How to Balance Lipo Cells

Balancing a Li-Po Battery Pack

• 1

  Find the white balance connector that is attached to the battery pack. The white balance connector will contain both a negative lead, which is a black wire, and positive leads, which are red wires, for each of the cells in the battery pack. Each positive lead, or red wire, will be referred to as a positive terminal further down in the instructions.

• 2

  Take your scrap piece of paper and draw a t-shape. On the right side of the t write "cell number," on the left side of the t write "voltage." Beside the t-shape write down "total battery pack voltage." Underneath "cell number" on the chart, write "1S," "2S" and so on to indicate which cell the voltage reading belongs to.

• 3

  Take the volt meter and turn it on. Place the negative lead of the volt meter onto the negative terminal of the white balance connector. With the negative lead still touching the negative terminal wire, take the positive lead of the voltage meter and touch it to each of the other terminals, watching carefully to see which of the terminals has the highest voltage reading. The highest rating is the overall or total voltage of the entire battery pack. Write this number down on your scrap piece of paper next to the total voltage entry.

• 4

  With the negative lead from the voltage meter still touching the negative terminal of the battery pack, place the positive lead onto the next positive terminal. Take note of the voltage reading, and then subtract the lower rating from the higher rating (the total battery pack voltage) to calculate the voltage of the first battery cell. Write this down on the chart next to the 1S entry.

• 5

  With the black negative lead from the voltage meter still touching the negative terminal of the white balance connector, touch the positive lead of the voltage meter to the next positive terminal on the connector. Subtract the voltage rating from the voltage of the first terminal. This will calculate the voltage of the second cell. Write this down on the chart next to the 2S entry.

• 6

  Repeat Steps 4 and 5, making sure to subtract the voltage from the one you have just tested previously for example the voltage of 3S from 2S and so on, for all of the other positive terminals until you have the voltage ratings of each of the cells in the battery pack. Compare the voltage readings to see how the battery pack is balanced.

• 7

  If the battery pack isn't balanced properly, attach it to the Li-Po battery balancing charger and let it charge. Make sure that you follow the manufacturer's instructions on how to use the balancing charger so that you don't accidentally start a fire.

• 8

  After the battery pack is done charging, test the voltage again by following Steps 1 through 5. The battery pack should be properly balanced. If it is not, you may need to get a stronger wattage charger so that it provides enough voltage for the battery pack's cells to fully charge.