Author Topic: 12 th scale power supplies  (Read 7980 times)

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Offline RYY

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12 th scale power supplies
« on: September 30, 2005, 05:12:08 PM »
While running indoors do most people still use a car battery to power up their chargers for their R/C battery packs??
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Offline jarrodH

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« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2005, 05:26:10 PM »
you can use a car battery if you want, but a power supply is the easiest way for indoor, dave has one for sale in the buy sell trade forum
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Offline Grinder

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« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2005, 06:28:35 PM »
Use an old computer power supply (cheap!).  You may need to put a load the 5V side to get it to work (eg a power resistor, light bulbs, etc) because it's a switching power supply.

I finally found one that will run my charger even charging at 12 amps pulsed (8 continuous).

What rate do you charge at?
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Offline RYY

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« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2005, 07:10:26 PM »
After the money I have had to invest in my 1/10 and 1/12 car I think I am going to stick with my car battery as it is quite small and portable.  I just whated to get an idea of some other options in the event that I came across an unclaimed large amount of cash or found the last golden ticket.
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« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2005, 08:04:02 PM »
i use the same   power supply dave is selling.......... its small and can  charge up to 10 amps....... and if i wanted i could  use 2 chargers but still combined  only 10 amps..........and much lighter than a car battery

Offline Tom

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« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2005, 08:10:19 PM »
...And easier to manage.
...And less likely to ruin your clothes.

As Grinder mentioned, solutions are available that are quiet cheap, however a really nice setup can be pricey, but worth it.  Anything's better than dragging around a big Pb-Acid battery though, full of sulphuric acid, ready to eat your jeans.  And, if you're going to be buying a new  battery, you're a big chunk of the way to a power supply.

Offline Mikemuncher

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« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2005, 08:15:31 PM »
Hey Ryy,

  Let me save you the hassle of lugging that huge ass battery around. I have spare power supply I can bring for you to borrow if you like.  Let me know if this is help to you. :roll:

See ya at the track,

Mike

Offline serpent

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« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2005, 02:37:43 PM »
hey ryan there is usually lots of left over power .my power supply has 30 amps  shane also has 30 amps so think about bringing long hook up leads for your charger and you will be ok with out your battery

Offline Blake

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« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2005, 02:38:18 PM »
Good call Mike, I'm sure there's lot of spare power floating around between us.  I know that between Tom and myself alone we have about 120A of available 12V power.  Plus, 40A of that is variable voltage between about 1.5V and 20V which is quite handy at times.

So, anyway Ryan (and others in a similar boat) , feel free to leave your car batteries at home and just tap into our power.


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Offline Blake

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« Reply #9 on: October 01, 2005, 02:40:37 PM »
Ooops, Craig beat me to it!

Blake

Offline SgRddY

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« Reply #10 on: October 02, 2005, 02:37:46 AM »
i am using a 80A 14V power supply.  this thing is insane, it will probably runs all the chargers that we all have... LOL......  it will also suppy 80A 28V at the same time.  welding anyone?

Offline cyrrus

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« Reply #11 on: October 02, 2005, 03:31:50 AM »
Quote from: "SgRddY"
i am using a 80A 14V power supply.  this thing is insane, it will probably runs all the chargers that we all have... LOL......  it will also suppy 80A 28V at the same time.  welding anyone?


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Offline Tom

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« Reply #12 on: October 02, 2005, 04:06:52 AM »
Quote from: "SgRddY"
i am using a 80A 14V power supply.  this thing is insane, it will probably runs all the chargers that we all have... LOL......  it will also suppy 80A 28V at the same time.  welding anyone?


Not on a standard wall plug it won't.  Assuming 100% efficiency (which is impossible), that would be pulling 18 2/3 amps at 120 volt, which is over the standard 15 amp household circuit.

Either this is a 220 volt power supply, in which case it'll be difficult to find a wall outlet, or you're mistaken as to its capabilities.

I have a 12 - 14 volt adjustable 80 amp supply myself; assuming 100% efficiency at full load would be 9 2/3rds amps, well within the capabilities of a 15 amp 120 volt circuit.  Assuming 80% efficiency (realistic for a switching supply), that's 12 amps out of the wall plug, or 1.4 kw (about what a hair dryer pulls).

However, this is extreme overkill for 1/12 scale racing.  The best arrangement is to have a power supply that will go down to 8 or 10 volts, and 10 amps is more than enough current.  Running your charger at 13.8 or even 12 volts charging a 4-cell pack can get it quite hot, especially when charging at 6 amps which is the norm with 3300's.  Lowering the input voltage by dropping the output of the power supply, or even using a dropping resistor will help keep your charger cool.  That's what's so nice about the linear supplies Blake and I have; we can run them with an output anywhere from around 2 volts up to 18 or 20 (depending on which one you use) at 20 amps.  However, since they're linear, they're not as efficient as switching supplies, but that's a secondary consideration.

