How-To: Meanwell 63-84V CV/CC Charger

[Kingfish]

Meanwell HRP-600

Pals and compatriots –
I received two units of this series yesterday; the 24 and 48V versions. Tonight I had the opportunity to hook these devices up and review them.

Review: Meanwell HRP-600 Series

I wish to chronicle the timeline here rather than in the review mainly because I had already provided a similar timeline for the SP/S assembly. Some information may be repeated here from the review.

Disclaimer: These HRP-600 units when combined in series still create a 63-84V charging assembly, therefore qualify as worthy of discussion under this here thread <nods>.

• HRP-600 24 + 48 = 63.3V PSU. No Load = 0.20A @ 121.1 VAC
• HRP-600-48: Tested Range = 39.1 to 58.2 VDC. Set to 39.1.
• HRP-600-24: Tested Range = 20.6 to 30.49 VDC. Set to 24.2.
• After assembly into series, fine tuning was required to reach 63.3 V. No Load now = 0.18A @ 120.8 VAC

Amp meter connected to VAC.

Charging:
At 9:00 PM sharp, 15S6P LiPo pack was at 58.0V. No mods were made to the HRP units; they were assembled and put to use right out of the box (sans voltage adjustments). The charger was put on the pack, the voltage jumped to 58.8V (monitoring per CA), assembly current goes to 8.1A @ 118.8 VAC. Fans take off loudly relative to the SP/S assembly. For the first brief minute there was some strange whining, and possibly buzzing, but it went away. The first ½ hour was loud – however the pack was most definitely charging! I moved the amp meter around a bit and received a better reading; it was actually pulling 8.7A. The charging cable was 14 AWG that I had lying around; I thought it would make for a good experiment to see how it handled the current: It became very warm but not hot. Note to self: Use 10 AWG for in the field.

After about ½ hour as the pack voltage reached 62.8 VDC (with the charge still on) the assembly was pulling 9 Amps; I noted this figure was slowly climbing as charging progressed, though I do not know why. Back-calculating, the assembly is using about 1 kW of power which is about double the SP/S assembly. The power usage is better than I had hoped, and not at double the maximum limit for both units. The 48V unit was definitely warmer than the 24V unit in one spot where the heat sink must have been, although it was by no means hot. Except for the fan noise, the process is going smoothly.

At 9:35 PM there is a marked change as the pack hits 62.9V! The fans begin to quaver and downwind off the full speed, although it is still quite loud. The current begins to drop off at a linear rate below 9A, then 8A…

At 9:42 PM the fans make a dramatic change in speed and drop to about 30%; it’s well above a whisper though welcomed nonetheless. The assembly current is now dropping below 5A.

At 9:51 PM the fans stop! The CA says the battery pack is at 63.4V, with the assembly current down to 2.75A. I elect to disconnect the charger; doing so the pack voltage drops to 63.1V and the assembly current goes to a no load state – drawing 0.19A. I decide to reconnect the charger and wait out to see what happens if we leave it alone. The pack is essentially charged at this point, less than one hour which is truly quite impressive.

About 10:25 PM I check the pack and the CA says it’s 63.5V. The assembly current is now pulling less than 0.5A and still dropping. Pulled the plug to check the real pack voltage – and it’s 63.5V! Shite I’ve never taken my pack this high before, however a quick calculation says the cell average is about 4.233 V so I shall not worry; we are done.

I wish to conclude that this HRP series is most excellent for charging LiPos. The caveat, as I stated in the review is that we need to monitor when the assembly goes into trickle mode so we can pull the plug. By this estimate, I expect my charging times will be reduced by at least 50%. I am most pleased.

Maybe next year I’ll upgrade to the HRP-1000. Whatcha think?

Huntin’ fer a Pepsi machine, KF

[NeilP]

Did you measure output current at all?

It is the current going in to the pack I am concerned with rather than what the charge assembly is taking from the mains. To me, that figure is immaterial, I want to know the charge current relative to pack capacity and C rating

[dbaker]

Very nice, KF Do you have a link for the vendor you used? Do unplug the Pepsi machine & plug in your charger at the 7-11?

