Hyena's super awesome isolated high current balance charger

[Staunch Trooper]

OOh, hot unit, is that the one destined for westmont choppers??

[fabiograssi]

1 for me!

PM sent!

[skyliner]

1 for me.

PM sent.

[grindz145]

Hmm that looks pretty similar. I HAVE to get one of these.

[AmpeD]

im a bit of a noob, but should i get this or the hyperion 1420. going to using 12s lipo

[jonescg]

If you want to balance all of them at once, get the Hyperion. If you don't mind plugging and unplugging half the pack after an hour or so, one of these would work fine. Cost is about the same, really.

[knoxie]

Yes in theory you could disconnect the serial link between the packs, bridge the taps and then parallel balance the whole pack with the balancer but then of course you must remember to disconnect them before you make the serial connection again been there done that and melted balance wires.

[nechaus]

After watching that video..im glad i got 2 of them

It does a much better job than my big icharger..

Like first time charge its going to be fairly well balanced depending on each cell condition

[full-throttle]

I would be very careful about that. I use FMA Balance Pro chargers (similar). The negative for the first cell is not isolated, so if you hook them up to the same power supply one of them goes BOOM!

Correct you are good sir, I just tested it and found it is as you say. So they're only isolated within themselves as a 6S balance charger. So if you want to run 2 units you'd need to use 2 seperate power supplies.

The unit I've got is def isolated between the power supply and the pack.

[Hyena]

Curious...
Is yours the same as mine or the FMA drewjet posted about ?
I only tested the first demo unit I got, I have another one here that just arrived from the the main batch so I'll have to check that.

[full-throttle]

Same as yours. The PCB revision is A04.

It's nicely made. Wonder how it goes long term..

[ashwright]

Hi,

Can these be used to charge a 5S battery. Assuming you leave on 'cell' unplugged?

Ash

[Hyena]

Yep, because they're isolated on each channel they'll charge anything from 1 to 6 cells at full current.

[ashwright]

Cool, then I would like one as well.

[Arlo1]

Very cool.

[MattyCiii]

Mine just arrived. Which is to say, it arrived in the USA a long time ago, then the US Post Office teased me dancing about for a signature for a couple weeks, then I was away. Apart from the BS of the delivery agent, the product came fast and well packed.

Coincidentally, 6 bricks of 6s LiPo arrived at the same time. Damn it's a tease... I wasn't smart enough to get a 12v MeanWell at the same time (I know there are clones out there but I'll buy the real deal I think). So, I'll test the new LiPo with he usual cellogs, and I'll charge/balance them up with my Hyperion... as I anxiously await the prerequisite power supply so I cam play with my new toy!

[Dudeofdoom]

Mine arrived bout two weeks ago,Iv'e got a power supply but no LIPO.

It seems a nice made bit of kit though.

It slipped thru the UK customs an attracted no duty which was a 'Brucy' Bonus'

DoD

[cwah]

Is it a charger that charge from the balance plug?

If I have 10 x 4s lipo, can I parallel all my balance plug and bulk charge from there?

[Kin]

Coincidentally, 6 bricks of 6s LiPo arrived at the same time. Damn it's a tease... I wasn't smart enough to get a 12v MeanWell at the same time (I know there are clones out there but I'll buy the real deal I think). So, I'll test the new LiPo with he usual cellogs, and I'll charge/balance them up with my Hyperion... as I anxiously await the prerequisite power supply so I cam play with my new toy!

Not to get off topic, but if you're just using it as a power supply, you can usually pick up and mod a server power supply or PC power supply for 12v usage, for much cheaper than a meanwell.

If you are going to use the +/- %10 of the meanwell, then it's better to get a meanwell.

[MattyCiii]

Thanks!
I actually decided to take a chance on a pair of 12v 20A LED power supplies from Hong Kong. So, I'll be waiting like 3 weeks for them now.

[Hyena]

Is it a charger that charge from the balance plug?
If I have 10 x 4s lipo, can I parallel all my balance plug and bulk charge from there?

Yep, though it's not bulk charging as such, it's charging each individual channel so there's no risk of overcharging. As stated it's an isolated high current balance charger.

As long as all 4S packs are at a similar state of charge when you parallel them it's no problem. If one is full and one is flat it'll try and dump massive current between the 2 batteries (through the balance tap wires) before you even connect the charger so just be aware of that.
The supplied balance board is only 4P so you'd need to parallel them up with a seperate board, or jam the connections into the 5S and 6S ports as well.

As for power supplies, at a squeeze you could get by with 20 amps at 12v.
Pulling max power (8 amps per channel) powered @ 12.5v I've measured it draws just over 19 amps.
If your supply is adjustable turning it up to 13v @ 20a should be fine. Infact I think these recommend 15v input, but what ever.
Your standard 320 or 350w meanwell will put out plenty of juice and not be running right at the limit. Or use a server PSU as stated, they're usually cheaper and available locally to get you going quicker. I'm using a server PSU on mine - it can do 50a so will power 2 of these at a time.

Oh and these chargers aren't just good for lipo, I threw some lipo balance tap wires onto some old lifepo4 packs on the weekend and used the charger to kick those rapidly back into balance too. And unlike other chargers that will have give an error message if a cell is too low (or absent in this case where I soldered only 5 wires of a 6S plug onto a 4S battery) it'll just charge up what it sees, levelling off the good cells and then sitting there trying to pull up a weak cell (if you leave it)

[cwah]

Thanks Hyena, that seems to be a nice little balancing unit.

I was thinking of bulk charging my lipo in parallel this way, but as a second thought I realised that my lipo main wires are series. So main wires in series + balance plug in parallel = short!

So not yet the best bulk charging solution for my pack yet. But may still get one later to balance the packs.

[Hyena]

You can still use it, just on each parallel sub pack at a time. Probably a chore for main charging but for balancing or topping up it'd be good.

[Arlo1]

I just ordered one of the ones from deals extream I will let you know how it works out.

[Hyena]

I'm sure they're all much the same. You know what our chinese friends are like

Also I thought I'd post this here for clarification as I've received a few PMs about it.

These charge ONLY through the balance taps, no connection to the main discharge leads, so they can be left permanantly in series with other packs if you want. Power supply in, balance tap out. That's in. The main discharge leads are dangling in the breeze