Charging Batteries
Batteries should never be left plugged in!!!!!
Using the new charger it is important to check settings before plugging battery in. The battery has correct settings on itself. As of right now it is a 5.0 Amp 14.8V LiPo battery.
The Charger itself
Correct Connection setup to the charger
Pieces that are plugged into the battery cable
how cables connect together
Be sure to match cable colors correctly as seen in picture red/red and black/black
Settings the charger should be set at for batteries used at present time 9/30/2014
Always check that settings match what is listed on the battery to make sure they match up
Past the following line is old method for charging batteries
This wiki describes how to charge our batteries, their specs and any caveats/dangers to watch out for.
Hook up all charging cables to power supplies BEFORE plugging in charging header to the battery. If you don't you run the risk of shorting some of the alligator cables together as they tangle up very easily. This leads to arc welding, which while very interesting looking, is VERY BAD for the battery.
We prefer to only charge each cell of the battery to just under 4V, for a total of 15.7~15.8 V. Any higher than this is too high for the motor-side voltage regulators.
This is a nice, quick demo video Neal and I put together. It shows the basics of charging, but critically, skips over some warnings that you should pay attention to!
Grab this wiring harness from the locker (it's currently in locker two, but that might change).
TODO: Picture
There are four pairs of leads. Unfortunately, the colors don't make much sense. Wire the black ones to the negative terminals on the duel power supplies. For the pair that doesn't have a black lead, wire the read one to the positive side.
CRITICAL: GET THE LEADS SECURELY WIRED BEFORE CONNECTING THE BATTERY. IF THE BATTERY IS CONNECTED AND THE LEADS SHORT, YOU'LL ARC WELD AND DESTROY THE BATTERY.
TODO: Picture
Power on the two power supplies.
TODO: Picture
Adjust all of the voltage levels to be about 4 volts. That should give slightly less than 4V at the cells (due to violate drop over the wires). Keeping in mind that we have 4 cell batteries, each cell at just less than 4V will give us just under 16V for the full battery. Our batteries can take more than 16V, but our voltage regulators can't.
TODO: Picture
One of the power supplies allows you to push a "CC" button and see the max current that would be allowed. Hold that button and use the current knob to adjust it to 1A. We can support between .5A and 1A comfortably.
TODO: Picture
You can't adjust the max current of the other PSU, so just turn both current knobs all the way down. Once you plug in the battery, you can crank them up slowly.