Powerlab PL-8 saving presets

[Bladecpnitro]

Hey folks, I finally got my PL 8 up and running and charged my first packs with it today.
So far I like it and the features it has. its not quite as easy to navigate as some chargers at first but once you learn how its setup its not an issue.

The question I have is how do I save presets?

I'd like to have one for my 6S packs, 4S packs and 2S Lifepo4 packs.

Right now I'm having to reset everything every time I fire up the charger.

[Gregor99]

If you have the USB connection, the software makes quick work of the this. If you don't have the USB connection, you can modify the presets on the charger. Press and hold the INC and DEC buttons. At "Preset Settings", hit enter to scroll through the settings and modify as desired.

[Bladecpnitro]

Thanks Greggor99, I figured there was a way to save the presets, I just haven't dove into it much while trying to get it ready to charge Saturday and fly some over the weekend. The PL 8 has quite a long manual.

I did figure out how to set it to DC power and 24V with 60 Amp limit for my DPS 1200 FB A power supplies. I only used 12V Saturday though as I need to get 10 Aug wire coming from the PS instead of the 12Aug I have now.

At 20.8 Amps on 6S for 2C they got warm quickly so I backed that down to 1C at 10.4 Amps and they stayed cool.

I did figure out how to check all the different pack info like voltage, mahs replaced, Fuel% , voltage per cell at start, IR, Fuel% at start of charge, all the stuff I want to know.

If I understand correctly only the Hi power preset will charge above 10 amps for safety reasons?

I didn't see any option to choose balance charge, charge, fast charge or storage charge like I'm accustomed to seeing with other chargers rather they are listed under separate presets which I guess its about the same thing.

I like that it starts up in preset mode though and if I can save a few presets like a like them and figure out how to do quick start, I'll be rocking.

I charged 4S, 6S and 2S Lifepo4 packs and all balanced perfectly.

[Gregor99]

The UI and overall approach to presets in the Powerlabs is very different than the typical 4-button charger. The presets ARE the main menu. Some have called it "Preset Driven".

Except for the small unbalanced preset (2 amp limit) all LiPo presets balance charge. This is for safety reasons. The balance cable is used not only for balancing but also for cell count detection, and error state conditions.

Preset 1, Accurate is tuned for highly accurate charging, and balancing. Preset 2, Fast still balances but has slightly relaxed balance requirements and a higher CV termination setting. Although I find it still balances quite well.

The high power preset is only LiPo preset that charges over 10 amps, for safety as well as tuning. The high power preset's settings are tuned for charge current between 10 and 4 amps.

Also note that the supply voltage setting should be set to 50% of your supply voltage.

[Bladecpnitro]

I found the Volt setting for the PS and set that to 11V or should it be 12?

That one single feature is a strong selling point for me. Its function is to protect the PL 8 by shutting it down should one power supply go bad in the middle of a charge. One power supply failing in the middle of a charge is something that ruins many other chargers and another reason I purchased a Powerlab. If one power supply fails it simply shuts down the PL 8 completely.

It seems that the way to save presets is to navigate first to the preset number where I wish to have a copy moved to. I entered empty slot #25 for starters, then press inc/dec to enter manage presets, scroll to #3 Hi Power and copy it. Automatically #3 saves in empty slot #25 so I can save a 4S setting for 5 Packs.

Is there a way to rename that preset with just the PL 8 UIF?


Does the PL 8 always auto select number of cells?
If so its a time saver I guess and one less thing to have to do when using several different cell counts.

[RedOctobyr]

Originally Posted by Bladecpnitro

I did figure out how to set it to DC power and 24V with 60 Amp limit for my DPS 1200 FB A power supplies. I only used 12V Saturday though as I need to get 10 Aug wire coming from the PS instead of the 12Aug I have now.

At 20.8 Amps on 6S for 2C they got warm quickly so I backed that down to 1C at 10.4 Amps and they stayed cool.

If your wires are thin, run higher voltage from your power supply, not lower.

You were putting in 524W, doing 20.8A into 6S.

Thinking about the PS->charger wiring, to flow 500W at 24V requires 21A. To flow 500W at 12V requires 42A. The wires will safely handle whatever voltage you could provide, their insulation is likely good to several hundred volts. But they heat up only based on the amps being carried, not explicitly watts or volts.

Set up your power supplies for 24V, not 12V, and your wires from the PS to charger will stay cooler, due to the reduced amps required. Whether 10AWG, 12AWG, or something else.

[Gregor99]

Inline.

Originally Posted by Bladecpnitro

I found the Volt setting for the PS and set that to 11V or should it be 12?

That one single feature is a strong selling point for me. Its function is to protect the PL 8 by shutting it down should one power supply go bad in the middle of a charge. One power supply failing in the middle of a charge is something that ruins many other chargers and another reason I purchased a Powerlab. If one power supply fails it simply shuts down the PL 8 completely.
There are actually two separate protection mechanism involved. The first monitors the supply voltage and will rapidly terminate the charge cycle if there are any sudden fluctuations or drops in the supply voltage. This is active all of the time and its operation is altered by the low supply voltage setting.

