PL 8 - Q and A section - How to Set up - Use etc,

[Schultz5905]

I have a jazzy select 6 and am building a 3p 8s battery using headway 15ah with 10c constant load availability. I am using two blade server supplys 24 volt 57v amp and a pl8v2 Charger.

[Burgerman]

You need this, but change the termination current from 100 to 150mA.

It had U1 batteries? You will double its range. And a little more.

Attached - remove .zip

[robert97]

PL8 with FUIM3

are most pl8 users connecting to PC/CCS software with the FUIM3?
do most people have the fragile serial/usb wires?
has anyone tried fitting the FUIM3 inside?
or hot melting to the pl8 case?

[shirley_hkg]

Haven't heard any member here broke his FUIM3 yet, though its a must-get tools .

[Gnomatic]

I have one with each of my chargers and both work fine, no problems.

[ex-Gooserider]

It does seem to me like a good idea to glue the FUIM board down to the charger with a bit of double stick foam tape... Thats what I've done... I also anchor the USB cable I plug into the FUIM so that any force gets applied to the cable, not the USB connector... Construction on the FUIM is pretty good, so I don't expect it to be unusually damage prone, but I feel better giving it as much protection as I can....

ex-Gooserider

[expresso]

I have my PL 8 set to 50A -

what does everyone else use there charger at ?

would setting it to 60A max setting on the PL 8 do any harm or stress it ?

[Burgerman]

You are talking about input power?

Look at it like this. Set the input Amps to 20A for the following.

If you charge a 24V battery at say 28.8V and at 10A than the POWER you are putting OUT is 10A X 28.8V = 288 Watts. Its the Watts that matter here. Thats the measure of total power.

So if your power supply was set at say 20Volts output, and the charger needed this 288 Watts, (plus a bit wasted as heat that we will ignore) you would need to supply it this 20V x 14.4 Amps, because thats the same number of total Watts.
If however your power supply was set to only 10V, it would then need some 28.8Amps of current to equal that 288 Watts! (10V x 28.8A = 288W the same amount of power.

So your power supply input set to 20A isnt enough and so you would need to increase it to charge at the same rate. But if that exceeds the power supply capability you cant. The 50A you have it set to limits the max Amps the charger will take from your power supply to 50A. There are times when this may limit the charge current to your battery. But not at your 24V level. But it might on your 12V supply.

[expresso]

yes i realize that with the 12V PSU - it wont allow it to go past 19A max charge -

is it Ok to set the PL 8 to its max setting 60A and just leave it - if it needs it it just pulls more from the PSU

what harm will happen if i left it at 60A -

its been at 50A the whole time - i am just curious now to know if its ok to set it to 60A and thats it ?

[expresso]

the PL 8 i am using now with just a 12V PSU -

if i set it to 60A - it will just be able to charge at a faster rate ? work the PSU more - but its safe - for both charger and PSU this way ?

this set up is charging a chair with lead and ADD ON - on Quickiees chair - my friend - at 15A charge - its fine - but takes a while - in case she wanted to charge faster - i need to max the PL 8 to 60A ?

i just want to be sure its safe for the charger and PSU - but at least the charger

[steves1977uk]

A 24v PSU would be less stressful for the PL8's internals, but a 12v PSU is still ok to use at low charging rates (15A or less).

Steve

[Burgerman]

Setting to 60A will let it charge a 24v chair faster. By 20% approx. But its a lot of amps... And its going to generate more heat. I charge hobby lipos at 40A at the flying field flat out from my running car. About 14.4V. And it pulls 60A from the battery? It hasnt failed so far! But its unkind.

[expresso]

OK - so its best to leave it alone the way i have mines set now - i have them all on 50A the PL 8

i dont have a problem with it even when i charged at 35A - just a bit louder but worked fine - with 24V PSU - - this was at the start - i know use 20A to 25A - and 12A for the Add On - both same time - two chargers going - -

was just curious what other users leave there PL 8 set at - i think it comes stock set to 40A ? or less maybe - will check the new one i have coming soon - it was on sale and i needed a spare -

[Burgerman]

Its really there, not to limit output power, but to prevent you overloading a power supply.

For eg you may have a need to run the charger from a small portable 12A power supply. On holiday. Or even as a hobby user, you might want to run it from your wheelchairs XLR connection. So set its INPUT to 12A and it will never pull more than 12A from the small power supply, or the chairs XLR connector. So it wont melt your small power supply or your powerchair! Or your cars cigar lighter socket...

[steves1977uk]

By using a 27v-30v PSU and charging at 15 Amps, the PL8's fans cut in about every hour compared to 30-35 mins on a 24v PSU, so less annoying!

