Discussion My Favorite Charger. Pros & Cons

[Ohio AV8TOR]

Speaking of power supplies, since you can't use a charger without one, what are you guys using? Would like to focus on the 110V PS if possible since I'm not sure many people have a deep cycle sitting around.

Thanks,

Frank

I made my own 24v power supply from two Dell AA23300 that I bought for $19 for both on eBay. They are 44.5 amps but I have my PL8 set at not drawing more than 42 Amps for safety. Easily handles 3 6S-3300's at 3C charge rate. Can be pushed more but I only have 6 of these batteries for my 60" Edge so I charge in two batches. TjinTech has a nice article on how to do it which I followed. This is my third 24v power supply that I have made now. I even did the 100mm sharing wrap as he did and looks awesome.

 

[Murocflyer]

Making your own is definitely the way to do it. A good 24V PS costs almost as much as the charger. Is this the site that gave you the instructions? https://sites.google.com/site/tjinguytech/ Was it hard to do? I heard on one of the podcasts that there is a good chance that a guy with only moderate soldering skills could be over his head doing this. How hard did you feel the task was? (I haven't reviewed the article yet).

Thanks,

Frank

 

[Ohio AV8TOR]

Making your own is definitely the way to do it. A good 24V PS costs almost as much as the charger. Is this the site that gave you the instructions? https://sites.google.com/site/tjinguytech/ Was it hard to do? I heard on one of the podcasts that there is a good chance that a guy with only moderate soldering skills could be over his head doing this. How hard did you feel the task was? (I haven't reviewed the article yet).

Thanks,

Frank

Yes I have done two from his instructions, the HP and the Dell. The Dell go to his My Projects then the last is convert other power supplies. You need to be familiar with testing conductivity because you need to isolate the ground on one.

 

[Murocflyer]

OK thanks. No problem with testing conductivity. Maybe I will read over that and see if it is something I can do. If not, I'll just get a 12V power supply. I'm sure the 12V PS from Solid will be enough to charge 2 4s 4000 mAH batts with a PL6 at the same time. I don't think I will need 24V to charge them successfully. Will I?

Frank

 

[zmonster97]

OK thanks. No problem with testing conductivity. Maybe I will read over that and see if it is something I can do. If not, I'll just get a 12V power supply. I'm sure the 12V PS from Solid will be enough to charge 2 4s 4000 mAH batts with a PL6 at the same time. I don't think I will need 24V to charge them successfully. Will I?

Frank

Depends on how fast you want to charge them.

 

[Murocflyer]

I heard that charging batteries too fast is not good on them so I normally charge them at 1C, but this is really do to my charger's capability. With the 4S batts I am charging right now on my Cellpro 4S, I had to lower the charge rate so the charger and PS would not overheat.

Frank

 

[rcbirk21]

you can charge as fast as the battery says. my packs are good up to 5c charge rate, and there are some hyperion packs good to 12c charge rate

 

[SnowDog]

OK thanks. No problem with testing conductivity. Maybe I will read over that and see if it is something I can do. If not, I'll just get a 12V power supply. I'm sure the 12V PS from Solid will be enough to charge 2 4s 4000 mAH batts with a PL6 at the same time. I don't think I will need 24V to charge them successfully. Will I?

Frank

Frank...just spend the extra now and get the 24v psu from SolidHobby...then you'll be set for a good long time...if you get the 12v psu now then I predict that within a few months you will be regretting the lack of 24v capability.

 

[Steve_B]

The DIY conversion is straightforward if you have a decent soldering iron. The HP DPS-600Pb is the PSU used by the likes of SolidHobby. While the SolidHobby PSU is good value you can do it yourself for about a quarter of the price. However you do want to do it properly which involves isolating the DC earth inside the second PSU, rather than the very dangerous method where the AC earth pin is isolated at the power cable.

 

[zmonster97]

Yup! I made a 24v PSU out of two dps-600pb's and it has been working great so far!