I am a moron

[Philistine]

Edit: (for full disclosure, the title of this thread has been edited, but I will keep all text as it was, to give context, I mistakenly had a 5S charging configuration in mind, when I was actually charging as 10S - so I was charging outside spec). My recommendations pro or con for this PSU are neutral. I will have to buy another one and charge within spec to see. And being the kind of guy who falls for Chinese finger traps, odds are I will be getting another one in my next HK order. I should also probably start smoking less doobie.

Just a warning to all, don't buy this PSU from Hobbyking:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=9205.

As usual I read all the negative reviews, and thought, "well I will be the exception with a good experience" (optimism bias). I based this on all the reviews people have made of the 3010B exploding in a fireball. Yet I own two 3010Bs, and they have both been a dream, never given me a single problem (although my more expensive Hyperion 1420i, has a recurring "battery input connection" error problem).

This PSU is total dogsh^t.

Recieved it, plugged it in, and started charging a 10S pack at 10amps on my 3010B, well within the PSU's rated specs of 350W.

Within 5 minutes, there was a loud bang, and some magic smoke came out of it, and it is toast.

Hobbyking really do push the boundaries on crap QC. I seriously think they have a strategy where they intentionally sell products that "technically" meet the specs they claim, but which they know will fail very quickly, but they know that you can't be bothered paying the return shipping, so you just cop it sweet. One day this strategy will backfire on them when some US customers start a class action, particularly if one of their faulty products starts a fire.

Seriously, how can you have a product that has multiple upon multiple customers talking about it exploding first go? When did you last have an electrical product that you bought domestically spontaniously explode, straight out of the box? It's not like I am the outlyer, there are about 10 people on the site saying the exact same thing. How many people had the same thing happen but didn't even report it on the site.

[Disengage rant....]

 

[liveforphysics]

10s at 10amps is going to draw around 400w to get started and perhaps 440watts to finish up.

Your supply was 350w.

 

[Philistine]

Of course... I am such an idiot, I was thinking of it as 5S, not 10S (I used to charge as 5s, ie, 21V), so in my mind I was thinking of 21V (hence I was thinking I was punching 210W). I am such an idiot.

But even having said that, I would have thought that if the charger asked for more than the PSU could supply, the PSU would just fail to meet the demand, is that not how it works? (I have 10th grade maths and 10th grade science, and it is showing now). I used to have a crappy little 12V 10amp supply, and my charger settings were way over the mark, and it never complained, it just never delivered more than its max specs. I presumed that the PSU just put out a maximum supply, and the product could take no more, is that not how it works?

 

[neptronix]

42v x 10a = 420w + 15% inefficiency ( 63w ) = 483w O_O

These cheap power supplies are very basic and don't have current limiting built in, so it will give whatever you ask.
In fact, i bet they don't have much in the way of thermal sensors other than to turn the fan on.
Shutting off suddenly could produce problems with whatever they are supplying.

If it ran for 5 minutes, you should change this review to a positive one, LOL..

Anyway man up if you have the money and get a meanwell for that bad boy. OR just bulk charge off a meanwell / set of meanwells.

 

[Philistine]

42v x 10a = 420w + 15% inefficiency ( 63w ) = 483w O_O

Yeah I explained in my post after LFPs that I had been thinking of it as 5S. I do understand that a 10S pack is 42V. I wasn't suggesting I thought a 10S pack was 21V, I was explaining that I was thinking of my 10S pack, as a 5S pack, because that is what I used to charge as.

I don't know if I would go so far as to give the product a positive review, given that on the website there are a bunch of people saying theirs exploded charging within spec. But I will go so far as to change the title to not be negative to the product, and to reflect my stupidity.

Anyway man up if you have the money and get a meanwell for that bad boy. OR just bulk charge off a meanwell / set of meanwells.

I don't need to "man up" and get a meanwell. I already have two PSUs that each put out 30 Amps/26V. This was meant to be my travelling/portable/for the office PSU, as it is so small (and was so cheap).

As I said, I concede I am a moron for thinking of my 10S pack as 5S. I will amend the title accordingly (but my sledging of HK remains valid, and will stay)

 

[neptronix]

Yeah i understand the error. It is easy to make, and i have came close to making it myself. Not calling you an idiot or anything

But seriously, i maintain that you should get a 48v meanwell anyway, use it as a bulk charger at work. Then you don't need to bring a power supply brick and iCharger to work.
If you want small / cheap, you can mod the 150w unit just like the 350w units.

Yeah all those HK power supplies have terrible reviews. Just saying that yours performed amazingly considering the fact that it was crap plus it was overloaded by quite a bit. I am sure it outlasted 50% of the ones they shipped.

The more pricier power supplies have a little sway room built into them. For example, the meanwells put out something like 130% their rated power intermittently, and can sustain it for a while. These cheap ones though, well, they're cheap. They have cut costs as much as possible by rating it as high as possible. The trick with units like these is to de-rate them some.

OK, i'll shut up now.

 

[theRealFury]

Just thought i would post a little note here to say that i have that same PSU and i use it with an icharger 106b+ charging at ~200w max. It doesnt even get warm and the DC output is very stable at 14.1v no load and 14.06v under 200w of load. The same with any PSU.. the rated output should be treated as a maximum rating and should not be used continuously at 350w. i intentionally oversized my PSU to enable it to have a long life

Charging your pack in a 5S configuration at 10amps would mean you are using ~ 210w (~250w including losses) which should be fine for that PSU. most of the people that blow these up will probably be using chargers that are rated for the same or more wattage than the PSU can put out and therefore overloading them. At least you found out how you came to overload yours so chances are you will not make the same mistake with a new one

 

[Philistine]

Yeah I realise my stupidity. Funnily enough, when I first bought it I had actually thought of the fact I would need to drop my amps (being that I had recently started charging 10S @ 10amps on my big 26V/30amp PSU) when trying this PSU, but then it took me ages after buying it to get around to getting an Aussie plug for it. Then when I went to use it today I did a mental head check and was thinking of 5S/21V, and thought 10amps would be sweet. As I said, times like this I start to think I need to smoke less, makes the whole "walking into a room and forgetting why you are there" problem seem trivial...

Thanks for putting in some real world (ie within spec) user feedback to the thread RealFury.

 

[spinningmagnets]

Don't kick yourself too hard, I have had plenty of brain farts recently...even after I knew better and sh!t myself anyways. That being said...

I have used this very PSU to drive the Turnigy 200W 6S 10A charger, and it has worked fine for me...so far.