Lipo Pack System Hobbyking 45V 10AH

[mysterywhiteboy]

Hi

I am a bit of a lipo newbie as far as the RC hobby packs go but I decided to dip my toe in the water and get hold of a few packs.

I have read through a lot of posts here on the board which has helped me make my mind up, so thanks for that!

I ordered 4 of Turnigy 5000mah 6S 25C packs from Hobbyking along with 4 of their 6S 25C battery monitors.

I intend to parallel up the packs in to 2 x pairs then connect them in series for a pack total of 45V 10Ah, I got hold of 4 of the battery monitors
to plug in to the balance leads to warn me of cell low voltage on any of the four packs during discharge, these alarms were so cheap
it makes no sense not to have them.

Lipo Pack

I have also ordered an Etronix 4 channel charger balancer as well which should help keep the packs balanced and charged, there are
a few of these 4 port chargers popping up now, they seem to get favourable reviews with the bonus that all four packs will be charged
at the same time, its not quite as convenient as a single supply charger / bms setup but I only intend to charge once a week tops
as my daily AH use is low typically 2AH or so, that said I wont let it drop below 70% DOD to increase cycle life.

4 port charger

I also picked up a Turnigy watt meter, I already have a watts up meter but liked the fact that the Turnigy one is back lit.

Power watt meter

I think I will go for 2 of Gary's boards in time and connect them to the brake inhibit line on the controller. I am running a crystallite X5
with a 35A controller the old analogue type of board, I don't want super high speed just need the batteries not to sag like my poor old
NIMH pack is now doing, I like 25-30 mph most days (Not bad though it has lasted 4 years and many deep discharges).

Battery Monitor

Can anyone see any issues with my setup? I will of course disconnect the pack for charging and plug all 4 packs in to the charger on
their own.

I am going to cut off all of the Deans and solder on Anderson connectors, I will make a fused harness from that to supply the controller.

Guys that have used the battery monitors on planes have commented that the alarms are quite loud so I should pick them up with the pack
sat just behind me, combining that with checks on the watt meter and weekly balancing I should be ok?

I must say also the Hobbykings service so far has been exceptional! Highly recommend them to folks, I guess that you all knew that
its also amazing the C rate and the size and weight of these packs combined makes my old Point-1 lipo packs look amazingly heavy and bulky
in comparison, for high power e-bikes this looks like the most sensible solution as I didn't like the weight and size and multiple cell connections of LIFE
cells and the ping packs were more expensive and too low C for my application.

Cheers

Dan

 

[vanilla ice]

Thats what I use for my wanna-BMS, the buzzer things and the watt meter. Its not cell level but it works for me.

 

[mysterywhiteboy]

Hi Vanilla

Yes it should be good enough its not cell level but should be ok for me, I wont be pushing the packs hard and I have had some experience with Lipo albeit with a BMS which sometimes worked and sometimes it didnt anyway :lol:

I think Garys solution is a neat idea I just need 2 x boards to cover the pack , again not cell level but to a pair of cells which is the next best thing.

I am looking forward to getting my packs sorted out and just hope they arrive safe and without any problems as I have read others have had issues with shipping damage, praying to the e-bike gods that mine travel safe.

I will post some pictures of the bits when they come and the completed pack and charging setup for those that are interested, it still represents great bang for your buck when compared to other batteries out there at the moment, I hope that I get good use from them, the Turnigy cells do seem to get some good reviews.

 

[jondoh]

for alarms, i'm using this:

http://hobbycity.com/hobbyking/stor..._Cell_Voltage_Monitor_2-6S_Lipo_(New_Version)

It has both upper and lower voltage settings (the lower is adjustable but the upper is not) for each cell.

to charge, i'm just using two cheap 50w chargers connected in series and having no problems-- as long as all the balance plugs are tied together.

i'm using 6 x 6s cells for a total of 44.4v and 15 ah.

 

[mwkeefer]

Just a heads up... don't try to get anywhere near 3.0v cutout with those pack level warning indicators... you will very quickly bloat and reduce the capacity of your lipo packs...

The issue with pack level LVC is that a bad cell or even badly out of balance cell will take a dump far faster than the rest of your pack... somewhere around 3.5v these packs just fall off the cliff under load I've seen 10-20 seconds between 3.50v and 3v (35A load).