[Kingfish]

Neil: Output current = No; based on the VAC usage it could never be more than 1 kW, though I suspect it was at least 600W. My pack is 15S6P Zippy FlightMax, each brick rated at 15/2C and 5000mAh. It can handle it. The Amp Meter that I use for some reason will not measure DC amps, which I admit is odd. If you know of a device that can do it, I’m all ears friend

An educated guess, based upon the efficiency of the series (88-89%) suggests it could have been 955W. Given that the pack went from 58.0V to 63.1V in 51 minutes has me to believe the efficiency is valid. I checked the pack this morning and it is still holding at 63.5V.

Db: I listed the supplier in the Review. Though here it is again my friend: Power Supply Emporium. They had the most competitive pricing stateside and didn’t waste time processing; it was shipped out right away.

I did look at other models though once we step outside the SP/S world things become quite a bit more expensive which encourages shopping around. BTW – yesterday (a day after receiving the PSUs) I received a really well-produced thick catalog from PSE loaded with spec sheets of Meanwell and other manufacturers. This is one is for the library, or coffee table depending on your creature comforts

Pepsi machine reference: If you read my thread on Going to California 2010 (in my sig), the first day I ran out of power after facing a stiff headwind about a mile outside my first town. There was a supermarket at the edge, so I headed there and immediately began hunting down the AC outlets. Found a Pepsi machine and plugged in next to it. I was there for 90 minutes and yet only gained enough power from the gimpy (and with the debased mod) SP/S charging assembly to pick up another 20 miles where I had to repeat the process at a stop-&-go type gas station. Thus developed the initial angst to address this pesky and (IMM) flawed assembly ~ grrrr & double-grrrr!

I think that today, we have done that. Honestly, I can’t gush enough how pleased I am: The HRP-600 does it correctly right out of the box!

Cheers, KF
PS - Don't take my word for it: Please experiment with other models!

[NeilP]

The Amp Meter that I use for some reason will not measure DC amps, which I admit is odd. If you know of a device that can do it, I’m all ears friend

All the cheap DVM's I have ever owned can measure DC amps, usually up to 10 amps..some 20...even the cheap $0.99 e-vbay ones from China do 10 amps DC.

As far as I was aware the wattage rating of these units is based on their outputs, so a 48 volt unit supplying 10 amps would be a 480Watt supplyat that rate it may be drawing 500 Watts from the mains, it may be drawing 600 and be very efficient...but irrelevant, I want to know what current is flowing into my pack...if I have a 5Ah pack and I want to charge it at 2C, i want to see 10 amps on my meter, not faff around with the supply input power, work out charger efficiency PFC to find out what current goes in to my pack. Rather like going to the fuel pumps with your car and measuring how much power it takes to pump the petrol to the car, then finding out the specs of the pump to work out how much fuel you put in the car...yes possible...but very long winded

[heathyoung]

There are DC clamp meters as well, they are just more expensive (well the accurate ones are anyway).

For opportunity charging - I use a piggyback plug so anything else can plug in as well. Fortunatly 240V 10A is common here in Aus, with most places running at *least* a 15A breaker and 2.5mm2 to the points (dunno what that is in AWG) you can pull some pretty serious amps without issues.

[Kingfish]

The meter I have now is a Fluke Corporation 322 AC Clamp Meter; it does not measure DC current - although I thought it did when I bought it. Sadly a decent DC clamp meter begins around $330 USD; 3X the cost of my 322-unit. It's not a hi-pri right now. I am happy as a clam with what I've got; it charges fast. Neil, yer on yer own to figure it out with the data that I've provided

Awesome day for a ride! KF

[NeilP]

The meter I have now is a Fluke Corporation 322 AC Clamp Meter; it does not measure DC current - although I thought it did when I bought it. Sadly a decent DC clamp meter begins around $330 USD; 3X the cost of my 322-unit. It's not a hi-pri right now.

