B6 Lipro balance charger. Smoked it...

[friendly1uk]

Anyone understand the lipro balance charger?

I connected my 4s balance wires and the main +/- from the battery. Then gave the unit 12vdc (from the same 4s pack) and it powered up. It was on the lipo screen. using the middle buttons I moved to the discharge screen. Pressed start, and accepted 1A as enough, and pressed start again, changing the 6s setting to 4s. So I'm looking at the discharge screen from the lipo menu, with 1A discharge current set and 4s. I press and hold start to kick it in to action, and I get a warning buzzer that voltage is wrong??

So... I popped in to the other menu's such as charging and set that from factory 2s to my 4s and align other menu's accordingly. Head back to discharge from the lipo menu, it is still there saying 1A and 4s 12v. All good I think, and hold the start button. I get a warning and magic smoke escaped. Not sure what warning...It's lipo... I just pulled the leads.

Bit of a bugger as I ordered this charger expecting problems with another that won't work. Did I do something wrong? I'm getting a bit miffed with every single bit of my bike job being a nightmare. I would really like it to be my fault tbh. Least I would know what happened

edit: It still lights up, and I have togged through the the screen to give an exact readout

LiPo DISCHARGE
1.0A 12.0V (4s)

I hold the start button with battery connected to the output and balance wires in place. First try it claims low vol. Second time it smoked.


edit2: It is a chip that smoked. Something 835. Lived by the usb/temp sensor socket.
Further examination shows perhaps an hs35, some sort of switching device for the large inductor. No point fixing it though if I don't know what happened.

 

[flez1966]

''I connected my 4s balance wires and the main +/- from the battery. Then gave the unit 12vdc (from the same 4s pack) and it powered up''

I think thats your problem, I think its created some form of loop

 

[dogman dan]

Sounds risky to me, running a charger off the same battery it's working.

But it might just be a routine letting out of the magic smoke.

 

[friendly1uk]

I also gave some thought to running it off the same battery, and thought that charging that way wouldn't be a good idea. I was only trying to run it down though.

Looking around the net it seems lots of them smoke on the first or second use. I think the fact it's behavior changed from giving a warning, to giving a different one and a load of smoke, has to be telling me it was at fault, not me. I have tried it since, and now it claims there is a broken connection. I feel quite sure this changing behaviour indicates it lost the plot. While a repeated problem would point to me being the problem.


I'm just not my destiny. I'm soon to shock everyone around me and give up. I just can't get the kit. I'm struggling to think of something I have tried and found it worked. This should be a piece of cake, like turbocharging my car was. I'm starting to see why people bulk charge and don't use a bms. I'm not doing that though.


edit: £10 to fix it, or £18 to buy another. I don't think I will do either.

 

[dnmun]

no way to know what you are talking about without pictures.

 

[Punx0r]

What was the voltage on the 4S pack? Possibly it was too high for the input (15V max IIRC).

I have three of these chargers from ebay and have had no problems with them apart from blowing one by accidentally putting 18V to the input (just needed an electrolytic cap replacing). I must have easily done 200 charge cycles with them.

 

[friendly1uk]

What was the voltage on the 4S pack? Possibly it was too high for the input (15V max IIRC).

I have three of these chargers from ebay and have had no problems with them apart from blowing one by accidentally putting 18V to the input (just needed an electrolytic cap replacing). I must have easily done 200 charge cycles with them.

They are rated 11-18v and I fed it just under 15v. It sounds like you also had a bad one, but thankfully a different fault. Most people report smoking fets like mine did.

It is history now. Just waiting to go in to the bin when I next tidy up. I have a use for the cardboard box, so all is not lost

 

[dnmun]

why throw it away? why not just fix it?

 

[friendly1uk]

Cost dnmun. I have to buy the fet packages in bags of 5 and that is over half the units value. Many found the fets went due to other problems that add complexity I didn't bother to read about, I could just see cost spiraling. Just the fets cost me £10 and the unit is £18 so factoring in time and the fact that might not fix it... I don't think it is worth the bother. It is a shame, but buying another costs less than fixing this one. It is still costing me now, as it's by the bin and I'm still talking about it. I have not retired yet. I just don't have time for it.

I would give it away, but it's not even worth the cost of posting it.

 

[dnmun]

i was able to buy 20 of the irfb3205 for $9.99 on ebay. most of the deals are about 80 cents now. but almost all these low voltage hi current devices use the 3205. you can open it up and look.