The second is the low supply voltage setting. When the supply voltage reaches the value in this setting, the charger will start throttling back charge current. This is mainly to protect supplies that don't have overcurrent or under voltage protection. FMA recommends a value of 50% of the supply voltage. For a 12v supply, I would use the minimum value of 10v.



It seems that the way to save presets is to navigate first to the preset number where I wish to have a copy moved to. I entered empty slot #25 for starters, then press inc/dec to enter manage presets, scroll to #3 Hi Power and copy it. Automatically #3 saves in empty slot #25 so I can save a 4S setting for 5 Packs.

Is there a way to rename that preset with just the PL 8 UIF?

The CCS (with the PC connection) will allow you to rename the preset as well as manage the presets. Highly recommended.


Does the PL 8 always auto select number of cells?

Its more an of an "auto detect". Yes it does that for all LiPo presets.

If so its a time saver I guess and one less thing to have to do when using several different cell counts.

[Bladecpnitro]

I guess I should change the low voltage to 10 long as I'm using only 12V for PS.

I have some 10 Aug Silicone wire on the way.


The 8S JST-XH Balance lead that comes with the Pl-8, is it fuse protected?

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by Bladecpnitro

The 8S JST-XH Balance lead that comes with the Pl-8, is it fuse protected?

Depends on which one you are referring to. There have been several different boards included, some by Revolectrix and some by the vendors.

[Bladecpnitro]

This guy came with my charger. I guess its not fused but they call it a safe parallel adapter for XH packs. I guess I took safe to mean it had a fuse or maybe it could be just a sacrificial board to save the charger.

[RedOctobyr]

It's fused. They are self-resetting polyfuses, under the black strips.

Sent using Tapatalk.

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by RedOctobyr

It's fused. They are self-resetting polyfuses, under the black strips.

Sent using Tapatalk.

Correct. The fuses are under the color changing black strips. They change to red if they are tripped.

[Bladecpnitro]

Awesome! With the board being fused as well as the main leads that come with the charger, the charger is fairly protected from a short that may come from the batteries as long as my 6X parallel charge and balance leads are plugged in behind these points.

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by Bladecpnitro

Awesome! With the board being fused as well as the main leads that come with the charger, the charger is fairly protected from a short that may come from the batteries as long as my 6X parallel charge and balance leads are plugged in behind these points.

The parallel connections to the packs should be fused individually. Having fuses between a parallel board and the charger only protects against less common issues. The SPA boards above can be daisy chained to provide a simple fused parallel solution. If you are only parallel charging 2 to 3 packs its with it add on a few more SPA boards. If you regularly parallel charge 4 to 6 packs, then a board like the MPA is a better fit.

[Bladecpnitro]

Yeah I may get a fused para board one day. I'd be happy to solder some inline fuses into all my parallel leads if I could find some that are stream line.
So many more things need my next 60 bucks right now. LOL!

So far I really like the PL 8 charger. For the first time ever, yesterday I charged both my 6S packs at 21 Amps on one 12V DPS 1200 power supply in 16 minutes and had time to fly the 550 before dark. Thats where the power really pays off, when you only have 30 to 45 minutes to charge and fly before dark.

[RedOctobyr]

FMA's MPA was probably the original fully-fused board, and definitely has nice features, which some competitors do not match (such as temperature-sensitive strips over the balance fuses, which turn red if a balance fuse trips).

I ended up buying V3 Safe Paraboards from BuddyRC.com. $26, can handle up to (4) packs each, up to 6S. You can daisy-chain multiple boards if you need more than 4 packs. They were a nice fit for my 308Duo, as they kept the cost more manageable, since I needed 2 of them. Still fully-fused on all wires, like the MPA. But they don't have the color-changing strips to show if a balance fuse has tripped. And they accept 4 packs, not 6, and up to 6S, not 8S. That was OK for my needs.

http://www.buddyrc.com/power-system/....html?limit=48

The extra speed goes beyond just convenience sometimes, as you said. My 10A charger would take an hour to charge my (3) 6S 4100s. And then another ~20-25 minutes if I also wanted to charge up my 450 packs. Now I put the big packs on one channel, the small packs on the other, and can have everything done in ~20 minutes. Or less, if I want to push them harder. This is really helpful when daylight is becoming an issue.

[Bladecpnitro]

What about cycling Lipos?

I 'd like to try cycling my 2S Lifepo4 1100 Mah packs to see exactly how many mahs I can get out of them before its unsafe to fly. Right now I'm putting back 417 Mahs in 4 flights and low voltage where charge begin was at 3.28V per cell.

[Gregor99]

For that scenario, I would not use the cycle mode. I would first setup a preset with the charge and discharge settings desirable for the scenario. The configure the termination voltage in the preset. The default discharge voltage for LiFeP04 is 2.8v per cell, which may be lower than you are targeting.

Then run a charge cycle. Manually start a discharge cycle and monitor the results. Its also very helpful to use the PC and chart the discharge. You can refer to the chart later and share it with others.

[Bladecpnitro]

How can I get the PL 8 to start charging with less button presses?
Never seen so many button presses to charge.

[Gregor99]

Configure all settings in the preset, including the packs in parallel. The enable quick start (on the options tab).

To start the charge, select the preset. Then press and hold the start button.

USB connection and CCS required.