Hyperion EOS 1420i NET3 14s Balance Charger...

[wineboyrider]

Or balance them separately every month or so and just charge the set without the balance leads in between.

Somewhere in this thread it's discussed.

 

[MitchJi]

Hi Gary,

Not sure if this is the best place to ask this question but:
http://www.tppacks.com/products.asp?cat=26

The LVC function provides an opto-coupled 2-wire output signal that can be connected into the ebike controller's ebrake input, or can be used to pull down the throttle signal, that goes active anytime a block of paralleled cells goes below 3.0V, for LiPo, or 2.1V for LiFePO4. This will cause the controller to temporarily cut the throttle input, which removes the load. Simple, but very effective and extremely reliable.

Is that a good idea? Its most likely to happen when you hit the throttle hard, which could be in traffic when you need to move.

An alarm or big red light seems (to me) like a safer option.

 

[snowranger]

^^^^ Seems better than a BMS, in that you can at least nurse the throttle to move again. Most BMS will shut-off completely.
If you want the alarm function, simply go with cellogs or equivalent.

 

[GGoodrum]

I tend to agree with Snowranger, if you want an alarm or a big light, a CellLog-based solution will work fine. I still prefer the throttle pull-down method. The first time it hits, it will recover immediately, and if you keep on the throttle, it will hit again in a few seconds. Usually, all it takes is backing off the throttle a bit and you can keep it from "hitting" for quite a bit longer. I did some tests awhile ago with some 10Ah LiFePO4 packs, and a 10Ah LiPo pack. In all cases, if I stop immediately the first time the LVC trips, the packs take about 9Ah back in. If I back off the throttle, I can usually go another couple miles before any throttle at all will cause it to oscillate off and on at about a 1Hz rate, so you are done. At that point the packs will take a full 10Ah back in.

In any case, I've never ever had a case where I get the first "hit" while starting out from a stoplight. I almost always get the first hit, halfway up a hill, and backing off the throttle about halfway is all it takes to get up the rest of the hill without further interruption.

-- Gary

 

[wineboyrider]

I am waiting on some balance jst xh connectors to come from HK and I was wanting to know if I can charge with 11s or 12s lipo without balance wires????? I just want to charge it for now and hook up the balance wires when they get here?

 

[wesnewell]

I am waiting on some balance jst xh connectors to come from HK and I was wanting to know if I can charge with 11s or 12s lipo without balance wires????? I just want to charge it for now and hook up the balance wires when they get here?

I've got a 14s pack I've been charging in series without balance for the last few days. So far no problems. I keep checking the balance and it's never more than .02v out. I charge to 95%. Just make sure than the number of cells selected is right. Most times without balance it sees my pack as a 13S pack. That would just give about half charge. But don't go over. That would be disastrous at 4.5V per cell.

 

[neptronix]

I am waiting on some balance jst xh connectors to come from HK and I was wanting to know if I can charge with 11s or 12s lipo without balance wires????? I just want to charge it for now and hook up the balance wires when they get here?

As long as the cells are relatively in balance, yes, no problem.

In fact, i charge my lipos without balancing and have done so for 25 cycles thus far.
Lipos don't need balance charging all the time. In fact in my opinion if you leave a buffer at the top voltages ( 4.15v ) and bottom voltages ( 3.6v ) you will avoid underdischarging or overdischarging the pack unless a cell is starting to die of natural causes.

Give them one good balance charge or two when you get them at first, check the balance every once and a while, and otherwise just leave 'em alone.

Said pack after 25 cycles, around storage voltage:

Said pack going on it's 26th cycle, fully charged without a balance charge:

 

[Partycat]

Well, I bought one of these. It should show up... some day. I stopped by the local hobby shop to see what they had. They have some chargers, but, mostly 6s or less, and the one they had that was high power (all their branding was mostly... hi power or something), well, bend over and take your 6s .... to the bank.

I figure if this doesn't work out there should be a market demand for it and it can be resold without a terrible loss. Assuming I don't cook it.

 

[hillzofvalp]

how would one go about practically charging and balancing a 14s5p pack of 26650s with the hyperion 1420i?

