AGM Charging profile

[Burgerman]

Or plug manufacturer. Some are not great.

I have a draw with half a dozen genuine ones remaining. I also have rolls of cable. Twin core, black. I think its the correct size looking at it from 10 feet away stuck on my bed. If I was up I could solder it on in a matter of mins. But currently not quite fit yet...

I made a couple for my own use with the XLR (and a female XLR) at one end. And an anderson, a XT60, and a couple of safe 4mm banana plugs and a male+female XLR also on the other.
So that I can:
a) daisy chair a couple of chairs together in the kitchen if I want. And charge (maintain) a couple of chairs at the same time.
b) I can connect directly to a chair charger, pl8, power supply, another chair, WC charger etc. Just use whatever connector or adapter lead I need.

[Burgerman]

A sort of wheelchair version of this hobby cable. But a lot neater. various connectors at both ends about 10 foot long.

https://www.rctarget.com/assets/images/kos00z01.jpg

[Dan]

I bought one just for the hell of it.
Cord length is about one meter. Wire gauge is 22AWG 300V
It seems reasonably well made.

[Burgerman]

Max it will take without melting is around 5 to 6A and thats uwise. Max for continual power would be approx 1A say in a wall. Might be reliable at say 3 to 4A in intermittent use like charging if nothing gets warm.

Here is where I would worry. If its internal insulation melts it will not just short out the charger which may (should) have a fuse internally. But it will short out the joystick, connected directly to the battery. So will definitely damage something on the chair or bus cable if that happens.

[LROBBINS]

Is that 22AWG the mains lead or the charger output? Mains current will be much lower than charger output - say 25/220 times output for 8S, about 2.3 amps for 20 A at 25V output.

[Burgerman]

I thought he was talking about the chairs charge XLR extension. Which are usually wired for signals, microphones...
As such it will be probably screened too. If this is correct then its unwise to plug into a chair as an extension.

But he doesent elaborate much! So we have to guess a bit!

[ex-Gooserider]

Driving at a lower speed than the maximum allows you to travel more distance...

Just saw this - it is not really true in most cases for a chair... You draw less power per unit of time at slower speed, but since you are going slower, you spend more time, so it ends up the same either way....

The power an electric motor takes is pretty much a linear function of the load / speed.... In faster vehicles, you get increased loads with speed due to things like air resistance, but at 'chair speeds' the amount of extra load these add is so close to zero as not to be wort worrying about....

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

Well its not true of lithium. The above holds true. The air resistance at our speeds doesent play a part compared to the rest. So going 8mph takes you the same distance as going 4mph with lithium. Since 2x the speed = 2x the current for half the time. Net result = same distance. Lithium = zero peukert.

But it IS true with lead. Slower will take you further. If you go double the speed, then you cover 8miles in 1 hour. 16 miles in 2 hours. So you discharge the battery at the 2 hour rate. Compared to the 4 hour rate at 4mph over the same distance. Because of high peukert value.

A typical lead battery has both a higher voltage drop at double the current. And so stops sooner anyway, but it also has less actual capacity available (peukert) as well. So you will get maybe 20% ish less range at 8 compared to 4 mph. In the same chair.

[wes4dbt]

Found this. Never bought from them... https://www.powerstream.com/xlr-cable.htm . Just need to cut off the ring terminals.

Just to let you know. I bought this cable and it was shipped promptly.

BUT, the XLR connector is not as pictured, after @ 3/4" the barrel fattens substantially. The female connector on my chair is recessed, so it didn't work. They refunded my money.

So, I'm back on the hunt.

[Burgerman]

Seriously, just buy some cable, connectors and solder. Its trivially simple. And once you learned to do it infinitely useful for lots of things in the future. You can make a soldered connector faster than you can reply to this!

[wes4dbt]

Seriously, just buy some cable, connectors and solder. Its trivially simple. And once you learned to do it infinitely useful for lots of things in the future. You can make a soldered connector faster than you can reply to this!

Well, I got the cable because they told me to just keep it. But would still need to buy the soldering iron and solder. I did check out some kits on Amazon but really don't know what is junk and what will do a good job. Since I've managed to go 70yrs without out soldering, I'm not looking for anything but the basics.

