PINNED ZXD2400 Old + New 0-60V 0-50A Power Supply & Charger

[Burgerman]

Yes I know thats why I kept asking you what power supply you were using and you ignored me over and over. When you told me I posted a LINK to show you what was killing yours.


And

Well he\and others have been using them for years.
People on this forum have a power supply from him. Both with no problems.

Again you have failed to grasp why its a problem with US and not with thousands of hobby batteries havent you? I mentioned it. Shirley mentioned it. And one or two problems I replied to on here were caused by it.

When it happens and you start telling us about errors when charging I will remind you of this post. Look up buck/boost transition....
The noise on the shirley charger is only relevant to low voltage stuff. And is because its a 60V power supply (actually 120) turned right down to logic circuit levels. It is irrelivant at the 20, 22, 24V we need to charge with the PL8. You seem to jump from one well known issue to the next like a frog. And then insist on arguing about stuff you dont understand.

[Burgerman]

Some advice. Ask the coolice guy to set your supplies to 24V not 25 or 26 before he ships. It will avoid the buck boost transition issues on lead or lithium we use on chairs.

You can do that yourself but I am not sure thats wise...

[steves1977uk]

Well he\and others have been using them for years.
People on this forum have a power supply from him. Both with no problems.

And the ZXD2400 was tested by a member and he found faults
As I said...no 2 power supply's are the same.

I have found out that Revolectrix sent out a warning to people with a Efuel power supply.
Revolectrix said to turn on the power supply first and let it settle for a while before connecting it to the PL8.

So that's why my PL8s went pop

25v is the voltage you want to avoid using. I have both the Efuel 1200w and a Coolice 2400w PSUs, while they work with the PL8 they do cause the buck-boost transition a lot while charging, especially if you let the pack get below 25v. I run my PL8 with the ZXD2400 at 30v and never had an issue.

See if Ian at Coolice can make a PSU that has a 27-30v range as this is ideal for the PL8, or 20-24v as BM said above.

Steve

[Burgerman]

27 isnt great as its going to charge fom the 25V to 28.8.

So ideally 24V or 29V to avoid the problem. And nothing in between. Some PL8s also dont like the upper limit 30V depending on how stable the supply.

I use adjustable suppliies because I can look at the battery , say a 4s lipo, and choose a voltage that doesent include that 12 to 17V range.

[expresso]

i been using ebay server units 24V for 5 years - i also have one adjustable also - i been using that one since i got it - other than it trips my breaker sometimes when i turn it on -2000Watts been fine also - i have yet any PSU i got used ebay or new fail so far - you do have to be sure you have both power plugs in good - i have 4 server PSU and one larger adjustable i got from China - all work fine - i do turn them on first before connect to the battery - - but the PL8 is always connected to the PSU - as one unit - turn it on and PL8 turns on -

[Burgerman]

24V is generally the safe zone. You have had several times where you got that buck boost error though because I remember trying to explain what the error was to you a few years back. Its not that they dont work. Just that the charger finds it hard to transition when the voltage crosses the boost/buck threshold.

And you had one that shot flames out of the rear when used at 12v. Those types of occurancies are almost always because of power supply stability caused a mosfet failure.

So dont be so sure!

[expresso]

yes i did have one time the issue your talking about - but it was with the lead chair and lithium combined - thats when i was asking about the adjustable units and whats the big deal - but with lithium alone - it was fine

the PL8 that shot flames out the rear was not running at 12V - it was a brand new PL8 - used it maybe twice and it blew up - but thats it - only one that happened that way - i have 4 of them - and one on the way once they start shipping again -

i cant be left without a charger and PSU now - - when i get a new PL8- i set it up with the presets and start using the new one - put the older one away in storage - this way i test the new one - and just leave it afterwards -

[Burgerman]

Are your supplies 24v? Or 25? I only ever get the buck boost thing now and again on y chairs with 25 to 28 volt. Above or below not ever happened. Lead or lithium.

Either way its nice to be able to tun it up or down a bit to avoid. Sometimes it will never happen even at 25 or 26v for many many charges.

[expresso]

I believe the server units r all 24 v. And I have one adjustable large unit form China. Seems fine. Nice big fan in the rear cools nicely. That one is 55A and 30v if I remember correctly. 2000 watts. If I knew better I would have gotten the 1500 watt. So it won't trip my breaker. I though it was because of my AC on the same line. But guess not. Got new ac 220v. Dedicated line and still trips it z
Sometimes when I turn it on.

[Burgerman]

It shouldnt. But some things have a high inrush current when turned on. To fill capacitors etc. You should power 1 at a time if its built from 2 server supplies.

Also a smaller power supply will not pull less from the wall. That depends only really on the rate that the PL8 takes power. If its set to say 30A charge then it takes the same power from the wall regardless of 1500, 2000 or 3000 watts supply.

Right now I have a 3000 watt shirley supply, and two 1200 watt bench supplies, (OUTPUT so around 10% greater input) plugged into a single wall outlet with an adapter on my bench. All 3 are on. Not an issue. Because I am only charging my hobby batteries at relatively low power with 3 chargers. 4 A and 12A etc.

