12s One Plug Charge Tutorial

I didn’t want do have to deal with 4 different ports on my enclosure, so I set out to design a port similar to this but for 12s. Now thats it’s done I can tell you, this is so convenient and easy to use.

Heres what you will need:

you will be soldering to this horribly draw diagram by me. NOTE: the battery leads (not the balance wires) are 16 gauge wire wired in parallel. one positive & negative per battery.

how it should look: ultra ghetto looking battery deans on the charger side. I’m using 2x iMax B6 chargers ask questions if you need help/clarification! I’ll sell these if interested.

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you can cut that connector down from 25 pin to only 13 pins or use a Dsub 15 if you want to double pin the main power rails. make it more compact.

so what you’re saying is that with this, I can charge 12s in series? I seriously spent all morning looking for a solution to this!

no it charges two 6S batteries with probably two 6S chargers

Thanks guys I went with these DB 15’s I find the 2 rows much easier to solder than the 3 row VGA type If anybody (US) wants a pair pm me I don’t need 10😀

15 pins wont be enough for 12s

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@Maxid

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15 is enough. Two 6S batteries need 10 pins for the balancing cables and the rest is used for ground and total +. The balancing ground is the main ground anyway and the balancing cable for the last cell is the total +.

Not sure how @lowGuido can make it with 13pins but 14 should be fine as long as you don’t charge with high currents (keep it below let’s say 2A). Maybe ground can be used for both batteries thus resulting in 13 used pins?

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fuhhh charging 3x 4s batteries is proving to be hugely problematic. no wonder we don’t see others using similar configurations very often

yeah 3 batteries is a pain - you could get an 8S charger - and charge 2 in series in one as 4S maybe

4x 3s like I’m doing is still a huge pain in the ass, but I made it (somewhat) easier. I permanently soldered two together in series for 6s, and used a 2x 3s to 6s adapter, aswell as an xt60. now it’s just 2x 6s batteries to put in series.

Do we know what it is that makes a charger only compatible up to 8s or 10s? Is the limitation within the chemistry or just the mechanics? Why can’t we just solder some new connectors and make it work? I feel like a 1000w charger should be able to handle my measly 298wh 12s rig, it doesn’t seem right that it apparently “can’t”.

In the meantime I’ll probably just buy 3x ~100w chargers and charge each 4S battery individually.

edit: or this one http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__82840__Turnigy_Reaktor_QuadKore_1200W_80A_4_X_300W_20A_DC_Synchronous_Balance_Charger_Discharger.html

heres a diagram on how to pinout a balance lead for 12S with a DSUB 15 pin. and thats with double pins on the main power leads. the red and black leads would be 16AWG or similar.

I meant to put it up yesterday but I ran out of time.

the charger end would look like this:

you could get it down to 13 pins if you didn’t double pin the main power, and perhaps charge at only 2A?

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he does not charge at 12s but 2x6S - that is why I was wondering how you can get it done in 13.

can still be done in 13 pins, you would just need to change the charger end to two 6S plugs and two deans connectors… do you really want me to draw another diagram?? LOL

But they are not in series anymore at 6S - so I think as I have said above you would need 14 pins. I just don’t see it right now so if you actually could draw that I would be happy.

sorry this drawing is rough. you wouldn’t have enough pins to double pin every charge lead so if I was going to do it this way I would probably not bother double pinning the outer leads and maybe separate pin 12 into two pins instead. you are starting to compromise on the amount of amps you can charge with. it can certainly be done with 13 pins, but perhaps not a DSUB 15, perhaps something with some higher current pins available.

so you can actually leave them connected in series and treat them like two 6S packs where you connect the second pack’s ground to the 6th cell’s positive?

it is literally no different to how he currently has it set up. the cells are connected in the battery