Show off your lipo setup!

I want to build a lipo setup with some RC packs. In researching I realize there are a lot of options with regards to rc packs, chargers and balancers...

Show off your pack! What charging method do you use, what cells, what chargers etc. Include some pics if you can...I don't read so good!!!

Moos

I run six 5ah turnigy packs at either 66.6v (or 44.4v if I desire). I charge them with a hyperion eos0610i charger. I need to charge them as a 30ah 6 cell pack, and I charge and balance them induvidually every few cycles. The charger is rated for 250w output and has a built in balancer. There is a charger link feature; if you have two identical chargers you can charge 12s packs at 500w. The biggest downside of one charger is the 6s max lipo capability.

Metallover said:

The charger is rated for 250w output and has a built in balancer. There is a charger link feature; if you have two identical chargers you can charge 12s packs at 500w. The biggest downside of one charger is the 6s max lipo capability.

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Do you mean you put 2 chargers in Serie to the 12S pack ? Would that work 100% ?

Would it also be possible to put 2 indentical chargers in parallel ?

This feature is specific to hyperion chargers. You might be able to hook other chargers together, but I don't know anything about that.



This is what I am talking about. The chargers hook together with a little cable that just sends data.

Do you ride your bike with these Lipo Packs exposed like you show in the picture?

DH

ATM I have a towel I wrap around them and I duct tape that to secure it.



The way I mounted the batteries,, It takes some work to make a nice enclosure. If I plan to leave the bike locked up in public, I'll really need something pedestrian-proof. I am working on a better enclosure, ideas welcome. The one I have right now, I don't think it'll work out because I dont have access to a welder. :|

Metallover said:

ATM I have a towel I wrap around them and I duct tape that to secure it.

The way I mounted the batteries,, It takes some work to make a nice enclosure. If I plan to leave the bike locked up in public, I'll really need something pedestrian-proof. I am working on a better enclosure, ideas welcome. The one I have right now, I don't think it'll work out because I dont have access to a welder. :|

Click to expand...

lmao...
look at some of the vinyl rain pipe for houses they make cheap bat housings and no welding required
nice bike to

I (currently will be increasing) use 6x22v 5000mah 20c Turnigy packs 44v 15ah
weight is 11 pound or 5kilo. I use GGoodrum parallel adapter boards (see sig for link)

Here's a pic of my pack



And the cable I made to parallel the packs in series.



I use a meanwell 320-48v PSU to charge the pack (in series/parallel config) and a Battery medic to balance (will soon
have GGoodrum charge controller and battery medic mod .see link for these also)

Lipos are housed in a custom fiberglass enclosure i made.



Turnigy meter is used to monitor battery during riding

KiM

Thanks Metallover & AussieJester ,

Pics of connections and chargers help alot, I can SEE how stuff gets hooked up...just the way my brain works.

Moos

I think this thread ended too soon. I'd love to see more.

Since you asked...Here's my new bikes 12s 2p (44v 20ah) LiPO setup...Using 3mmx~8mm thick copper bus bars too parallel/series the main pack
leads. The balancing leads are parallel ed using modified GGoodrum parallel adapter boards available from http://TPPacks.com

Here's some pics of the construction-->













The parallel leads and main charging leads are then connected to a DB25 connector for easy connection to the Hyperion 1420i
charger. I can then bulk charge at ~50V with simultaneous balancing... Main pack leads run via a 12v 400amp capable
battery isolation switch before bolting to another small set of buss bars where additional wires are added for powering
dc/dc converters etc etc...Apologies no pics of this part of the setup at the time i had no access to camera mine failed
not long after taking the bus bar pics.

Hope this helps

KiM

A mo bettah way to carry some lipo on a mongoose blackcomb.

At this time, I actually have a smaller box on the mongoose, which carries 72v 10 ah. But the key element is something a bit more protective than some tape and a towel.

Every time I see lipo just taped to the frame I cringe. I'll assume AJ just left out the pic showing his side covers that protect the batts and beautify the bike.


Here's my charging rig. A 350 watt power supply runs the two 8s 150 watt chargers. With paralell adapters, I can charge the whole pile shown at once. Usually though, I charge them in paralelled pairs, so two pairs at a time.

Some pics...

I've noticed this thread hasn't been used for a while but since I got new lipo setup completed I thought I'll post them here!

I think it helps new lipo users to see what we do is working here on pictures rather than them asking what to do and telling them what to do...

Here is my 20s2p setup. I'm using 8X5s turnigy packs and I have paralleled balance charging tabs for balance charging with battery medics

This is battery medics when its bulk charging to keep all the cells balanced

BMSBattery charger on the back for bulk charging

Go with the 1420i and you can go as high as 28S when 2 are networked together. Best charger for ebike use that I have found.

Metallover said:

This feature is specific to hyperion chargers. You might be able to hook other chargers together, but I don't know anything about that.

This is what I am talking about. The chargers hook together with a little cable that just sends data.

Click to expand...

This is a great thread for us Lipo newbies. Please keep posting!

Also re charging I'm still pretty confused about the whole process. I take it if you want to have a single plug solution for charging then you need to make up a series to parallel adapter like AussieJester, disconnect (or use a switch) the pack from your speed controller including the series connections, then plug the parallel connector into the charging rig.

