did I screw up bying a Hyperion EOS 1420i NET3 charger?

[matthewcornell]

Originally Posted by PHANTMXR6

Correct, but I wouldn't call a 1420 a high output charger.
Something capable of 1000w+ is what I'd call high powered.

Compared to my FMA, it *is* high powered ;-)

[matthewcornell]

Originally Posted by Mixmaster Pilot

To really take advantage of high power chargers you can charge many packs in parellel and really amp up the power while still only charging each individual pack at 2C

I got the parallel "squid" harnesses this week and used them to charge four in parallel - works great!

[matthewcornell]

I feel like I've wrapped my head around the charger, and I'm really enjoying charging in parallel (the harnesses from http://progressiverc.com/ arrived this week). Question: I have both JST-XH and TP batteries, and I'd like to connect the two different adapter boards to each port ("A" and "B") and select the appropriate one in the different memory locations, but I don't see how to do it. Is this possible? I found a menu that let me select a port ("1" or "2"), but when I selected 2 it went back to 1. Thanks!

[matthewcornell]

Originally Posted by electronjunkie

Dude this charger is awesome. I bought one 2 months ago and I love it. It tells you the internal resistance, voltage on each cell, etc.

Do you mind telling me briefly how you measure the IR?

[electronjunkie]

It shows it under the data screen while you are charging. It takes it a few minutes if you just started charging. It must be done while it is charging. Sorry if this sounds redundant.

[matthewcornell]

Originally Posted by electronjunkie

It shows it under the data screen while you are charging. It takes it a few minutes if you just started charging. It must be done while it is charging. Sorry if this sounds redundant.

Thanks! I won't be able to get out for a few days (at least). Is it dumb to use the charger to discharge and then recharge just to get a resistance reading?

[electronjunkie]

Originally Posted by matthewcornell

Thanks! I won't be able to get out for a few days (at least). Is it dumb to use the charger to discharge and then recharge just to get a resistance reading?

It's fine. It may do it for discharge too. I have not tried.

It is a bad idea to leave LiPo's charged. Supposedly it hurts their life span if they stay charged for many days or several weeks.

[BHChieftain]

I have used the Hyperion Duo3 charger for years-- I think it is an awesome unit. I hook mine up to a 15v/23A power supply, and charge eight lipos in // (four off each port), using the Progressive // leads and balance taps. I've tried the balance boards but much prefer the leads/taps.

When I'm done flying or boating, I recharge all of my packs using "STORE" mode. That way, when it is time to fly/boat again, my charge time for 8 packs at 1C is about 30min...nice...

For kicks I took my packs which I have been // charging for nearly a year and checked them all independently for balance-- they were all spot on.

Chief

[Wahoo]

I've had one of these chargers for almost a year, and it works well. I also have a FMA Powerlab 8 that is great. I did have a FMA cell pro 10, but I smoked it when I hooked it up to the 24V PS instead of the 12V one. When I replaced the cell pro 10s I wanted a charger that could handle a 24V PS. The 1420 does and has a reasonably high wattage output. It was also the least expensive 24V 500W charger I could find.

[MpVpRb]

I have a Hyperion..good charger

Yes, you need to set it up

Setup is easier with the computer interface, but still a bit of a pain

Once set up, it works really well

No, you did not screw up

[matthewcornell]

My only 'big' mistake when buying this setup was not understanding that the Hyperion needs 24v to enable the full 500W power. I have a 12v server PS, and I can't get past 2C on my four 6S batts. Oh well, the PS was $50, and I can always upgrade if it bothers me. FYI

[Chris.C]

You are right that it is your power supply. Even though 1420i is a 500W charger, it is cap at 20A charging so it is better to have a 24V PS.

I use my 1420i for more than 2 years now. It has been serving me flawlessly. I connect one 1420i and one 730i into a 24V/50A power supply. Both charge my Hyperion 6S/5000mAH packs in roughly 15 minutes at 20A so my 12S pack can be ready in 15 minutes.

I charge my packs only at the field and 15 minutes is good enough for me to take a rest between flights.

With the latest firmware, you can not only see the IR of your packs, but also can set the charger to stop at % from 95 to 100%. I set mine to 98%. Store charge can be set to 50% which equivalent to 3.83V per cell in my pack. Most of the time that it hits 98%, the cells are balanced.