[daveonwheels]

buy the hakko. worth every penny

https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-FX888D-23B ... 5956&psc=1

solder
https://a.co/d/3xuycX7

[wes4dbt]

buy the hakko. worth every penny

https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-FX888D-23B ... 5956&psc=1

solder
https://a.co/d/3xuycX7

I'm sure it is worth it to the right person. My goal would be to make 2 cables as backups to the ones I have already. I have no desire to solder anything else. So that's basically 4 connections. I'm a quad so hand function isn't my strong point. It would be cheaper for me to buy a couple of used chargers from eBay and then just cut the cord off.

Thanks for the reply

[Burgerman]

I have a hakko like the one in the link. A bit overkill for 4 connections! You can get a cheap 15 watt iron for £10 thats adequate. But if you dont want to then you are going to do it the hard way. Even my exgf can solder now! I showed her 20 years ago.

[wes4dbt]

Do you think something cheap like this would work? 90 watts and I think the "Helping Hands" could make it easier for me.

https://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Auxili ... hdGY&psc=1

For this price I might give it a try.

[Burgerman]

It might. You really only need about 15 to do this job. But if its thermostatic it should be OK. Set to 325 to 350C and I have no idea what that is in antique temperatures...

The secret is to do the following:

Trim wires etc ready.
Add a small amount of flux paste (resin type looks like ear wax!) to the wires. And then tin them with solder.

1. How? Heat up the iron, dip it in the flux, and tin it with solder so its shiny.
2. Heat a neatly trimmed wire up, with the iron. And do not use the iron to melt the solder, use the iron o heat up the wire. Use the wire to melt the solder. You can feed a tiny bit of solder between the iron and the wire to transfer the heat. As soon as it melts and runs it will coat the end of the wire fast and you are done.
3. Do the same with the other wire.
4. Also do the same with the terminals that you intend to solder the wire onto. So its coated in shiny solder. Preferably with a bit extra.
5. Hold the wire against the terminal, and just heat it and the terminal (both) with the iron. The solder already on the wire, and on the terminal will melt and at this point. Sooner or later. Then take away the iron and hold the wire still. You are done.

Watch a few how to solder videos. Anyone not using flux is an idiot. Anyone with a dirty non tinned iron, also an idiot... So skip those "experts". It makes things way easier to work clean with everything tinned (coated) with solder and flux. Dont use lead free solder! Use real lead/tin cored solder.

After you have practiced on some bits of wire, you will discover how stupidly easy it is. If you cant physically do it, get a GF or some teen to do it. They will enjoy learning. Remember that you are not "melting the solder on" to anything. You are heating up the surfaces with the iron until THEY melt the solder. And thats obvious as soon as it runs and follows the flux and goes all shiny. If you overheat it, the flux burns, the surfaces oxidise and it wont solder.

[Burgerman]

To hold stuff I use a huge block of Blue Tack.

Or fingers.

[wes4dbt]

Thanks for the detailed procedure. I have watched vids, was surprise hardly any of them used flux.

I ended up buying this one, https://www.amazon.com/KEPIOG-Soldering ... =8-16&th=1

It's has more watts and also comes with tin lead solder and flux. Most of the kit have lead free solder. The big selling point was it has it's own case for storage. lol

I'm sort of curious how this goes, maybe I'll surprise myself or maybe it's a waste of money. We'll see.

btw - I've never heard of Blue Tack, is this what your talking about?? https://www.amazon.com/Blu-Tack-LLC-Reu ... 383&sr=8-6

[Burgerman]

Yes. But you would need a lot of it.

[wes4dbt]

Well, that was an epic fail. lol

But I had created a bad situation. Those XLR terminals were made for maybe 22awg, not 14awg, the iron took to long to melt the solder when touching the back side of the bucket and I wasn't steady enough. It looked so easy on the videos, just touch the back of the terminal, touch the solder in the bucket and it melted. No so for me. Probably a combination of the cheap iron and lack of steadiness on my part.

Oh well, not out much money and the iron might come in handy for some small repair sometime.

[Burgerman]

Dont give up. Practice! When you get it it willjust seem so easy. Then you will know what you did wrong. Heat transfer, tinned iron...

[shirley_hkg]

flux both wire and XLR, 340℃ or a bit more.

[biscuit]

Not blue tack. Helping hands. And be chilled! I shake too much to solder, but eventually bought helping hands to hold the connector steady at an angle I could manage. That is after I had cooked too many XLR connectors for my Victron and then asked a friend from the electronics world to solder one - and bless him, he did it the wrong way around, which will do, but makes me feel like an accountant seeing the red negative. So I set my shaky hands to it and made another. As it was a "spare" I was now taking it easy and succeeded, a bit skew, but a clear and reliable connection.