Gallium Nitride (GaN) Charger for Esk8

Wouldn’t it be cheaper to use better silicon FETs than to use GAN FETs? Seems like as of right now they’re mostly a marketing craze, and only are really necessary in very specific applications.

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GaN is like 3x more expensive, so a charger is going to end up costing $500.

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I agree, I just don’t think it needs to be that fast. A 3A or 3.5A charger is already faster than a lot of fast chargers out there, but well within safe limits for just about everything, and you still get the size benefit (in fact it’d probably be even smaller than a 5A!).

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donelab did a great series on these connectors

XT30 XT30 connector - everything you need to know about, measured and tested - YouTube
XT60 XT60 connector - everything you need to know about, measured and tested - YouTube
XT90 XT90 - Measured and tested - YouTube

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They are, but the point is to use GaN fets on large wattage chargers to reduce volume. I bought a 20s 40A charger the other day and the size of that thing is legit a microwave. The idea is so that they’re portable enough to be used on group-rides.

And also, let’s say your commute is 50km, you can now just have a battery pack that’s good for 30km and carry a charger that’ll charge the pack in 30 minutes and doesn’t weigh like 10 bricks in your bag

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The 250W should cost around 150 USD shipping included, 600W should be around 250 - 300 USD shipping included.

This is just an ESTIMATE, nobody knows the cost until production, and word from the OEM is that the cost might very well be less than the estimate. Chip prices are fluctuating like crazy right now, some are even more expensive than the GaN fets used in here

Can confirm that xt30 gets warm at 20a. I wouldn’t go above 20, but i’m comfortable at 20.

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You are going to need PFC and isolation.

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The PFC bridge cost like 20 bucks each in these.

I just don’t fuck with them entirely, none of my cables are thin enough to use it anyways.

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I use xt30 for all my charge port connections with 14awg wires.

My charge ports are only rated for 13a but i’ve put 20a through them too :laughing:

Aliexpress has a bunch of high voltage and high current chargers. I literally can’t find one in usa above 60v

I wonder what people are using to charge now with many escs doing 72+ volts.

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I suggested XT30 because they are small and light for a backpack charger. And because that allows users to terminate whatever connector they want or maybe share chargers.

XT60 would also work, but just bigger. Unnecessarily big, IMHO, for 20A.

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Honestly, I dont see the difference between pairing a meanwell rps500-48 with an icharger x12 and a proposed GaN solution.

The meanwell is already UL certified.

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Maybe not so much on weaker wattage ones, but definitely GaN solution is better if you’re looking for fast charging a large pack

500W will charge most packs in under an hour.

If you’re aiming for a mass volume market, 12S+ is probably not it. I bought a GaN dock for my nintendo switch way back when, just for the space savings. Cost ended up about the same for them, but Im sure people are willing to pay a small premium for a smaller production board fast charger as well a la exway’s upcoming option. I would think you’d want to be hitting the 10S-12S range of the most popular budget boards from the chinese brands. Probably 5A at absolute most, and a detachable connection to swap out the plug to account for the various brands.

Then another higher voltage option for the crazy people here running fully custom stuff :woman_shrugging:

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already intergrated. Literally the best possible solution.

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I haven’t timed it yet but I think from dead my 500w charges my 12s7p in like 1.5 to 2 hr

Also, that solution you proposed is not valid bc it’s diy and requires a separate case, power cable, and charging cable. Sounds annoying compared to just buying one

On top of that it’s expensive. Why would I ever do all that if I could buy one charger for each voltage for cheaper

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Im saying someone could easily just package that solution and call it a day.

The icharger x12 was the first thing I could think of, there’s most likely cheaper balance chargers out there at 500W.

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