[matthewcornell]

Thanks so much for the info. Question: what exactly is the internal resistance measuring? I'm guessing for the whole pack, which would mean I need to divide for the cell count. But if I'm charging in parallel? Also, what power supply are you using?

Originally Posted by Chris.C

You are right that it is your power supply. Even though 1420i is a 500W charger, it is cap at 20A charging so it is better to have a 24V PS.

I use my 1420i for more than 2 years now. It has been serving me flawlessly. I connect one 1420i and one 730i into a 24V/50A power supply. Both charge my Hyperion 6S/5000mAH packs in15 minutes at 20A so my 12S pack can be ready in 15 minutes.

I charge my packs only at the field and 15 minutes is good enough for me to take a rest between flights.

With the latest firmware, you can not only see the IR of your packs, but also can set the charger to stop at % from 95 to 100%. I set mine to 98%. Store charge can be set to 50% which equivalent to 3.83V per cell in my pack. Most of the time that it hits 98%, the cells are balanced.

[electronjunkie]

I know you weren't talking to me but... internal resistance is the equivalent internal resistance of the batteries in series with the (open circuit) theoretically infinite amperage voltage.

If you short a hypothetical (college for pretend) battery out then a current of 100 amps (made up value) flows through the wire (assume 0.1 ohm wire resistance for simplicity). If the battery originally measured 12.1 volts open circuit AKA with a multi-meter then the internal resistance of the battery is: Resistance in ohms = Voltage/Current or 0.121 ohms Then we subtract the resistance of the wire of 0.1 ohms to get 21 milliohms

BTW that means your battery is probably ok

The real way IR is calculated is Vo-Vc/Io-Ic or when they are charging they measure voltage and current and when they are not charging they measure again and get the IR that way.

The above info may contain inaccurate information or pure fiction but I think it is about right so I am hitting submit.

Originally Posted by matthewcornell

Thanks so much for the info. Question: what exactly is the internal resistance measuring? I'm guessing for the whole pack, which would mean I need to divide for the cell count. But if I'm charging in parallel? Also, what power supply are you using?

[Chris.C]

I think the IR has been explained. For me, it is a nice to have feature for the charger to show the IR. My 1420 shows the IR for each cell in the pack. I just look at it once in a while. If the IR of all the cells are close then it should be fine but more important to get the cells balanced, I think.

I use efuel power supply. Although it says 60A output, it is 50A actually without trigger a fault. Good enough for me.

[Bearclaw]

Originally Posted by matthewcornell

My only 'big' mistake when buying this setup was not understanding that the Hyperion needs 24v to enable the full 500W power. I have a 12v server PS, and I can't get past 2C on my four 6S batts. Oh well, the PS was $50, and I can always upgrade if it bothers me. FYI

Make sure under user setup that you have selected more than a 2C charge rate. Pick something like 6C. If you don't increase this in the User Setup, you will be limited on all batteries for the max C rate that you have set. You will be unable to increase this more than the 2C. This is a safety feature.

[electronjunkie]

Originally Posted by Chris.C

You are right that it is your power supply. Even though 1420i is a 500W charger, it is cap at 20A charging so it is better to have a 24V PS.

I use my 1420i for more than 2 years now. It has been serving me flawlessly. I connect one 1420i and one 730i into a 24V/50A power supply. Both charge my Hyperion 6S/5000mAH packs in roughly 15 minutes at 20A so my 12S pack can be ready in 15 minutes.

I charge my packs only at the field and 15 minutes is good enough for me to take a rest between flights.

With the latest firmware, you can not only see the IR of your packs, but also can set the charger to stop at % from 95 to 100%. I set mine to 98%. Store charge can be set to 50% which equivalent to 3.83V per cell in my pack. Most of the time that it hits 98%, the cells are balanced.

I just went into the user setup menu for my 1420i and increased the 20A max setting for the power supply to 50A setting (my power supply can handle 100's of amps). I can now charge my 6S 3000 packs off of 12V at a little over 2C (I don't like going much higher than 2C).

I usually have 24V available from my deep cycles but this is nice to have if I don't have my truck.

[matthewcornell]

Originally Posted by Bearclaw

Make sure under user setup that you have selected more than a 2C charge rate. Pick something like 6C. If you don't increase this in the User Setup, you will be limited on all batteries for the max C rate that you have set. You will be unable to increase this more than the 2C. This is a safety feature.

Thanks. Yes, I had done this, but the unit is ultimately limited by the input voltage.