shung1

Hi Everyone,
New to wattflyer and hope you can help?
Just purchased a powerlab 6 and am having issues charging my 3S 2200mAh lipos out at the field using a car battery (12v) as the power source. I have gone into the options in the charger menu and selected "battery" as the power source and have selected "fast charge" and 4.4amps as the charge rate.

The issue is that I am only getting a maximum of 1amp coming out of the car battery? Am I doing something wrong or is there another setting in the charger that needs adjusting?

Cheers.

Stevephoon

There is a max current draw setting in the PL6. I'm not sure what the default is...

From their manual

Battery Max Amps Out: Set for maximum supply battery current draw. If the charge rate is set higher than the input current allows, the PowerLab 6 will draw no more than the level set here, which may limit output current to the pack. If Battery Max Amps Out is set too high, the battery’s output voltage may drop below the Battery Low Voltage Out setting and charging will stop and the input battery could be damaged from excessive current draw.

The manual can be found online here:
http://www.revolectrix.com/support_docs/item_1380.pdf

Steve

shung1

Hi mate,
Ive read the manual and seen this section, the default was set at 15 in the charger. Ive had it all the way down to 3 and still had the same issue. I think its going to be trial and error to find the right combination between amps in and amps out to get it to work?

Thanks for the reply.

Flubber

Denny is good with the powerlabs and I am sure he will see this post. How are you checking the amps out of the car battery? When I watch my powerlab 6 It starts at a much lower charge rate than I have set while it works some magic on the battery. After a short time it begins to increase the charge rate to the amount set. If it is during this ramp up time that you are seeing the low amp draw it would be understandable. I wish I could be of more help, but I use mine with a power supply and a parallel board so I can charge six batteries at a time. I hope you get it figured out because it is a great charger.

shung1

I also use mine with a power supply and parallel board, just wanted to try the battery option for times when I head out to the park etc.
Yes it is a great charger!

Stevephoon

You should be able to do exactly what you are talking about. I usually charge at home from a power supply, but take it to the field for special events. The only thing I remember doing is selecting the power supply type at start up. Have you tried just using the power supply settings when connected to your car battery? I wonder if you are hitting a low voltage limit on the ower supply side.

If you have the ability to use the CCS software, it makes the setup a little easier.

I'm confused with you.

Steve

Gregor

It sounds like the charger is limiting due to hitting the low supply voltage value set too high. The default is 10v. If its set to 10v now, then its likely the connection between the charger and the battery source.

You can see the reason for limiting in the CCS. Take a look and post your results.

kyleservicetech

Have you tried another LiPo battery?

Those Cellpro chargers will really back off on the charging rate if they run across a battery out of balance. The charger goes to a much lower charge rate, while it uses its one ampere ability to balance out the cells.

Use the Cellpro charger, and scroll to the voltage on each cell, and make sure they match up. Exactly.