Imax B6 hobby charger and power adapter question

I have Imax B6, probably its clone and I was thinking whether I will kill it with 20V 6A laptop power adapter?

On charger its written 11-18V, no other data regarding wattage or amperage is shown in manual(or Im being too lazy to recall/check it now).

So, will I fry it or not?

It will kill it, not immediately but it will be kill it.

Yeah, tried to use it, got input voltage error, so its unusable.

Looks like I will have to take one with correct voltage ratings and simply add connector from 20V one, they all look similar, however only 20V one fits in B6.

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+.