Well invest $0.99 on ebay and th cost of a battery and you'll have your self a usable DC meter//although not Clamp on, for less than $5

color=#400080]Neil[/color], yer on yer own to figure it out with the data that I've provided

Well for my needs I do not need to, just thought that if you were doing that ( measuring DC amps) then it would have been easier for you in the earlier experiments to balance the parallel set of Meanwells. I happily charge at 9 amp and 83 volt from my pair of S-350-48's and have no need for a bigger charger. it would have been interesting to see the figures if you had them, but that is all

[Hillhater]

$25 HK Wattmeter will tell you all you need to know on charging, Max -min Volts, amps, watts, Ahrs, Whrs etc etc

[Kingfish]

Hillhater, I checked HK and the max voltage any watt meter is 60V… unless I missed one

OK Neil, spill buddy – tell us where to find these uber-thrifty DC meters! Give us the link; I’m dying to know

Re-charged:
I made one tiny adjustment to the output voltage and upped it by 0.3V to 63.6 so that when the fans shut off the pack will be at 63.3V (my target). Tonight the pack took 1:40 hrs to charge from 54.9 to 63.3V after a 45 mile commute into Seattle and back. Also upgraded the charge wires from 14 AWG to 10 AWG; they were barely warm throughout the high part of the cycle.

~KF

[NeilP]

$25 HK Wattmeter will tell you all you need to know on charging, Max -min Volts, amps, watts, Ahrs, Whrs etc etc

Only 60v though


DVM's


I originally saw them months ago, and did a post on ES
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25257

Still on E-bay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0171973976

sorry they are £0.99 not $0.99 Only 10 Amps, and you have to buy your own battery...I bought 4 in the end, and then another 6 for various mates.., they are great value and no worse than most you buy in any of the tool supply type places

[Kingfish]

Ah Neil -

<bowing low in your general direction>
Regardless of the low~ish current rating, you are the thrift-meister.
Now if only we could parallel them

I think what we need to do is branch this thread and begin anew to build/source a good 100VDC/100A Watt meter. Whatcha think?

Good job, KF

[NeilP]

Ah Neil -


Now if only we could parallel them

Did try that...but check them in series first, and see which ones have similar or the same reading when in series first

I think what we need to do is branch this thread and begin anew to build/source a good 100VDC/100A Watt meter. Whatcha think?

Good job, KF

See to remember there is one somewhere...cant find the link though

[geetarboy]

Does the 'mini meanwell limiter board' solve the problem on the meanwell 'SP' model to handle CC ? Thanks

[cassschr1]

bump

[Kingfish]

Does the 'mini meanwell limiter board' solve the problem on the meanwell 'SP' model to handle CC ? Thanks

I would ask fechter directly as I do not have that information. I personally do not use the SP units anymore; maybe I should sell them off.

~KF

[ZOMGVTEK]

Does the 'mini meanwell limiter board' solve the problem on the meanwell 'SP' model to handle CC ? Thanks

My SP-500-24 units were modded for CC with no problems.

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=27199&start=240#p463280

I have the parts for 5 limiters sitting in a box that I'm probably never going to use now...

[Alan B]

Would a set of three S350-24's in series, with the appropriate controller be a better choice? 14 amps output at 75 volts plus or minus? About 1235 watts at 85% efficiency, so about 10.3 amps at 120VAC?

[EVInfinity]

With these things, in my opinion, if it's not an fairly simple solution, just get a new one. Your time is probably worth more than the $35 to replace it, that's my rational. Lol, that is the problem with Chinese production, they make things so inexpensive that it isn't worth it to get the item repaired. Landfills are suffering (as in multiplying) as a result.

On another note, let me give a word of caution(/common sense ) to everybody who uses these supplies.

DON'T try to tighten the contacts while the power is on..... Tonight I was charging my battery, and decided to tighten up the screws on the AC input lines. As I was tightening the Neutral line(with my finger on the screwdriver shaft), I touched the metal case with my other hand to support it. Lol, one hand on Neutral, and one on Ground makes for a not so pleasant complete circuit.

