Mother of all battery chargers

[eugenebrooks]

We got a few requests for the source of the 6 amp by 5 independent battery charger we used at the PNW regional this past weekend. This is our second season using this charger. It is a good three stage charger with state of charge indicators. It is is not cheap, about $100 per bank, but the old adage of getting what you pay for applies in this case.

It is available at www.batteryweb.com, model LS-1206 in five bank form. See the link:
http://www.batteryweb.com/interacter_x5.cfm
put anderson connectors on it and you are kept fully charged. If one bank fails (and none of ours has) the other four keep running on separate fuses. It can keep fresh batteries coming to a robot going all the way through the finals, swapping batteries every match, with enough spare capacity to help out an alliance partner who is running short on batteries.

[richardp]

How long does it take to charge a battery?

[eugenebrooks]

Originally Posted by richardp

How long does it take to charge a battery?

It charges batteries more quickly than the kit chargers, due to the
proper three stage operation. At 6 amps, a completly dead 18 amp
hour battery should be ready to go in three hours. We don't discharge
our batteries too deeply, to improve their longevity, so we never require
this long a charge time. The charger indicates below 80%, above 80%
and "fully charged" with lights. The point is that it charges 5 batteries at
the same time, in varying charge states, delivering a proper 6 amp
charge to each battery concurrently. When you need to swap a battery
out of the robot you just reach for the one on the charger that has a
green light, and there are always several in that state...

[BrianBSL]

Neat - although pretty pricey. A team member has a Great Planes Triton charger and it's great - it will only do an SLA at 5A, but it will charge pretty much any type of battery, including nicad, nimh, lithium ion and sla. Also has a discharge circuit, which allows for a reasonable measurement of the capacity of a battery, at least when comparing it to other batteries. The one problem with it is the fact that it runs of 12VDC, requiring a pretty beefy 12V power supply. Has optional temperature monitoring, as well. Put some anderson powerpoles on the end and then you can make adapters for all battery types - we use it to charge everything from the SLA's for the robot, backup batteries, vex batteries, and even battery powered drill batteries.

A link: http://www.towerhobbies.com/products.../gpmm3150.html

[GB330033]

Alright, maybe I'm missing something, what exactly must one buy to have the 5 battery charging capability. You said something about purchasing banks for $100 each, but then linked what looks like a complete charger. What exactly would need to be purchased to do what your team does, and what was the approximate cost?

[JamesByrne]

I also have a question, how do you buy this form this company, is do not see a "Buy Now" Link or somthing like that.

Thank you for your help.

[eugenebrooks]

Originally Posted by JamesByrne

I also have a question, how do you buy this form this company, is do not see a "Buy Now" Link or somthing like that.

Thank you for your help.

The X5 is built to order, using five of the chargers that you specify.
The lead time when we got ours was a couple of weeks.
You call them on the phone listed on the web page and make
arrangements to get what you want. You will want
five of the LS1206 charging units in it, unless you are doing
something other than charging batteries in a FIRST competition.
The price will be roughly five times the price of the LS1206.
I will let you do the arithmetic...

http://www.batteryweb.com/interacter.cfm
http://www.batteryweb.com/interacter_x5.cfm

PS: I don't have any affilation with this company, teams have
seen our charger at work in the pits and have asked where to
buy it...

[GB330033]

Thank you. If my team has some money left over at the end of the season, this might be one of our purchases. It's somewhat annoying to have three chargers plugged in at all times in one corner of our room.

[Nitroxextreme]

Those look really cool and useful...

Its very convenient to have an accurate reading of the battery charge...not just the blinking lights on the standard chargers

If we have any money "on the side" we will def look into these as they look very professional and efficient