Dave H

I guess I can get carried away at times.

Markcuda

iTrader: (2)

Hey Dave, go to the Power lab 6 thread and comment on the power supply I posted.

neospud

The powerlabs can plug in to dry cell. By default it asks you what type of source you are connected to when powering on.. that can be configured. You can get the voltage of your power source by cycling through the menus while charging or on a tab in the software if connected to a computer. As well as amps.

You can also high speed discharge if you discharge while connected to a dry cell.. it charges up your power source when discharging your lipos.

I'd consider it a safe charger... it has reverse polarity detection.. it has automatic lipo recovery mode.. lots of other safeguards built in.

Why don't you just look up the manual? You'll likely learn more by reading that than from any of us.

What would I do if i had to charge those 4 2s 6000mah's and that was the most taxing situation? I'd probably charge them in series as a 8s 6000mah pack on my powerlab 8... to charge in an hour at 6a you can use a cheap 250 watt psu, 30 mins at 12a you can use a cheap-ish 500wat psu.. to charge in 15-12 mins at 24a-32a get two 1000-1500 watt psus wired up in series for 24v.

rotarypower101

I had a whole thing typed out for your previous post the other day, however it all but was asking to be spoon fed...and it was rather long and drawn out.

But may I ask for a brake down of the parts, and who specifically to purchase them from that you are specifying please, you seem very on point.

Based on what I have read there are many that seem to rave about this PLx series, and without having it in my hand to play with, I dont think I will be able too see why.
And if it does deal with the criteria I have set out, I dont see any reason to look too much further.

Are there popular PSUs that have been more proven in the community, sellers with good reputation and will communicate and work with the consumer if issues arise?

Previously when I was looking into PSUs I could locate the actual skus for the devices and found there was a significant difference in price from the ones people were offering as ready made units.
Is this generally true, or is it better to just stick with the presetup units?



How would I deal with the issue of balancing cells with 4 packs in series?
This would require a fairly specialized balance plug that would need to be wired in a very specific manor correct?

Thats why my initial supposition was to just have discreet rails, so that a silly laps in judgment could be partially removed. As well as the versatility of different setting for each rail when/if needed.

rotarypower101

Wanted to take a moment to say thank you for your time and help guys!
If I sound uncommittal or a bit scatterbrained its because I am on this topic.

I dont see a lot of things I am used to, brands (in terms of reputation and trust),terminology even the lipo tech I am still acclimating to yet, and just have never gotten back up to the knowledgeable level I was in my youth in RC.

neospud

The only part i've really been specific about so far is the FMA Powerlab 8 v2
http://www.usastore.revolectrix.com/...PowerLab-8_619

I bought mine from progressiverc.com though.

The PSU to give you an idea of what to look for would be something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/24v-1000w-Po...item4855bfbb66

I've never purchased from that seller or any PSU on ebay though.. so i can't recommend a seller to buy from. You could probably buy those two PSU's cheaper separately but they add the wiring and charge a fee for the work/parts.

The main power and balance series leads for the charger will most likely need to be soldered up. You'll need 4 female 2s jst balance plugs and one 8s jst male. And 4 and 1 of whatever RC connector you're using.. and some wire/solder/heatshrink, etc... usually 24 guage for balance and 12guage for main power.. it's relatively low amps compared to parallel charging so you shouldn't have to worry about that unlike parallel charging.

I think it was mentioned above somewhere but this site:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/24v-1000w-Po...item4855bfbb66

The last tool on that site can show you how to wire up a series balance connector... which should be done very carefully. It doesn't show 4 batteries in series but you can get the basic idea from that...

The best resource for lipo information i've found so far has been:
http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-lipo-batteries.html

parallel charging:
http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/paral...-charging.html

looking for a writeup i found on series charging and the pros/cons but i can't remember where i read it. if i recall the main difference was the need to be careful which balance port you plug in to. The port needs to match up with the main power lead you plug in to. people zip tie each set of main power and balance port together so they can tell them apart easily.

neospud

here's one about series charging:
https://sites.google.com/site/tjingu...erial-charging