 

[wesnewell]

how would one go about practically charging and balancing a 14s5p pack of 26650s with the hyperion 1420i?

In the setup select LiFe battery type in one of the memory configs, set cell count to 14s. Parallel your balance leads and bring them out on two 7s connectors. Hook those and power leads up and start charging.

 

[hillzofvalp]

I figured it was as simple as that. Does anyone know the correct pin insert for the 8-pin hyperion balance connectors? I have the connectors but no pins.

 

[wesnewell]

I figured it was as simple as that. Does anyone know the correct pin insert for the 8-pin hyperion balance connectors? I have the connectors but no pins.

The charger comes with an adapter board . I bought 2 7S JST-XH pigtail cables and used them.
http://cgi.ebay.com/7S-JST-XH-Connector-balance-wire-Cell-Log-8-PIN-8pin-/130422862588?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e5dcef2fc

 

[neptronix]

I figured it was as simple as that. Does anyone know the correct pin insert for the 8-pin hyperion balance connectors? I have the connectors but no pins.

The charger comes with an adapter board . I bought 2 7S JST-XH pigtail cables and used them.
http://cgi.ebay.com/7S-JST-XH-Connector-balance-wire-Cell-Log-8-PIN-8pin-/130422862588?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e5dcef2fc

^--- excellent find !

 

[Philistine]

Curious if anyone else has had this problem. I have two of these which I use in tandem to charge my 20S4P pack which I split into 2 10S packs to charge. One of my chargers has started to do this thing where just before finishing its balance charge, it stops, and gives a beeping sound with the error message "Battery connection error". If I then remove it from the pack, and attach my other charger to that 10S pack, the pack finishes and gives the succesful message/sound in about 30 seconds. Obviously this is not a big deal, because it is effectively finishing its charge, but I wonder what is going on? I have checked all the cabling (ie, if you swap the cabling between the two chargers, you get the same outcome, so it is something to do with that charger). The wierd thing is it only does this maybe 60% of the time, and sometimes it does it halfway through the charge (ie not right at the end, but half way through. It is obviously more annoying when that happens). Wondering if anyone else has had this happen?

 

[hillzofvalp]

I've seen that ebay link, but the issue is that I want to make a longer cable without splicing (for 14s pack) and go straight to the output of charger (bypass boards). are the pin inserts a standard size I can get locally?

 

[wesnewell]

Curious if anyone else has had this problem. I have two of these which I use in tandem to charge my 20S4P pack which I split into 2 10S packs to charge. One of my chargers has started to do this thing where just before finishing its balance charge, it stops, and gives a beeping sound with the error message "Battery connection error". Wondering if anyone else has had this happen?

Many times when I was using a PC PSU for a 12v power source. Fix is to lower the amp charge setting, or get a better PSU. Haven't seen this once since I hooked up a 24V 600W PSU. Using the PC PSU which was supposed to be 36A 12V line, I had to set the charge rate to 1A iirc to charge the whole 14s pack without error.

 

[rscamp]

Wow. I just pulled the 12s2p battery pack I made last year out of storage and put it on the 1420i to balance it. There was no balancing required. The difference between the lowest and highest cell groups was only 0.003V. The ol' TP balancers did their job last year!

I bought exactly the same 6s 5Ah Turnigy 20C LiPos I got last year ($57ea last year, $43ea this year) and made an identical 12s2p pack for a second trike. The Hyperion reports 10mOhm internal resistance on the new pack and 19mOhm on the year-old pack.

I made some small parallel balance adapters from proto board which ultimately terminate in the MicroFit connectors (see pic) through 20AWG fine stranded silicone insulated available at Hobby King. This is the largest size that fits the MicroFit crimp pins. I also made extensions for the mating balance leads from the same 20AWG wire so the battery doesn't have to be inches from the charger.

A Kill-a-Watt meter reports that all this fiddling about with balancing and test charging has only consumed $0.04 worth of electricity from Ontario Hydro.

 

[GGoodrum]

The EOS 1420i NET3 chargers are finally back in stock at the distributor, so I've re-enabled them on my site, along with the combo deals with the 12s Charging Harness kit and the dual 6s LVC/Parallel Adapter boards.