Thanks everyone!

And I just spotted this which should answer a lot of questions:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=23551

emergence said:

I take it if you want to have a single plug solution for charging then you need to make up a series to parallel adapter like AussieJester, disconnect (or use a switch) the pack from your speed controller including the series connections, then plug the parallel connector into the charging rig.

Click to expand...

Nope. You can use a setup like Method's HVC/LVC built into your pack, and just bulk charge at the same voltage and configuration you ride at. Every so often if you like you can check balance at each of the paralleled balance plugs on the little boards, using your choice of devices from multimeter to Battery Medic or whatever. If they're out of balance enough to warrant it, then use the BM or something like it to manually balance the cells.

If you're not running them down very far most of the time, they're likely to stay in balance pretty well if they were already cycled and tested good and equal to each other to start with.

But if you like, you can also do parallel-series conversions for each charge...it just adds a slight-to-great potential for disasters like SoSauty's (where the entire pack was destroyed because of an accidental cross-connection), depending on how you setup your changeover from charge to ride and back. It's possible to essentially idiot-proof this kind of setup, and not all that hard to do so. But if you don't do that, then it's possible to misconnect things and cause bad stuff to happen.


I'm sure it's possible to cause bad stuff the other way, too, but I suspect it would happen less often and be less disastrous.


So far all I have had to do is bulk charge, but I don't take the pack down very far, and the one I'm using at the moment isn't RC LiPo, but soon I will be using that, too.

emergence said:

This is a great thread for us Lipo newbies. Please keep posting!

Also re charging I'm still pretty confused about the whole process. I take it if you want to have a single plug solution for charging then you need to make up a series to parallel adapter like AussieJester, disconnect (or use a switch) the pack from your speed controller including the series connections, then plug the parallel connector into the charging rig.

Thanks everyone!

Click to expand...

Depends on your setup entirely. If you're running up to 14S ( ~52v nominal ), a hyperion 1420 will allow you to charge everything in series.. or even better, balance charge it all..

neptronix said:

Depends on your setup entirely. If you're running up to 14S ( ~52v nominal ), a hyperion 1420 will allow you to charge everything in series.. or even better, balance charge it all..

Click to expand...

Yes, sorry I was thinking of 50v plus charging where you get more cells in series than hobby chargers can handle.

amberwolf said:

You can use a setup like Method's HVC/LVC built into your pack

Click to expand...

Thanks that sounds good, will search it out.

Heres my battery setup, 24s3p of turnigy nano-tech 50c packs. First wrapped in fiberglass tape to prevent expansion, then a layer of aluminum is added to the top and bottom, then the whole thing is wrapped in gorilla tape. it measures exactly 4"x12"x6" .Everything battery side is wired with triple paralleled 10 awg, and everything motor side is single 6awg. Its all charged with a ggoodrum/fechter "lite" BMS mated to a pair of 48v meanwells.

I have 8 6S 5amp/hr batteries in a 44.4 20amp/hr setup.

8 mount on either side of my trike in stainless steel battery boxes. 4 batteries on each side make for two 6S 20amp/hr packs. They are paralleled together with a anderson connector harness I made, and some 6S balancing harnesses from progressiveRC. A serial adapter cable connects the two packs, turning the pack into a 12S 20amp hour pack. Charging and balancing are done with a Hyperion 1420 charger, and GGoodrum's 12S one plug charger kit. So every time I charge, I make one connection, and it charges and balances for me.

I have room to add another two bricks per side, which would give me 44.4V (49ish off the charger) and 30 amp hours.





I just recently broke the pack down after about a year and over 1000 miles. When I checked each battery individually they all were still within .03 of each other. Only broke it down because the chain chewed through some of my balance wires, and was causing wonky readings @ the charger. Just need to decide if I'm going to order another 4 batteries, or seal it all back up again with new heat shrink.

This photo, despite it's crappy quality shows the new longer parralleled balance harnesses I built. Basically just extended the Progressive RC harnesses to eliminate a JST-XH connection, and give a little more distance. You can sort of see the one plug going from the batteries to the charger.



Here is her all put together. You can see the one plug charge kit hanging off the battery box.

Farfle said:

Heres my battery setup, 24s3p of turnigy nano-tech 50c packs. First wrapped in fiberglass tape to prevent expansion, then a layer of aluminum is added to the top and bottom, then the whole thing is wrapped in gorilla tape. it measures exactly 4"x12"x6" .Everything battery side is wired with triple paralleled 10 awg, and everything motor side is single 6awg. Its all charged with a ggoodrum/fechter "lite" BMS mated to a pair of 48v meanwells.

Click to expand...

Thanks Farfle, that's a lot of grunt! what is the advantage of using the high C nanotech packs when, as far as I can work out 20c packs in 24s will still put out enough watts and amps to destroy any ebike hub and the wiring too? Voltage Sag?

And thanks for the pics, they really help. Nice build!

North of 25 kw a 20c turnigy pack will sag like crazy at only 15ah. The high c rate packs just help reduce the voltage sag. and yes, this will destroy any ebike motor, but im not exactly running a normal ebike motor

20s1p zippy's in a removable battery box so I can easily charge on or off the bike.