Interesting, they must have changed how they are made at some point. My B6 from ebay looks like you are describing, everything like an original except for missing the pins. I simply stuck some header pins in the holes and pressed them sideways to make contact while flashing. A lot simpler and it seemed to work if you were careful to not move while flashing…
The balance leads is the key to getting the extra benefits out of the charger, without that it still doesn’t know what the actual voltage is at the battery. I bet it charges as fast or faster with this new setup at 5a vs the old at 6a. I know the B6 is much faster then the accucell was because it stays in the constant current mode much longer.
My DPS3012 arrived and I spent a bit of time housing it. I was lucky I had this box from a previous project that didn’t go ahead. I give it a quick test but that is all I have done with it.
It is powered from a 500w variable voltage psu. I stuck a digital readout on it for clarity.
My charger of choice. It charges through the balance tap only and can charge up to 6 cells / 8 amps. I haven’t done that and don’t recommend charging 8 amps through a balance plug and leads, they just aren’t designed for it. Since it charges through the balance tap the cells need to be connected in series. However all the cells are charged individually. On a regular hobby charger if one cell hits the max voltage the whole pack gets reduced current because of that one cell. This charger will keep feeding the set current to each cell individually until they are each full. This worked really well for a pack of 6s A123 (22650 lifepo) batteries I had. The A123’s were reclaimed from tool packs and took FOREVER to balance on a regular hobby charger. The first time I charged them with this charger I was more than surprised…. actually I was suspicious and double checked the voltages on the battery pack with a DMM. It doesn’t read internal resistance but because of the battery tray setup I can swap out cells mid charge, charge different capacities at the same time but not different chemistries at once. In fact it can only charge lithium (can’t remember minimum voltage setting ~ 2v ??) up to 4.2v This charger is left over from when I played with brushless rc cars. I also have a dual input imaxb6 and a turnigy mega 400w. The turnigy is really inaccurate and I don’t really use it at all now.
Battery tray is pretty ghetto but I have enough space to get my fingers between 26650 cells when loaded.
The ImaxB6 arrived today. Looks good. Opened it up and the board appears to be the same as my Accucell 6 PBC except it doesn’t have the labeling I mentioned above. I guess the reason the ImaxB6’s are 5amps is the passive cooling vs active cooling on the Accucell. The B6 does have the pads for connecting a fan.
Oh, it has the Atmega32a MCU. So it can be flashed with cheali-charger FW.
Oh 2, been using the Accucell 6 for bit now. Really like the cheali-charger FW. Only change (other than wanting 6 amp cabablity) I would like is to have back the loud beeps then a process completes. I need to post some feedback on the cheali-charger site.
There was a beep setting in the cheali-charger firmware IIRC. For me the lack of a beep is one of the things I like the most lol. I find it very annoying and the dogs positively HATE it.
I didn’t notice the fan output on the B6, I wounder if it actually outputs power? Seems like it would but you may have to use the Accucell firmware.
^
Yes vulpes, Texas_Ace’s link is where I bought it from. Unfortunately, it appears to be a US only vendor. If you buy one from anyone, I would first get them to promise that they will be sending you the model with the Atmega32a MCU. That way you have a basis for a claim if they send you one you that you can’t flash with cheali-charger.
I’ll double check the settings. I have Beep on, but my impression was that it turns on and off the button press beeps. I haven’t ventured into the Expert settings menu yet.
Finally decided how to power the 5015. Ordered 4 DPS-600PD’s Rev:0F(04) for $47. Will connect the outputs in series so that I will have the option of 5v, 12v, 17v, 24v, 36v, and 48v. Probably could have more options over 24, but don’t see needing them. Will need to isolate the DC outputs from ground on 3 of the units to connect them in series. One outlet should be able to power them fine as I won’t be going anywhere near the 47amp rated capacity.
It will be overkill, but it will provide some future proofing. Hoping these power supplies combined with the 5015’s will enable me to test LVP’s in my builds. Will only need 2 of the PSU’s most of the time as most of my builds are 4S cells. The 0 - 30v, 0 - 10amp bench top unit I have has too much noise and makes my drivers kick in LVP way ahead of time.
It should work great for LVP testing, at least mine does. I power all my lights up with these for the first test after a major change with the current limit set to a low current setting so even if something goes wrong there is hopefully no damage.