[expresso]

it only happens with this one PSU - its not any of the server PSU - i am using now to charge the bounder again with PL8 - i feel it got a decent charge from it - using the chair today - could be it got a better balance at the end -

[terry2]

Yes I know thats why I kept asking you what power supply you were using and you ignored me over and over. When you told me I posted a LINK to show you what was killing yours.


And

Well he\and others have been using them for years.
People on this forum have a power supply from him. Both with no problems.

Again you have failed to grasp why its a problem with US and not with thousands of hobby batteries havent you? I mentioned it. Shirley mentioned it. And one or two problems I replied to on here were caused by it.

When it happens and you start telling us about errors when charging I will remind you of this post. Look up buck/boost transition....
The noise on the shirley charger is only relevant to low voltage stuff. And is because its a 60V power supply (actually 120) turned right down to logic circuit levels. It is irrelivant at the 20, 22, 24V we need to charge with the PL8. You seem to jump from one well known issue to the next like a frog. And then insist on arguing about stuff you dont understand.

When my first PL8 went I told you the brand of my power supply and you said nothing about it..
As I've said already. The ZXD2400 was ok for you. But not for other people on here.

And please stop going on a tangent.

[Burgerman]

Tangent? Dont understand. This is a ZXD thread. Take a look at the title. As for "never said anything", no not that time, and you wouldnt have listened because you seem to know more than me and argue about it being OK for others and swapping 10000000s of PL8 or power supplies or something. I never did fathom out what all that was supposed to mean. But I certainly have mentioned this supply being dodgy in the past.

Tell me. Who has a ZXD (and theres loads of us here), that ever had any problem with a PL8? Or the ZXD?

Anyway, I dont care what you get. Thats your business. I have been trying to explain WHY you keep killig PL8s and you dont want to know. But I am trying to explain a few things that are relevant. As in what causes the problems. You go on about luck a lot. Funny how those that know a little more appear to have much better luck isnt it! But you dont want to know.

If you dont care about waht causes charge errors, dead PL8s or other hobby chargers, and are not interested in what causes your problems then feel free to do as you want! Why bother replying here?

What do you mean by "tangent"?

[terry2]

Tangent? Dont understand. This is a ZXD thread. Take a look at the title. As for "never said anything", no not that time, and you wouldnt have listened because you seem to know more than me and argue about it being OK for others and swapping 10000000s of PL8 or power supplies or something. I never did fathom out what all that was supposed to mean. But I certainly have mentioned this supply being dodgy in the past.

Tell me. Who has a ZXD (and theres loads of us here), that ever had any problem with a PL8? Or the ZXD?

Anyway, I dont care what you get. Thats your business. I have been trying to explain WHY you keep killig PL8s and you dont want to know. But I am trying to explain a few things that are relevant. As in what causes the problems. You go on about luck a lot. Funny how those that know a little more appear to have much better luck isnt it! But you dont want to know.

If you dont care about waht causes charge errors, dead PL8s or other hobby chargers, and are not interested in what causes your problems then feel free to do as you want! Why bother replying here?

What do you mean by "tangent"?

You don't know what that means...
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictio ... -a-tangent

The only way to ensure it is new, is to do the modification ourselves, @£60

Ex-gooserider bought one and didn't hear his complaint.

No complaints as such... I did have a few issues that I mentioned at the time I did the conversion...

1. Unless you are VERY good at soldering / board rework, and have suitable equipment (i.e. a modern thermally controlled station) I would not recommend doing the conversion oneself. There are some rather fiddly connections and trace mods that need to be made by reaching UNDER the edge of a heat-sink....

2. IMNSHO The power output is NOT clean enough to power sensitive electronics - I put a scope on it and found a spike and ripple pulse at a relatively high frequency and voltage - especially at lower voltages. The spikes were several times the output and seemed to have enough power that I would be unwilling to put anything that didn't have it's own input power conditioning on it. No problem charging batteries, running a PL-8 (since it is designed to take input from cars it has some fairly good filtering of its own) or motors, but I wouldn't try setting it to 5V and using it to directly power an Arduino for instance. (I might be OK w/ powering it via the 9V transistor battery input since that goes through a voltage regulator....)

ex-Gooserider

Maybe you should read your own forum

[Burgerman]

I read that. And I understood it. And you obviously didnt.

At low voltages, sensitive electronics on the bench such as logic circuits etc it isnt suitable. Nor would you expect it to be.
A 60 or 120V 50A power supply isnt what its made for.

The PL8 at 24V is far from a low voltage, and isnt "sensitive electronics" such as logic circuits etc. And at 24V, the level of noise is better than my bench supplies!

For running the PL8 it is great. Also for charging batteries. Since it is also a 3 stage charger. And its adjustable. And 3000w capable. Thats what you wanted it for right? Its a million times better than many server supply as far as output quality is concerned. And I tested a few supplies... Its not intended as a lab quality electronics bench power supply with loads of filtering for testing small electronics. Those are usually 4 figures to buy and limited to 1 or 2 Amps.

