Emcotec PowerCharger600 Operating Instructions Manual

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Operating Instructions
Warning: LiPo batteries can be hazardous and can explode or burn under certain circumstances if handled in a wrong way! Always monitor charging. Charge LiPo batteries outside of the model on a non flammable surface. EMCOTEC excludes any liability when using the PowerCharger600.
High Grade Quick Charger of the First Class ­Made in Germany!
Usually, (e.g. with combat models) the same number of cells are flown by pilots for years (e.g. 10S battery in aerobatic F3A). Why not a charger which is designed for a fixed number of cells? Setups are avoided and nothing can be done wrong. Simply connect the battery to the PowerCharger600. Done! The charging state is indicated by several LEDs. A green LED e.g. indicates battery full.
In order to distinguish the different chargers and therefore the assigned battery at first sight, the front plates are printed in different colors:
Each battery has its "own" charger. Only the charging current can be selected in 4 steps by the user. This ranges from regular charging (e.g. 4A) up to quick charging (up to 24A). The new generation of LiPo batteries is quickly rechargeable up to 5C (5 time's nominal capacity). A 4Ah battery therefore can be charged with up to 20A. Depending on rest capacity, the battery would be fully charged by the Power Charger600 in 5 to 15 minutes!
Up to two Orbit can be connected to the PowerCharger600 if you want to balance the cells during charging (available in the EMCOTEC internet shop). Besides the pure balancing function (equalization of single cells) the LiPoChecker reduces the charging current in case the allowed cell voltage is exceeded. The batteries can not be over-charged! There is no safer and quicker way to charge LiPo batteries!
It therefore suffices if the battery is charged once in a while using a regular charging device (with internal balancer) or using the PowerCharger600 with reduced charging current (e.g. 4A) and an external balancer.
LiPoChecker PRO
Hint: The PowerCharger600 has no built in balancers! Experience shows that LiPo-batteries must not necessarily be charged using a balancer especially when quick charging. What is a balancer good for which bleeds off 0.5A to 1A if the battery is charged with 20A?
Green
Red
Blue Black
6S LiPo (25.2V)
12S LiPo (50.4V)
7S LiPo (29.4V)
10S LiPo (42.0V)
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Setting the charging current:
- Press button for 3 seconds
- Current indicator LED blinks
- Push button until LED with desired charging current blinks
- Wait 3 seconds
- Selected LED is now steadily lit
During charging there is no current selection possible, i.e. the select button is locked.
ATTENTION:
Charge Indicators:
CC:
CV:
Full:
This blue LED is on in case of a short or if the battery voltage is too low. In this case there is only a small current flow (e.g. in order to start charging the battery protectively => Trickle Charging)
Constant Current. This red LED is on when full charging current is flowing. Only after reaching the final charging voltage the LED extinguishes. The battery is then charged approx. 80% to 90%.
Constant Voltage. This yellow LED is on, when the battery reaches its nominal voltage but there is still current flow. Only if the charging current drops to 5% of the selected value, the LED turns off.
This green LED is on if either no battery is connected or the connected battery is fully charged. Charging current is less than 5% of selected value.
Alert:
PowerCharger600 - Front View
PowerCharger600 - Rear View
The cooling slots at front and rear side of the housing must be freely accessible in order to allow for good air circulation.
Battery connector Plus (+) (for 4mm Banana plug)
Battery connector Minus (-) (for 4mm Banana plug)
XLR Charging connector (only 10S version)
Inlet connector for non heating apparatus (110VAC / 230VAC), e.g. PC power cord
Sticker for seriall number
On/Off-Switch
Carrying handleCooling slots
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Connector for an alarm cable (3.5mm phone jack) of a LipoChecker PRO
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The PowerCharger600 is short-circuit-proof and protected against reverse polarity connection of the battery. Only batteries with charge end voltages which are apparent on the front plate must be charged. This means: Lithium Polymer batteries with 6, 7, 10 or 12 cells! Obey maximum charging current of the battery! Leave LiPo batteries not unattended during recharge. Generally adhere to normal safety instructions when charging LiPo batteries!
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Operation:
What one may do:
1. Connect a power cord (230VAC) and turn charger on.
2. One of the 4 LED in the left LED column indicates the selected charging current.
3. If the charging current is to be changed, press the button for approx. 3 seconds. The LED flashes fast. Pressing again switches the LED to the next position (next charging current). As soon as the correct charging current is reached, don't press the button anymore. After approx. 3 seconds, the LED is turned on; the selected current is stored. Hint: the charging current can not be changed as soon as a battery is connected!
