1. Welcome to the Southern Oregon RC forums.
    Dismiss Notice

Battery Charger & Power Supply Solutions

Discussion in 'Electronics and Electrical' started by GPS, Feb 21, 2015.

  1. GPS

    GPS Registered

    Messages:
    9,095
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grants Pass, Oregon
    I need to upgrade my battery charger and power supply station to something more powerful. Until now I've been using four chargers consisting of three different models, two of which are connected to a 10 Amp power supply. The other two have built-in power supplies.

    My current setup struggles with the 3S 6400 mAh batteries and about halfway through the charge until the end the power supply's fan kicks in and is quite noisy and annoying.

    It would be nice to be able to charge multiple batteries of different voltages and mAh if possible, or at least multiple batteries of the same voltage and mAh rating.

    Above all I'd like to cut down the time needed to charge my batteries.

    Any suggestions? What are you guys using? Are you happy with your charging station?
  2. Pelagic Pilot

    Pelagic Pilot Registered

    Messages:
    1,629
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Oregon
    I have been using a Thunder T6 multi, it is one of those copy jobs where the same charger is under 10 names. The power supply I was happiest with was actually a sealed lead acid battery with a small motorcycle battery charger always hooked to it. To charge 4 batteries at 4 amps requires a lot more than a 16 amp power supply, otherwise they get really hot. And those are not cheap.
  3. Pelagic Pilot

    Pelagic Pilot Registered

    Messages:
    1,629
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Oregon
    Oh, and that charger will do any combination of amps and chemistry at once.
  4. GPS

    GPS Registered

    Messages:
    9,095
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grants Pass, Oregon
  5. Pelagic Pilot

    Pelagic Pilot Registered

    Messages:
    1,629
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Oregon
  6. GPS

    GPS Registered

    Messages:
    9,095
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grants Pass, Oregon
    This looks like a pretty cool setup:

    Unboxing: SkyRC RS16 180w Charger & eFuel 17A Power Supply


    The RC Pit-Stop EP18 - SkyRC RS16 Charger Features and Functions
  7. Tiger

    Tiger Registered

    Messages:
    1,394
    Likes Received:
    34
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Location:
    Grants Pass
    I have the HobbyKing version of the HobbyPartz clone that Tyson posted. Certainly the best charger I've ever seen or owned. There isn't anything on it I wish was different. It's four completely independent chargers and the price is sure right. I power mine from a Astron 30A switching supply.

    ...Tiger
  8. Tiger

    Tiger Registered

    Messages:
    1,394
    Likes Received:
    34
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Location:
    Grants Pass
    The HobbyKing version I have is called the "Quattro" and it's $99 in the US warehouse

    ...Tiger
  9. GPS

    GPS Registered

    Messages:
    9,095
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grants Pass, Oregon
    I'm kind of leaning towards the Cellpro Powerlab 8 since I might be needing more than 6S for my heavy lift model. It looks like it needs a 24 volt power supply to do that though.
  10. Pelagic Pilot

    Pelagic Pilot Registered

    Messages:
    1,629
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Oregon
    It would need to be whatever the charged voltage is, a 3S is 12.6 volts, so I power up the charger at 13.8 so there is enough. a 12V power supply would not do it.
  11. GPS

    GPS Registered

    Messages:
    9,095
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grants Pass, Oregon
    I was always wondering how you charge a 6S battery with a 12 volt power supply. I'm looking at a few 24 volt power supplies.
  12. Tiger

    Tiger Registered

    Messages:
    1,394
    Likes Received:
    34
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Location:
    Grants Pass
    I don't know the specifics of the chargers you guys are talking about but... Some better chargers actually have a switching power supply inside so they can charge batteries at a higher voltage than the input supply voltage. This is not uncommon so be sure to look at the specs for the one you are considering carefully. You may not need a high voltage supply.

    ...Tiger
  13. GPS

    GPS Registered

    Messages:
    9,095
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grants Pass, Oregon
  14. Pelagic Pilot

    Pelagic Pilot Registered

    Messages:
    1,629
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Oregon
    Looks like that one is good at lower voltages, my T6 will throw an input voltage error sometimes.
  15. GPS

    GPS Registered

    Messages:
    9,095
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grants Pass, Oregon
  16. Tiger

    Tiger Registered

    Messages:
    1,394
    Likes Received:
    34
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Location:
    Grants Pass
    Wow! Now this is an accident waiting to happen! It's only February, but for now this gets my "Worst Idea Ever" award for 2015. This is just not cool at all. Yes it has PTC fuses to (hopefully) prevent a fire, but that's not much comfort. If you want to charge multiple batteries, you need to get something like Tyson and I have. This is an engineering train wreck!

    Do you get the idea I don't really like this thing? You can't just parallel charge LiPo's, even if they are the same type unless you use a charge current no greater than the rating of the smallest single LiPo. I hope there is something about this I don't understand, but I really don't think so.

    ...Tiger
  17. Tiger

    Tiger Registered

    Messages:
    1,394
    Likes Received:
    34
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Location:
    Grants Pass
    OMG!!! I haven't watched the first video, but I just watched the second one. What a moron! He says he just leaves the charger set at 16A all the time, because the charger "knows" how big the battery is. Never mind that's IMPOSSIBLE! In the video, he "only" gets up to about 14amps. That's because the battery wasn't discharged more. 16amps is OVER 7C on his 2200mah battery! He's going to have a FIRE very very soon! It scares me to think people are watching this and thinking he is even a little bit credible. I don't know if I want to watch the first one. This is totally nuts!

    ...Tiger
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2015
  18. GPS

    GPS Registered

    Messages:
    9,095
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grants Pass, Oregon
    @Tiger - It does appear that the batteries are in parallel but the charger seems to be able to read each cell of each pack through the MPA board. Watch this video and see what you think:

    Last edited: Feb 28, 2015
  19. GPS

    GPS Registered

    Messages:
    9,095
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grants Pass, Oregon
    These guys talk about the charger's features a little more:

  20. GPS

    GPS Registered

    Messages:
    9,095
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grants Pass, Oregon

Share This Page