I also wanted to mention a good experience I had with a seller. I recently ordered 3 copy Meanwells from a supplier on Aliexpress, for about $35 each. They came within 5 DAYS of me submitting payment, via DHL at no extra charge (even though it listed free standard international shipping). The board is well built, and the solder joints all seem well done. It has the SVR2 and R37 pads as well, which is a nice change from some eBay suppliers. These are fully functional as CC/CV once modified (no hiccup mode, or weird sounds). I am very impressed. Here is the link, enjoy.

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/52 ... alers.html

[kevo]

EVInfinity wrote: Here is the link, enjoy...

Thanks for posting the Allexpress link, I haven't seen that low of a price on Meanwells for quite a while. Unfortunately I came across this about a month late and they are now out of stock. Oh well they come and go fairly often.

[amberwolf]

I think what we need to do is branch this thread and begin anew to build/source a good 100VDC/100A Watt meter. Whatcha think?

Hmm...thread necromancy:

Since it was never mentioned after this point, I suspect you found one, but I do wonder why you never attempted (and no one suggested) to use your Cycle Analyst (assuming you already had it at this point) for measuring pack charge on teh DC side. (perhaps yours was a direct-plugin type, which makes it slightly more complicated to use ti to measure charging, but it is still possible if you install charging plugs on the controller itself, so taht you can charge thru it's shunt).

If you need higher than the 45A stand-alone shunt the CA woudl normally come with if it's not a DP model, then they ahvea 200A shunt on the ebikes.ca website.

[NeilP]

In conversation with Justin at e-bikes.ca, I suggested that they market a basic, cheaper CA, that does just that, a power meter without the cycle side functions.

He did say that something liek that was on the cards, but when...that was the big question..other jobs were more important..like the V3 CA no doubt

[Jeremy Harris]

In conversation with Justin at e-bikes.ca, I suggested that they market a basic, cheaper CA, that does just that, a power meter without the cycle side functions.

He did say that something liek that was on the cards, but when...that was the big question..other jobs were more important..like the V3 CA no doubt

Sounds like the thing I'm working on for the display on my new folding bike project. Here's a snap of the first run with code that "sort of" works OK:

Prototype OLED display.JPG (120.71 KiB) Viewed 390 times

The top line is fixed and displays battery current, battery voltage and power, the bottom line is a bargraph showing how much of the available battery capacity has been used, a bit like a car fuel gauge. It just keeps track of Ah used, subtracting them from the total that's reset to the battery nominal capacity when the battery is charged.

I'm not going to be making and selling it as a product, too much customisation needed for each user and I don't have the time. I will happily make the schematics and code available - no circuit boards are needed as I've used an off-the-shelf organic LED display with an easily programmed µcontroller piggybacked on it. The display and µcontroller retail here for £9.99 (about $15). The only extras needed are a current sensor module (ebay) and a couple of voltage sense resistors that can be included in the wiring.

[IBScootn]

Bump

[deVries]

Sounds like the thing I'm working on for the display on my new folding bike project.

The top line is fixed and displays battery current, battery voltage and power, the bottom line is a bargraph showing how much of the available battery capacity has been used, a bit like a car fuel gauge. It just keeps track of Ah used, subtracting them from the total that's reset to the battery nominal capacity when the battery is charged.

I'm not going to be making and selling it as a product, too much customisation needed for each user and I don't have the time. I will happily make the schematics and code available - no circuit boards are needed as I've used an off-the-shelf organic LED display with an easily programmed µcontroller piggybacked on it. The display and µcontroller retail here for £9.99 (about $15). The only extras needed are a current sensor module (ebay) and a couple of voltage sense resistors that can be included in the wiring.

Very, very, very kool Jeremy. Thank you for doing this. I hope you'll start a thread topic about this, so all the documentation can go in one place.

Thank you!