Lithium Charger for up to 20s?

rg12

100 kW
Joined
Jul 26, 2014
Messages
1,591
Hey Dudes,

I'm doing some fixes for batteries and need to have multiple chargers around...

Do you guys know a charger that can charge up to 20s packs (don't need above 5A) that is not crazy expensive?
I charge mostly 13s 16s and 20s

Also, does a DC power supply (the one that I can change voltage and current digitally) lower the charging current automatically when topping the battery?
 
Yeah but it doesn't have a variable voltage and current, it's only for 20s, so with this one I will have to buy 3 different chargers...

I found this which is very cheap 120v 3A but I wanted to know what happens if I don't stop the charge when it reaches the topping of the batter...will it slow down? will it cut the charge once full or will it blow the battery if I don't stop it in time?
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/KPS1203D-Adjustable-High-precision-double-LED-display-switch-DC-Power-Supply-protection-function-120V3A-110V-220V/32708036022.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.186.bQXc7a&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_10,searchweb201602_5_10057_10056_10055_10037_10049_10033_10059_10032_10058_10017_10060_10061_10062_10064,searchweb201603_4&btsid=dc2352d2-02d9-4f85-b9cc-c41ca5c452a9
 
Ypedal said:
http://www.ebikes.ca/shop/ebike-parts/chargers/satiator7205.html

expensive.. but totally worth it !

Too expensive for me...
 
cheaper than a bunch of different chargers for differnet voltages (cuz it will do quite a range of different voltages, chemistries, charging profiles, etc). :)


But no, it isn't cheap. :/
 
What about a DC power supply (the one that I can change voltage and current digitally)...
WIll it lower the charging current automatically when topping the battery? will it stop when full?
 
It doesn't have any way to "know when to stop" or to auto turn off, so no it won't do that exactly.

But as long as it is set to a voltage the pack can tolerate without damage, then current will cease flowing because eventually the pack will reach the same voltage as the PSU.

However, that also means that topping off the pack will take longer than it mght witha smart scharger that "knows"when to slow and stop, because the dumb PSU will just follow the voltage/cell-resistance/current charge curve blindly, unable to raise or lower voltage automaticlaly to force the cells to charge at a constant rate up to the piont they need to not do that.

A smart charger can do that, and charge faster unattended, if it's correctly programmed for the type of cels the pack is made of.

Also, it's perhaps even more important to ensure the pack has a BMS if you use a dumb PSU because it can't detect a problem with the pack and shut off; the MBS has to do that.

A smart charger can (if it's programmed for it) stop charging if say, current goes back up after it was already dropping towards full charge (like if a cell went bad and shorted). A BMS would still be better in most of the cases like that, but sometimes just having a smart charger might prevent a fire-level pack failure.


I've done charging jsut about every way there is to do it...but I generally won't charge one unattended inside the house or near it, if it has no protections, unless it's contained in a fireprooof box (regardless of it's chemistry and type), even though I've had no unintentional fires during charging (there've been plenty of others to test those theories before me :( ).
 
Sounds like the safest way is to have a charger for each battery. I charger for three different voltage batteries is asking for trouble.
 
Safest? Only if you pay zero attention to what you're doing--which will lead you into trouble even with a separate charger for everything.
 
Mine was like $76 shipped from china off ebay. Which was the most ive ever paid for a charger before. I figured it was going to be a crap shoot like everything on Ebay but to my surprise it works great and ive bulk charged for over a year with it now. It is plastic with a cooling fan inside. goes to around 84. something volts
 
skeetab5780 said:
Mine was like $76 shipped from china off ebay. Which was the most ive ever paid for a charger before. I figured it was going to be a crap shoot like everything on Ebay but to my surprise it works great and ive bulk charged for over a year with it now. It is plastic with a cooling fan inside. goes to around 84. something volts

Yup, the Chinese are getting better...

Anyway, I guess I will go with 3 separate chargers then.

Thanks alot guys :)
 
eTrike said:
rg12 said:
What about a DC power supply (the one that I can change voltage and current digitally)...
WIll it lower the charging current automatically when topping the battery? will it stop when full?

I've used Meanwells to charge different voltages from 8S-28S. An adjustable power supply should be on everyone's bench IMO, but I've used one to charge when needed for a few years with good results. The one I have appears to do CC-CV just fine, but is very inefficient :oops:

How do you prevent the bench power supply from trickle charging which causes plating of metallic lithium to compromise the cells safety? I suppose one option would be to use a AC timer to shut off the bench power supply after a few hours. I wonder if some of the higher end power supplies have low current cutoff options in the software.

I've used a bench supply to charge Li-ions plenty of times, but pretty much always just have to set a timer to shut it off slightly before its done charging to prevent trickle charging.
 
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