LewTwo
1 MW
Unlike most people I primarily purchased the Riden RD6006 power supply to use as a battery
charger for Lithium Ion batteries that power my E-Bikes. It is a exspensive solution for that
purpose but I have gone through four of the dedicated 58.8 volt chargers in a space of two years.
The major problem is they only have a red/green LED to give the user any idea what is going on.
They either work or they don't. Sometimes they do not work when brand new. Even the
EXSPENSIVE ones add little more than a volt-meter. The user has no way to tell if the problem is
the battery charger, the BMS or the battery itself. The RD6006 gives the user enough information
to at least eliminate the 'charger' as the source of the problem .... and it is more reliable to begin
with. There are lots of reviews of this power supply on the internet (reddit and Youtube). See those
if you want more information about electronic noise, spikes, construction, etc. I only intend to cover
its use has as a battery charger.
I ordered my parts from BangGood and it took a full 45 days for them to arrive via a slow boat from
China. The case and S-400-60 switching power supply arrived prior to the RD6006.
Overall Dimensions: 6-3/4 x 13 x 3-5/8 inches (172 x 330 x 92 mm)
Weight (without cables): 81.4 ounces (5 Pounds, 2.3 Kg)
YouTube Videos ...
Assembly: https://youtu.be/6GhGgAb8SC8
Voltlog Review: https://youtu.be/pZ6RZNylCCQ
The Bad (aka Design Issues)
The greatest problem in using the RD6006 as a battery charger is the lack luster software and the
near total lack of documentation for the ‘battery charging’ connector. This is further compounded by
the existence of a temperature probe for use in battery charging but without any provision for
accessing the temperature probe connector short of disassembling the power supply ---- this is one
of the very finest examples of “piss poor planning” that I have seen in my seven decades on this
planet. Every engineering school in the world should use it to instruct students about what NOT to
do. Unfortunately if you need a power supply that can charge a battery at up to 60 volts and give
you some idea of what is going on then this is one of the very few options available.
The RD6006 has two provisions for communicating with other devices. One is the USB connector
on the front of the unit and the other is an internal connect for a WiFi or RS-485 module. I have
never seen anyone reference the latter so the RS-485 module is likely vapor-ware. The Wifi
software only works with Smart Phones and Windows (with NO support for Linux or Mac) ...
sometimes (the WiFi software is so bad that even Riden does not recommend using it). In either
case if you run the Riden software then the controls on the front of the unit are disabled. Worse
case scenario is the software or Operating System crashes and your only means of recovery is big
power button on the back of the case. They would have been far better advised to have provided a
simple data-logging option. It would have been a heck of lot less expensive to implement and
much more useful. In its current incarnation, the software can ONLY be recommended for updating
the firmware in the control unit.
Battery Charging Mode
There is a dedicated Banana Plug in the center between the negative and positive Banana Plug.
Its color code is GREEN and thus most people first think that it is a chassis ground (this power
supply has no chassis ground unless you add one somewhere). They would have been well
advised to use some other color: pink, blue, purple, yellow, gray, orange .... just about anything
except green.
I have yet ti figur out how to force it into “Constnat Voltage” or “Constant Current” mode but it does
display the mode that it is in. It seems to start in CC mode until it can ramp up the voltage to
overcome the resistance of the battery. Then it switches to CV mode. It uses the same charging
profile regardless of the type of battery chemistry.
Inside the control unit there is a relay (rated 10 amps at 30 Volts DC) that is connected to this
green banana plug. The firmware can cut power to the green terminal when it determines the
charge cycle is complete or that the battery has gotten too hot. Per the Riden documentation it is
supposed to do this when the charge current drops below 0.010 amps (10 milli-amps). I actually
sat and watched this happen to verify it works (slightly more interesting than watch grass grow).
When one is charging a battery there tends to be a variance between the voltage measured at the
charger/power supply’s terminals and that measured across the terminals of the battery. Expensive
high quality power supplies can use a second set of leads to detect the actual voltage across the
target terminals. Riden takes a slightly different approach. It appears that the firmware
momentarily interrupts the charging cycle and measures the voltage from the battery. There is a
still a slight variance but it is closer than measuring the output under load. A freshly charged cell
with the power supply set to 3.50 volts had a reading of 3.44 volts for the battery voltage and 3.493
volts across the terminals with my multi-meter.
The bottom Right Line of the display cycles through:
Temperature (Celsius and Fahrenheit)
Amp Hours
Watt Hours
Battery Voltage
Note that the 40mm fan on the back of the buck converter module runs at any time the power
supply is outputting more that 40 volts. Otherwise it only runs as needed.
The only way to to clear the accumulated charge data is to cycle the power on the RD6006. Note
that you can use the ‘soft switch’ on the front of the supply for this purpose. When one uses the AC
power switch in back ahead of the switching power supply then it takes several seconds for the
power to drain from the various capacitors in the unit.
