Fingertech Robotics C6D User manual

Charging a Lipoly Battery
on the C6D Mini Charger
1. Power on the charger and plug in your baery as shown. (The Viper kit has a power
plug that you can plug into the charge connector instead, keeping the lipoly inside the
bot.)
2. Press the BATT TYPE buon to scroll through baery types unl LiPo[0] shows
then press ENTER.
3. Press INC unl CHARGE shows then press ENTER.
The pack charge sengs will begin ashing.
4. Use the INC/DEC buons to set the charge current to 0.6A, press ENTER, then INC/
DEC the pack voltage to 7.4V(2S). Press ENTER again.
▫ These are the sengs for a 2-cell / 2S (7.4V) 300mAh lipoly baery as come
with our Viper kit (these sengs are indicated in the manual).
▫ Most lipoly baeries can be charged at 2C. This means 2x the mAh rang of
the pack. So a 300mAh pack can be charged at 600mA, or 0.6A.
5. When the sengs are right, press and hold the START buon. It will play a tone.
6. You will see the following screen which is asking you to conrm that the requested charge voltage (R) matches the measured
voltage (S). A damaged baery might show one less cell, or say Connection Break.
7. If R and S match, press ENTER to begin charging. If not, invesgate the mismatch.
Do not charge a damaged baery.
8. Your lipoly is now charging. When nished it will play a loud tone.
9. While charging you will see this screen updang:
Screen Descripon
Li2S = 2S (2-cell, 7.4V) Lipoly pack
0.6A = The amps being pushed into the baery. (You set this maximum earlier.) This will decrease as the pack nears full
capacity.
8.02V = This shows the actual voltage of the baery. When the baery is full it will read as high as 8.4V (the fully charged
voltage of a 7.4V(2S) baery). Each cell can be safely charged up to 4.2V.
CHG = Current is going into the pack. The C6D Mini Charger can also DIScharge packs, and BALance packs if you plug the pack's
balance connector to the side of the charger. It's good pracce to balance a pack before each event.
000:30 = Elapsed me. At 2C, a pack can take up to 25 minutes to charge. The charger will stop itself aer 120 minutes as a
precauon.
00005 = The amount of charge returned to the pack, in mAh. This is useful to know how much current your robot used in a
match. Somemes you can go down a pack size. For example, from 300mAh down to 250mAh, if your robot only ever uses
200mAh. (You need to have a bit le in the pack to make sure it doesn't go below the minimum voltage—which is 3.3V per cell,
or 6.6V for a 2-cell / 2S pack.)
It is important to always keep an eye on a charging lipoly baery. There is always a chance something could go wrong, and if a pack
catches re you want to be close by to take care of it. Some experts recommend placing the lipoly (or enre robot) into a re-resistant “charge
sack”. Others recommend charging in a reproof locaon (i.e. cement oor, far from ammable things) so the re can burn itself out without
needing to relocate it. If there is a re, stop the charger and (if possible) move the baery somewhere safe to use a re exnguisher, or put the
baery into a sand bucket and dump more sand on top. Always have a plan!
P R O G R AM M E M O R Y
L i P o [ 0]
LiPo[0] CHARGE
0.6A 7.4V(2S)
R: 2SER S: 2SER
CONFIRM(STOP)
Li2S 0.6A 8.02V
CHG 000:30 00005

Balancing Lipoly Packs
▪ Balancing the cells in a pack ensures they will give you opmal performance. Plug
the lipoly’s white Balance Plug into the front of the charger as shown, along with
the main charge leads.
▪ Repeat all the steps for charging, except
select BALANCE instead of CHARGE in step 3.
▪ The main updang screen will read out the
same as with CHARGE, but you can now also
see each cell’s individual voltage by pressing
the INC buon while charging. The charger is
aempng to equalize them all. Press INC
again to return to the main display screen.
It's good pracce to balance a pack before each event. Over me, and with the
rigors of combat tournaments, cells could become unbalanced. If one cell is too high compared to the others, charging the pack
could put that cell above the safe upper limit and damage the cell. Likewise if one cell is too low compared to the rest, draining the
pack during a match could put that cell below the safe lower limit and make it unsafe to charge.
Storing Lipoly Packs
▪ For longterm storage it is recommended to do a Storage Charge on your lipoly baery.
▪ Repeat the steps for charging, except select STORAGE instead of CHARGE in step 3. Now
instead of charging the pack up to 4.2V per cell, it will charge (or discharge) to a cell voltage of
3.8V (7.6V for a 2S pack). This has been deemed the best storage voltage for lipoly health.
Discharging Lipoly Packs
▪ Unlike NiCAD or NiMh baery chemistries, lipoly does not benet from deep discharge and
recharge cycles. The only me you might want to Discharge a pack is to see if it is sll able to
supply its rated capacity, or if it’s perhaps me to get a new pack.
▪ First, charge the pack to full. Then repeat the steps for charging, except select DISCHG instead of CHARGE in step 3, and the
discharge current can be 2.0A (charger limit) in step 4.
▪ The charger will discharge the pack to 3.0V per cell (6.0V for a 2S pack). When nished, the
display will show the total capacity at the boom right.
LiPo[0] BALANCE
0.6A 7.4V(2S)
C1 :3.97 C2:3.97V
C3:0.00 C4:0.00V
Li2S 0.6A 7.93V
BAL 000:07 00005
LiPo[0] STORAGE
0.6A 7.4V(2S)
LiPo[0] DISCHG
0.6A 6.0V(2S)
Li2S 1.3A 5.91V
DSC 014:27 00328