Eric Hartley Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Hi Just uprated my battery charger to a cellpro pl6 withS1200W charger power supply. The power supply has a voltage dial which has a min. of 11.4V which I have not touched as I don't really understand its function - could someone please advise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flight1 Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Thi dial adjusts the output voltage that the power supply will give. This is so you can adjust the voltage to suit your charger, some chargers will take up to 18v have a look at you chargers specs and if it say's 11v to 18v input (example) I would set you power supply to output 15v. Edited By flight1 on 11/04/2015 09:27:03 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuban8 Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Just had a look on the Robotbirds site where they carry this item. Your supply voltage output is able to be manually adjusted between 11.5V and 24.5V. Simply set the output for what you need, or to whatever voltage is required by the accessory you have connected to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willyuk Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Hi Eric, the PL6 will take 24 volts but remember that in the powerlab set up you need to specify the min cutoff current for the power supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Middleton Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Eric, see this...**LINK** ..."operates from 12 to 32 volts" remember this is a switcher so, the input voltage can be less than the voltage of the cell-pack you are charging. But remember power out = power in <minus> "losses", so if you step-up the voltage you will need more current from the source (and of course, current to charge the cell-pack). The switcher may be up to 90% efficient but your "source" may be linear so don't ask it to run at (say) more than 90% of its rated current. Lots of good info. in that manual BTW James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Green Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Posted by James Middleton on 11/04/2015 10:24:49: Eric, see this...**LINK** ..."operates from 12 to 32 volts" remember this is a switcher so, the input voltage can be less than the voltage of the cell-pack you are charging. But remember power out = power in <minus> "losses", so if you step-up the voltage you will need more current from the source to clarify - if you step up the pack voltage that is. With higher input voltage the current is reduced not increased for the same output current - ie if your PSU is set to 12v then the charger will draw more current from it than if the PSU was set to say 18v Cheers Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Hartley Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share Posted April 11, 2015 Hi From what I can gather therefore it seems best to run the power supply at the max. voltage the charger can take ie. 24V. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Middleton Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Indeed Phil, ...my clumsy attempt to explain to Eric that, if the source were to be left at 11.4volts and he attempted to charge a cell-pack at a higher voltage then, the higher the pack-voltage, the higher the source current. I don't know the details of the "withS1200W charger power supply" (I took this to be a is a typo. for "with a 1200W charger power supply" ) but, despite being 1200W it will undoubtedly have a current-limit, if only/simply a fuse. ..."Must try harder"... That's me! James Edited By James Middleton on 11/04/2015 13:01:58 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Middleton Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Posted by Eric Hartley on 11/04/2015 12:51:11: Hi From what I can gather therefore it seems best to run the power supply at the max. voltage the charger can take ie. 24V. Yes Eric, The PL6 is a "switcher" so, you will have no power-dissipation problems there. The limiting-factor will be the characteristics of the source. The source, you stated was "1200W" that's it..."Power cannot be created, it can only be changed/converted" In other words...don't expect to "change" more than 1200W into the cell-pack you are re-charging, but the "PL6" is clever-enough to know that!!! A mighty smart piece of kit, thank you for introducing me to it. James Edited By James Middleton on 11/04/2015 13:50:10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Hartley Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 Hi I've got the PL6 charger up and running and tried out parallel charging 4 6s 3300mAh power packs and admit I was somewhat disappointed with the overall time charging took (almost 2 hours). Maybe I should increase the charge rate from 1c to 2c? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Focae Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Forgive me if I am teaching granny etc. but to charge at 1C you need to multiply the pack capacity by the number of packs. ie 4x3300 = 13.2amps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Hartley Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Hi As far as I am aware the PL6 automatically calculates the 13.2 amps charge rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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