Steve

[Burgerman]

I have 2 pl8s , actually 3, and a 3rd on the way. 2 are on my desktop hobby charging station, both with a 1200 watt hefty stable bomb proof bench 0-30V and 0-40A power supplies. One has a fan that comes on mostly related to voltage set. So that one is set to 12V as it then runs quietly. Used for charging hobby stuff. The other has a fan that is very temperature related. It gets to charge the big batteries, powerchairs etc.

No idea why they are different.

[Furio]

Hi,

Today when I was trying to charge a 24v lead acid battery,the pl8 tripped on safety code 82 (Amps Out of Range).It happened repeatedly .So I changed the power to a fully charged battery, but the fault stayed put.Then used factory reset and flashed firmware (V 3.33) but to no avail.The charger is about 2 years old. Any suggestions/guidance is appreciated.

Furio.

[shirley_hkg]

Could it be your charging leads ? Loose connections ?

[Furio]

Hi shirley_hkg,

I have two charging leads, both are good. And no loose connections. I tried with both leads.Still..

[Burgerman]

Are you charging with xlr?
Also what preset?
Did you try charging something else?

Make sure the ec5 connector is clean and healthy, and be sure you are using the proper banana 4mm plugs into the chargers output and use deoxit on every input/output. Normal 4mm ones are not adequate. And if the problem persists then send it in for maintanance. I have never seen that error in years of charging other than when using a bad power supply or cheap 4mm connectors that were not adequate.

The error means the charge current cannot be maintained in a stable fashion. As in it keeps having to correct it. As in some bad connection in the input, output, power supply issue, or even inside the battery. Something is making it jump about. Or a faulty charge cable. Or could also be a faulty charger. E.G. I saw it with a plastic 4x AA battery holder that was making bad contact.

[steves1977uk]

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthr ... ty-Code-82

PSU maybe? Or a bad connection somewhere...

Steve

[Furio]

@ BM.My chairs are fitted with anderson sb50 connectors and regularly charge lead acid batteries.Input to pl8 is through sb50. Output from pl8 is taken through 4mm safety banana plugs.A couple of days ago I had charged Lifepo4 120ah cells as per BM's preset without any problem.And for the last 2 days lead bricks as usual.My supply is from a 48V-24V dc-dc converter. I also use a meanwell 600W psu.Have 2 charging leads with andersons.After this problem started, I connected to another set of fully charged new (1 month) batteries but the trip code still appears .So power supply problem can be ruled out.The preset for lead is charge current of 10A & termination 50mA(42Ah battery)

Furio.

[Burgerman]

Well it sounds like a faulty charger then. Best send it in. I am told they are pretty good on service or repairs unlike most companues that just say out of warranty goodbye. I am surprised, all my 3 are used a lot! Never a problem so far. And the first two are? 5 years old now? But anything electronic can fail, and a charger is a high power device so a likely candidate. So are power supplies. At my hobby club they go through power supplies like light bulbs...

[Furio]

Hi All,

I would like to know if everyone with pl8 is using stock safety banana plugs to charge at 40 amps . I am sceptical for, I found the plugs heating up even at 20amps .My new charger is on the way. I want to replace the o/p sockets with anderson sb50, but the wires inside are a bit short . Any suggestions.

[steves1977uk]

I've always used banana plugs, even charging at 40A have never been a problem. Maybe you had an iffy PL8 to start with and the problem slowly got worse over time.

Also, in what order do you connect things? It's a bad idea to connect the PL8 to the chair before it's powered up. Always power up the PL8 before connecting any batteries.

Steve

[Burgerman]

Same, with the correct connectors, and no problem. Heli, always charged at 40A and chair at 35.

[shirley_hkg]

I am using the top one , which has thicker fins and in direct contact with the inside of the female .

Rated 80A

[Burgerman]

Those can short together and the opposite end is connected to the battery. So I always use the ones recommended for PL8, that are safe, so cannot short, and longer contacts, and also work at 40A. MOST do not.

[shirley_hkg]

http://www.chargery.com/

Any chance to be an alternative for PL8 ?

[Burgerman]

Who knows. Looks interesting. The devil is always in details. I do know that termination points, and a few other things are not absolute but a percentage of charge current which makes no sense and theres no PC software so you are limited to a maddening setup screen on the charger. And I suspect a few years updating firmware, changing things, bug fixing will be needed. And theres the reliability thing we dont know about. So the only way to know is to use one for a while. Personally I would want the PL8s PC software. But it may be useful to those with 12S batteries rather than using a pair of PL8s. But the real issues are in the firmware, how it works, what YOU can set or remove, change etc. And I cant know.