View Single Post
Old 11-06-2009, 11:39 PM   #2
NormS
Uber Contributer
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Hopkinton, MA USA
Posts: 170
Default Re: Mixing discharge rates on LIPOs

I'm not a battery expert by any means, but here are my thoughts about this.

I think putting different C-rated cells in series is a bad idea because the lower rated cells could get overdischarged and destroyed. Your ESC can only sense the overall pack voltage and the higher rated cells will mask the lower rated cells.

I think putting different C-rated packs in parallel is OK, as long as all of the individual packs have the same nominal voltage (i.e. the same number of cells in series). You should never parallelize batteries of different voltages.

In both cases (series and parallel) the max available "C" is the smallest C of the combined group of packs.

That said, I myself would never consider mixing packs of different C ratings and/or different capacities. Lipo's are known to be touchy and to me its just not worth the risk of setting my plane on fire or ruining the batteries. I would like to hear from a real expert about this, however.
__________________
The truth shall set you free, but first it'll piss you off!
NormS is offline   Reply With Quote