Lithium ion 16.4V pack

[Rocken]

I'm looking for plans to make a charger for my 16.4V Lithium ion battery packs. The packs are made up of (4 Panasonic CGR18650 3.6V 1400mA cells). The max charge rate per cell is 4.2V. The charger must be able to charge to peak and shut off. The Orbit charger sounds great but who has $300 to blow. Not me.

[Rocken]

My Bad the pack is 14.4V. I'm just glad I do not do my own taxes... (4@3.6V = 14.4V)

I'm looking for plans to make a charger for my 14.4V Lithium ion battery packs. The packs are made up of (4 Panasonic CGR18650 3.6V 1400mA cells). The max charge rate per cell is 4.2V. The charger must be able to charge to peak and shut off. The Orbit charger sounds great but who has $300 to blow. Not me.

[flyingbuddy]

You can get the Orbit for $180 at: http://www.eflightpacks.com/
You can find out a bit more about it at: http://www.mp.ttu.ee/risto/rc/electronics/index.htm
I just saw that you have read about charging and using Li-ion packs on the EZone.
See Eloquinn's posts here and on EZone.

[Rocken]

Yes the Orbit for $180. I'm not going to be able to swing $180 for some time. I wus hoping to find a link to a site wher I could build my own. I see hear and on the zone people using cell phone chargers to do the 2 cell pack. I have been looking but theres not a cell phone charger to do a 4 cell pack.

I'm sure the Orbit would be the last charger I would have to buy but I can't do it at this time.

I Thank You for your time..

[flyingbuddy]

My camcorder uses two 700mAh Li-Ion cells and the charger takes about three hours. See if you can put a wire in between the four cells and charge two at a time. I'll bet that Tony van Roon can or has come up with something to do the job. I wonder if the WES charger for Tadiran cells can be adapted to the higher charge cutoff of Li-Ion? My laptop has two sets of three cells for 10.8V, but the charge circuit is in the laptop, I believe.
Food for thought.

[Rocken]

Thanks John Skakel

I will be taking the 4 cell pack and making it in to 2, 2 cell packs for charging then hooking them up in series for flight. You and others have been a great help in giving me a good direction.

Thanks all for the E-mail and posts

[Rocken]

Ok then I guess I'm just going to have to start saving up for the Orbit V6S for $200 at http://www.eflightpacks.com . If you all come up with a better price let me know, Or if you know of a better charger. I will only want to buy 1 so it will have to do it all not only what I'm in to now but all. I keep hearing friends say how they should have bought a better charger. You know what I mean (If I had only knew about that one lol) I'm just not loaded, need to be smart or will not be able to keep these planes in the air and that is what it is all about.

Thanks

[mcrabby311]

I have been hoping for a more organized discussion on chargers for the electric flying. I have seen postings in this and other bulliten boards, but it hasnt beenn much help to me. Yes that Orbit chargers looks neat, but I wonder how good in the field. I recently purchased a FMA Super Nova, but the local hobby shop had to return it for me because the lcd screen was defective. Sure looks loaded with features though. And for $128.00 at the shop, I thought it was worth a try. If it doesnt work as they say, can always return it.

[Rocken]

I do think the Orbit V6S would a good field charger. You do not have to take the PC with you as I understand it. In fact you have to buy a power suply separate if you wish to use it in the home. So in all I will need to buy the Orbit $180, Software $20, Powersuply $60, for a grand totle of $260 + Tax and shipping.

I will rarely charge Lit-Ion in the field.
I have a 12V field charger for my nickel cad pac's.

As I understand it I cood charge my lit-ion pack's with my field charger but it wood not be safe and I wish to live a long life.

[flyingbuddy]

You could save the $60 for the power supply by using an old computer power supply. They usually have a 12 volt output of 3-5 amps. The power supply label should have the ratings and the pin diagram.
Best of all, you can usually get one for free!
For safety, it is best to keep your charge current to 70% or less than the power supply's rated output, for park flyers this is no problem. I no longer have any batteries that can take more than a 3 amp charge current.
Otherwise, Jameco has new switching power supplys for under $45. Here's one:
https://www.jameco.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=91&prrfnbr=3178&cgrfnbr=501&ctgys=
Click on the blue "Catalog Page" link to view more.
Some of these are the Mean Well brand of power supplys sold elsewhere for much more.

[ 09-04-2001: Message edited by: John Skakel ]