Hey guys, I am getting ready to buy myself a much better charger. The little tiny one shot deal that came with my drone is not cutting it anymore, and I feel like over time I am going to be investing in many batteries so I might as well try to take care of them with a nice charging system. The charger I am buying comes with some charging leads. Basically a red and black plug (to charger) attached to a red and black wire that attaches to an XT60 plug (many others as well). Since I know how to solder and already own the stuff I would like try to make my own, a few more. Is there a way to figure out what AWG size wire I should buy? My batteries have 14AWG wire, would I be safe to build the charge leads out of 14AWG? I cannot read what size comes with the charger (i get 2) and it is not in the manual. I would like a couple more of these because I can charge four batteries at the same time. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
Soldering connections
- Thread starter merdok
- Start date
Jtrjr
Well-Known Member
Not sure what charger you bought but these batteries have to be balance charged. Which requires connecting the XT lead and the balance lead. Couldn't you just get a parallel Board? Like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UBOAXEI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Jerry
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UBOAXEI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Jerry
Jtrjr
Well-Known Member
This is the setup I bought. I usually charge 3-4 batteries at a time.
https://www.amazon.com/SKYRC-iMAX-P...UTF8&qid=1482863283&sr=8-4&keywords=imax+b6ac
Added the Parallel Board
https://www.amazon.com/XT60-Plug-Pa...38&sr=8-2&keywords=Parallel+Balanced+Charging
and a few Lipo testers
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SCJOITA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's a relatively inexpensive setup and works fine for my use.
Jerry
https://www.amazon.com/SKYRC-iMAX-P...UTF8&qid=1482863283&sr=8-4&keywords=imax+b6ac
Added the Parallel Board
https://www.amazon.com/XT60-Plug-Pa...38&sr=8-2&keywords=Parallel+Balanced+Charging
and a few Lipo testers
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SCJOITA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's a relatively inexpensive setup and works fine for my use.
Jerry
Jtrjr
Well-Known Member
And I got one of these for my vehicles.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UFERZKO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Jerry
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UFERZKO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Jerry
Yeah, I could have went with the above charger as I think that is a fine set up. I received some Christmas cash, my birthday was yesterday, and I received B-day cash. There are several things that I could have bought but after watching several videos on the Venom Pro Quad Charger I went that route, I just really wanted that one. I think it will do everything I need it to do for a very long time. It comes with many plug adapters but only two with the XT60 connectors so I thought I would build some more. They sell them as well, I just thought it would be neat to build some. Thanks guys.
I got the charger at a little bit of a discount as well, $24 off. Not much but every little bit helps.
Jtrjr
Well-Known Member
Wow! Yeah, that's a sweet looking charger! Let me know how it works out in case I want to do an upgrade down the road.
Jerry
Jerry
Reaper71
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The charger I was looking into was from Hobby King
Turnigy TQ4 it charges upto 6s and 4 at a time...for 73.00
it does need a power supply unit also from turnigy reaktor for 53.00 so for 120 or so not to bad plus add some boards and you could charge upto 8
Mark...
Turnigy TQ4 it charges upto 6s and 4 at a time...for 73.00
it does need a power supply unit also from turnigy reaktor for 53.00 so for 120 or so not to bad plus add some boards and you could charge upto 8
Mark...
Nice Mark, sounds like a nice way to go. I spent more than I thought I was going to but I just kept coming back to this charger. Christmas cash and my birthday cash was burning a hole in my pocket so I said why not. I bought the Venom Pro Quad Charger, it should be here tomorrow.
QuadCopter102
Active Member
You can also find on eBay et al - a $10 multiple battery charging board. Uisng this also saves the connections on your battery charger - just plug this in and leave it there. Its also easy enough to thake teh ancient Deans off and solder on an XT60 - or simply buy a Deans to XT60 connector - $2 - $4 off eBay!
Reaper71
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I just ordered the same type of board and a Tenergy TT6080AC 80W balance charger from Amazon
The two pieces together were $68 and some change. The charger is also touch screen and AC/DC
As for the Deans connectors I remember when those were the GO TO connector years ago! Kinda shows our age lol.
Mark...
The two pieces together were $68 and some change. The charger is also touch screen and AC/DC
As for the Deans connectors I remember when those were the GO TO connector years ago! Kinda shows our age lol.
Mark...
QuadCopter102
Active Member
Just coming up to my 18 month involved in RC - my "ancient" comment is a reflection of what others WHO have been around a long time describe the Deans as. Lets face it - its outdated and only kept alive by the Chinese sellers on eBay - who likely have huge overstocks made at $5 a thousand and stacked up somewhere. If you think my stock pricing is way out.....
Check this FlyColour ESC.... on Alibaba - minimum order $300 they are $1 each. They go down in price the more you buy! They also get warm-hot fast and some of the set I got click like a cricket!
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Reaper71
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I agree..the Deans connectors I started using those 10-12 yrs ago when I raced 1/8 scale buggies.
QuadCopter102
Active Member
300 @ us$1 each??? I was tempted to buy a batch and try to sell them on Gumtree - handy for locals instead of waiting 3-4 weeks for ebay to deliver.
BUT - I purchased 4 from one seller at au$4.99each and picked up another four one at a time from other sellers... trying not to get any same batch stuff. I think they are junk basically, cannot be updated and can be "setup" using the TX and counting bleeps and Bleeeeps! They get warm with just the USB connected...and just testing in a small garden with no chance to get any speed on... they get more than warm. I suppose a couple of 6 - 8 minute flights and let them cool off my be OK.
I am still trying to get them running OK, although at least 2 seem to have a cricket living inside. I can hear the clicking and if I "take its pulse with a finger on... I can actually feel it jerk, As there are no moving parts in any ESC, I am guessing its a burst of current running at the capacitor - which I have never heard of before!
I have 20 Emax 30A SimonK and 8 Emax 12A. They all work well although, the odd one seems to get a bit warm occasionally.
