The best of the best Chargers!

Yep, saw that too.

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Where did you get that 2.6kW as a maximum in Europe?

Here in Serbia all sockets are 16A breakers.

3kW is not an issue ( if the house electrical leads are in order)

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Yep, got my numbers mixed up, its actually 3.6kW. Sorry guys. :smiley: However Americans are still fucked if they don’t have a 230V outlet with a 16A breaker.

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(also for reference Ireland is a bit funky because we were originally based off UK, so most of Europe is 220V ± tolerance, Ireland and UK is 240V ± tol. 230 is mostly a nominal or labelling compromise because devices of the 220 and 240V class are largely interoperable. They did I think limit the tolerances a bit so the two voltage ranges move closer together, but in reality there are still two different operating voltages in Europe and most of the time neither of them are 230. Hence a standard 13A circuit here gets you ~3120W)

Did u get that charger? Anyone had experience with these?
https://m.aliexpress.com/item/2251832736318294.html?srcSns=sns_Copy&spreadType=socialShare&bizType=ProductDetail&social_params=20124552884&aff_fcid=4eca41d4e313402094d4961798c07198-1617323210900-06144-_mLOl2vV&tt=MG&aff_fsk=_mLOl2vV&aff_platform=default&sk=_mLOl2vV&aff_trace_key=4eca41d4e313402094d4961798c07198-1617323210900-06144-_mLOl2vV&shareId=20124552884&businessType=ProductDetail&platform=AE&terminal_id=b8dbba59506b4a5687fff8f39f0c135a&gatewayAdapt=Pc2Msite4itemAdapt

I have one. It’s huge, seems alr though. Haven’t actually used it yet. All the text is in Chinese. Adj amperage.

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Just follow the spe sheet advise YOU NEED A CC and CV supply to charge a battry a CV or a CC on there own dose not follow the spe sheet and will cause damage to your cells

Think of what there doing CV
Voltage is the pushing force around the circuit so you basically forcing the current in a a speed that’s to fast stressing the cells. This is bad at the start of the charge cycle creating lots of heat

CC is is the is dumping the current in to large of a quandary stressing the cells this is bad at the end of the charge cycle creating lots of heat.

I’m pretty sure as long as u don’t charge with too high a current, beyond the specs, it’s fine.

All the constant-current (CC) supplies we use become constant-voltage (CV) when the cell/pack voltage approaches the CC supply’s setpoint. There’s no such thing as a “CC only” power supply, all of them will have a set voltage in addition to a set constant-current limit.

Basically, a CC supply is a CV supply with a set current limit. If the load (a charging pack in this case) tries to draw more than the CC limit then the supply lowers its voltage until the current flow equals the CC limit.

As the pack charges the supply adjusts its voltage to keep the current flowing at the CC limit.

Once the pack voltage rises enough its internal resistance (see example below) will result in the current dropping below the CC limit. The supply’s voltage will stop rising and stay at its setting and the current will continue to drop as the pack charges up to the supply’s voltage setting.

You cannot have a CC supply continue to dump full current into a cell/pack as the cell/pack approaches the CC supply’s voltage setting. It’s basic Ohm’s Law.

As the voltage difference between the supply and the cell/pack gets smaller and smaller (as charging continues) the internal resistance of the supply and the cell/pack limits the amount of current that can flow.

Let’s run some numbers…
Let’s assume a 12S pack has an internal resistance (IR) of 15mOhms per cell and 12 cells in series = 180mOhms. Add on a bit for the interconnections, wiring, and connections and you get about 200mOhms IR for the pack.

A CC supply set to 50.4V and 5A current limit can continue to deliver that 5A up until about 49.4V. At that point the IR starts to limit the current because you only have a 1.0V difference between the supply and the pack. This 1.0V difference can only result in 1.0V / 200mOhms = 5A of current flow.

So as soon as the supply rises above about 49.4V it can no longer force 5A (its CC setting) into the pack and the current starts to drop. The supply has started acting as a CV supply because of this.

You cannot continue to force 5A into the pack as it finishes charging unless you set the supply to a voltage higher than the pack voltage you want to charge to. For example, if you set the supply to 55V then you could force 5A into the pack even when the pack reaches 50.4V.

The danger isn’t overheating in this case though, it is overvoltage.

Overheating during charging can occur near the end of a charge because of increased IR at full charge (creating more heat) and because the pack has been charging for a while, which creates heat. If too high of a charge rate is used the pack can get hot.

