help charging 7s. SPA turning red

[B.Ewing]

guys im attempting to charge my first 7s pack and ive got problems. I bought a pulse 14s 5000mah stick. The packs are split to 2 7s. When i hook 1 balance plug to the spa, one of the polyfuses immediately turns red. I realize that only 1 pack should go to the SPA at a time, wish i would have known that before i was ready to go to start charging; point is tho, im doing it 1 at a time and having no luck. I tried both packs. I believe i have the polarity correct...it seems pretty self explanatory. Any common mistakes that i could have made? thanks

[B.Ewing]

http://static.rcgroups.net/forums/at...ulty-cable.jpg

problem solved. different cables for different boards

[B.Ewing]

if anyone knows...can i parallel off the 1 spa board or is it necessary to daisy chain?

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by B.Ewing

if anyone knows...can i parallel off the 1 spa board or is it necessary to daisy chain?

They are designed to be daisy chained.

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by B.Ewing

http://static.rcgroups.net/forums/at...ulty-cable.jpg

problem solved. different cables for different boards

Actually its not that the pin need to be moved, its that the all the pins were installed in reverse order into the white JST-XH connector. In your image, the red wire should be toward the bottom, not on top.

Depending on where you got the cable, this pin configuration may be normal. Some parallel boards use the pinout as in the right picture while others use the more standard JST-XH wiring layout. The SPA, the MPA and the ProgressiveRC modular boards all use the standard JST-XH wiring pinout on the end that goes to the parallel board.

[B.Ewing]

Thanks for the reply. I did parallel off the spa board for 2 packs and it worked...but I'd rather do it the proper way. I can find additional spa boards for sale but I don't see the cable that you would daisy chain them with. Any chance u can share where to find that item?

[Gregor99]

http://www.usastore.revolectrix.com/...2/MPA-XH-X10_8

This special cable is required to interface the Revolectrix MPA to other brand, 10 cell chargers having XH compatible balance connectors. The cable is 12 inches long, and includes a JST XH on one end and a JST XH connector on the other end. This is also the cable required to daisy-chain multiple MPA's.

[B.Ewing]

thanks!!

[eddiscus]

Good thing for the poly fuse on the board. It probably saved the balance lead and possible charger damage.

If you are referring to parallel pack charging. I have charged up to four 6S 5000mah packs at one time off of one board. Just make sure that the packs are at the same discharged level. You do not want to be connecting 2 packs on the same board that are at significantly different levels of discharge. That would also hold true if you are daisy chaining 2 boards together. Even though you would have one pack on each board it is still a parallel charge.

With parallel charging on the SPA board connect the balance leads to the board first if the poly fuses do not turn black then the packs are close enough in voltage to parallel charge. Then connect the battery leads to the SPA board and charge.

I prefer to check the packs with one of the generic battery checkers before connecting to the SPA board. I am not sure how many times the poly fuses can handle being tripped and reset.

Be safe. Remember never leave charging packs unattended.

[zomaar]

I do the opposite I always connect the battery leads first, especially to save the balance lead and polyfuses if the packs differ too much.
The reasoning being, that all the batteries will first equalize over the battery leads

Normally I have them around the same voltage if I parrallell load.
If in the rare case they are there is a pack which is way off. I attach with the battery leads first all the 'equal' packs then as the last pack I attach the one with a very different capacity difference.

If I have a high pack , I attach all the low packs , then I attach the high pack => the high pack will charge all the low packs in parallell so the charge current should be reasonable.

If I have a low pack I do the reverse, seeking the closest pack and parrallel connect them, ( if its really different , adding packs as we go until they are more or less even )

I attach batt checkers on the balance lead to keep an eye on the percentage changes.