Lab supply as lipo charger?

[jana]

Is this a good idea?
Llike this one for charging 12s lipo at 10A to 50V?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Variable-Ad ... 4ab6d3946e

[deVries]

Is this a good idea?
Llike this one for charging 12s lipo at 10A to 50V?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Variable-Ad ... 4ab6d3946e

Yes. Lots of people on ES have bought Lab Power Supplies. Doctorbass has many posts about these, & liveforphysics has a thread about using these with server PS for high voltage setups.

These are a great value, when you can buy one used/new on ebay at discount/bid. I've bought 2 used lab PS on ebay myself & got great deals on those vs new.

[Patriot4]

I have this supply and it is great for bulk charging my 12s 30 AH LiPo pack. Mine maxes out at 50.3 volts and 21.3 Amps. Beaware of a few things. It is not polarity protected, so if you hook up any battery reversed it will blow it out. Second fan speed is dependent on voltage setting so at low voltage settings and hi amps it tends to overheat due to the fan not running at full speed. Also the single fan doesn't move enough air. The unit has a thermal cutoff switch on the heatsink so it will shut down if it does over heat. I got around this by finding a 12 volt line on the bottom circuit board so the fan runs full speed all the time. And for added cooling I put another fan on the other side of the heat sink to push air. Hasn't over heated since. Nice if I want to charge single cells or packs. Ray

[jana]

Great. I'll put it on my wish list. BTW - I noticed thet also sell 75V and 100V models.

[Patriot4]

I want another one too. Added to my wish list, Bookmarked the seller.t The display seems accurate. I use anderson connectors on my battery pack so when I bulk charge there is no possibility of mixing polarity, but have to double check my self when I do cell balancing to make sure I do not reverse polarity. The cell monitor I use on my pack draws form the first 3 cells of my 12s pack so I have to to occasionally have to charge them up to match the other cells. A typical RC charger balances at 100 milli amps. I Charge the cells at 2 AMPS which is 20 times faster! .1 volt difference on such a big pack is about 2 Amp Hours or more which translates to 20 hours+ on a RC charger or 1 hour with the lab supply. Ray

[Bazaki]

Yes, I have bought a mastech 70V 30A power supply, I charge all kinds of packs with it for years now !