Balancer FAQ's

Will your new balancer work with other brands of chargers?

Our balancer can be used before, during and after charging with any brand of charger. However, since there are no communications standards between companies, our balancer will only communicate with our Xtrema charger. This communication can alter the charge rate or even stop the charger based on the balance state of the batteries. Having the balancer communicate like this automates the process and adds an extra level of safety to charging your batteries.

What is the benefit of having the balancer connected to the charger?

When used with the optional Xtrema Balancer and Balancer Interface Module, the Xtrema features these integrated balancer features:

1.Balancer support for up to 4 separate series or parallel packs used as one large battery system
2.Accurate cell count verification
3.Battery balanced checked every minute reducing charge current when needed to hasten balance charge.
4.Charger aborts charge if cell to cell or pack to pack imbalance exceeds 200mv
5.Charger volts/cell settings transferred to balancer.
6.Charge terminates if any cell exceeds selected volts/cell

I see how the device works standalone, but I'm not clear on how it works when connected to the Xtrema charger. I assume you need both a BIM and balancer.

YES, That is correct. One BIM supports up to 2 balancers. You can daisy chain a second BIM and support an extra 2 balancers to fit 4 balancing connectors up to 6s each. The BIM allows complete electrical isolation which is mandatory to make the unit easy to hook up and error proof. Series or parallel packs can be connected in any order or can be accidentally connected in reverse polarity without harm.

Does the charger charge the battery through the balancer connector or does the battery also need to be connected to the Xtrema charger output?

All charging is done as normal. From an engineering perspective it is a bad idea to run large currents down the small wires used for balancing. Only smaller chargers can get away with this with low currents otherwise wires can get warm and voltage drops will develop in the small wires. Therefore the charging is done via the main connector capable of 10 Amps of charge current.

Does the balancer then keep the pack in balance as it is charged, and does it have the ability to shut down charging if any one cell reaches full charge?

Yes, and much much more. The logic is very complex and will be explained in the manual.

Are there any problems initiating charging with a pack that is out of balance?

T i m e is the only problem, the Xtrema with balancers is very tenacious about getting the job done.and will drop the charge current so that in concert with the balancers will continue to charge the lower voltage cells while nullifying the results of the charge to the higher cells. On small batteries this goes relatively quicker, on larger cells this can take a while if the imbalance is severe. If the imbalance is over 200 mv, it aborts the charge as this is a severe problem and the pack should be discarded..

Why would the charger be capable of charging 10 cells, but the balancer only able to do 6 cells?

Yes, each balancer is capable of only 6s. But the Xtrema charger is capable of supporting up to 4 balancers. All the commercially produced batteries, that we are aware of, use multiple balancer connectors for any pack over 6s. You would simply connect two balancers to the Xtrema with one BIM and connect each balancer to one of the two leads on the 8s pack.

If you use the balancers without the Xtrema and try to support an 8s pack that has two 4s connections you will have to configure a special cable that allows the two balancers to balance a common cell so that they can balance to each other. Otherwise each half of the battery would be balanced to itself but not the other half. With the Xtrema charger there is no need for this special cable since it is all done via software.

Support for 4 balancers also means parallel connection. For example you could be running four 6s 2000mah packs in parallel to get a big 6s 8000mah pack. The Xtrema is the only charger that can support this. However if you had four 8s 2000mah packs in parallel you will have exceeded the limit of the Xtrema.

Can I really charge 2, 3 or 4 battery packs at the same time?

Yes, but multiple battery balancing was not designed for charging batteries of different charge states. To do so, all packs would need to be partially charged ior discharged as needed to a common voltage level before charging as a group. There are more details on this as a tip in the instruction manual.

For the most efficient charge all series packs should be of the same state of charge (within 200mv preferably within 50mv). capacity, chemistry, age and brand but can be any series configuration that adds up to 10 series cells.

Parallel packs must be the same chemistry (lipoly, A123, Lithium Manganese etc.) and the same series cell count (1s, 2, 3s ... up to 6s) but since they are all being charged to the same voltage they may be different capacities and each will absorb what is necessary to achieve voltage equality.

Since the Xtrema can charge up to 10s in series. you can now balance charge multiple packs that are used together as a single larger pack. some people do not like to have one big pack but instead they use 2 packs of 5s wired in series. Not only that, but 10s cells come with two balancing connectors that look like 2 separate 5s packs. Or, sometimes modelers want more running time so instead of running a 3s 2100mah pack they run two wired in parallel, effectively working as a 3s 4200mah pack. In these examples. since they are discharged together, they can also be charged together. In both of these situations the Xtrema can charge the two batteries configured as a single unit, but now you have a balanced charge for the whole battery system with two balancer connectors. The Xtrema can handle this and more, by supporting up to four balancers.

You can connect the pack in series or parallel and plug it into the charger as one big battery like you normally do. Then you hook up the balancers (up to 4) in any order and the Xtrema figures it all out and makes sure the cells are balanced and the packs are balanced to each other. If they are far apart in balance the Xtrema will either abort the charge or take a very VERY long time to complete.

Most quality Li batteries stay in near perfect balance until damaged by heat or physical trauma. Most charging proceeds quickly. If you have discharged these multiple batteries at different times or if they are different capacities, then they will be grossly out of balance to each other and must be charged separately.

Note that a 12s battery made up of two 6s packs can be balanced charged in parallel but reconfigured in series when running your load. This gives you 12S LiPo cababilities in a round about way.

I think I have four types of Li-poly's and that means four types of connectors. Do you have adapters for each brand?

When it comes down to basics, there are really only two basic types of connectors used on Lithium batteries. Those that have their pins spaced at 0.1" and those that have their pins spaced at 2.0 mm. Our balancer supports all batteries that support 0.1" spacing. This covers 90% of the brands out there. We also have an adapter for 2.0 mm spaced connectors such as Thunder Power brand (part # XTR-2MM). The way we get away with this is that there is no plastic housing around our balancer pins to limit your connectivity to a specific connector style, pin count or reverse ordered pins.We have special circuitry in our balancer to protect it from reverse polarity or misaligned pins.

Is there any possible way to connect the balancer to the charger and my PC with the interface cable? If this is possible will I be able to retrieve data to my PC from both the balancer and charger simultaneously?

Yes, the XtremaLog program will work as normal with balancers plugged into the Xtrema. The Balancer Interface Module (BIM) has four connections. One goes to the Xtrema, two go to support up to two balancers and the fourth connector goes to the computer or to the second BIM which in turn supports two more balancers and then can connect to the Computer.

How do I chose what I need to buy?

* Your Xtrema must be version 1.3.10 or greater. You can update it yourself with the most current firmware available on our downloads page. If you do not have the data cable to upate the Xtrema yourself,(part number XTR-USB) you will need to return the Xtrema to us to update it to support the balancer.

* If you use your batteries used as single packs under 6s you only need one Li Balancer (XTR-BAL) and the interface module (XTR-BAL)

* If you use 1 or 2 packs at a time or use batteries with dual balancer plugs your best value is to buy the DUAL BALANCER add-on bundle (XTR-DBALB)

* If you use 3 or 4 pack at a time your best value is to buy 2 Dual balancer add-on bundles (XTR-DBALB)