Imax B6 hobby charger and power adapter question

hopefully it has a voltage protection.
that’s why I took a model with integrated power supply.

you can drop the voltage by adding some diodes

Diodes?

Diodes have forward drop of 0.3-0.7V, so yea, if you need to drop just 2V, that’s a possibility. Just make sure to get high-current ones.

Easiest and cheapest way is to re-purpose a old PC power supply.

I used a 12v/5A version from somewhere in this category: http://www.fasttech.com/category/1525/ac-power-adapters-chargers

Thanks, comfychair, yet Im looking at something that could be scavanged from readily available bits and pieces, given that it will take up to a month to receive PSU :D!

Isnt it going to be too much power wise? Or do you mean using SATA/IDE power sources?

There’s never too much power!

Heres a custom built PC power supply build from JM.

Well if you look at the hobby power supplies, they can go way beyond 1kW of supply.

Keep in mind hobby chargers are meant to be able to handle charging at massive loads and across multiple cells.

Im having problems with said charger - it will not accept any of my PSU’s - the only thing they have in common is its plug - I took it from old Acer laptops adapter.

First I tried Acer adapter which is rated for 20V/6A , Imax gave out input voltage error.
Then I used OEM Chinese acer power adapter that had 19V/3.42A, the same error occured.
Lastly I tried 15V/0.4A power supply from cordless drill and again, nothing changed, the same voltage input error, perhaps amps are tool low with this one?

Any takes on this, what could be the problem here?

Is old desktop PC’s PSU soldered directly to the motherboard of B6 my only DIY option?

Wouldnt want to order separate PSU from China and wait for another month for it to arrive :D!

I dont know if I would be soldering it in if it was me. Id be finding a plug that suits the charger, and solder that/fit that to the PSU.

Im going to say the last PSU you tried is too low. The others were all wrong voltage. Hopefully the Imax has over voltage protection, and you havent borked something with the earlier high voltage units. Wait for some experienced advice though. Im just guessing here.

Imax B6 is rated as 11-18V so I really hope that 15V with 0.4A was simply too low.

In that case, I wonder which is the bare minimum for it?

I successfully turned on (and charged few Li-Ion’s at 1A, one by one) using my router’s power supply, which was rated at 12V 1A, when my main PSU died and I needed to charge few batteries urgently.

If your home internet provider is Lattelecom, their GPON modem has 12V / 2A power supply with suitable plug. You might use that temporarily :wink:

I would try hooking it to a 12v automotive battery, to eliminate that its not the charger. Usually input voltage error means just that, some things not right with the input voltage. Try car battery to be sure.
A common ATX computer power supply can be used. Needs to be around 5 amps to work to the power capacity of the charger. This might help with the wiring. Easily Convert an ATX Power Supply to a Lab Power Supply
Don’t forget to power the sense wire or the power supply will not turn on.
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I don’t know exactly what kind of plug your charger uses. But the accucel 6 uses a 5.5mm by 2.5mm barrel type plug. A common direct plug in power supply for that charger is a monitor power supply. They look very similar to a laptop power supply but output 12v usually around 5 amps.

GET a plug that FITS!
Get a power supply MORE than 11v and LESS than 18v.
It neets to put out at LEAST 5A. More will not hurt.
(NO, 19 and 20v will NOT work. NO, 0.4A will NOT work)
Make SURE the polarity is correct.
Done.

Haha, I have been using a wall wart that was rated at 12V 1.5A and it got the job done while charging a couple of cells at relatively low current. (4.20V 1-2A)

But if you’d like to charge more in parallel or at higher currents, a laptop adapter is the best, if you can get the voltage under 18V. Most laptop adapters I had were 19V and my Accucel-6 was very picky about the high voltage.

I’m currently using a laptop adapter rated at 17V 4.5A for my iCharger 106B+.

I recall hearing good things about the Xbox power supply too. ~200 watts for ~$20.

Thanks for advice, but Im on 3G at the moment.
None of the adapters Ive tried fit - all of them have slightly smaller hole in the plug than what B6 requires, Ive tried multiple devices, including old routers.

Ok, thanks for that link, looks like I will have to pull out my old desktop from the closet and see what I can do, perhaps I will be able to first make-do without dissembling it to see if it will work anyway :D!

OK, folks, I see, theres no way around correct voltage and minimum levels of Ah output!

Thanks everyone!

Theres a thread I started about “helping me choose a charger”. Moderator007 made the same suggestion for the Icharger 106B. I bought one for $15. But there are a few of them around. Not all are 203w, with near 16amps. And not all are genuine either, not sure ho much that matters with them though.