lion battery charging

[quadzillatech]

hi all i have a homebrew laser,its got 6x lion batterys in paralell total 14ah, powering a driver board,im currently using a charger for a single cell that outputs 600ma tops,it takes forever to charge,is there any way i can use my bench psu to charge them say upto 75% then top them off with the single cell charger,my bench psu is 0-30v max 30 amp,just wondered what the max amp ball park figure would be ok,cheers Paul m3vuv.

[capt bullshot]

Typically, one can charge each cell at 1C to 4.2V end-of-charge voltage.
So if you charge all your cells in parallel, set your supply to 4.2V / 14A and wait until the current starts to decay. At this point the cells should be largely charged. Stop at e.g. 20% of your initial current.

Don't set your house on fire.

Edit: Use a DMM or similar having an accuracy of better than 1% to measure the voltage. Most lab supplies don't read the voltage accurate enough.

[Cliff Matthews]

Does your bench supply have current limiting? Stay safe.. each cell has a maximum charge rate. Lots of info available here.

[quadzillatech]

Hi thanks for the replies,my psu has current liimiting,in so much if it goes above a preset limit the out put cuts off,not ideal,i normaly set the voltage using my fluke 85,regards m3-vuv.