There is a note in Riden’s documentation that says:
“Battery with protection board need to be charged with red and black terminals.”
No reason is given and I have not tried it.
Advantages
The biggest advantage is information. One can tell what is going on and how much power is
required to actually bring a battery up to full charge. The other big advantage is the ability to
charge any battery up to about 60 volts. You can use the same unit to charge a 12 volt lead acid
automotive battery or 52 volt LiFePO4 E-Bike battery or 3.6 volt LiCo2 18650 flashlight battery.
You can also charge single cell or a group of cells. You will need to understand what you are doing
to set the proper voltage and current limits.
One can use the voltage setting to control the State of Charge (SOC) that one runs their battery. It
does not have to be run at 100% SOC. Per the folks that are supposed to know running the battery
at a slightly lower state SOC will extend the life (number of cycles) of the battery.
I almost forgot: you can also use it as a bench top power supply.
Changes I made
I could not leave ‘well enough’ alone. I left out the cover to the switching power supply as well as
the add-on fan control. I enlarged the rear fan opening from 50mm to 60mm (not the most perfect
circular hole I acknowledge) and installed a single Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX 12V driven by the
switching power supply’s fan connector. The power supply fan it replaced was 12 volts and 0.10
amps. The Noctua is 12 volts and 0.12 amps. It is quieter and moves more air out of the power
supply case. Note that this is a 3 wire fan. I only connect the red and black wires (leaving the
yellow tachometer disconnected). For a connector I cheated: I soldered the old 2 pin connector
leads to the tabs for the Noctua’s 3 pin connector.
The power wires from the back of the case to the buck converter module in front were a tad bit
short to be tied down inside the case. I replaced them with 17 inch (43cm) long 16 AWG wires. In
hindsight another inch would not have hurt matters. I was completely out of red and black wires in
this size so I settled for blue and yellow with the ends properly color coded via heat shrink. I tie-
wrapped the cables to holes in the bottom of the case in two places (I did have drill two 1/8 inch
holes in the bottom of the case).
The temperature probe is routed out the bottom of the case via an existing unused mounting hole.
Warning
If you accidentally connect the battery up backwards to the power supply terminals then you will
likely blow one of the tiny SMD 10 amp fuses in the back of the buck converter module. At least
that is what happened when I did it. I plan to make a special set of “charging cables” that iinclude
a 5 amp 100 volt schottky diode in the negative (black) cable. I rarely (if ever) need to charge
anything above 5 amps. That should add an additional 1⁄2 to 1 volt variance between the supply
and the battery. The diodes are on a slow boat from China
charger for Lithium Ion batteries that power my E-Bikes. It is a exspensive solution for that
purpose but I have gone through four of the dedicated 58.8 volt chargers in a space of two years.
The major problem is they only have a red/green LED to give the user any idea what is going on.
They either work or they don't. Sometimes they do not work when brand new. Even the
EXSPENSIVE ones add little more than a volt-meter. The user has no way to tell if the problem is
the battery charger, the BMS or the battery itself. The RD6006 gives the user enough information
to at least eliminate the 'charger' as the source of the problem .... and it is more reliable to begin
with. There are lots of reviews of this power supply on the internet (reddit and Youtube). See those
if you want more information about electronic noise, spikes, construction, etc. I only intend to cover
its use has as a battery charger.
I ordered my parts from BangGood and it took a full 45 days for them to arrive via a slow boat from
China. The case and S-400-60 switching power supply arrived prior to the RD6006.
Overall Dimensions: 6-3/4 x 13 x 3-5/8 inches (172 x 330 x 92 mm)
Weight (without cables): 81.4 ounces (5 Pounds, 2.3 Kg)
YouTube Videos ...
Assembly: https://youtu.be/6GhGgAb8SC8
Voltlog Review: https://youtu.be/pZ6RZNylCCQ
The Bad (aka Design Issues)
The greatest problem in using the RD6006 as a battery charger is the lack luster software and the
near total lack of documentation for the ‘battery charging’ connector. This is further compounded by
the existence of a temperature probe for use in battery charging but without any provision for
accessing the temperature probe connector short of disassembling the power supply ---- this is one
of the very finest examples of “piss poor planning” that I have seen in my seven decades on this
planet. Every engineering school in the world should use it to instruct students about what NOT to
do. Unfortunately if you need a power supply that can charge a battery at up to 60 volts and give
you some idea of what is going on then this is one of the very few options available.
The RD6006 has two provisions for communicating with other devices. One is the USB connector
on the front of the unit and the other is an internal connect for a WiFi or RS-485 module. I have
never seen anyone reference the latter so the RS-485 module is likely vapor-ware. The Wifi
software only works with Smart Phones and Windows (with NO support for Linux or Mac) ...
sometimes (the WiFi software is so bad that even Riden does not recommend using it). In either
case if you run the Riden software then the controls on the front of the unit are disabled. Worse
case scenario is the software or Operating System crashes and your only means of recovery is big
power button on the back of the case. They would have been far better advised to have provided a
simple data-logging option. It would have been a heck of lot less expensive to implement and
much more useful. In its current incarnation, the software can ONLY be recommended for updating
the firmware in the control unit.
