Fried my Hyperion 720 duo! :(

[harcocjh]

I either didn't have my charging leads in the charger or they came out...probably they weren't connected and I somehow didn't notice. Plugged in a 6s battery and spark spark spark...i unplug everything and make sure nothing is on fire and then inspect everything.

Marks on the battery leads obviously, also black marks where the leads hit the metal tray on my charging case. The tray is grounded to the power supply underneath....I'm using 2 server power supplies connected in series to get 24v. One is ungrounded. The other one is grounded and I have a wire running from it to the metal tray on the case.

I'm kinda confused as to how the charger got fried if the battery leads touched the metal which was grounded to the grounded power supply. Could that current have gone through the ground and into the power supply and then to the charger somehow? Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Also, anyone know if there is a repair facility for Hyperion charger or something or am I just going to have to buy a new charger?

I'm attaching a picture so you can see what i'm talking about...you can see the black marks on the hinge on the right side where the battery leads touched.

Thanks guys...I'm pretty bummed about this as I dont have $280 to buy another nice charger and I just got my compass 7hv flying.

[Gregor99]

Most chargers share a common ground between the input, the main out and the balance leads. If balance lead of the pack was connected, that could have provide a path through the charger that resulted in the damage.

Last I heard, Hyperion chargers were not being repaired. I believe Empire Hobby was or is the importer. You can contact them to be sure.

If it comes to it, you can get a decent charger for a lot less than $280. A good single channel high wattage charger can likely perform as well as the the 720 in terms of total power, but would balance considerably faster. Hyperions use 300ma of balancing bypass. The Powerlabs have 1 amp and the new generation of iChargers (4010 Duo, 406Duo, 308Duo) have 1.2 amps. Although the iChargers are Duos and more expensive than the Powerlab6 or Powerlab8.

http://www.progressiverc.com/chargers/battery-chargers

[Bimbo]

I fried my 1420i NET3 by discharging a 6s battery. At some point I heard a pop and some smoke came out. Probably a capacitor blew. Disconnected as fast as I could, never plugged it in again.

I HATED my hyperion charger (kinda glad it blew? ). There are so many menus where you have to set the max C rating and the capacity of the battery. Did that all right and still it would charge too fast. And when I was charging a LiFe batt (in LiFe mode ofc) it was supplying too high voltage, and some smoke came off the balance tab!

This, and the stupid way this thing charges (sometimes stops, and restarts, but has no 'soft start', it just suddenly gives you 10A) made me really hate this thing. My power supply couldn't keep up with those sudden power surges.

I'd rather stick to my iChargers that slowly increase the power up to the set level. It's as simple as plugging in the battery, set the charge current and go! How easy can it be . Number of cells automatically detected by the balance port (I always balance ofc).

[harcocjh]

The balance plug was not connected. This was the first battery of two that I was going to plug into the squid. I always plug my EC5's in first and then my balance plugs.

At any rate I took the case apart and did not observe any obvious damage to the power supplies or wiring. So I powered the power supplies back up....they seem to be running fine.

Then I took the charger completely apart and was looking for damage but could not see any at all. I didn't see one component or trace or anything that showed signs of being burned...but could definitely smell that burnt electronics smell.

So I took a chance and plugged the charger back into the power supply and cautiously turned it on....turns on and everything looks fine...

I still don't trust that it'll work once I get a battery going on it though. I have some older batteries that I don't care about so I'm going to take the whole thing outside to a large gravel area and use an extension cord and just take it slow and see how it goes.

It's just odd to me that even though I clearly smell burned electronics and I saw smoke come from the unit that when I took it apart there are no signs of damage...

[Bimbo]

At my work we had a piece of equipment, and some insect got in there and fried...
I'd say fingers crossed that's what happened to you, too?

[oy2503]

I once had too large hand movements and drew out the banana plugs while the battery was attached.

As it was on a stainless caravan kitchen table it made some very impressive sparks and melted part
of at least one of the two banana plugs.

But the charger was unaffected, and from your description I think the same happened to you.

Cheers
Erik

[harcocjh]

Ok so I tried the charger on a couple old batteries to see if it still worked and I get this message:



Also...I happened to touch one of the case screws and I felt a little shock...I got my multimeter and when I touch the screw it reads 1v....pretty sure that's not supposed to happen haha. I'm probably gonna just call it done at this point.

It served me well for a couple years so now I just have an excuse to buy something new/upgrade.

[rando]

Originally Posted by Gregor99

Hyperions use 300ma of balancing bypass. The Powerlabs have 1 amp and the new generation of iChargers (4010 Duo, 406Duo, 308Duo) have 1.2 amps. Although the iChargers are Duos and more expensive than the Powerlab6 or Powerlab8.

I've seen this quoted in several threads on the forum but have to wonder if I'm misreading the specs. The Hyperion EOS720i SDUO 3 is rated at 300mA of balance current per CELL. The new iCharger Duo's are 1.2A per CHANNEL. It's unclear by the specifications if all of this current sinking power can be routed to a single cell or if this is just the cumulative total of the per cell maximums (1.2A/6 or 1.2A/8 though presumably the charger would never open the balance sink on all cells at the same time so maybe it's 1.2A/5 or 1.2A/7). Has anyone confirmed the maximum PER CELL balance current of the FMA or newer iChargers?

