Lithium Power Upgrade Q's
 

I am currently running the Scorpion 2s Charger and the Peak Racing 4800mah pack in My BL Rusty. Right now I am running Mtroniks Genesis Pro and Feigao 6s but I am soon switching to the Mamba Max 7700. I was thinking about switching to a different Lithium battery charging system because I am very limited by the charger I have :035:. I have no Idea where to start :032:. What I am looking for is a Lithium Charger and a Battery Recomendation and what I would need to balance the cells if the charger doesn't balance the cells. I already have a power supply.
Thank you for your time,
Chris

P.S. I would like to keep the cost around $200 but more is ok. And a decent charge rate. More than 5 amps.

You might want to look into an E-Station charger. I have the 701 and LOVE it. I talked to Mike and he said that he can't get them, but TrueRC has them. They also have the E-Station balancer that can be connected to the charger to display the voltage of the individual cells. Nice feature IMO.

I'll look in to it thanks squee.
Chris

Well, there are a few chargers other than the nice one Squee mentioned:

- Thunder Power 101D with the TP210 balancer. Expensive though and only does LiPo. 10s up to 10A. ~$300.

- Hyperion EOS 7i. Nice, relatively inexpensive charger. 5s or up to 25 NiMH cells @ 7A (with a 120watt maximum). The new LBA10 balancer is nice. Will balance up to 6s and 10A. ~$155

Both the models above require a 11-15v DC power supply, so if you plan on charging at home on 120V AC, you'll need a 120v AC to 12V DC ~20A converter. You can get a specialtly power supply, or some (including me) have modded a normal computer power supply for this since they are fairly cheap and have pretty hefty 12v rails.

I originally got the TP charger, but only once it arrived did I realize it only does Lipo (for some reason I didn't read the description well enough and assumed it did NiMH). I exchanged it for the Hyperion EOS 7i and LBA12 balancer and it costs less. Bishop Power Products (b-p-p.com) is having a sale ending today (7-30) for 5% off orders and free shipping. From my single experience, they are easy to work with and returned the TP charger even though it was not defective and totally my fault for not reading the description. Good communication too.

Thats good to know that they came out with a new balancer...Not a bad price and its got some nice features...

Yep. I actually had ordered the LBA6 along with the 7i as a replacement for the TP, but there was some mix-up and shipping was delayed. A couple emails later, they are sending the LBA10 instead at no extra charge for the shipping issue. Sweet.

what features does the new balancer have over the older hyperion one? does it just let you balance at a higher rate?

LBA6 = 5s battery @ 6A
LBA10 = 6s battery @10A

Also, the LBA10 can be "networked" to another one to balance up to 12s pack.

thanks for the quick update.

No Problem.

The LBA10 can also be hooked up to future Hyperion chargers to display the cell voltages like the TP chargers/balancers can.

BrianG I recently found a computer in the garbage and there is a power supply in it. I have no idea if it works but how do I convert it? I spoke with Austin from Maxamps and he reccomended the Hyperion EOS7i charger and the LBA6 balancer and an 8000 2s pack. I'm still open to suggestions. I have roughly $300 for charger balancer and Battery.
Thanks for the help guys,
Chris

If you can, I would definately get the LBA10 instead.

It depends on how old the computer is.

If it's the older "AT", the 12v rail probably isn't hefty enough (needs MINIMUM of 15A) to work well. Because of that, I won't even go into how to turn it on.

If it's the current ATX style (you can tell by the 24 pin dual row motherboard connector), you have to ground the green wire found in the large connector to turn it on. Some power supplies need some type of load on the 3.3 and/or 5v line for it to work. Try it without the load and if it works, great. Also, some of the newer power supplies have dual 12v lines, but each one doesn't usually supply enough current individually. Tying them together may work, but I wouldn't do it.

