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Top Balancing using the Hitec RCD Inc. RDX2 Mini AC Balance Charger, HRC44299

There are dozens of versions of that type of balance charger - many brands and versions. Hitec is a fairly well known brand. I don't have any experience with that unit, but I have used similar Li balance chargers to top balance multiple flavors of Lithium.

Properly configured and connected with the balance leads, they can reliably top balance any Li Chemistry for which they can be set.

That particular unit has two channels capable of up to 4S operation.

Specifications:
AC Input:
100-240V AC
Charge Power:100 Watts
Charge Current Range:0.1-5.0A
Discharge Power:N/A
Current Drain for LiPo Balancing:300mA/cell
NiCd/NiMh Cell Cout:6-8 Cells
Li-XX Cell Count:2-4 Cells
Pb (Lead Acid) Battery Voltage:6-12V
Dimensions:3.5x3.9x5.0 (90x100x127mm)
Weight:1.1lbs (0.5 kg)

With a total output of 100W (stated in the listing), you could charge each channel at 50W each. The bulk of your charging will occur below 13.6V, so you'll be able to charge at 50/13.6 = 3.7A.

A more powerful option:


Can do 8S at about 18A, but you'll need to provide a suitable DC power supply capable of 500W.

This one is a better value than the one you selected, same brand and has the convenience of a built-in AC power supply:


While it can only do 1 channel, it's advantage is that it can go the lower of 10A or 150W and up to 6S.

13.6 * 10A = 136W, so it could supply 36% more power and faster charging than the other unit.

You can also use these to parallel charge cells, i.e., let's say you want to build a 16S 48V battery. You could configure them as a 4P4S 12V battery and use this to top balance them at 10A.

The process is automatic. It monitors each individual cell. Once one cell hits the peak cell voltage, it begins tapering total current to maintain that voltage and begins balancing between cells. Once all cells are at peak voltage, and current has dropped to 1A, it will terminate charging.

Another advantage of these types of chargers over the traditional 10A/30V power supply is that voltage measurements are open-circuit, i.e., it's not checking the cell voltage through the circuit passing the current. The 10A/30V power supplies typically have crap leads and high internal resistance where it's very difficult to maintain 10A @ 3.65V set.
 
I'm still new so I keep forgetting to specify what type of battery I'm building and I know it can't be challenging to provide advice, sorry about that!

Right now I'm building a 12v battery but the idea is to build a 24V battery bank.

@sunshine_eggo When you mean channels, you mean charging more than battery at once right? If so, that's not a feature I need right now.

I'm going to give the Haisito one a try and see how it goes.

Thank you!!
 
I'm still new so I keep forgetting to specify what type of battery I'm building and I know it can't be challenging to provide advice, sorry about that!

Right now I'm building a 12v battery but the idea is to build a 24V battery bank.

Since you're talking about balancing, one has to assume you're talking about some flavor of Lithium. The chargers in question are suitable for both LFP (3.2V nominal) and Li-ion/LiPo (3.6-3.7V nominal).

@sunshine_eggo When you mean channels, you mean charging more than battery at once right? If so, that's not a feature I need right now.

Yes. That's what it means. I would agree you do not need it.

I'm going to give the Haisito one a try and see how it goes.

Thank you!!

That unit will allow you to completely top balance a 24V LFP battery by arranging the cells in a 2P4S 12V configuration and running the LiFe balance charge.

Once top balanced, you can configure it for 8S.
 
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