# How to fast charge 18650's?



## ocean breathes salty (Oct 1, 2006)

I have a heap of DX 18650's. Probably enough to get me through the night in a 24 hour race without having to charge anything. I still worry that I won't have enough however, but my chargers are slowwwww. 500mA chargers are great for battery longevity, but don't help you get through a race. 

What chargers are everyone else using in this situation?


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## heatstroke (Jul 1, 2003)

Max charge rate is 1C, depending on your battery that is 2-2.5A. So it will take about 1.5 hrs min, since the current ramps down. . 
I use the turnigy chargers from united hobbies.


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## vroom9 (Feb 24, 2009)

It takes two hours to charge these batteries. You can get to 70 to 80 percent in the first hour by using a 1C charger like Heatstroke suggests. The best way is to have enoguh pre charged batteries.


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## bravellir (Nov 24, 2008)

heatstroke, 
which one are you using?


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## heatstroke (Jul 1, 2003)

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbycity/...ame=Turnigy_Accucel-6_50W_5A_Balancer/Charger


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## ocean breathes salty (Oct 1, 2006)

heatstroke said:


> http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbycity/...ame=Turnigy_Accucel-6_50W_5A_Balancer/Charger


So to hook that up to a bare 18650 cell, have you rigged up some kind of adaptor?


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## piesoup (Feb 9, 2009)

ocean breathes salty said:


> So to hook that up to a bare 18650 cell, have you rigged up some kind of adaptor?


Thats exactly what I am throwing together today. I am using a piece of plastic pipe with an ID of 17mm. Cutting out a portion of the circumference so the battery can beheld tightly and removed easily, with battery tabs at either end. Then just using te croc clips that came with the charger to hook it up.
I will post some pics when I am done :thumbsup:


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## Bryguy17 (May 19, 2007)

I personally use a pair of FMA cellpro 4S chargers. new ones can charge up to 4A for big packs, and you have adjustable charge current in .25A increments. plus, they run off 12V power supplies, so a car battery should handle your charging needs for a long night pretty easily.

I just hard-soldered balance taps (availabel from FMA), so i can just plug the tap into the charger and it goes. works really well, keeps my packs balanced, and eliminates the need for an onboard control circuit (i use taskled drivers to manage voltage)

worth noting, I can't seem to acceptably charge my packs (3S 2P 18650) much higher than .5C or .6C (I think I charge at 2.25A on a 4400mAh pack). the packs get very warm towards the end of the cycle. charging at a lower rate fixes this problem though.

this is what I have:
http://www.fmadirect.com/new_applications/charger_info.html

this seems to be the current version:
http://www.fmadirect.com/new_applications/multi4.html


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## bravellir (Nov 24, 2008)

tks heatstroke


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## piesoup (Feb 9, 2009)

piesoup said:


> Thats exactly what I am throwing together today. I am using a piece of plastic pipe with an ID of 17mm. Cutting out a portion of the circumference so the battery can beheld tightly and removed easily, with battery tabs at either end. Then just using te croc clips that came with the charger to hook it up.
> I will post some pics when I am done :thumbsup:


Sorry but we had a loss in the family today so I'll get the battery thingy up when I can.


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