hell, I’d LOVE a configurable 5A fast charger with a simple switch to pick either 10S or 12S. Covers all of my boards, could just live in my bag.
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Shouldn’t cost much more than the Exway one if not close in price after you include shipping for theirs.
Thats literally what the icharger x12 does.
Basically I’m saying, designing power supplies is not easy, so don’t discount available solutions.
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Im not afraid to get technical with something like this, but IMMEDIATELY this thing screams, I am not end user friendly.
This isnt something like the exway charger I linked earlier where its idiot proof. and as far as I can tell, its not even an AC adapter. you still need a DC power supply on top? this thing with a dumbed down interface or simple rocker switch would be a dream tho.
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Designing a power supply from scratch for a UX change feels excessively difficult, but if thats what people want, you can make it.
It’s not easy because to get the target efficiency numbers, you’ll have to design a totem pole PFC feeding into an isolated dc to dc converter with active switches on both ends. It’s a lot of work.
GaN also has a tendency to blow up, so you have to deal with that issue as well.
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What’s the smallest 72v supply available?
If that power supply was constant current, it would be perfect. It’s so tiny! 5"x3"x2" and half a pound for a 12s 10A
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Thats why is suggested pairing it with an icharger x12. There’s probably cheaper battery charger frontends out there but idk what they are.
Why u care about constant current?
Because a battery will pull more than its 500w rating, and trip the overload protection.
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My 2c / random thoughts after reading this thread:
- For 500+ units you’ll need to stick to 12s. Maaaaybe 18s for the supersport owners, I don’t know Lacroix’s sale numbers though. Otherwise the market just isn’t large enough for other voltages.
- I would love the current being adjustable down so that I can charge boards with small batteries safely
- chargers aren’t that heavy in a backpack, the largest issue is size. So I would personally focus on 2 possible product offerings:
-
A charger as small as possible. Even if it’s just 2A. No power coord, plugged straight into an outlet. Meant for being a backup charger you can always have on you, would charge a 12s4p 16Ah pack in 8h, which is perfect for a dayjob or staying overnight somewhere.
-
Super powerful charger (15-30A?), which would otherwise just be too large to practically handle. For the serious DIY / lonestar / mountainboard riders that need to charge their board quickly at a rest stop during a group ride.
Anything in between those two doesn’t make much sense to me.
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My thoughts exactly
Already integrated. Goes down to 3A for the 12A version
That’s my 3rd planned.
I have other uses for the 600W charger
The 5A Gallium Nitride charger is even smaller than the current 2.5A Sillicon Carbide charger, this is already extremely portable for the amount of work it can handle
Appreciate the feedback!
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Preface; ive only read about half this thread.
Personally, if i were designing a charger, id have it run into a fused adapter port, ask what jack they need attached to it, and offer cheap, easily made, easily changeable jacks. You want it to run xt90? Cool, put some bullets on one and youre good to go. Or buy one ready to attach in a half decent housing from me for $10.
Make sure your own supply of connectors is high quality, add a commonplace and easy to change out fuse in line, add an amperage dial, and its at most a 30 second part swap between any two compatible boards.
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Instead of designing a charger around a certain component — why not design the charger around the desired characteristics?
If you happen to use that part, great. If not, well you designed a better product.
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I think a small 12s 12 amp charger would be quite popular.
My lacroix 10 amp charger is massive and I hate it.
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If you get much more powerful with this you may come up against the charge fuses and BMSs not being able to handle it?
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GaN is pretty cool tech, but it’s more expensive. The gains on the new product need to be worthwhile to matter. I’d be okay with lugging my plain jane 10A charger around, it’s not that heavy. Something that charges way faster would be nice for group rides, but the downstream stuff needs to be able to bear it. And it would be nice to not trip the breakers in so me poor mom and pop place we decide to park.
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Can confirm 12S is way more popular. I’ve sold lots of 12S chargers and literally only like 2 18S chargers…
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^agree
Sorry to be a party pooper (some beat me to it 
)
GaN, siliconcarbide etc dsn’t make much sense at our voltages.
Si or any si hybrid still boasts lower or equal Ron for a cheaper pricetag.
once we have 650V boards, this will make alot more sense.
For refrence, the lowest Ron GaN FET i can find on mouser is 6.3mOhm.
A good old Silicon based FET is easly found round 1mOhm. thats 600%. Pay more to do less?
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