But the current will always start dropping near the end of the charge cycle when using a CC supply (all of which are CC-CV supplies) and that allows the pack temp to drop.

I agree.
Charging with a CV-only supply means that the pack essentially short-circuits the supply since there is no CC limit that can be set. This typically causes the supply to turn off or fail but it is possible that it could continue to operate and overstress the pack with too much charging current.

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We have a summer sale on our 12s charger :

Technically yes but non of the ones I’ve used are any were near suitable for charging battery’s

Meanwell call a ther HVGC range CC were there HLG range is CC-CV. so I still stand by what I said and your just causing confusion that could lead to a fire if some one went for a cc power supply thinking there ok

Anyone have experience using the 12s variable amp charger from @Chibatterysystems?

If u wanted to put the battery to a constant current there’s nothing wrong with that for batteries. as long as u don’t have too much current put in the cells as decided by the data sheet (really u can do much more especially at low charge) it’s fine.

If u could even find a cc supply. You’d have to increase the voltage beyond the cell max according to ohms law and THAT sounds dangerous. How do I set the power supply to use in constant current mode (CC mode)? | Matsusada Precision ideal for How to Use Power Supply

That is a completely different topic. We can discuss that though if you want.

That’s an LED driver, not a CC/CV power supply spec’d for charging. Technically it should not be used for pack charging though I know some people do use lower voltage ones.

I never said one could use high voltage LED drivers for charging.
I can see where this is all going though…a battle of CC, CV, and power supply semantics. :slightly_smiling_face:

I strongly disagree that I have offered confusing info that can lead to a fire. I would assume that anyone trying to use a power supply would also look at the voltage range it can output. Especially if the supply was labeled as a “LED driver” and not as a charger.

IMHO you are using esoteric examples to justify your strong stance for particular power supply nomenclature. That’s okay, but don’t do it by accusing me of offering unsafe info.

I could easily accuse you of giving out very unsafe info when you said that a CC plus CV supply is needed. You didn’t mention that it needs to not exceed the charging current rating of the cells! You didn’t mention that it must be set to the proper pack voltage! You are giving out info that could start a fire!

There’s always a way to find an issue. :slightly_smiling_face:

I never mentioned using LED drivers but, yes, if someone decided to do that without checking the specs for the driver then there could be real trouble. But that’s the same thing for your advice to only use a CC plus CV supply. If they didn’t check the specs there could be real trouble.

IIRC some LED drivers have adjustable voltage maximum settings that allow them to be used for charging and some have been used that way. Again, I have not recommended using them because of the additional time needed to confirm their specs and operation. It’s a lot easier to do that with a standard CC-CV power supply.

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Why not use an led driver?

The drivers he linked to have very high voltage range and might go over the pack voltage when trying to force in the desired amount of current. I haven’t looked at the specs closely enough to know if this is the case though.

With the right specs there’s nothing wrong with using LED drivers IMO but I don’t recommend them because of the additional care needed to confirm the specs. This doesn’t mean I don’t recommend them. It just means I will recommend standard CC-CV power supplies because it’s typically easier to confirm that they can be properly set to charge the pack.

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This is standard for CC power supply’s because of the way thay are used in a LED array in the industry. We could use the same argument of useing a drone motor to power our boards but there’s bettter standard options out there than reading specs of thousands of the drone motors to fined a handful that could be adapted to work

It’s only standard if you have a high voltage string of LEDs to drive. There are plenty of CC LED drivers with lower voltage limits. :slightly_smiling_face:

I think we can agree though that anyone purchasing something not clearly listed as a pack charger, with appropriate voltage/current ratings, should very carefully check the specs and mode of operation to be sure that it’s okay to use that supply to charge a pack.

Yes should always check even if is a listed as a charger.

Just had to sit thro a toolbox talk at work about chines worklight on site because one was left on charge over night and caught on fire. After been toled we had to use x brand tested the so called charger it came with turns out it’s a 12v DC transformer this product was CE marked bought from a store!

I have no trust in any thing listed as a charger and always checked and tested my self. I keep finding products like this from big brands.

I’m going to stick to batty manufacture advice like samsung and there spec sheet and will always advise others do as well.

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Poking this thread from 2 years ago. Has anyone heard of the new development for high voltage pulse current chargers that are supposed to double the lifespan of LiPo batteries? It was announced back in April, was wondering if anyone has seen a released product with the new High Voltage Pulse current feature?

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