Powerlab 6 not working for 6S battery

[north00001]

I have a PowerLab 6 and connected a FMA Safe Parallel Adapter - JST-XH/Kokam (model CP8S-GP/KO6S-PAR).

I connect this adapter to the PowerLab 6 and then connect a parallel board (EP Buddy ParaBoard V2) to one of the connectors (2S, 3S,4S,5S or 6S) on the adapter.

I am having an issue with the Revolectrix Powerlab 6.
I have been able to parallel charge 2S and 3S batteries but when I try 6S batteries I get an error.
The error is : Bad cell count Node Wiring XH.

I'm doing a basic Lipo Generic Accurate charge.
Also the Node Connector is set to XT/EH wiring, and worked fine for the 2S and 3S batteries.

I can charge these 6S batteries on my iCharger 208B.
So I know the batteries are fine.

I've used 2 different paraboards from EP Buddy that work fine with the iCharger 208B.

Any ideas? Is the unit bad?

Thanks for any advice....

[Ace Dude]

That FMA SPA only works in FMA wiring mode. Connect it directly to the charger and put the charger in FMA wiring mode.

Additional information can be found here:

http://www.revolectrix.com/cellpro_adapters.htm

[north00001]

Ace Dude,

I can try that tomorrow and see if it works, FMA wiring mode.
I am curious as to how I could charge the 2S and 3S batteries using the XT node connection with out issues.
One would think it would either do all batteries or none....

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by north00001

I am curious as to how I could charge the 2S and 3S batteries using the XT node connection with out issues.
One would think it would either do all batteries or none....

In JST-XH wiring mode the charger is expecting to see the cells in sequence on the balance pins. Cell 1 is pin 1 and 2. Cell 2 is pin 2 and 3, cell 3 is pin 3 and 4, etc.

In FMA wiring mode the charger is expecting the same sequence for all pins except for the last pin in the pack. The last pin in the pack is the positive side of the last cell, and the same as the pack positive main lead. This must go to pin 9 on the balance connector.

When you charge a 2s or 3s pack using the parallel board daisy chained to the CP8S-GP/KO6S-PAR, only the first 3 to 4 wires are being used. When you connect a 6s pack, it uses the last wire, (pin 7 on the parallel board), which is connected to the pin 9 on the charger's balance connector. This pin configuration would be correct for FMA wiring mode but is not correct for JST wiring mode. The key difference in your scenario is that 6s packs end up using the last pin and 2s/3s packs don't.

The background on the feature is that the FMA wiring mode is required to support the Revolectrix chargers that can charge through balance leads only. There is a detailed explanation including pictures in the manual page 61 http://www.revolectrix.com/support_docs/item_1380.pdf

What this means in your scenario is that switching to FMA wiring mode will fix the 6s pack scenario, but break the 2s and 3s pack scenario. The FMA adapter are using was not designed to operate daisy chained to a parallel board. It designed to be daisy chained to another CP8S-GP/KO6S-PAR.

Your best options would be to either get more CP8S-GP/KO6S-PAR boards and use FMA wiring mode, or get the correct interconnect cable for your parallel board and plug it directly into the charger, using JST-XH wiring mode.

[north00001]

Wow ,

Thanks Greggor99 for that detailed explanation of the issue.

I did order an interconnect that , I think, would connect to the PowerLab 6 on one side and to my parallel board (EP Buddy ParaBoard) on the other connection.
The cable is the 6S JST-XH Adapter Cable for Parallel Charge Board from ProgressiveRC which specifics Input Connector: 6S JST-XH
Output Connector: 6S JST-XH

It has not yet arrived so I have not yet tested.

If I am incorrect and this is not the right interconnect cable, can someone tell me which cable I need.

Thanks....

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by north00001

Wow ,

Thanks Greggor99 for that detailed explanation of the issue.

I did order an interconnect that , I think, would connect to the PowerLab 6 on one side and to my parallel board (EP Buddy ParaBoard) on the other connection.
The cable is the 6S JST-XH Adapter Cable for Parallel Charge Board from ProgressiveRC which specifics Input Connector: 6S JST-XH
Output Connector: 6S JST-XH

It has not yet arrived so I have not yet tested.

If I am incorrect and this is not the right interconnect cable, can someone tell me which cable I need.

Thanks....

Unfortunately there are 4 possible pin configurations on the connector that attaches to the parallel board. When you get the cable, use an ohm meter to check continuity between pin 1 on the parallel board and pin 1 on the end that connects to the charger. A backwards cable can damage the parallel board and possibly the charger.