Radiolink CP620 750W charger, 6S X 6S, plus balancing

spinningmagnets

spinningmagnets

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 21, 2007
Messages
12,955
Location
Ft Riley, NE Kansas
Yeah that is a very interesting charger, I never realized it was charging by both the mains and balance leads until it would pointed out to me in this thread.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=41107&start=325#p1240868

My CB86 still works, all channels. I still use it as my only charger for my ebike pack. I use the over sized trailer plugs which have never ever failed.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=41107&start=325#p1236269
My BC186 is totally dead, which I got in 2011 from memory, I did get a lot of years out of it, I think you need a quality if not over kill wattage power supply to keep these types of chargers happy and reliable (just a theory).

I recently got the una9 charger, this charger really feels solid, got it for a larger 18s pack (using 9S split method) I am planing to build.

Just looking on banggood they still sell the old CB86 for the same price as the far more powerful CP620, so yeah great deal.
https://www.banggood.com/RadioLink-CB86-Plus-6A-210W-Professional-Lipo-Balance-Charger-Discharger-p-972541.html?rmmds=search
 
Yeah, that's where I saw it, in that thread. It sounded interesting enough I thought it deserved its own thread. To be clear, I have no experience with these.

My interest is in charging 18650-cell battery packs to 4.1V per cell (easily done with an RC charger), as I have been persuaded that doing 4.1V will help the pack double its commonly accepted life. I have a hubmotor ebike, and when I get the time, I was thinking of trying out 12S at very high amps. The issue then becomes...do any chargers balance the cells at 4.1V? Even if I only use a bulk charger and half the cells are at 4.0V and the other half are at 4.2V....the important thing is that none of the cells are pushed to 4.25V or more.

So...I still plan to charge with a bulk charger to 90% on an everyday basis, but...when the time comes, I feel it would be wise to balance charge the pack once in a while. I will monitor the cells and see how long pack "X" takes to start drifting. When that happens, I want a way to balance charge the pack (once a month?).

I already have a small RC 6S charger and 14V power supply, standard issue low-end RC stuff. Rather than balance half a 12S pack and then balance the other half...it would be nice to have one charger that can balance the entire 12S pack. Until I stumbled across this, I was saving up to buy an iCharger 308 Duo (30A, 8S X 8S). A high-amp pack could probably be charged at 10A without getting hot (we'll see), so 30A is overkill, although that would mean these chargers would not be running hot if they were designed for 30A and I was only using =/< 10A (iCharger 106 Duo?).

One key feature I noticed when I was reading about these, some older designs would require two power supplies in order to use both sides at the same time, and the newer ones seem to all be isolated, so...you only need one large power supply (lipo connection solutions dot com).
 
spinningmagnets said:
I already have a small RC 6S charger and 14V power supply, standard issue low-end RC stuff. Rather than balance half a 12S pack and then balance the other half...it would be nice to have one charger that can balance the entire 12S pack. Until I stumbled across this, I was saving up to buy an iCharger 308 Duo (30A, 8S X 8S). A high-amp pack could probably be charged at 10A without getting hot (we'll see), so 30A is overkill, although that would mean these chargers would not be running hot if they were designed for 30A and I was only using =/< 10A (iCharger 106 Duo?).

One key feature I noticed when I was reading about these, some older designs would require two power supplies in order to use both sides at the same time, and the newer ones seem to all be isolated, so...you only need one large power supply (lipo connection solutions dot com).
Click to expand...
You will find balancing via a pure parallel charger a lot faster then a typical drain balance lead rc bulk charger.
I still couldn't help but theorize that the CP620 works the same way as the CB86 in that while it may be more advanced it still needs the pack to be split in half before you can use all 12 balance outputs at the same time.
As I demonstrated in this video in 2014, I created a fuse between S6 and S7 to show that its not a 12S charger like we all dreamed it to be.
As soon as I turned on the CB86 the link between S6-S7 went in an orange glow, the charger still works fully to this day, but I was probably lucky.
Carefully look for the orange glow, not a very clean video as I wasn't thinking about it all too carefully https://youtu.be/J6CU1lW9vUU

I find splitting the pack in two so the 12S pack becomes a double sized 6S pack pretty easy, in all the years of charging this way I have never forgot to do it and I have done all sorts of dumb other mistakes over the years.
I use a simple rc bullet lead plug between S6 and S7. I used to use a DC switch but I wondered if it would eventually go bad, it never failed but I did ditch the switch in favour of a plug when I upgraded my pack.
I was thinking once of the idea of using a rectangle neodymium magnet between both sections but its still probably more hazard prone than just a rc wire plug. Such an idea might work really well with the VRUZEND kit since it has those nickel/steel links, but I still plan to stick to regular rc connectors for my next pack build. This is also why I got the Una9 charger as you can get 18S pure parallel balance charging with just 1 in between link removal setup.

While I hope you are right with your hopes for the CP620 charger I highly recommend fusing with a low amp fuse your link between S6 and S7 when trying out this new charger.
 
...You will find balancing via a pure parallel charger a lot faster then a typical drain balance lead RC bulk charger...it still needs the pack to be split in half before you can use all 12 balance outputs at the same time...I highly recommend fusing with a low amp fuse your link between S6 and S7 when trying out this new charger...
Click to expand...

This is all very useful info, thanks for your help!
 
Hey spinning magnets, I found this while looking for bc168s a while ago, my thoughts about the near perfect setup is to have this wired into the bike and use a series parallel connector liked tench's to go from discharge ie ride mode to charge stationary mode. This can be done for nearly any series that is divisible by 2 or 3.

15s in 3 5s
18s split into 3 6s
20s split into 5 4s
24s into 4 6s.

If you wanted oddball indivisible ones you might be able to do that since like the cb86 I think it charges each bank sequentially but then you would have to wait for the end of charge of both sections.