Battery Charging Mode
There is a dedicated Banana Plug in the center between the negative and positive Banana Plug.
Its color code is GREEN and thus most people first think that it is a chassis ground (this power
supply has no chassis ground unless you add one somewhere). They would have been well
advised to use some other color: pink, blue, purple, yellow, gray, orange .... just about anything
except green.
I have yet ti figur out how to force it into “Constnat Voltage” or “Constant Current” mode but it does
display the mode that it is in. It seems to start in CC mode until it can ramp up the voltage to
overcome the resistance of the battery. Then it switches to CV mode. It uses the same charging
profile regardless of the type of battery chemistry.
Inside the control unit there is a relay (rated 10 amps at 30 Volts DC) that is connected to this
green banana plug. The firmware can cut power to the green terminal when it determines the
charge cycle is complete or that the battery has gotten too hot. Per the Riden documentation it is
supposed to do this when the charge current drops below 0.010 amps (10 milli-amps). I actually
sat and watched this happen to verify it works (slightly more interesting than watch grass grow).
When one is charging a battery there tends to be a variance between the voltage measured at the
charger/power supply’s terminals and that measured across the terminals of the battery. Expensive
high quality power supplies can use a second set of leads to detect the actual voltage across the
target terminals. Riden takes a slightly different approach. It appears that the firmware
momentarily interrupts the charging cycle and measures the voltage from the battery. There is a
still a slight variance but it is closer than measuring the output under load. A freshly charged cell
with the power supply set to 3.50 volts had a reading of 3.44 volts for the battery voltage and 3.493
volts across the terminals with my multi-meter.
The bottom Right Line of the display cycles through:
Temperature (Celsius and Fahrenheit)
Amp Hours
Watt Hours
Battery Voltage
Note that the 40mm fan on the back of the buck converter module runs at any time the power
supply is outputting more that 40 volts. Otherwise it only runs as needed.
The only way to to clear the accumulated charge data is to cycle the power on the RD6006. Note
that you can use the ‘soft switch’ on the front of the supply for this purpose. When one uses the AC
power switch in back ahead of the switching power supply then it takes several seconds for the
power to drain from the various capacitors in the unit.
There is a note in Riden’s documentation that says:
“Battery with protection board need to be charged with red and black terminals.”
No reason is given and I have not tried it.
Advantages
The biggest advantage is information. One can tell what is going on and how much power is
required to actually bring a battery up to full charge. The other big advantage is the ability to
charge any battery up to about 60 volts. You can use the same unit to charge a 12 volt lead acid
automotive battery or 52 volt LiFePO4 E-Bike battery or 3.6 volt LiCo2 18650 flashlight battery.
You can also charge single cell or a group of cells. You will need to understand what you are doing
to set the proper voltage and current limits.
One can use the voltage setting to control the State of Charge (SOC) that one runs their battery. It
does not have to be run at 100% SOC. Per the folks that are supposed to know running the battery
at a slightly lower state SOC will extend the life (number of cycles) of the battery.
I almost forgot: you can also use it as a bench top power supply.
Changes I made
I could not leave ‘well enough’ alone. I left out the cover to the switching power supply as well as
the add-on fan control. I enlarged the rear fan opening from 50mm to 60mm (not the most perfect
circular hole I acknowledge) and installed a single Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX 12V driven by the
switching power supply’s fan connector. The power supply fan it replaced was 12 volts and 0.10
amps. The Noctua is 12 volts and 0.12 amps. It is quieter and moves more air out of the power
supply case. Note that this is a 3 wire fan. I only connect the red and black wires (leaving the
yellow tachometer disconnected). For a connector I cheated: I soldered the old 2 pin connector
leads to the tabs for the Noctua’s 3 pin connector.
The power wires from the back of the case to the buck converter module in front were a tad bit
short to be tied down inside the case. I replaced them with 17 inch (43cm) long 16 AWG wires. In
hindsight another inch would not have hurt matters. I was completely out of red and black wires in
this size so I settled for blue and yellow with the ends properly color coded via heat shrink. I tie-
wrapped the cables to holes in the bottom of the case in two places (I did have drill two 1/8 inch
holes in the bottom of the case).
The temperature probe is routed out the bottom of the case via an existing unused mounting hole.
Warning
If you accidentally connect the battery up backwards to the power supply terminals then you will
likely blow one of the tiny SMD 10 amp fuses in the back of the buck converter module. At least
that is what happened when I did it. I plan to make a special set of “charging cables” that iinclude
a 5 amp 100 volt schottky diode in the negative (black) cable. I rarely (if ever) need to charge
anything above 5 amps. That should add an additional 1⁄2 to 1 volt variance between the supply
and the battery. The diodes are on a slow boat from China