It seems like a fairly new computer styling is similar to an Alienware. Only problem is that it didn't have the power cord that plugs into the back of it. Theres a computer shop down the road prett sure they'd have one. There is what looks like a spreadsheet on the side of the power supply is that where I check for what I need? I'll try to get pics.
Thanks,
Chris

Yeah, that table should list the max values on the different voltage rails. There should be 3.3v, +5v, +12v, -12v, 5v usb, etc. Is there a way you can take a picture of that table and post it here? It would be much easier (and less confusing) to let you know if it will/won't work than to go over all the various reasons why it couldn't if this or that is a certain way.

I have tried more than ten times to get a picture to comeout with my piece of poop camera. Its either out of focus or too far away to see. It says ATX 12v power supply the main pc plug only has 20 pins. I beleive there is an atachment thats what it looks like I tried to do my best.
Thanks,
Chris

Yeah, that's an ATX. 12v @ 13A will only supply a maximum of 156W on the 12v line. Most chargers will require a little less power than that, but some might try to draw more than that PS can provide. The Hyperion 7i for example is rated to charge up to 120W so your PS should be OK. The Thunder Power 1010 can draw up to 240w IIRC, so your PS would be quite overloaded.

I didn't see any minimum voltage settings, but that might not mean anything. Just find the green wire in the main power connector and short it to one of the ground (black) wires in the same connector. As long as the main AC power is plugged in and any rear main switch is on, it should power up (the internal fan should come on). If not, then it either needs a minimum load on one or more of the rails or it doesn't work period.

How do I hook up the power supply to my charger? Which colored wires do I use? I'm sort of confused with 20 wires to work with. I did see the green wire soI'll ground it to one of the black ones.
Thanks,
Chris

All of the yellow wires provide the +12v that you'll want to use. Usually what you can do is parallel a bunch of the yellow wires together to supply more current.

There is only one yellow wire on the main twenty-pin plug. There are other yellow wires on other plugs. Some have 4 pins in a row and have 4 conectors on the same wire. What plugs on my charger would I have to hook up to which wires?
Thanks,
Chris

These are the needed colored wires:
yellow=12v
orange=3.3v
red=5v
green=power on
black= ground

All the wires of the same color (and guage) go to the same point in the PS even though they are on seperate plugs. So, once you cut the plugs off everything, all the like colored (and guage) wires can be tied together.

This is what I did:

- Opened up the power supply
- Cut all the plugs off the wires (leave them as long as possible)
- Pull all the wires through the hole in the case.
- I gathered and twisted together all the orange wires, red wires, and yellow wires together in seperate colored bundles. You only need the yellow ones, but I created bundles for 5v and 3.3v for any future projects.
- I counted out a black wire for each of the different color wires, bundled them, and brought them out of the power supply case back through the hole. So, if I had 8 yellow wires, I would count out 8 black wires; if I had 4 red wires, I used 4 black; and so on.
- I used braided sheathing to group and tidy up the colored wire bundles with equal number black wires, but zip-ties work well too.
- Strip each wire, twist all like colors together, and solder to a Deans connector (or one of your choice).
- Do you have a switch in the back of your PS?
If yes; inside the PS, cut the green wire and one of the black wires short, solder together, and heatshrink the connection.
If not; twist a black wire and the green wire together, bring out of the case, and attach a SPST switch.
- Cut the rest of the wires short (should just have a few) and heatshrink the ends so they won't short on anything inside the PS.
- Once you are done, you should have only the necessary wires coming out of the power supply with all the non-essential ones shortened and tucked away inside.

I see if I can post a picture when I get home so you can see what I'm talking about. Depends on my ancient dig camera...

Thanks.
I recently got a chance to see if my power supply worked. The fans didn't turn on like you said but nothing was hooked to ith though. It does have a switch on the back.
Thanks,
Chris
P.S. it says not to open the case because there are hazardous voltages contained within. Is it still ok to do what you did?

The fan should turn on even with nothing attached. If not, one or more of the main voltage rails (3.3v, 5v, 12v) may need to be loaded with about 1/2A. It's hard to say which one(s) need to be loaded without simple trial and error. Or, the PS could simply be bad.

As far as hazardous voltages; technically, one should not dig around in there, especially when it is ON, since the PS rectifies and filters straight 120v AC, which turns out to be ~169v DC. So, leave the large capacitors alone ( although most circuits discharge them slowly when the PS is off).

