hillzofvalp
100 kW
It's safe to balance and charge a 14s10p lifepo4 (18650) pack with ONE charger, correct? I heard that each section would self balance.
hillzofvalp said:It's safe to balance and charge a 14s10p lifepo4 (18650) pack with ONE charger, correct? I heard that each section would self balance.
hillzofvalp said:Any word on your pricing? I was thinking of getting a second 1420i down the road... I'm in Indiana
GGoodrum said:I finally got a little time to put together a "single plug" charging solution, for a 12s LiPo setup, using the Hyperion 1420i. Here's a few shots:
View attachment 2
View attachment 1
There are two matching 18-pin connectors, one for the charger side, and one for the LVC/pack side. Each side has two 7-pin pigtails for the balancer wires, and each has two 14-gauge leads for the main charge connections. Each of these main charge leads are routed to two pins each on the connector.
The LVC boards are new, and as there's no need for the HVC function for this setup, that function was removed in this version. That makes assembly much easier/quicker. Each board still has four 7-pin JST-XH connectors, so these can be used as parallel adapters for up to four 6s-5000 Turnigy/Zippy packs.
There will be separate kits for the LVC boards and for the connection harnesses, hopefully by tomorrow, but I'm also going to offer a complete 12s package deal that includes everything shown in the first picture above, including the charger.
-- Gary
neptronix said:Actually, what is happening makes complete sense.
The chargers were designed to work with a single pack, and the balance wires themselves are quite thin, thus their balancing current is very low. For example on the iCharger 1010b, it is "<300mA".. so 0.3a.
In order to balance, the charger basically drains off the current of an overcharged cell, then fills up the whole pack with energy, drains the ones that are over, fills up the pack with energy, again and again. At least that's how i understand it.
Now this small ability to 'discharge' power from the balance leads means the balance charge will take forreevver because you have 4x the mAH it was designed for.. so the balancing takes 4x as long.. as one pack!
Maybe you can increase the balancing discharge rate. This would be okay if you had 22 or 20gauge wires at the end of the balance connector that plugs into the charger.
Or even better, don't balance charge every time.. it is not always necessary.
LI-ghtcycle said:Ok, here is something that makes NO sense.
I just checked the balance for #8, and it started at 4.190, it is now only down to 4.184 in 34 minutes??!
Please tell me this is not normal performance for this charger!? :|
I seem to have gotten two lemon chargers in a row now!
I'm pretty sure the problem is setting it to 4.18. Someone did some testing with A123 cells and lowering the max voltage still gave almost the same capacity but took a lot longer to get there.LI-ghtcycle said:Ever since I changed the TVC function to charge up to just approximately 4.18 (would have it at 4.15, but that is low as I can see to adjust it so far, just using the charger's menu, haven't been able to use it with my PC yet), it wants to take like 5 years to balance!!
I am wanting to charge my batteries to no more than 4.15 as I cannot afford much, and I want these batteries to last as long as possible.
LI-ghtcycle said:Thanks, I will try that.
Here is the problem however, I wanted to confirm that it wasn't a particular cell in a particular pack, so I traded sides with the packs (I am charging two 4S in series) and then I got some really bogus readings!
Previously I had nothing lower than 4.15, and nothing higher than 4.17, then it had the cells that were all nicely balanced at 4.15, and it was showing one at 4.07 and another at 4.27!?!
I think I will try like you're saying and telling it go charge just up to 85% first and see where I am with the full voltage on the TVC, and see what happens.
If I continue to get bogus readings, I will talk to my hobby shop and see about getting another one. I have looked on Hyperion's site and haven't seen anywhere I can contact them, anyone know if there is a way to email them even?
johnrobholmes said:Hyperion really doesn't offer support directly.
Are all your balance wires the same length?
rscamp said:Hmmm. I've had inconsistent readings from balancers before and I eventually traced them to bad connections. The main culprit in my case was high-resistance crimped connections in the connectors for battery balance leads. In my case, the problem occurred after months of use. You could try different balance cables if possible and/or stressing the connections in one way or another and look for changes in the parallel group voltages. If this does something, you are probably on the right track and can replace the connections or try soldering or whatever...
LI-ghtcycle said:I have one of these chargers, and I have looked over this post, but I still can't see why I am having such long charging times when balancing.
I haven't built custom balance plugs yet, so I have just been using the two ports to charge 2 4S batteries at a time, but this is the crazy part!
Ever since I changed the TVC function to charge up to just approximately 4.18 (would have it at 4.15, but that is low as I can see to adjust it so far, just using the charger's menu, haven't been able to use it with my PC yet), it wants to take like 5 years to balance!!
rscamp said:Hmmm. I've had inconsistent readings from balancers before and I eventually traced them to bad connections. The main culprit in my case was high-resistance crimped connections in the connectors for battery balance leads. In my case, the problem occurred after months of use. You could try different balance cables if possible and/or stressing the connections in one way or another and look for changes in the parallel group voltages. If this does something, you are probably on the right track and can replace the connections or try soldering or whatever...
That would explain the inconsistent readings but I don't see how it explains why reducing the voltage increased the charge times.LI-ghtcycle said:Thanks for the idea!
I will try the new balance plugs that came with the Hyperion, this is a good point, I never thought of this!
I have been using the old balance plugs from my last charger (might be a bit warn from use, and lower quality) that would explain the inconsistent readings that have always been on the second set of balance plugs regardless of what battery was being charged! 8)