewhat does not.

But yes you can put a 6+4 in series to get 10S. The reason the capacity matters is you don't want the smaller capacity pack going dead first. Thus sucking it even more dead by the time the larger pack goes dead.

C rating is a little more complicated because its a meaningless value. What you want is packs that have IR that are all close to each other. In an ideal world you should be able to get this by using packs with the same C rating. But that just doesn't work out. The reason for this is the same as above a lower IR cell will be contributing more to the power output then a high IR cell.

I don't parallel charge for the same reason IR is rarely the same between different packs. So you will get different charge rates between the cells that are in parallel. I don't know enough about the charging algorithm used while in parallel to feel safe using it or trust that it is filling each cell completely.

 

[Derek]

Thanks for commenting, xokia!