Good News BrianG.
There was a computer show at the local trade center and I picked up a power cord for $1.25. :dft012: I printed out your post and did everything you said. Just to test it I hooked up my current charger and it fired right up. The fans came on and the charger lit up. :D So the power supply is still good. Only one thing to mention though. Like you said I matched each color wire with a black negative, but I was one short for my 5v source because that was the one I grounded to the green wire. Is that ok? :032:The 3.3v and 12v each still have the same number of black wires.
Thanks,
Chris

Cool! Does the supply provide enough current when charging heavy batteries? I found that if I set the current to anything over 6A when charging my 14 cell GP pack, I get a low voltage alarm on my 7i. The 12v line drops a little to ~11.9v. Oh well. I'm currently building a 40A adjustable linear power supply for the big jobs.

I created 5v and 3.3v supplies just because they were there, but if you don't plan on using them, I wouldn't worry about it. Generally, I figure about 4A per wire. So, if you have 4 wires, that should be good for ~16A. If you have n positive wires, and n-1 negative wires, you'll only be able to draw as much current as the group with the least amount (if that made any sense).

I haven't really used it yet. I just hooked up the plugs to se if it worked. I don't have my 7i yet. BTW if I ordered A pack from Maxamps or Rc-Monster with Hyperion LBA6 taps would it still be compatible to blance with the LBA10?
Thanks,
Chris

Yea, I believe there the same.

http://www.finedesignrc.com/battchargelipoly.asp The Firefox 3700 Li-Po Seems a very attracting option because of the available Water-proff option which I would get. Anyone know how good these cells are? How would I balance them with the LBA10? Where do I hook up the connector?
Also, I was thinking about using this charger instead. Would it be compatible with the LBA10?
Thanks,
Chris

The LBA10 simply hooks to a charger's output, so yes, it is compatible. However, Hyperion does point out that some chargers output a high voltage if the battery is disconnected, so they recommend one that has protection for this like the 7i (of course).

I wouldn't be surprised if those 3700 cells are the same as the ones in Hyperion/Polyquest/Flightpower/etc. packs. It doesn't say how the packs are waterproofed, but I'd imagine that the cell tabs are just sealed in some silicone or something like that.

Due to the recent replys in this thread and this web page.http://www.flightpower.co.uk/core/da...a_2s1p3700.htm I'm sorry to say that I have changed my mind.
The flightpower packs seem to be absolutely perfect.
I'm probably going to get either the 3700,4900, or 5000 pack. I think I still want the 7i and the LBA10 but I'm not sure. What would I have to do to balance the cells with this combo?
Is there any other charger/balancer combo that would work good with these cells?
Thanks,
Chris

I was browsing the internet and found Shark 30 charger and the RCM-Pelikan Shark PB-5 Lithium Polymer Battery Balancer. Only downside is that I don't know the price and the company doesn't ship to the U.S. Anyone know where else I can get this charging and balancing combo?
Thanks,
Chris

The "Shark 30" appears to be nothing but a E-Station 701, which you can get from TrueRC.com. Mike unfortunately can't get them. As for the Balancer, It appears to be the on Bantam makes to go with the 701 (Bantam makes the 701).

That would explain why it showed up on google when i searched E-Station 701. lol I think I have com to a final conclusion;
Flightpower 4900mah 2s1p
E-Station 701 Charger
E-Station PB5 Balancer or Smart Balance and Guard 505
Bishop Power Products Battery Bunker.
Sounds like an awesome combo.
Now all I have to do is sell my old combo.
Anyone looking for A Peak Racing 4800mah Li-po 2s2p, Scorpion 2s Charger and Radio Shack 25-amp Power supply? :rolleyes: :D
Thanks all,
Chris

OK,
I have looked for days and can't find the FlightPower 4900mah 2s1p battery. Either they are out of stock, the don't carry the 2s, or they don't ship to the U.S. Does anyone know where I can get this battery?
Thanks,
Chris