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iCharger 308DUO Power Supply Choices

iCharger 308DUO Power Supply Choices

Old 12-26-2014, 03:07 PM
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Try charging those three 6s packs of yours at 15 amps each at the same time and see how well your 12v supply holds up.

It's all about how much power you need. For most of my charging needs, a 15.8 volt 7 amp supply works brilliantly but there are lots of people with much higher power needs out there.
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Old 12-26-2014, 07:06 PM
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http://www.rchelination.com/setting-...-power-supply/
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Old 12-26-2014, 07:09 PM
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Originally Posted by stevecox1957
We I guess that sence I had owned almost ever charger that icharger makes and charge my boat battery which are 6 cell and charge them both at the same time on a 12 .6 volt server power supply at 8 amps per pack and have been doing it for well over a year now and never had one problem I must need 24 volts. Now if Yost70 could explain to me the the reason for 24 volt system I would gladly past that on to the number of customers we have that run 24 volts and one guy comes in cussing the charger and has had 5 chargers I would like to get him in touch with you guys I am sure he could learn a great bit of info from this page. I will sure have him to post up and explain just how it works lmao. I have told him before if the charger would not work at 12 6 then why does it say from 10 to 30 on some directions I guess that 10 will not work either and how could you possibly charge 4 or 5 packs on the same plug at 3.7 volt per cell that would be impossible I guess but it's happening ever day . This guy has sent 5 back so far and still cussing the charger he would fit in well here.
Originally Posted by stevecox1957
What I am trying to tell you is that almost ever customer we have that uses 24 volt power supply on a I charger has had issues with it and I have yet to see a battery that it will not charge on 12.6 volts does that make sence to you .
Who charges at 8 amps anymore? My charger goes to 40!

Who is, "we" - I'd really like to know. What shop or place do you work for?
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Old 12-26-2014, 09:28 PM
  #34  
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ort Charger

ICHARGER 308 DUO 1300W 30A 8S DUAL PORT CHARGER

iCharger 308 Duo 1300W 30A 8S Dual Port Charger

SKU: JNS-308Duo

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Product DescriptionProduct TagsProduct's Review

*** This charger MUST be used with a stable power supply, it is not recommended to be used with an automobile as a power source, or using multiple server power supplies in series as a power source ***

This dual port charger with a color LCD screen allows charging different batteries up to 30A, or up to 50A in synchronous mode.
iCharger 308 Duo is a little brother of the popular and extremely powerful iCharger 4010 Duo. Instead of charging 10S batteries up to 40A, iCharger 308 Duo can handle up 8 cell LiPo packs up to 30A. These two chargers share the same operation interface and extra functions, such as battery internal resistance measurement, servo test, and pulse test. The charge and discharge data can be stored in a micro SD card that can be read with Logview on a PC. Eventhough with a high output power ability of 1300W, 30A, and dual ports, iCharger 308B retains f iCharger's reputation in making compact and powerful charge stations.

Why select iCharge
Read that in full and see if you can figure What the mfg suggest lol
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Old 12-26-2014, 09:35 PM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by stevecox1957
......

*** This charger MUST be used with a stable power supply, it is not recommended to be used with an automobile as a power source, or using multiple server power supplies in series as a power source ***

......
I wonder if the issue is due to how the charger is powered up? I seem to remember some discussion of turning the supply on then connecting the charger, vs. plugging the charger in then powering up the supplies.

There are 24V single case industrial supplies similar to server units that show up from time to time, perhaps an all around better option. Or buy a new proper supply, although more expensive.
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Old 12-26-2014, 09:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Dave H
I wonder if the issue is due to how the charger is powered up? I seem to remember some discussion of turning the supply on then connecting the charger, vs. plugging the charger in then powering up the supplies.

There are 24V single case industrial supplies similar to server units that show up from time to time, perhaps an all around better option. Or buy a new proper supply, although more expensive.
I don't know Dave but all the problems we have seen where related to the 24 volt server power supplies so we just tell customers now to try and stay with a 12 volt power source you can hook it to anything but why spend that kind of money and tare it up . Then in almost all cases that comes back it's the charger fault. I am just trying to explain how most problems come about . You can do anything with this charger on 12 volts that it will do on 24 so why hurt it you know what I mean.

Last edited by stevecox1957; 12-26-2014 at 10:08 PM.
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Old 12-26-2014, 11:35 PM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by stevecox1957
I don't know Dave but all the problems we have seen where related to the 24 volt server power supplies so we just tell customers now to try and stay with a 12 volt power source you can hook it to anything but why spend that kind of money and tare it up . Then in almost all cases that comes back it's the charger fault. I am just trying to explain how most problems come about . You can do anything with this charger on 12 volts that it will do on 24 so why hurt it you know what I mean.
Not completely true for all situations. The charger can't achieve full power with a 12V power supply due to the input amperage limit. Common with many of the higher powered chargers. Not an issue with lower voltage packs like 2S, but if charging higher voltage packs at high amps a 12V supply limits the capability. It will charge them yes, just not as quick as some desire when making an arguably significant investment in one of the bigger models.
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Old 12-27-2014, 12:06 AM
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Originally Posted by stevecox1957
I don't know Dave but all the problems we have seen where related to the 24 volt server power supplies so we just tell customers now to try and stay with a 12 volt power source you can hook it to anything but why spend that kind of money and tare it up . Then in almost all cases that comes back it's the charger fault. I am just trying to explain how most problems come about . You can do anything with this charger on 12 volts that it will do on 24 so why hurt it you know what I mean.
I have had no issues with either of my meanwell supplies (24 volt) for either my 4010 or Powerlab 8. I spent good money for them, but I was willing to do so after talking with ProgressiveRC about it.