4. If charging with a balancer: the Orbit LiPoChecker PRO 8S has a short connection cable with a phone jack. This phone jack is plugged into in one of the two sockets "Alert" (on front plate of the charger). Connect the battery balancer connection cable at the balancer connector of the LiPoChecker PRO. Because there are two Alert connectors at the PowerCharger600 two LiPoChecker PRO can be connected. This is necessary with 10S or 12s batteries (consiting of 2 packs with 5S or 6S).
Charging of 12S batteries with a 6S PowerCharger600 or 14S batteries with the 7S PowerCharger. This only works if the packs can be separated into two 6S or 7S packs respectively. The individual single packs are then connected in parallel and charged together. Two 6S packs with 5Ah each (i.e. 12S 5Ah) result in one 6S 10Ah for charging.
Preparation:
Charging Operation:
5. Connect empty battery using 4mm banana plugs onto the charging output (at rear).
6. Charging starts automatically as soon as the battery is connected. The fan of the charger starts automa­tically, too.
7. The red LED (" ") is now permanently on (if battery is empty) and there is the selected current flowing.
8. After the battery is charged up approx. 80% to 90%, the red LED turns off and the yellow LED turns on (" ").
9. After some time (depending on type of battery and charging current), the end of charging is reached and the green LED (" ") turns on.
10. The battery may now be removed and is ready for usage.
CC
CV
Full
The PowerCharger gets warm and warm air flows out of the housing when charging with maximum current. This is normal and not a malfunction. If over-heating, the PowerCharger600 stops charging or reduces the charging current to less than 1A. This is indicated by the blue LED with blink codes. A connected balancer (LiPoChecker PRO) is recog­nized automatically and indicated by the flashing " "-LED. If a single cells voltage exceeds 4.23V, the charging current is also reduced (less than 1A) and indicated by LED.
Alert
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Connecting the battery without mains voltage: Here, the charging electronics will start and the green LED " " turns on. The device will not be damaged, but the battery (of course) will not be charged.
Attention: it looks like that the battery is fully charged!
Full
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Charging Status:
If the yellow " "-LED is on, the battery is charged approx. 80%-90% and therefore can be used already before the charging cycle is terminated. If the green " "-LED is on, the battery is charged completely to 100%.
CV
Full
Important hints:
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Operation on a current generator (Inverter):
An ideal current generator will be of no problems. Some generators can show the following behavior: Voltage peaks when the tank empties. There are generators which increase RPM in an uncontrolled manner when running out of gas before they turn off. This can lead to severe damage in the switching power supply (charging device) which can not be repaired. It is also possible that the charger just turns off and must be restarted.
Test the generator for all loads for this behavior. Two 100W light bulbs can be connected in parallel at the generator (test if that works!).
Remedy:
Precautions for operating with generators:
Possible Failures:
If there is power loss during charging (e.g. turning the device off), one can recognize this by a stopped fan. Perhaps one does not realize that! The charger will not be damaged.
If the switching power supply fails (e.g. due to voltage peaks) one can see that by the stopped fan (just like error case 1). Perhaps a restart of the charger suffices (turning the device off and than on again). In the worst case sever damage occurred.
1. Power Failure:
2. Error in switching power supply:
In this case, the generator is at full load. Here, the voltage always ends up in a peak. Whether this is dangerous or not is not predictable. There might be generators which behave critical.
A dangerous situation might come up if the battery is disconnected at maximum charging current (the charging current is interrupted immediately).
Function of LED "Alert":
The blue LED " " serves several purposes and indicates errors as well as system states of the PowerCharger. Depending on a possibly connected balancer (LiPoChecker PRO), the LED shows different behavior.
The LED is also turned on permanently if the battery voltage is very low, i.e. the battery is fully discharged. In this case the charging current is very low (less than 1A). The battery will be charged protectively and can possibly be "rescued".
Alert
State of the Alert LED
Continuously on
Blinking
Inverted flashing every second
with approx. 0.5Hz
Short flashing every second
State of the PowerCharger600
Short circuit on charging output
Internal overtemperature (>65°C)
LiPoChecker PRO connected
One cell voltage exceeds 4.23V
Made in Germany
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EMCOTEC GmbH
Waldstr. 21
D - 86517 Wehringen
Tel.: +49 8234 / 95 989-0
Email: info@emcotec.de
www.shop.rc-electronic.com
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Do not use too small generators (at least 2.5kW). Never interrupt charging current suddenly! Charge the battery fully (here, the charging current naturally drops and the RPM of the generator does not produce a peak at the end of the charging cycle).
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