# Ice charger and balancer question??



## msave (Nov 1, 2008)

I have an Ice charger and 2 Team Orion 3200 race spec 2cell carbon edition lipos. I also have a Team Orion Avionics Stability Balancing System. I can balance my batts with my balancer hooked up to just my batts. But, when I hook it to my ice on the output, then hook my team orion balancer to my battery in line, my ice says there is no battery plugged in when I begin my cc/cv charge. Does anybody know why or have any input as to why this may be happening????


----------



## msave (Nov 1, 2008)

Answers anyone?????


----------



## OvalmanPA (Mar 21, 2000)

Is the Orion similar to the Electrifly Equinox balancer? If it is there is probably a "interface" mode you have to place the balancer in before you can balance charge through to the battery pack.


----------



## Lazer Guy (Sep 12, 2005)

msave said:


> Answers anyone?????


I have an ICE and I use two different balancers with it(not at the same time) With both balancers I have to start the balancer first then start the ICE. If I do it any other way I get the same thing your getting. Also you have to plug the lipo into the balancer in the right sequence or you'll get the same fault.


----------



## King Dork (Nov 23, 2008)

I second Lazer Guy's response. My Ice charger and Trakpower balancer have to be done in a certain order or I get an error reading. If you don't still have the directions that came with the balancer, you should be able to get that info on Orion's website.


----------



## msave (Nov 1, 2008)

It does look similar to the equinox. It has a connection and disconnection status. I thought that I did hook it up the right way, but I'm gonna try again. The more I read from the directions, in goes into shut down, when cells are balanced. Could it be possible that they are baalanced, and therefore won't let the balancer stay on. I did get a little balancing in the discharge, but not for long until it flashed 5 times and shut down. Does the equinox do that? Is it possible they're balanced???
Here is the link for it and it is wired for my orions as shown:



http://nexusracing.net/product_info...d=956&osCsid=8d9317f8235d73d37add67d3d1886dda


----------



## OvalmanPA (Mar 21, 2000)

I would say that is your problem. Take a look at the directions. There will probably be two modes of operation. Without the charger the balancer will probably have a quick balance (why they call it that I dunno as it's SLOW) feature and with the charger you will have the "interface" mode I spoke of before. This looks almost identical to the Equinox and Checkpoint balancers. 

I would attach the charger to the balancer, attach the balancer to the battery, and then press the mode button twice on the balancer and start the charger. This is the basic direction for the Equinox and I bet it's pretty much the same for yours. You might want to check the voltages of the individual cells through the balance port/battery hookups to make sure you have an adequate voltage for the balancer/charger to work.

Oh yes, on advice I got here it is always best to charge balance as opposed to discharge balance. It works MUCH better.


----------



## msave (Nov 1, 2008)

I will try that, thank you. How do you check the individual cells through the balance port/battery hookups? As there is no lcd reading on balancer, and how would I check on the ice?


----------



## msave (Nov 1, 2008)

Ovalman PA, Your a hero, thanks!! Well I did what you said and it finally worked. I guess I wasn't comprehending the instructions enough, to realize that it was still in disconnect mode when hooking up to my charger. By doing it excatly as you said, I properly put the balancer in connection mode.:woohoo: The double push of the mode button allowed it into connection mode. Now to go farther, how do I check the individual voltage of each cell with my ice???


----------



## OvalmanPA (Mar 21, 2000)

Well first of all I'm glad you got it figured out. :thumbsup: As for checking the individual voltage on the cells. You'll probably need a digital voltmeter to do this. You _might_ be able to use your Ice if it will show the voltage that is in the pack while it's hooked up (not charging). I'm not completely familiar with the Orion packs but it seems if you first attach your leads to the positive and balance port that should give you one cells voltage and then do the same with the negative (leads attached to negative and balance port. Hope this helps.


----------



## nutz4rc (Oct 14, 2003)

Oval Man is correct in how to check the voltage in the two cells. I use a volt meter and never tried using my Ice but it should work. Don't mix the polarity when you hook up the leads. The center port is negative when you use the positive on the batt. When you connect to the negative port on the batt, the center port is positive.


----------



## msave (Nov 1, 2008)

Thanks guys, I had a digital votmeter,cheap one, for a long time, I would use to check my packs,etc. But my lead came off, and it was a cheap one too. Time for a new one!!!! Thanks guys, now I can figure out the volts. Thank you Nutz also.You guys really helped increase my knowledge of lipo's!!!!:woohoo:


----------