The problem is that you dont understand what you are reading.

Or maybe you cant read? Or understand?
He also said:

No problem charging batteries, running a PL-8 ...

As we already knew.

And I know perfectly well what a tangent is. And a sine and a cosine... I fail to see what YOU mean by it? Maybe YOU dont know what a tangent means. Talking about POWER SUPPLIES and the ZXD on a thread called ZXD2400 modification guild 3Kw 0-60V 0-50A is as on topic as you can get. So WHAT TANGENT???

[terry2]

I will post pics when I get the new power supply.

But it won't be till next week as they are built to order and he said he tests them for 2 days.

No problem there as I don't have a PL8

[biscuit]

I have a Rapid 0-30V 30A power supply powering my PL8. It gets turned off and on once a day at least. Could this kill the power supply or shorten its life appreciably? Or indeed harm the PL8 itself? My 0-30V 10A power supply which I don't use much has a warning in its user manual not to turn it on with sensitive equipment connected, lest the equipment be damaged. So I was a bit concerned about the PL8, but decided it would have to not count as sensitive equipment because I do just leave it plugged into whichever power supply I'm using. But I'm mostly concerned about the Rapid as I have no idea how sturdy that brand is, I now use it daily and I got it already well used in its previous life (not sat in a warehouse used.)

[Burgerman]

https://www.rapidonline.com/rapid-sps-9 ... 0a-85-1832

This?
Should be OK according to specs. But without measuring and testing at turn on, nobody knows! Since its intended as a bench supply I think it will be OK.

[biscuit]

Yes, more or less, mine is an SPS9602 with no other letters, iirc. It is to late for cautious power-up testing, I've been using it for yonks. I'm still considering whether to invest in a ZXD2400 but I've got no enthusiasm for anything that needs attention before I can use it. At present I've got the Rapid and this thing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07512KQDW/re ... .EbE9H8DHW which I like as it is small and its current display is 2 decimal places, but it seems to me too flimsy to use daily. I got it for visiting the US, actually, because it has a dual input.
But I think the ZXD machine is also tiny and it's far more powerful than these, so I'm thinking will I need it sooner or later.

[steves1977uk]

The ZXD can run on 90-264v, so no problem using it in the US, although it's 25A max on 110v.

Steve

[shirley_hkg]

@daunjan ,

In changing to the new aluminum case, the stock output cables are too short. None goes to front too.

The easiest way is to follow BM.
Make new cables from output points to Anderson SB50, which can accept another set of wires that feed the power posts at front.

The Anderson pins you got can take 2 10awg wires.

For clamping the pins , put both wires "side by side" . Don't do one on top of the other, otherwise it will be hard to push the pin into housing.

I've feed another 12awg into it .

[Burgerman]

I hope you soldered that!

I used ORIGINAL zxd wires, into anderson. Just shortened. And added an extra silicone 12swg one for the front terminal into same anderson terminal. Not sure why you have 3?

[shirley_hkg]

No. Just fto show the pin can take multi wires.

Two wires are enough.

[shirley_hkg]

To deter high fan speed to kick in :

1,Change fan grill to increase air flow.
2,Put thermal compound on this heat sink. Here gets hot when output current goes below 1 amp.

[Gnomatic]

The ZXD can run on 90-264v, so no problem using it in the US, although it's 25A max on 110v.

Steve

Yes, actually outputs 30A+- here in the US.

[daunjan]

Awesome got that figured, do I have to upgrade the internals for 60v setup, looking at translated instructions says need to add light and fuses etc. Can I use 12awg to extent the back panel cables as original are short.

Also the front cable harness has red thick wire makes it difficult fit front panel, cable harness hits circuit board. Do these need extending?

[shirley_hkg]

Awesome got that figured, do I have to upgrade the internals for 60v setup, looking at translated instructions says need to add light and fuses etc. Can I use 12awg to extent the back panel cables as original are short.

Also the front cable harness has red thick wire makes it difficult fit front panel, cable harness hits circuit board. Do these need extending?

Power supply has gone through all the mods. Don't look at it now. Just relacate the output cables, and the IEC socket.

If you got 12awg wires only, put 3 12awg wires in the Anderson; 2 to the output , 1 to the front.

[shirley_hkg]

If you want the CC/CV indicator, do the follows.

Use the small PCB inside the coved.
Remove the yellow LED.
Tap two 8" leads here for LED that comes with the aluminium case.
Shrink wrap the PCB , and put it where you think appropiate.

[daunjan]

Thanks Shirley thats alot easier to understand, been stressing out all day how to do this once we started adding the shiny new case.

Ordering tools etc now, need soldering iron crimper be back at it couple days..

Just need to measure Anderson port get ready. On the lcd dash there thick red cable thats short will 12awg be overkill or use smaller gauge.

[shirley_hkg]

12awg is for Anderson. Bi wires for 50A.

Hair thin wires for LED.