-- Gary

 

[Partycat]

lmbo, and I just purchased/received one of these chargers a bit earlier. Impatience never pays, I guess, except for the guy I bought it from.

I did order the 12s LVC/Balance board and the harness. I've spent more time checking, double checking, fretting, etc over LiPo, which size, how much, wondering if I'll blast the wheel right off my bike on the first spin, etc, and you know what, to get started here, I want something more solid. I can play a bit later, but, if this ass weather ends any time soon, I want to get out and ride. I was so excited to get most of the mechanical parts on my bike and take a test spin I put the seat tube on backwards and rode on a slant.

14s is a difficult position for "Easy build" parts anyways. Hyperion, of course, seems to sell 7s packs but you'll pay dearly for those in any quantity. I was going to get 5s/5s/4s packs, parallel cables from ProgressiveRC, and find a couple of Hyperion 7s extension cables/pigtails and splice them in with the balance leads, so I could plug the cell logs into the JST, and the charger part into the charger. As long as I didn't hook everything up at the same time, nothing should melt. I'll work on that after I get more comfortable with the whole situation though. Is availability of the connector the reason why you didn't go with the "hyperion" end on the pigtail for the charger?

As has been mentioned a few times 14s is pushing it for some stock 48V controllers, so, I guess for the purposes of this 12s is much more suitable, and for those who want to play, buying out-of-the-box type equipment is just a luxury and probably not particularly marketable.

 

[Jethro56]

If you trim the left key looking down at a 6s Jst-Xh connector it'll go right in Hyperion's 7S connectors on the charger. The 1420i ignores skipped pins. So plug one in each side and you're good to go on a 12S balance charge.

 

[wesnewell]

As has been mentioned a few times 14s is pushing it for some stock 48V controllers, so, I guess for the purposes of this 12s is much more suitable, and for those who want to play, buying out-of-the-box type equipment is just a luxury and probably not particularly marketable.

I've never heard of 14s being a problem with a 48V controller, The problem arises with 15s. 14s charged voltage is 58.8V, which should work with any 48V controller. 15s is 63V, which will probably blow some 48V controllers that use 63V caps. 13s is about the same nominal/charged voltage as 4 sla 12V batteries, but it doesn't make much sense to me when 14s works fine.

 

[gensem]

The EOS 1420i NET3 chargers are finally back in stock at the distributor, so I've re-enabled them on my site, along with the combo deals with the 12s Charging Harness kit and the dual 6s LVC/Parallel Adapter boards.

-- Gary

Hello Gary,

I noticed its pretty simple to charger 12s 4p and be safe with LVC using your hairness.

Is there any easy way to do 18s without getting 2 hyperions?

Thanks

 

[GGoodrum]

The EOS 1420i NET3 chargers are finally back in stock at the distributor, so I've re-enabled them on my site, along with the combo deals with the 12s Charging Harness kit and the dual 6s LVC/Parallel Adapter boards.

-- Gary

Hello Gary,

I noticed its pretty simple to charger 12s 4p and be safe with LVC using your hairness.

Is there any easy way to do 18s without getting 2 hyperions?

Thanks

With my 18s setup, I just do the first 12s, and then the last 6s. Another way would be to wire a harness for 9s, and then just one half at a time.

-- Gary

 

[Partycat]

Do you forsee much difficulty with doing this and using parallel balance Y leads on the LVC board to bring it up to 40aH with 16 packs of 6s/5Ah? Obviously some clarity on the cell reading is lost when you do this, but, you are expected to monitor the cells anyways. Not to mention it would take ages to charge but still.

 

[GGoodrum]

Do you forsee much difficulty with doing this and using parallel balance Y leads on the LVC board to bring it up to 40aH with 16 packs of 6s/5Ah? Obviously some clarity on the cell reading is lost when you do this, but, you are expected to monitor the cells anyways. Not to mention it would take ages to charge but still.

No, I don't see a problem with this, although it might be less bulky to use a piece perfboard and some 7-pin JST-XH connectors, from Digikey, and make an adapter.

-- Gary