Lithium Chargers

Flippt · Post by **Flippt** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 4:37 pm

Lithium, the worlds best batteries (in my opinion) But I havent got any! Lithium cells aren't that hard to find, but charger is. Anyone who knows a very cheap and good lipo charger? I dont want to carry a 12V battery all the time. I would like to have a ordinary wall socket.

But if there is no cheap ones out there, the evil side of me will take over! So I've been thinking, can you soldier a cigarr contact on a lipo charger, mainly for 12V DC, then using an adpater for wall sockets that coverts into 12V DC. Could this really work!?

Rhys · Post by **Rhys** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 6:07 pm

You could do that, but I've found a drill charger works just as well. I took apart the charger for my cordless drill and soldered the input wires to the terminals of the charger. I then stuck the li-po charger to my drill charger, and I now have a 2 in 1 12v nicad charger and li-po charger.

Plus on the posetive side, if I can't get to a socket, i can plug the drill battery in and charge it off that.

http://www.psychofox.com/DSCN0123.JPG

http://www.psychofox.com/DSCN0124.JPG

Post by **BeligerAnt** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 7:54 pm

If you just want to run a commercial LiPo charger that requires a 12V DC input off of the mains, why not just buy a 12V adapter (the Americans call them Wall-Warts). They usually come with a variety of low-voltage DC connectors - 2.1mm, 2.5mm etc etc. Just add the appropriate socket to your charger.

You just need to check the maximum current the charger will require can be supplied by the DC adapter. Lithium cells are charged initially at a constant current, then at a constant voltage. The constant current should not be more than 1C (600mA for a 600mAh cell), but the charger input will be a bit more than that.

Flippt · Post by **Flippt** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 9:25 pm

http://www.wattsup.co.nz/page8.htm
Apache smart charger 2030

Gary: Two things. One; I cant find any in Sweden (diffrent sockets), for a good price Two; This is a money saving method

Edit: I looked at my adapter, and dont know wich one of these letters means, wich one shows maximum current?

AC/DC Adaptor (I know that)
PRI.: 230V~50Hz 22W
SEC.: 12V-1A 12VA

Raizor · Post by **Raizor** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 10:16 pm

Pri means Primary: The is the voltage which you must supply the adaptor with
Sec means Secondary: The means what the adaptor will give out, in this case 12volts at 1 amp

Post by **BeligerAnt** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 8:35 pm

Apologies, I think I misunderstood. You already have a 12V 1A power supply...

I found this site: http://www.electricflight.co.uk/smrtchg.php which includes the instructions for the Apache chargers.

They say you need a 12V 5A supply, but that's only really for their 4-cell charger which will charge 2500mAh packs at 2.5A.

What size of packs are you charging? Because it will make a difference to what current you need from your power supply. If you are using 2-cell packs at up to 700mAh then you should be OK with your 1A supply.

On the other hand, if you are using 3-cell packs, the charging voltage will be 3x4.2V = 12.6V Now the charger can generate this higher output voltage but at the cost of higher input current. 3-cell 700mAh packs should still be OK with a 1A supply, but you would be better off with a bigger supply, as some commercial supplies struggle to give their full rated output for a long period of time.

BTW everyone, the Apache chargers have links to set the charging current. Always choose a rate lower than or equal to the capacity of your cells, NEVER higher!

Mis-charging lithium cells is the easiest way to have an accident with them - always take care!

Flippt · Post by **Flippt** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:17 pm

I was thinking of something much lower then 700mAh, like 2 cells 145mAh.

Post by **BeligerAnt** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:03 pm

Then you'll be fine!

Flippt · Post by **Flippt** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:52 pm

Nope. The charger just blinked with the red light, and the guy who I bought the charger says that its the adapter, so I even went out to my moms car and tested it on the car battery, then it worked. The charger needed 5A afterall. So the adapter is no use anymore, now I have to pay about 180kr = ?13 for a new one

Travis7s · Post by **Travis7s** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 8:15 pm

I'm a big fan of the Electrifly Triton charger since it can do pretty much anything you need, Nicad, NiMH, Lithium, and SLA. Needs an external power supply though, I've heard of a bunch of people taking them out of computers and modifying them for a cheap supply.