Again if your not going to play it close to the vest fine... one other issue, hearing those things above wind and ambient noise of crickets becomes a nightmare (I had the same problem with BM6 units even though they were cell level, I could not hear them when a cell dropped off a cliff and killed a few packs doing this).

-Mike

 

[vanilla ice]

I have the non adjustable ones from the original post. I've never tripped one, but from the reviews the beeping starts at 3.3v per cell. Red light starts at 3.4v per.

 

[MrKang]

I f you keep an eye on the Turnigy Watt meter with your total Ah you eased there is no problem.
You easily use almost all of your 10ah with these baby's! i have a 24S4P which delivers me 20Ah. every day i use 18.5 to 19.1 Ah after that my cells are around 3.6V

are you putting the balance leads of 1 pack together ? or are you usin them all as seperate 6S packs and connect them everytime after charging ?

 

[mysterywhiteboy]

Hi

I am connecting each balance lead to a separate alarm board so I can monitor each pack on its own, they will all be balanced on the charger, the charger can discharge and level the packs as well. A multi cell level alarm would be cool though, what say we start of with a 24 x channel version I have a PCB design package maybe scribble something down later, I am only interested in low voltage alarms on a cell level keeps things simpler. Be nice to maybe combine an alarm so you get a warning at 1 voltage level and then it cuts the brake on the controller if it goes lower than that.

I will see what these alarm boards are like and how I get on with the packs.

 

[dogman dan]

Pretty similar to what I bought, I got two of the single pack chargers, and plan to use my CA to monitor ah discharge. Hopefully never get close to hearing the alarms. I shoulda got more expensive alarms though, that could be adjusted to go off sooner. They monitor at cell level apparently. My solution is going to be to mount the alarms where I can see the lights, that go off sooner than the beep.

Once the packs arrive, and I start using them, I'll figure out what I need to make charging easier. Some kind of harness to be able to have the packs connected to the beepers and still have a plug to connect to the charger is likely.

 

[mysterywhiteboy]

Hi

Well my charger arrived safe and sound today, my vendor packed it very well no damage at all, I got the 2 extra balance boards without realising that I don't actually need them as I am using 6 series! doh and can just plug the balance leads straight in to the charger , ahh well they weren't expensive. Just need to get some 4mm bullet connectors as I don't want to cut up the charging leads they have sent for the RC stuff just in case I get my car charging on it.

Charger looks like quality, feels and looks well made even the carton it came in is quality too, it has that super colourful graphical look that they seem to plaster over all RC stuff I presume to make it more attractive to kids? works for me though and I am nearly 40 :lol:

Looking forward to getting the packs now and having a play around, thanks for the input so far guys will post pictures as soon as the packs arrive.

Dan

 

[Anonymous]

when you connect them up in series are you using Y connectors of some sort? 4mm ones? how are you connecting them up together to get you the total voltage you need?

Hi

Well my charger arrived safe and sound today, my vendor packed it very well no damage at all, I got the 2 extra balance boards without realising that I don't actually need them as I am using 6 series! doh and can just plug the balance leads straight in to the charger , ahh well they weren't expensive. Just need to get some 4mm bullet connectors as I don't want to cut up the charging leads they have sent for the RC stuff just in case I get my car charging on it.

Charger looks like quality, feels and looks well made even the carton it came in is quality too, it has that super colourful graphical look that they seem to plaster over all RC stuff I presume to make it more attractive to kids? works for me though and I am nearly 40 :lol:

Looking forward to getting the packs now and having a play around, thanks for the input so far guys will post pictures as soon as the packs arrive.

Dan

 

[dogman dan]

Y connectors would be used for paralell connections, though I suppose they could be used to series, since they would have the two male ends to do that, and then the female end would just be unused.

I just plan on andersoning all my packs so I can make series connections, and make my own y connectors for the paralelling when I get enough packs.

 

[Anonymous]

Can you leave the batteries on an onboard charger using Y connectors and also attach them to the controller at the same time? how would this work? so as to simply plug an onboard charger into the wall when you're done and then remove plug and ride? (I am duplicating this in a123 so I have nothing to worry about)
thanks

Y connectors would be used for paralell connections, though I suppose they could be used to series, since they would have the two male ends to do that, and then the female end would just be unused.

