Portable charging station

[BrianTooms]

Anybody make a portable charging station?

The helicopter guys have some pretty fancy setups for high powered chargers there is even a store that sells Pelican-like cases and accessories to make them. You can see some of the setups on the helifreak and wattsflyer forums.

I just picked up the Cellpro PowerLab 6, Multi-Chemistry, 1000W Battery Workstation it's a pretty amazing charger like it's big brother the PL8. Some of the things it can do (I'm still learning) regenerative discharge charges your Pb battery while you discharge to store your lipo's, you can monitor and change settings from a PC, low voltage restore mode for over-discharged packs, and cold weather mode.

It can parallel charge at up to 40 amps with the appropriate power supply and they can be daisy-chained together.

I run it from a 24v 47amp power supply and they both can easily fit in a Rubbermaid toolbox with room for my old chargers, cables, battery meters and wattmeter. At the pond power can be from 12 or 24 volt starter batteries.

There is lots of info on the net about making high amp power supplies from old computer server supplies but my DIY attempt ended in a puff of smoke so I went with a ready made unit.

 

[Peter Gise]

One of the main problems is having enough Ah at the pond. Unless you use a car battery you won't have enough juice for more than a few packs. Once you start to loose voltage on the lead-acid battery the charger will give you a "low input voltage" message and you're done. Most guys who stay for the day use a small generator...JMHO...

 

[Kris Flynn]

Hey Brian,

That is sweet! Dave Kingston has a sweet setup for his chargers (6 X Hyperions) but it plugs into mains power at the lake (generator) not a battery.

I plan on putting a 120A/H deep cycle AGM in my trailor to charge a few packs at the lake, then one day get a solar panel to help keep it topped up during the day.

Cheers

Kris

 

[Greg Moss]

FWIW:

If you need charging resources that you just can't get from a 12 volt input at the lake, try a DC/AC inverter running off any 12V source. If you get an efficient model of the right current rating, you can use all your mains powered accessories, chargers, etc. In the past these were not reliable or efficient, but now there's some very good cheap units available. Saves on having a generator, so long as you don't need more ergs than your battery source can supply without top up.

Solar cell float is a great idea Kris.

 

[BrianTooms]

Hey Brian,

That is sweet! Dave Kingston has a sweet setup for his chargers (6 X Hyperions) but it plugs into mains power at the lake (generator) not a battery.

I plan on putting a 120A/H deep cycle AGM in my trailor to charge a few packs at the lake, then one day get a solar panel to help keep it topped up during the day.

Cheers

Kris

Thanks Kris that's pretty much what I'm planning too, so far I'm not running anything over 4s and most of the batteries will be charged at home so a deep cycle will handle a few packs. I have a solar panel and regulator left over from camping that i can use as well.

There are at least 2 of us at the pond and we all bring full size starter batteries for nitro boats so we should be able to use 2 for 24v if needed.

They'll be charged pretty quick if I'm brave enough to try an 8C charge. :blink:

 

[Paul Traufler]

Here is what I "upgraded" to. 24V at 47A, or 12V at 47A all from two server power supplies and a Hyperion 1420 charger. (The charger can do 550W or about 20A but I have a 720 charger that can do 10A and together they can really juice up the packs! Yes it is from 120VAC "house current" plug in. We are lucky we have power lakeside in Huntsville!

Paul

 

[BrianTooms]

Here is what I "upgraded" to. 24V at 47A, or 12V at 47A all from two server power supplies and a Hyperion 1420 charger. (The charger can do 550W or about 20A but I have a 720 charger that can do 10A and together they can really juice up the packs! Yes it is from 120VAC "house current" plug in. We are lucky we have power lakeside in Huntsville!

Paul

Nice charger Paul and a nice neat case.

 

[Paul Traufler]

Thanks Brian, the case was from Home Depot, pretty low cost also. I think it was under $25. Ok it is not super HD to stand on it but it will work for the charger just fine. The real pain was that 1/4 Lexan, I do not like working with that stuff, but it did make a cool base for the charger.

Paul

 

[David Kingston]

Here is some pics of my new charger box. (in gallery)

pics were taken from phone so not the best but you should get the idea

Its a bit different from the last time Kris has seen it. Use to be 1200mm long and a pain in the butt to lug around.

Now its 700mm long and double stacked chargers. I have 2x switchmode 40amp power supplies under neath them. All lined with carpet. Just a ply wood box sealed and then painted with the base colour of my boats then 2pac cleared. Then i added stainless stripping to protect the corners. Chargers are only held in by velcro on wooden blocks as supports. Its super functional and works a treat. I use mains power - via generator or from the wall. I do have the option to charge off a battery but as 90% of the time i have my trailer with generator in there its just easier to run it from there when at the lake rather than from a 12v source.

Besides i have a nice fridge freezer in my setup now and its great to keep lunch cold when at the dam and a beer for the end of the day...

Dave

 

[David Kingston]

link

http://www.intlwaters.com/index.php?app=gallery&image=8221

 

[BrianTooms]

Very cool that's some serious charging.

 

[TinoAlmanza]

http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/showthread.php?18798-JRS-Innovations-FE-POWER-STATION&highlight=

Joe gets a little carried away sometimes.

 

[BrianTooms]

That's slick, I'd like to see what Joe could do with something like one of the ProgressiveRC cases. I'm sure it would be amazing maybe to match the battery carrier?