The sc608 can be had for 42$ with the linker cable if vip2. I can get the price down with points. Q6 will be around $60 with the cable. Except for more power what is the difference between the 2? The 208 can do 8A charge current so that s 8 cellls charging at 1A each or doesn’t it work like that? This would fit my needs, I m still looking into the q6.
Also: if i want to charge 18V packs will I need a ps that gives 18v or can i still hook it up to a 12v battery? I have zero knowledge bout charging packs.
Yes the price of the 608 is better. Basically the Q6 is more power capability in about the same amount of space, but different layout. If 608 has enough capabilities then sticking with that one will save some good money. The 608 was on for around $33 with coupon at one time, you might want to check ebay i think it was around $36 there. For a hobby charger you need a power-supply that can provide the slightly more than the total amperage required, and slightly more than the total charge voltage so for 8 batteries that would be 8x4.2V or 8x4.3V if you still want to charge to them in series. Parallel i think you understand, but that is risky with salvaged batteries. Even serial is risky unless they came from the same pack or measure very close in capacity and Ri.
An 18/18.5V Li-Ion pac is 5S so 20-21V fully charged. You'll need a 22-24V power supply to charge them depending on the charger which may have some series diodes for protection and cable and other losses.Update... Sorry for the miss information. It will depend on the charger, but it seems all the newer ones will boost the input voltage as required, as long as the input power supply can deliver the required power (wattage) that will be required on the output. I don't use big packs, but I see my B6-mini has no problem with 6S packs with a 12V input. My power supply is well above requirements at over 360Watts @ 12V.
I don't have my Q6 yet, it will be another week or two.
Sorry I gave you very incorrect information. Depending on your charger you will be able to charge your 8S packs with a lower input voltage. The SC-608 though is only good for 6S packs. I update the original post.
The linker cable is not really necessary. I have a linker cable and I haven’t updated the firmware at all.
The most recent updates only change some slight things like clicker sound and added some European language support.
If you want to charge an 18v pack at 8A you will need to make sure your power supply can put out 150w. Most laptop powersupplies that you may find for free are usually 65w.
I just bought a 150w gaming laptop charging brick for $6 on ebay.
I just realized something. If I wanne charge cells in parallel do they all have to have the same capacity and be dis-charged to the same voltage/capacity? Obviouly my cells won’t be discharged to the same level as I use em in single cell aplications. So I’m guessing a hobby charger won’t fit my needs probably.
Aaaaah f*#@ I really haven’t tought this thing through.
edit: for those intrested gb has a nice deal on the iSDT sc608
No, but the chargers list in the specs the maximum current over the balance port, so if the cells are very different it could take a long time while they wait to get slowly balanced by the balance port (at like 200mA or something extremely slow like that).
Oh I didn’t see that part, I thought he was series charging them.
Parallel charging cells that are at very different capacities is bad because a lot of current can flow from one battery to another if the voltage delta is large enough, which can cause the cells to heat up or potentially explode.
Well it depends on the internal resistance too, idk what resistance those cells are.
My batteries are 1.2mO.
I would still not recommend parallel batteries that have such a large difference of capacity %.
Incredible cells at 1.2mOhm. I think if you try it and measure you will be pleasantly surprised at how low the current is even between worst case 4.2v and 3.0v.
It’s definitely possible that he wants to try “resurrect” dead cells which could be at 2.5v or even less.
I’ve heard of people finding lithium cells near 0v and recharging them and have them work again with good capacity.
I guess if he makes sure the cells are above 3v then it could be ok
And yeah my cells are the best cells not 18650s though.
This is why you want to charge in parrelle instead of series with the balance port. With parallel charging you just make sure the cells are reasonably close (I generally try to keep them withing .5V or so but have done more without any issues).
Toss them all in your cell holder, let them “balance” for a a few minutes if needed and then start the charge cycle.
They will all be perfectly balanced at the end of the charge after a rest period, even better balanced then if you used the balance port.
All right thank u all very much. I’ll do some more research but in short: the cells will balance them self before I turn on the charger if they are reasonably close to each others voltage….
As I posted previously, since you will be using the charger to analyze salvage cells ( which can be all over the place when it comes it’s cell’s health, etc. all in one pack alone), and as I have been through this road before, your best bet is not a hobby charger but 2 analyzing, 4-independent channel chargers with individual displays like the Opus BT-C3100 v2.2. I also have a hobby charger and it’s really time consuming to analyze a cell one-at-a time. Granted you call parallel charge maybe 4 cells at once, but you can only safely do it only on brand-new or really good cells that has identical health but not on salvaged cells.
Two 4 individual channel analyzing chargers/discharger in the best route to take, in my experience.
Anyway, buy either one of them, use it for some time, then come back here to share your observation.
I am thinking of buying both, 1 analyzing charger for testing and one hobby charger for charging up to 8 cells in parallel andseries packs.
The salvaged cells only need to be tested once I got em out of the pack and then once in a while after I have used them for a longer period.
Most of my cells come from unused laptop packs (I have a friend working in IT he gives me a new pack once in while. All the cells I get from him come out at 3.7V) but sometimes I just find a used pack and I have some old cells that I just would like to check.
I charge 14 good cells at once with my imax b6 all the time, with good cells it is no issue at all.
For salvaged cells I still charger 14 at a time but it does require you to be present and watch over it. If one cell starts overheating it is unlikely that the temp sensor will happen to be on that cell. So I feel them by hand every little while to make sure none are heating up.
not 18650s though.