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

[steves1977uk]

Shouldn't they have remove the A123 chemistry type as it's the same as the LiFe one.

Steve

[Burgerman]

They cant now. I told them about this issue many years ago and they didnt know that A123 were LiFePO4...

They cant because theres thousands buying A123 batts and are using the A123 presets... Remove that and everyone ois confused. In america they all think A123 is the name of that chemistry. Like Hoovers are all vacuum cleaners.

[expresso]

updated to 3.35 Version - it did not erase any of my presets - everything was the same just updated.

[steves1977uk]

That's strange expresso, after I updated the firmware CCS reset the PL8 back to factory defaults. Did you get the programming countdown timer when you clicked on update?

Steve

[expresso]

yes i did - a little over a minute

[steves1977uk]

Wonder why my PL8 did a factory reset? Odd!

Steve

[expresso]

who knows - i can double check mines that its updated for sure - i see how the others work out when get around to updating them also

i did a double take when i noticed my presets where still there - i closed it and opened it again and yes all there -

[steves1977uk]

Will update my other PL8 sometime soon and see what happens.

Steve

[expresso]

maybe you hit the factory reset also ? all i did was hit update firmware which didnt show it at first - i closed it down - opened it again - it updated the new software - i opened it and i had 3.4 and 3.5 as options - i picked 3.5 and hit update - thats it

[steves1977uk]

Nope, I did the same as you did expresso but I got another window pop-up after the update saying the PL8 had been set back to factory defaults and then I had to restore my presets and option settings. No biggy!

Steve

[expresso]

strange - who knows - i didnt check my options settings - i seen the presets never left- all the same as before - so i just closed it -

i will check the options section next time just in case

[expresso]

double checked - nothing was changed or restored to factory - - just firmware was updated - nothing else was touched

in the supply section - in order to use the charger at its full power 40A if i wanted - the current limit setting - is it safe to leave it at 55A or even maxed to 60A - ?

it wont be over worked if i charge at 25A 30A or more ?

[shirley_hkg]

double ?

it wont be over worked if i charge at 25A 30A or more ?

Set it just a bit more than PL8 will draw max. Then I may receive early notice if anything with psu went wrong.

[expresso]

i have mines set at 55A now - is that ok or just max it out at 60A ? in doing so - would this enable me to charge at its max 40A if i wanted

having larger packs to charge - 20A seems slow now - i never tried 40A charging yet -

[rickystyx]

I just did my update and it didn't do a factory reset or lose any presets.
Shirley are you still providing the power supplies and if so how much are they please?
I have a PS which is 14.8 and 25A constant 30A peak - It would be nice to be able to charge a bit quicker but I'm not in much of a rush as I normally just leave things to charge overnight. Having changed to Lifepo4 I'm fascinated watching the charts but I'm sure it will wear off - so what are the real advantages of having a higher voltage/amperage supply in real life?

[steves1977uk]

A higher voltage means the components are less stressed when charging at high Amps, and if you charge at say 15A the PL8 fans will kick in once every hour or so for about 5 minutes, so it's quieter with a PSU set to 30v. Less volts means more current is drawn which creates more heat internally in the PL8, so charging with a 12v PSU means the PL8 fans will kick in more often to keep it from overheating.

Steve

[Burgerman]

It also means that you cant use full power. Which you kind of need...

With a lead battery you can only really discharge it by 40A with a powerchair from 70 rated. So recharging at a stupid 8A as we do, means 5 hours as we sleep x 8A = 40Ah. Plus a couple at CV.

But once we add a 200Ah lithium pack, you might want to replace say 180Ah. If we try this at 8A then thats 22 hours, plus an hour or so balancing and CV time.

To do that in 5 hours needs 36A charge rate, at 28.80V. That is 1037 watts. Plus 10% efficiency loss, means 1170 watts input.
So thats 1170 div by 12V = 97 AMPS.

So you will need a 97 Amp 12V supply... And the max the charger can actually take is 50A. And even that is stressing the charger.

So it will work as a low power charger. For lead.

[shirley_hkg]

Shirley are you still providing the power supplies and if so how much are they please??

Yes. Still in stock , till the coronavirus epidemic pass away.

Drop me a PM and I put you on list.

[rickystyx]

So getting a higher voltage power supply is a good next move - are Shirley's still available?
I have found a 12-30v 30A 1000W for less than £150 but nothing with more current availability apart from what is discussed on here - there are a few zxd2400 available on ebay but I'm not really wanting to start building or rebuilding a power supply so just want something I can simply plug in and use.
Advice as usual would be greatly appreciated - I never really thought I'd ever get to putting life batteries into my chair - so this is all your fault

[Burgerman]

are Shirley's still available?

The post directly above where you asked...

[rickystyx]

Must have been posting at the same time

[White Lightnin']

I’ve found some affordable power supplies on the net with variable voltage and amperage if I can get the links on here and read the prices correctly. I think the brand was Thaoxin or something like that. Does anyone know anything about them?

[shirley_hkg]

ZHAOXIN

[shirley_hkg]

ZHAOXIN

[steves1977uk]

Those bench PSUs come in many different brands, Digimess in the UK. E.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USED-digimes ... 4310949332 You'd want the SM3040 variant for about £200 or less.

Steve

[stevelawiw]

Got my PL8 back from Revolectrix Indonesia today, fixed
The paperwork says that component U13 was replaced as it was shorting, I've not looked inside yet but I can see the blue connecting plug and the main power wires are new.

[Burgerman]

They swapped the board. Thats a fused/blown shorted mosfet. Those are the things that fail on BMS setups and set fire to your house as the battery gets shorted! This ony normally happens if the charger is connected before the supply. Or if connected backwards then forwards. The PL8 is actually supposed to survive these things unlime most chargers. But...

[expresso]

at first before i knew better - i had always connected the PL8 or other chargers i had Before turning on the power - i believed that was the correct way - till i find out from here its not correct. - i have since stopped doing it that way once i knew but its been a while i been doing it the wrong way - nothing did happen to my PL8 because of it -

maybe thats why on some chargers there are no ON and OFF switches - ? with those in the past i always used a power strip with on and off switches to control that function - i still use them but turn them ON first and Power the charger PSU first before connecting

[rickystyx]

I have to say i am amazed at what the PL8 will put up with I couldn't work out what was going wrong as I was only charging at 4 amps - turns out my power supply was throwing a wobbler but the PL8 just dealt with it until i figured out what was happening.
It's a good job I have a new power supply coming from Shirley eventually - this one needed to be turned down to stop it going mad as can be seen in the second pic

[Burgerman]

I see smoke in your future...