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by rando

I've seen this quoted in several threads on the forum but have to wonder if I'm misreading the specs. The Hyperion EOS720i SDUO 3 is rated at 300mA of balance current per CELL. The new iCharger Duo's are 1.2A per CHANNEL. It's unclear by the specifications if all of this current sinking power can be routed to a single cell or if this is just the cumulative total of the per cell maximums (1.2A/6 or 1.2A/8 though presumably the charger would never open the balance sink on all cells at the same time so maybe it's 1.2A/5 or 1.2A/7). Has anyone confirmed the maximum PER CELL balance current of the FMA or newer iChargers?

The balance current rating on all chargers being discussed is per cell. The additional confusion with the way the iCharger's spec is that they are a dual channel charger. The balancing power from both channels can be combined for a total of 2.4 amps per cell.

[RedOctobyr]

My understanding is the iChargers are 1.2A per cell, not total per channel. So if it was balancing (holding back) 5 cells of a 6S pack, it could max out at a total balance current of 6A, spread across the 5 cells and balance wires.

Admittedly, I have not put a multimeter inline with a balance wire to check it that way.

This is a picture of the inside of a 4010Duo. The channel shown has 10 individual balance components. Presumably (I'm not an EE) each of those components has a current rating, which must be obeyed. It is one component per cell, I don't think you can combine the cumulative "unused" capacity of the balancers that aren't active at the moment, to do something like distribute total current (such as 1.2A) across the ones being used.

[Bimbo]

Originally Posted by Gregor99

The balancing power from both channels can be combined for a total of 2.4 amps per cell.

I'm not sure I want that kind of current through my balance connector...

[RedOctobyr]

I did some testing, and experienced no issues. I would imagine that balance plugs & wires aren't that much different than servo plugs & wires, and we flow quite a bit more current through those. But the 2.4A is admittedly significantly higher than any other charger on the market.

The benefit is real. In my test, linked below, dealing with the same imbalance took:
- 4 hours 45 minutes on my 300mA 106B+
- 1 hour 12 minutes on my 308Duo in 1.2A (single-channel) mode
- 42 minutes on my 308Duo in 2.4A (synchronous-channel) mode

https://www.helifreak.com/showpost.p...&postcount=191

[rando]

Originally Posted by Gregor99

The balance current rating on all chargers being discussed is per cell. The additional confusion with the way the iCharger's spec is that they are a dual channel charger. The balancing power from both channels can be combined for a total of 2.4 amps per cell.

Per the spec pages on the iCharger, the balance current is quoted per CHANNEL. This could still mean that up to the full amount of discharge current is available should only a single cell need to be drained but multi-cell draining would be de-rated such that the maximum per channel specification isn't exceeded. Are you saying you know for sure that's not the case? Marketing guys have been known to play it loose with specifications.

[rando]

Originally Posted by RedOctobyr

I don't think you can combine the cumulative "unused" capacity of the balancers that aren't active at the moment, to do something like distribute total current (such as 1.2A) across the ones being used.

You're not distributing the current as such. Instead you're using the micro-controller to limit the total dissipated power to that of the per channel specification. Each individual FET may be able to sink the full amount but the sum total of whatever they're all sinking may also be limited to avoid damage to board traces (common ground path?) or limit heat generation in that area of the circuit (no heat sink and densely packed current sinks?).

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by Bimbo

I'm not sure I want that kind of current through my balance connector...

Some chargers like the Cellpro4s charge through the balance connector, up to 4 amps. On the Powerlab8 it was capped at 3 amps which is a move I agree with. At 4 amps typically balance wires will get warm. At 3 its not an issue.

Originally Posted by rando

Per the spec pages on the iCharger, the balance current is quoted per CHANNEL. This could still mean that up to the full amount of discharge current is available should only a single cell need to be drained but multi-cell draining would be de-rated such that the maximum per channel specification isn't exceeded. Are you saying you know for sure that's not the case? Marketing guys have been known to play it loose with specifications.

Its per cell, and simultaneous current is supported. iCharger is not known for the clarity in their specs or manuals. But this one, I'm confident in. I had done a similar test to R0s with a Powerlab. In my test 1 cell was lower than the other 5. So 5 cells had to be bypassed. The logging shows each cell was bypassed a full 1 amp per cell. The timing of the charge and balance cycle was consistent with a 1 amp differential on the 5 higher cells.

[Bimbo]

Originally Posted by Gregor99

Some chargers like the Cellpro4s charge through the balance connector, up to 4 amps. On the Powerlab8 it was capped at 3 amps which is a move I agree with. At 4 amps typically balance wires will get warm. At 3 its not an issue.

Good to know! What about the connector itself? That's usually the weak point...

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by Bimbo

Good to know! What about the connector itself? That's usually the weak point...

Depends. Usually the connector rating will change with the size of the wire used. A larger wire helps dissipate heat. For the most part, 2 amps is a non-issue. Also remember for the purposes of balancing, the current is rarely constant. Usually spiky unless you have really big difference to correct.

[Stevendavis]

I'm running two Hyperions for charging. I'm thinking about picking one of these up instead.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/361015720859...MakeTrack=true

[rando]

That's a fairly large step backwards from dual eos720 duos, at least in terms of charging capacity.

[3D Dave]

I'd highly suggest dual Powerlab 8 or (2) Powerlab 6's (they lock together making a dual but each in it's own case).