106b. charging off 12v battery?

[dogtooth]

Yesterday I tried charging some 3s -2600 mah batterys off my truck batterys , 2 batterys to gather at 12 v system .
First I charged 1 @ 2c - 4.4amps . No problems there . It took 25 minutes to fast charge .
I wanted to compare the time of charging 2 lipos together , so tried a fast charge @ 8.8 amps. But after 45 seconds the amps would drop down to 0.9 amps .
It looks like I can't go over 5 amps with out the charger kicking down .
Is it because the dc wire leads are so thin ?
I would think 2 healthy 12v batteries could handle this ?

[Roundhousekickya]

Depends on how many watts your charger is


Keep it safe! Keep em flyin!

[nyvtr]

How are you connecting the charger's leads to your 12V battery?

Dirty battery posts or poor electrical connection could limit the power available to the charger.

I have the same charger but haven't tried pushing more than 5A while connected to my car battery yet.

As a note, there is a menu on the charger that tells you how much current is being pulled from the power source as well as power source voltage while charging. While charging, hit the increase/decrease buttons to cycle through status menus.

Also, just something to keep in mind, 5A into the LiPO could require more than 5A from the power source depending on the cell count of the LiPO. For example, when I charge my 6s LiPO at 5A, I pull about 10.5A from my 12V power supply because of the voltage step up to the 25.2V charging voltage to the LiPO.

Power in = Power out

10A+ needs decent connections to the power source in my experience.

[kayakboy69]

You said you were using 2 batteries ... will your charger run 24v? That would let you run more watts and drain you batts less than =watts at 12v

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[Slyster]

First make sure you are using deep cycles and not car batteries.

I once had a 7' run of 10AWG wire and I could only get my PL6 up to 28A output or so.... and with the wire getting hot I assumed that was an issue... so I bought a 8' 8AWG jumper cable at the local hardware store.... soldered on an EC5 to one end.. and BINGO! Cool wires... and full output on PL6...

[RedOctobyr]

Originally Posted by kayakboy69

You said you were using 2 batteries ... will your charger run 24v? That would let you run more watts and drain you batts less than =watts at 12v

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

It will not. 106B can only take 18V.

Go into Settings, check your input voltage limit. That would be my guess, that the input voltage is sagging enough that it's dropping down to your input voltage limit, so the charger throttles back the output, to ensure the input voltage doesn't drop below what you've set.

Drop that input voltage limit 2V, say, as a test, and try again.

I've done charges at least this powerful off a 12V car starter battery with my 106B+, without strange behavior. This isn't good treatment for a starter battery, but mine is an old battery from the last time I had to replace my car battery. So I don't care if I'm hard on it. I do still recharge it after each use, however.

Also look for any high-resistance issues with how you're connecting to the battery. I used the battery terminal clamps that came with my 106B+.

[dogtooth]

The charger is 250 watts - 10 amps , the truck has 2 batteries in parallel , so 12 v. I charged 5 batteries yesterday in the drive way so as not to.take a chance getting stranded. The end its was about 12.45 down from 12.78 ish . ( crappy volt meter) ..
But if I set the amp rate on the charger higher than 5 ,it would drop to less than 1 amp charge rate within a minute or so .
It works fine on a.c. power . I can charge at 10 amps when I charge more than 2 at a time .
So.I tried again today and checked the Input power while charging , it dropped as the charger went into what seems.like trickle charge .
I tried upping the cutoff volts from 10 to 14 and 22.
That did not help . Actually now now no matter where the cut off volts are set at . It shuts down charging and says input volt error in a matter of seconds .... So I made it worse . Yeah !
Ha-ha
The a.c. wire leads are 14gauge but the dc leads are a wimpy 22 gauge .
But hooked to the battery and checked with the v meter they show 12.78 v on the Input end

[Slyster]

way too much resistance in 22 gauge! use 8 gauge jumper cable and you could go 12 feet if you wanted.

[dogtooth]

Yeah ok slyster, Im
I'm Going to see if I can make something up. It has to fit that little round plug though ..
It seems like the manufacturer didn't intend for it to be run on dc power . I think I give my inverter a try as well.

[Slyster]

It can ONLY run on DC power. Just cut off the ends on the charger too and put on an EC5. And on your DC Power supplies... and now you can even run it with a larger lipo (with an EC5) for charging micros.

[dogtooth]

Good point . The power supply is an inverter.

[RedOctobyr]

Slow down

Set the input voltage limit lower, not higher.

Check the input voltage during the start of a charge while it still using high current. Do this on the charger itself.

It must be checked under a load. Checking voltage when not charging does not tell you anything. Press minus a few times while charging at the higher initial current to see the input voltage, I think. "Vi", I think it's called.

Are you using extension cables? Put the chargers DC input leads directly to the battery, with the clips on the terminals. No extensions, at least for testing.

If this is the 106B+, the stock input leads are fine for going directly to a battery.

Sent using Tapatalk.

[dogtooth]

Well #$@+ , I beat you too it I put the banana plugs onto the battery clamps , charger worked fine , then hooked up my older lipo battery and rehooked the charger and poof ! Fried .
D-m it . Oh well

[Slyster]

Always connect charger STRAIGHT to deep cycle (or car battery) since they are already 12v... skip the inverter and PSU.

Always power up charger first... then hook up lipo(s).

[dogtooth]

I guess ill take it apart just for a look .

[RedOctobyr]

I agree with Slyster, just run off DC directly.

The only situation I could see justifying using an inverter is if the 12V batteries need to be in one location, and your charger needs to be "far" away.

"Far" depends on how much current you are pulling from the 12V battery, and what gauge wire you are using. But carrying 20A, 40A, gets inefficient very quickly, and really thick wires get expensive quickly, if you need to go more than, say, 10 feet.

If you need to go 20 feet or more (again, it depends on current, and how much you want to spend on thick wires, like jumper cables), you could justify using an inverter.

The charging power that required 30A of current flow at 12V would only require 3A at 120V. 3A can easily be carried a long distance (let's say 50 feet), by an inexpensive extension cord, 16AWG would likely be fine. But to carry 30A for 50 feet would require extremely thick, expensive cables.

So put the inverter at the 12V battery, it pulls 30A, raises the voltage to 120V, the 3A travels the long distance. Then put your power supply next to the charger, that converts it back to 12A, 30A, and you use it that way.

Not ideal, and introduces its own conversion inefficiencies. But could be reasonable in certain circumstances. You're still better off putting the charger near the battery.

[dogtooth]

So I took the charger apart. On the back of the board there a 6 square black flat electrical parts . One of them burnt and cracked . It looks like the damage is confined to that piece.
If I could find that part it might be fixable.
The charger works in all modes except the one I need which is the charge modes.
In the mean time I orderd a new charger