Portable charging station - The Build Starts

[whippo]

pctomlin -- Could you tell me how much wire you used in your setup rough estimate? Thanks!

[pctomlin]

I purchased five feet of each in red and black/12 awg and 10 awg. I did not have much left at the end of the build. EPBUDDY has the best price for stranded silicone wire on the internet that I have found.

[badfrog]

Originally Posted by pctomlin

Very nice case, I like it a lot. Like I said earlier, you are only limited by your imagination and you let yours run wild. Where did you get the diamond plate from?

Thanks! it was inspired by one I saw at a fun fly...
Diamond plate from lowes...

[badfrog]

Originally Posted by backburner1955

They unscrew, but will take a 10ga on the pass through.

where did you get them???

[pctomlin]

Bryan got his binding posts from Radio Shack.

[badfrog]

hmmm..
my radio shack did not have them )or males)... I ordered online.

http://www.newark.com/johnson-emerso..._merch=Popular Banana Plug And Socket Connectors&MER=PPSO_N_P_BananaPlugAndSocket_None

[whippo]

Is anyone concerned about using binding posts that are rated for 10amps when the draw through a 306/3010 is a little over 40amps? Has anyone checked temps

[pctomlin]

That is something to look at when purchasing binding posts. I did my research and made sure the ones I used were rated for 30 amps.

[lazor 22]

Progressive RC now has all the material you need to make your on case!

[ShaneJourdan]

pctomlin,

Can you explain how you managed OVP and turning on the 6650 via the pin outs?

Did you have to bias the voltage control? Did you use a switch to control pin outs?

Thanks in advance.

[ShaneJourdan]

Oh one more question. If I understand correctly the DC floats so does this mean I can leave both AC grounds connected to their cases?

[badfrog]

Originally Posted by pctomlin

I just finished the rough wiring for the PSUs. Soldering the 10awg wires to the spade lugs on the power supplies as fun. Once I figured out that the tip on my 140 watt soldering iron was bad and replaced it things went much smoother. Here are some pictures of the completed work.







The next big project is to finish drawing the cutting template for the PSU faces on my computer, make a cutting template and lay out the cut lines on the end of the toolbox and then install the PSUs inside the toolbox. The final step will be to make a tray for the chargers to sit on and then install the binding posts and wire them up to the PSUs.

What did you do about the grounding issue with these power supplies?

[pctomlin]

Grounding Question:
Dell isolated the AC side from the DC side, they do not share the earth ground. There is no modifications needed to the PSU to operate them in series, the cases can touch.

Turning the power supplies on:
I used a switch to control turning on the power supplies. I wanted to be able to turn on the 12V supply first and then turn on the 24V supply last. I reverse the the order for shutting them down. If I just want to use the 12V supply I only have to plug in the 1st PSU and then turn it on.

I wired the three PSU "power on" pins to a switch so I can control the power up of the 12V rails on the PSUs. A male servo connector fit on the three pins perfectly. I used 22 awg servo wire to run to the switch (I have the stuff to make my own servo leads). Of the three pins that need to be jumpered together to get this to happen, I connected the two outer pins to one leg of my switch and the center pin (ground) to the other leg of the switch to complete the circuit and power up the 12V rail when turned on.



Here is how I power up my charging box:

I plug in both PSUs to the AC supply and power up the AC side of the PSUs. They are now sitting at idle with no DC output.


They are not putting out any DC voltage yet (switches are still turned off).


I have the 12V PSU switch mounted next to the 12V binding posts.


12V switch turned on, 12V PSU now suppling DC voltage.


I have the 24V PSU switch mounted next to the 24V binding posts.


12V switch turned on, 24V switch turned on. 12V PSU/24V PSU now suppling DC voltage.



As for OVP, I have nothing installed to control voltage, they output 12V. You can set them up to adjust the output voltage, but they cannot be adjusted over 13V output. The OVP is set to shut them down at 13.2V.

[ShaneJourdan]

Paul, Thank you so much this was what I needed sorted. Thanks for sharing.

[badfrog]

I LIKE the AC/DC separation... the next one I build will be with these PS.

Nice job!

[whippo]

Big thanks to pctomlin I basically would have not done this build without his posts, I would also like to thank DoctorJ, on his use of the lowes toolbox and top. I can say this was a pretty indepth project from getting everything I needed to finish. I did a couple things that I have not seen done... 1. I found the connectors that would be used on the back plane of the server and soldered to those instead straight to the heatsinks. I did this incase one dies I didn't want to have to solder again just take out some screws put a new one in and you are ready. 2. I didn't open the one end of the box completely up I cut 6 holes 4 of which are for the fans and 2 for the plugs. I found some 60mm covers that fit perfect minus a little plastic trimming around the 2 sides that butt to the outlets. I am going to put switches in but I did something that I think is cool for that and just don't have them yet... I will update once those are in. I am also going to do something with the plexi top just don't have that all worked out, a guy in our club has a laser cutter/ingraver all you gaui fans look out for what I do there .

Over all I am very happy I have 2 sets of 24v and 2 sets of 12v outlets for my 306b & tp610c, along with anyone that is looking to give their charger some power at the field or indoor. I did go with some high end banana jacks from DigiKey rated at 30A I couldn't find anything that was near a solid as these locally and we have a Frys in town along with high end audio most of them just said they are standard and after getting these I am glad I did. here is a link to them http://search.digikey.com/scripts/Dk...ds=501-1316-ND I used 8AWG on all 24v connections along with the mains on the 12v till I split then I used 10AWG. Bought the wire from HobbyKing and EPbuddy... I would recommend using EPBuddy when you figure the final cost its so cheap and you get it within 3 days really great service by them look for their balance boards too very solid designs! While I enjoyed the build I am really happy its over cutting that tool box was some detail cutting, at times I questioned why I didn't just cut two big holes!

[ShaneJourdan]

Looks familiar, nice job!

[whippo]

Copied the wrong name
DoctorJ is where I got the inspiration for the lowes box and top sorry brother

[ShaneJourdan]

Originally Posted by whippo

Copied the wrong name
DoctorJ is where I got the inspiration for the lowes box and top sorry brother

No worries at all,

[pctomlin]

Hey Whippo,
Great job with the charging box. I love seeing how other people take what they see and change/modify it to their needs. I never stop being amazed at the great ideas that come up. I searched for the back plane connectors but never could find them. Where did you get them from?