diy solar

diy solar

Top Balance for New Cells with RC Charger

BOFH

New Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2021
Messages
9
HI

I have one of these for charging RC packs


It supports LIFE cells down to 1S and I can set the end point voltage. Is there any reason I shouldn't use this to do the parallel balance charge before I build the pack?

I have 8 230 AH CALB cells on the way on a boat, just trying to work out if I need to buy a DC power supply or the RC charger will be ok?

Thanks
 
It can only handle 1-6 LFP cells.

It's limited to 180W, so assuming you do 2X 4S batteries individually, you're limited to 12.5A at the end of the charge, but you should be able to do a little over 13A most of the charge.

Once you've done the 2X 4S packs individually, I would still wire them all up in parallel and balance them to 3.65V on a separate voltmeter. SkyRC is a decent brand, but I wouldn't regard any of them as particularly accurate.
 
Thanks. Only planning to use it for the initial balance charge so 8P, set the charger to 1s.
I was hoping to get a faster charge than the usual 10A benchtop.

But if the accuracy isn't likely to be that good sounds like I would be better of getting one of the cheap 10A Benchtop supplies as I don't want to damage my new cells.
 
Thanks. Only planning to use it for the initial balance charge so 8P, set the charger to 1s.
I was hoping to get a faster charge than the usual 10A benchtop.

But if the accuracy isn't likely to be that good sounds like I would be better of getting one of the cheap 10A Benchtop supplies as I don't want to damage my new cells.

Best practices recommends series charging first with BMS protection (you can substitute the balance charger for this) followed by parallel charging.

Charging at 8P means you only get 3.65 * 16A = 58.4W peak at end of balance.

Charging 4S means you get the full ~180W of the unit, so the process with be about 3X faster.
 
Back
Top