im thinking of buying 12 of these chargers and then connecting them to the balance leads on a 12s battery. this would be the only charging method used. can balance charge with a single plug using off-board electronics. just would need to find an ideal 13 prong plug.
it’s 300$ but seems reasonable for what it would do. id probably take the cases apart and mount the innards all inside a heatsink/box.
Pass the blunt
Probably a show stopper, the dc ground is probably tied to ac ground so you’d have a bunch of shorts. Must have floating grounds.
haha.
so no it wouldnt work, bummer. I need to find a supply with a floating ground? you think they’re out there.
Also
Could work, a bit impractical. What @deucesdown mentioned is a good point, but i believe the earth ground is floating.
Small balance leads can’t handle the current, max 1A… that’s pushing it
great to hear. nice to have you guys here telling me whats what. but i think its very practical. simplified.
Id add the balance leads. what gauge you think would be ok?
What you’re better off doing is using one larger charger in conjunction, like a 3A 12S charger, and connect that to the main leads.
Then use your tiny chargers once the pack overall reaches ~90% capacity. That’ll just be a small current balance.
You could have some sort of zener diode hooked up to the main battery positive and use that to switch a relay or something to switch between the large and the small chargers once the pack reaches a certain point.
But honestly at this point I’m describing a dumbed down balance charger with way less safety features.
Just get a 12S charger and use an external BMS and plug the balance leads into it.
Better yet, just stick a balance board up to the balance leads and keep it inside your board. They’re super tiny and thin, very cheap, and has zero of the failiure risks of using a BMS for discharge. Using this method you could just have one DC jack to charge with, IMO a much more aesthetically pleasing and useful method.
I think a lot of builds use 22awg and that should handle (but not happily 10a). 3a should be safe – revolectrix powerlab will do balance lead only charging at max 3a, and they’re very conservative.
@hummie if you push a bunch of amps through skinny wires there will be big voltage drop. Might not matter since the current decreases in the cv stage so voltage drop should lessen.
Even better than that, I’d suggest you get a voltmeter for each pack and balance charging/discharging only the one that drifts through the balance leads. Cheaper and more efficient
Sorry to sound dumb. Not an electrician. But when people say they beleive the Earth’s ground is floating and talking about passing blunts… I get the inkling that something is funny.
But I know it’s just you guys talking electricity.
Technically I think you’d be okay if you match the dc wire on the charger – not much point going heavier. Unless it’s a crap danger charger lol.
Hummie I love your wacky threads lol
wouldn’t you need a 24 prong connector as you need the positive and negative of each cell?
thanks for all the alternative suggestions but im still stuck on my original plan if it will work. it seems easiest to me compared to the others, with one plug and done, and the big perk is charging at 10amps which other methods with other added electronics wont allow.
so throw me a stong “no!” if it’s not going to work because otherwise im still into it.
think could use 13 prong and pair up the cells on one wire but maybe not.
what capacity are your cells?
12s4p 30Q. at 4 amps a cell max charge rate this should be fine.
sooo how are you planning on charging at 10a?
the chargers do 10a. look above. i charge at 10a now but with just a bulk charger, so moving up in the electronics and safety world possibly. throw me your “no!” now so i dont think too much about it as im about to go to bed! east coast
yes but if your cells only take 4a charge max it’ll cook your cells real quick