Lithium Power Upgrade Q's

[BrianG]

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.

[Mister_Anderson]

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

[BrianG]

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.

[Mister_Anderson]

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

[MetalMan]

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.

[Mister_Anderson]

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

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by Mister_Anderson

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...

[Mister_Anderson]

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?

[BrianG]

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).

[Mister_Anderson]

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

[BrianG]

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).

[Mister_Anderson]

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

[squeeforever]

Yea, I believe there the same.

[Mister_Anderson]

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

[BrianG]

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).