Ie 13s 2by5s and a 3s or however you like really. But nowhere near as convenient as being able to stop the charge prematurely and go.

Anyway I bought a cb86 before I saw this 750w one and so I probs will not get to try this idea out but I hope others do.

Sent from my ALE-L02 using Tapatalk
 
This sounds awfully weird.

I feel like I am missing something.

Is this charger special? Am I not seeing the features?

I would buy a TINY ISDT charger anyday over this overpriced house burner.

If your problem is charging 12s batteries confortably, well ... there's a gazillion ways around charging 12s packs.

(and a gazillion posts about charging lithium on ES)

its not because 6*2=12 that your dream solution resides in the RC world.

Look into higher cell count smart bmses, like the BMS16 from chargery.

Also Chargery is coming up with a 12s balance charger, if that is what you are into.

Bye.
 
Thanks for your input. I should have added that one aspect of my interest in this is seeing if it is reasonable and fairly reliable to run an ebike without a BMS.

There is nothing wrong with using a BMS, but I thought this would be an interesting experiment. Luna, Grin, and Lipo Connection all have bulk chargers that can take a 12S pack to (4.1V X 12S =) 49.2V...If we are using high-quality name-brand 18650 cells from a trusted vendor, they have a tendency to stay in balance, even without a BMS. Even so, I would like to have the ability to balance all the cells in the pack on occasion, even if it is only desired once a month.

You sound concerned about this "house burner". Do you know of any reliability issues with previous Radiolink chargers? You sound like you prefer the ISDT chargers, and the idea of using two ISDT Q6 Plus's has crossed my mind. When I did a search of ES for Radiolink and ISDT, there were only Radiolink posters so far. Since a couple of members had already been using Radiolink products, I felt it would be useful to start a thread about them, in case there were other members who had tried them out.

If you have had bad experiences with Radiolink chargers, or good experiences with ISDT's, please share the information with us, s'il vous plait?
 
I didn't try to imply for you to use a BMS for onboard managing.

What you are looking for in a charger (I hope) is balancing and over voltage cutoff @ 4.1. correct?

What I propose, is you look into the BMS16 of chargery, make sure you leave at home once you are finished charging and its all good.

Best thing about the BMS16? its 90$ dollars shipped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(without DC input)

Features: 15v-60v input, up to 600Amp charge, up to 16s balancing.

Do a youtube search of the radiolink cp460, lol and then we can talk about houses burning down.
 
w8u0HwG.png


OLvAELy.png


And some more radiolink houseburners™
SBHeAWf.png
 
So perhaps it is a question of quantity sold. I'm willing to bet radiolink sell in a larger market than chargery. And people thrash their lipo and they don't often take the best care while attending the charge when they do. I have a cb86 it's worked fine so far but like all lipo chargers I don't trust to charge in my house. So it's done in the garden, in a large metal trunk. Also the 90$ BMS is not a charger so it's a bit like comparing apples and oranges. I've nothing against chargery products they look good too but I think it's a jaded view you have of the radiolink ones.

Sent from my ALE-L02 using Tapatalk
 
Dude, I simply don't understand you.

whereswally606 said:
Also the 90$ BMS is not a charger
Click to expand...

Wait what ? The BMS16 is not a charger because it is better than a charger ?
(if you are talking about over-voltage protection, it actually does it(and is programmable from like 3v to 4.35v I believe, I don't have time to check))

whereswally606 said:
it's a jaded view
Click to expand...

You insist on using RC chargers for something that is not RC related at all.

whereswally606 said:
it's a bit like comparing apples and orange
Click to expand...

Why compare EV chargers to RC chargers when the answer is clear ... :roll: :roll: :roll:

whereswally606 said:
I don't trust to charge in my house. So it's done in the garden, in a large metal trunk.
Click to expand...
whereswally606 said:
And people thrash their lipo
Click to expand...
whereswally606 said:
I have a cb86
Click to expand...

ticks all the boxes for me :lol:

whereswally606 said:
So perhaps it is a question of quantity sold. I'm willing to bet radiolink sell in a larger market than chargery.
Click to expand...

Nope! Radiolink is still bird poop, if your argument is that an RC equipment company sells more than chargery, go play with your model aircraft and go on rcgroups.com

whereswally606, please excuse me communicating this way, its in my nature.
Nothing against you we are all here for the better.
Come to NorCal, Ill pay you a beer.

Peace
 
NorCal is a bit far to go for a jar since I'm in Manchester UK.
But ta for the offer.

I actually don't have any model car, airplane,Heli or drone gear just old hk zippy lipo which I bought years ago when the price for the c rating there was nothing in the 18650 format to compare.

The RC chargers are versatile though and have served me well in charging nearly all the different chemistries. I also have a tp1220 which is still a good 12s charger.

These days starting again yes a BMS which logged and showed volts in real-time is excellent and what everyone should ideally do. But a BMS isn't a charger so you have to pay twice.

Anyway I feel that we are way OT. Like wise if you are ever in Manchester UK PM me and we can have a beer and talk.


Sent from my ALE-L02 using Tapatalk
 
Sweet I appreciate.

I just wan't to say this : The ability to plug into a wall does not define what is a charger or not.

Do me a favor and read the datasheet of the BMS16 (please, please, please, if you do I will hopefully sound less insulting)

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries

Thank you.

Edit: "I just wan't to say this : The ability to plug into a wall does not define what is a charger or not."

lol just realized what I wrote doesn't make sense; what I mean't to say is that with proper power supply, the BMS16 can work as a charger.
its 1 in the morning here.
 
I wan't to retract everything I said :roll: :lol:, the BMS16 is not a charger.

I didn't read the datasheet, the BMS16 is not a charger.

XD
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top