How To: Make a Y Balancer Harness

[BrianG]

That's odd. But really, the colors themselves don't matter; they could be all pink with yellow polkadots and it would still work perfectly fine. Since the tap wires are in cell order, it's usually just a matter of finding the most negative and positive wires and go from there. But it's always best to use a meter and verify each cell.

And no, I have never run Neu packs, so I have no idea about the color order. But I am always willing to take lipo donations of all sizes and shapes so I can map out all the combinations. I of course would send them back, but only have several hundred cycles...just to make sure they work ok.

[Trever007]

I think i will be keeping my batts. LOL. Anyways the Y-Harness works great so i got it all working now! Thanks for the help

[BrianG]

Actually, the red and black wire NEED to be tied together if not using the main charge leads at all. Otherwise, there is no link between the two packs and the balancer won't work right. If using a main lead Y adaptor, this connection is not needed because that adaptor provides the link between the two packs.

[Arct1k]

I raised it really - touch of a purest point on the circuitly. Without it the balancer is linking the two batteries togther via the leads.

Without it to get the voltage across the first cell you effectively route from the ground on the left battery through the main black line and back down the red line via your "y" adapter. The red wire cuts this out. Less distance less potential for voltage drop...

I type slow...

[gusti]

Hi Gents
A very interesting thread. I will do the same for my MTRAK LIPO's.
Do somebody have the pin assignments for the MTRAK balancer or are any balancer the same.
May be a silly questions, but today is my first "LIPO" day and I am not experienced with this new stuff.
Thanks gusti

Brian,
What are the chances on you being able to tell me how to wire up a Thunder Power Y balance adapter?

[BrianG]

Same as any other really; it's just the colors that are different. The wires are still in cell order so it's just a matter of measuring the voltage on each to ensure the correct order. I would put diagrams of TP balance conns, but I know some packs use different colored wires so making diagrams to cover every combination would be tiresome to say the least.

[Nek]

Thanks a lot for all this info!!!

I want to charge my 2 2s packs as a 4s but didn't have any extra connectors and can't really go out and buy some where I live.

So I looked into the balance plug board that came with my charger. It has plugs for 2-3-4-5-6S packs.

I figured all the plugs where wired back together to the main plug harness.

So instead of doing a y harness I plugged both my batts to the balance board. Pack one goes into the regular 2S balance plug. And then you just have to plug in the second pack in the 4S balance plug with your positive where the positive would go on a regular 4s balance plug.

I hope it all makes sense. If you need a better explanation cause you need to do it this way and don't have extra connectors just ask :)

Hope it helps some, as this thread and this forum helped me a lot so I'm trying to give back some haha

laters everyone!!!

[Superbasher]

I'm thinking of doing this soon (using a Hyperion LBA10). I'm going to be transferring the pins, and I'm guessing that the single red wire needed needs to go to the pin at the right of the last black wire (orientation as it would be plugged in to the balancer face up)? Oh and does it matter which of the red wires I don't use?

I should really be able to figure this out being half way through an Electronics A-Level, but I want to be sure

[montyjcm]

This a great thread, but since I have had bad luck before I thought I would ask before trying to charge my new packs. I got this 2,2s ->> 4s connector in order to charge/balance my 2s packs together, but I am still a bit confused on which way to wire the packs along with the series adapter for the main leadhttp://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=170329028039s.

The black wire and the two red wires closest to it seem to connect to a 2s connector, and the remaining two wires connect to the other 2s adapter. Which do I connect first and with which battery lead side of the series adapter? Thanks

[Urgeoner]

Thanks for this writeup Brian it was most informative!!

[Arct1k]

You would have to use a 2s align balancer - Unless you wire the packs in series for charging and in parrallel for running...

This no longer makes it 2am proof IMO. If you go this route just use Brian's guide for wiring the adapter

[medusa'd maxx]

could you double up the wires on the 2s plug? the paired cells(ie one from each pack)would probably equalize if I am thinking about this right - I know its not Ideal but I have no space for a harness and want to solder both batteries output leads to the one deans plug (paralell) They are small packs so charge time wouldnt be an issue

[Arct1k]

No - it is not possible to wire a pack as a 2s2p and then try to balance it as a 4s. Since you have paired cells the balancer would not be able to "see" the cells as separate.

if you could reconfigure the pack to 2p 2s vs 2s 2p you'd have more options....

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by Arct1k

No - it is not possible to wire a pack as a 2s2p and then try to balance it as a 4s. Since you have paired cells the balancer would not be able to "see" the cells as separate.

if you could reconfigure the pack to 2p 2s vs 2s 2p you'd have more options....

Gibberish...

Anyways, it is not possible to wire a pack as a 2s2p and then try to balance it as a 4s. Since you have paired cells the balancer would not be able to "see" the cells as separate.

If you left the cells configured as 2 2s packs you could make an adapter to charge them as a 4s, but you mentioned lack of room to do that.

I would just wire them as a 2s2p pack and use a 2s balancer harness. As long as the cells are similar in age and usage they should be fine. The paralleled pairs of cells will naturally equalize voltage. If the cells were different in age by alot you may have issues with one cell in the paralleled pairs taking voltage faster during the charge, that would be the only issue that I can think of.