Offline Grinder

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« Reply #13 on: October 02, 2005, 11:42:35 AM »
It could probably supply 80A @ 14V (1120 Watts) though....  sounds like we have lots of power to leech off if we need to.  The main problem is going to be everyone hooked up to the same terminal...
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Offline Tom

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« Reply #14 on: October 02, 2005, 12:57:15 PM »
Yah; that's what I'm saying.  That's equivelant to my Lamda power supply.  The key is building a terminal block; something I haven't bothered doing.

However, like I was saying, it's best to run linear chargers for 4-cell packs (like the Hi-IQ) off of a lower input voltage so that they don't get quite as hot.  A good rule of thumb is to use 2 volts per cell as an input voltage; a better one (I can't remember what it is off the top of my head) is to do something like 1.6 volts per cell, plus 2 volts, which amounts to pretty much the same thing 'till you get to transmitter packs.

Offline Spare_Parts

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« Reply #15 on: October 02, 2005, 05:42:02 PM »
However, what is not so commonly known is...

If you take your United Federations phazer Mark IV, and set it's power output to level 9.8 with the flux capacitor set to 50fc's and point it directly at the dilithium crystals, then while holding a steady beam for approximately 1 minute and 16 seconds you would reach maximum recharge capacity for the dilithium crystals, of course not forgetting to continually rotate the dilithium crystals while concentrating your beam on the lower 1/3 of the crystal cluster so as to ensure maximum saturation of your beam.

This would then offer the absolute best arrangement for power supply to the entire IROCC Club, giving each member potentially unlimited options for drawing whatever current was required to meet each induviduals needs.

Of course the use of dilithium crystals has really taken off in Europe and is just now slowly making it's way to us backward folk here in North America. One of the many well know advantages of course is that when running your charger at 13.8 or even 12 volts while charging a 4-cell pack, there is almost no detectable heat thus expanding the life span of your cells and allowing users double or triple the voltage on their chargers and charging at upto three times the normal 6 amps with your 3300's.

There's no longer a need to lower the input voltage by dropping the output of the power supply, or even using a dropping resistor to help keep your charger cool. That's just one of the many nice features about using the dilithium crystals.

Of course we would need to make sure we had enough of the ST-K9 leads and adaptors for all the members in the club.
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Offline Spare_Parts

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« Reply #16 on: October 02, 2005, 05:51:37 PM »
In other words...
It's all greek to me baby!
<grin>

Don't I just want a wall plug for my charger?

Maybe before I get started in 1/12th racing I should take an electronics course??

Just let me know where to plug in my little charger.  I'll have a hard enough time keeping my car off the boards.  In fact I may just use my batteries from Radio Shack!  They'll probly last longer than the car, by the time I pick up all my broken car pieces off the track.

Maybe there's a foam body I can use.  Not so fast but oh so much safer!
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Offline SgRddY

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« Reply #17 on: October 02, 2005, 08:39:36 PM »
you are right tom.  the max output on my ps is 1500W.  14V@80A and 28V@8.6A with dual input power 115V@30A and 230V@15A

Offline Tom

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« Reply #18 on: October 02, 2005, 09:28:20 PM »
Quote from: "SgRddY"
you are right tom.  the max output on my ps is 1500W.  14V@80A and 28V@8.6A with dual input power 115V@30A and 230V@15A


Still sounds strange to me; standard wall plugs are on 15A circuits, not 30A circuits.  And, 30A at 115V is 3450W; over twice the rating on your power supply.

It sounds to me like you've got a 12-volt adjustable 80 amp supply (the same specs. as my Lambda), that might have dual inputs, and a higher voltage tap.  Other than it being a high power supply like mine, it doesn't sound all that exciting.

If you bring it out and have a way for a bunch of people to hook up, it will definatley ease the power problems a bunch of people will be having.

Offline Grinder

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« Reply #19 on: October 02, 2005, 10:39:59 PM »
30A 115V is a common circuit.  My dad has a few in his workshop.  I think some stove/ovens also run on a 30A circuit as well...
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Offline SgRddY

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« Reply #20 on: October 02, 2005, 10:55:06 PM »
i was reading it off the the power supply, i don't know what to make sense of it. and yes, i have seen 115V@30A.  oh well, i'll bring it to the indoor races.

Offline RC51

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« Reply #21 on: October 18, 2005, 10:32:10 PM »
Hi, RYY.

PM Sent several times but you keep dropping out of my sent box when I check.

Phil