hyperdrive said:
Too bad that it seems overfeatured/overpriced for what a lot of people need,
Most people dont need it. If they dont carry their charger around (if it just sits in one place and never gets handled, just its cord plugged into and unplugged from the bike), it wont see much vibration or encounter conditions it wasnt designed to handle, no matter how cheap it is (unless its fan fails and dies from overheating). But if they ride with the charger, theres a bunch of conditions these cheap ones arent made to handle, by design or by actual construction. The Satiator *is* designed for that, and built for it. It even has tabs to bolt it to the bike/etc if you like.
Another thing the Satiator is made for is multiple ebike packs that are different types or voltages..Most people only need to charge one ebike pack...at first. Then they get a second ebike, or build one, to improve upon the first. Then they start buying or building htem for the rest of the family, and since budgets might vary, so might the system voltage on each.
Satiator is handy for that.
Also handy for setting up an 80% or whatever not-full charge to extend the lifetime of a battery thats bigger than you usually need, so charge it only that much (or less) when you know you wont need all the range, then use a separate profile to fully charge when you do (or carry the Satiator with you and destination-charge).
but for the amount of money I've already spent on 4 unreliable chargers, it would probably be worth the investment for someone like myself who commutes ~300 km/week in all weather conditions and doesn't want the charger I'm carrying to fail on me when I'm far away from home.
Since its designed specifically to be moutned to the bike (or vehicle) its also designed to ahndle the conditions the bike/etc will encounter.
Its heavier than the equivalent cheap charger, but its fanless so A) no fan to die and overheat it, and B) theres no fan holes to let water in.
I havent let my St Bernards use it as a chewtoy yet as a durability test, but I think it might survive some of that, too.
Very interesting using the LED PSUs. How do you terminate charge with them? Do you have to monitor the battery voltage manually?
If you get the A version like mine, it has an adjustable voltage and current, thru rubbercapped pots, so you can set the voltage where you want the charge to end up.
Because it is not a charger, it doesnt actually ever shut off like a charger would, but current will end up essentially zero once it reaches that charge-end voltage you set simply because the voltages are equal at that point. If your pack has a BMS, and if that BMS has a charge-termination point, it may disconnect from the PSU.