Parallel Charging

Taking Care of Multiple Packs Efficiently and Safely

- John Kauk

As electric power fliers, we always have to charge our batteries before we fly; that’s one of the hard-and-fast rules of this part of the RC hobby. For many years, I charged batteries one at a time, and it could take quite a while to prepare for a full day’s flying. As long as I was flying for fun, this was tolerable, taking maybe an afternoon and evening before a planned day at the field. But when I started flying a big octocopter drone for aerial-photography work, I started to realize that something had to change. That drone flew on four 6S 8Ah batteries, and I needed at least three sets for the type of work I’d do in a single day. Charging one 6S battery at a time meant something like 12 hours of charging with a single charger, so I bought more chargers. That helped, but it wasn’t the best solution.

In August 2012, I went to the IRCHA (International Radio Control Helicopter Association) Jamboree at the AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics) flying site in Muncie, Indiana. While I was walking around the vendors’ row one day, I stumbled into the ProgressiveRC tent and had my eyes opened. What I found there can surely be found in other places, but it was my first exposure to easy and safe parallel charging. Among other things, ProgressiveRC sells combinations of chargers and power supplies built into nice cases for easy transport. It also has a wide assortment of parallel-charging boards, built with just about any connector available on the RC battery market.