I just plan on andersoning all my packs so I can make series connections, and make my own y connectors for the paralelling when I get enough packs.

 

[dogman dan]

Yes, you can charge series connected batteries while still connected if you have a way to connect, such as y connectors where you need them or simply two wires soldered on where they are needed for charging. So you'd connect y connectors where needed to have the right charger voltage, and then also have balance wires connected at each block of paralelled cells.

Where you put the y connectors would depend on what voltage you were using to charge.

 

[mysterywhiteboy]

Hi

I am going to cut off the Deans connectors then simply make up links to series parallel them up using 30A Anderson connectors, nice and simple, I am making a small harness that will have 8 x 4mm banana plugs one end and 8 Andersons the other end this will make it easy, simply disconnect the running harness and plug in the charging harness, then its just plugging in the 4 x balance leads, I have balance adaptor extension leads coming with my packs. I will post some pictures of the setup as soon as I am done wiring them all up.

I found Powerwerx is the states were very reasonable on the Anderson connectors, they even shipped a nice crimp tool that works real well and didn't cost much, worth checking them out, http://www.powerwerx.com. been using that for years now although you cant beat soldering them IMHO its more work but there is less chance of

Anyway a few snaps of the charger, I got a couple of extra balance boards in but may not even use them. Just waiting for the wind to change and my packs to arrive from HK, they have updated the status on my account to inform me of the delays in customs at the airport, guess I will just have to wait it out, still beats paying the stupid prices over here in the LHS.

Few snaps

 

[mysterywhiteboy]

Whilst waiting for my lipo packs I decided to wire the harness for the batteries, I also made up the charging harness which you can see connected to the link harness, 2 packs in parallel then both in series with a 40A fuses in line. Just need the packs so I can snip off those pesky Deans connectors and solder on the Andersons. Will connect the banana plugs to the charge leads when they come tomorrow.

Dan

 

[visuthdy]

Great post so far. I'm also in the process of doing a 45V 10AH lipo system. I really appreciate the detail pictures of the anderson connection. I wasn't sure how to wire everything until now What size gauge wires are you using? I ordered 10 awg wire before seeing your post. I'm not sure if it's possible to cap two wires onto one connector as you have shown. Where did you get the charger from and how do they compare to the hobbyking and turnigy 4x6s chargers?

 

[mysterywhiteboy]

Hi

Thanks for the comments, the link wires across the top of the Andersons are done with 2.5mm CSA wire at that length they can carry 35A with hardly any volt drop and you can just get them both in to a 30A Anderson connector, the other side of it is the charging harness that is 1.5mm CSA. I got the charger in the UK from a Hobby Shop in Leeds, it is a nice unit I cant compare it with anything else as its the first one I have had.

My batteries are here any day now so will finish this build off, they are quite a few folks doing very similar builds, I intend to monitor each parallel pair with a cellog8 lipo logger, I have combined both the alarm outputs from these in to opto couplers to switch the controller off if any cell pair drop below my cut LV threshold, its not quite cell level buts its near as I need to make it.

Cant wait to get it all going, PS you can get bigger up to 45A connectors in those anderson housings, 10AWG is tight in there you wont get 2 in there even with the 45A connectors but do the math its basic ohms law at work here, for very short links you can get away with much thinner wire than you might think

Good luck with the build, I will post more pictures when it is all done.

Dan

 

[wineboyrider]

Great post. Except where do you get the cool looking Anderson connectors. All of my walmart crap has to go.

 

[mysterywhiteboy]

Hi
Thanks! yeah been using the Andersons for years, I get mine from Powerwerxhttp://www.powerwerx.com I buy them in sets, you get 2 x pairs which is 1 x red 1 x black and the link pin, the link pin helps keep them together, they also sell crimps as well, on these I soldered all of them in as it is my preferred method on connections that are regularly pulled apart.

http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson-p...30-amp-red-black-anderson-powerpole-sets.html

They sell cable and other Andeson related stuff, they were the cheapest supplier I could find, dont be tempted by some of the Ebayers offering really cheap ones as there are cheap Chinese copies about that are poor quality.

 

[wineboyrider]

Ass now I know where to get good connectors! Now just the courage to press buy on hobbyking!