Most of the Icharger failures I've read about on Rcgroups are coming from guys who use two user-converted server supplies in series. One server supply fails and as I recall the sudden change in voltage is something the charger can't handle. So it is usually the supply that causes the issue.
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Old 12-27-2014, 12:11 PM
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Dave, what would the 308Duo charger output be with a 12V PSU? Doesn't say anything but MAX output is 800W/channel. Should we assume 400W or so?
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Old 12-27-2014, 12:15 PM
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Originally Posted by stevecox1957
You can do anything with this charger on 12 volts that it will do on 24 so why hurt it you know what I mean.
You really need to learn about the products you sell before making statements like that. I hope you don't tell your customers that.....
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Old 12-27-2014, 01:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Yosh70
Dave, what would the 308Duo charger output be with a 12V PSU? Doesn't say anything but MAX output is 800W/channel. Should we assume 400W or so?
Depends on whether one or two channels are being used. Right after the 800W per channel maximum rating it mentions @input>23.5V. Works out to an efficiency of about 85% taking the single channel input current rating of 40A into account, which seems reasonable. I would expect a limit of somewhere around 408W with a 12V input on a single channel, with some error in the estimate as efficiency is generally not constant at all conditions.

When using both channels the total input current limit is spec'd at 60A, perhaps 306W or so maximum on each channel if used equally. Both cases assume a sufficient amperage 12V power supply of course.

While on the subject, it's interesting that the Duo manuals don't appear to provide as clear guidance as offered on the previous iChargers. At least most (all?) of the single channel model manuals include a graph and an equation to help estimate power capability with various power supply voltages.
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Old 12-27-2014, 06:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Dave H
Depends on whether one or two channels are being used. Right after the 800W per channel maximum rating it mentions @input>23.5V. Works out to an efficiency of about 85% taking the single channel input current rating of 40A into account, which seems reasonable. I would expect a limit of somewhere around 408W with a 12V input on a single channel, with some error in the estimate as efficiency is generally not constant at all conditions.

When using both channels the total input current limit is spec'd at 60A, perhaps 306W or so maximum on each channel if used equally. Both cases assume a sufficient amperage 12V power supply of course.

While on the subject, it's interesting that the Duo manuals don't appear to provide as clear guidance as offered on the previous iChargers. At least most (all?) of the single channel model manuals include a graph and an equation to help estimate power capability with various power supply voltages.
Thats the thing I'm seeing more and more....all these big #'s for watts and amps shown for the charger but in the small print, you find out you can't get those specs unless you get a 24V PSU.

But at least ANYBODY can buy a 24V 75A computer server PSU all ready to go for under $150.
$300 on the iCharger, 1/2 of that for the PSU.
Sounds about right.
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Old 12-27-2014, 07:00 PM
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Originally Posted by Dave H
Depends on whether one or two channels are being used. Right after the 800W per channel maximum rating it mentions @input>23.5V. Works out to an efficiency of about 85% taking the single channel input current rating of 40A into account, which seems reasonable. I would expect a limit of somewhere around 408W with a 12V input on a single channel, with some error in the estimate as efficiency is generally not constant at all conditions.

When using both channels the total input current limit is spec'd at 60A, perhaps 306W or so maximum on each channel if used equally. Both cases assume a sufficient amperage 12V power supply of course.

While on the subject, it's interesting that the Duo manuals don't appear to provide as clear guidance as offered on the previous iChargers. At least most (all?) of the single channel model manuals include a graph and an equation to help estimate power capability with various power supply voltages.
I'm curious to test this tomorrow. I have a 308duo & a 12v ps. In your calculations, I shouldn't see any more than 27a when I start charging my 4s pack since it's sitting at 15.2v when it goes on the charger. As the voltage of the packs increases the amps should decrease to stay at the 408w limit. If I put 2 packs on then I shouldn't see anything above 20a.
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Old 12-27-2014, 07:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Yosh70
Thats the thing I'm seeing more and more....all these big #'s for watts and amps shown for the charger but in the small print, you find out you can't get those specs unless you get a 24V PSU.

But at least ANYBODY can buy a 24V 75A computer server PSU all ready to go for under $150.
$300 on the iCharger, 1/2 of that for the PSU.
Sounds about right.
True, it's important to consider all the limitations. Not sure how new it is in general though, many have discovered too late that a common 6A charger won't charge a 6S at 6A because of a 50W limit, or won't discharge as fast as it might have first appeared. It's a topic that I try to help with whenever I can.

Personally I remain a little leary of the server supplies in series, despite many using them successfully. I experimented with a pair some awhile back, but never felt comfortable bypassing standard grounding practice. Now based on Steve's comments I did a little searching, it seems he is correct that at least some are having issues with iChargers. Didn't you recently mention having issues with a pair of 306Bs, was that on 24V servers?

If I do upgrade I think I'll go PowerLab like I believe you did.
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Old 12-27-2014, 07:38 PM
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Originally Posted by nitro_mt_racer
I'm curious to test this tomorrow. I have a 308duo & a 12v ps. In your calculations, I shouldn't see any more than 27a when I start charging my 4s pack since it's sitting at 15.2v when it goes on the charger. As the voltage of the packs increases the amps should decrease to stay at the 408w limit. If I put 2 packs on then I shouldn't see anything above 20a.
I'm curious too, please do report back. My estimates were based solely on the published specs, which generally have been reasonably close. I would certainly want to know if I'm posting less than accurate info!
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