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gizard

Toolkit M7 charger and P200 PSU

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So I have just got the above for a couple of reasons:

to see if I can use a 28000 mAh USB-C power brick with the M7 (using a USB-C to XT60 lead) - this appears not to work so far..... have also tried using a USB-C wall wart and this doesn't work either- need to try using a standard car lipo as the input I think to start with

But also I want to see if swapping charged batteries about etc. is easier / more efficient - so for example can i use one battery that has + 50% remaining to bring another battery back up to storage level charge etc. 

 

has anyone else got an M7?

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I have the smaller M4 and use it all the time with 10 and 20ah powerbanks (PD and/or QC 3) with and USB PD wall bricks and USB QC 3 in car ciggy charger. All worked but I will advice keeping the charge rate to 2A with powerbanks and QC 3 and 3A for PD. 

Pay attention to what your power supply have enough juice and right protocol to support it. 

 

Be warned, I had blown a QC 3 wall plug by selecting 4A charge rate. You will not want your 28ah powerbank to blow. 

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Looking further at the specs of the M7, I suspect it is not something your powerbank and wall brick can support? 7 - 28V @ 12A is very high. Even at the lowest end, it is higher than what my USB PD charger can supply. 

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10 hours ago, gizard said:

Well both can output 20V 5A through the USB-C port which should be enough for the lower end (IE smaller batteries) i thought..

 

"Should be enough" based on maths. The problem is, I double checked the M7 specs and it does not list any USB protocol, other than 2.1A @ 5.0V. For safety, the way USB charging should work is both supply and demand side will communicate with each other and agree with the best and fastest protocol possible, while being safe. If there is no communication from either side, it will not work properly or at all. One example this could be seen is trying to charge a smartwatch (no protocol, very low demand, too low to trigger internal switch) and nothing happens. Some supply will have a permanent feed even when nothing is connected but not all.

Comparing the specs between your M7 and my M4 Pocket, there are various protocol listed for the M4 thus it can work on my QC or PD chargers and powerbank.

https://www.toolkitrc.com/m7

https://www.toolkitrc.com/m4dc

Looking further, on my M4 at least, it specified XT60 drawing 7 - 25V @ 5A. Now that is worse if the XT60 to USB adaptor is a "dumb cable" as it will not have the ability to communicate with the supply. Are you using something like a SC100 cable? That one claimed to have the correct protocol.

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I just downloaded the M7 manual and realised I may have misunderstood you. Can you confirm if the charger have a USB C port INPUT like this? 

41SKhxj.jpg

Or are you only trying to use a USB C to XT60 adaptor? 

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No I am using the XT60 to usb-C adapter so I think you are right (thanks) - although the OTG power bank powers up with the usb-C lead plugged in - as you say it is a dumb lead on the XT60 end and therefore does not start providing current to the M7 - should of thought about that before I bought it! Did look at the M4 but wanted the ability to charge little NIMH packs too. 

I have done some charging from a 3s 4000 mAh (overlander sport track) to a 2s 4000 mAh (Core RC) pack successfully also to smaller s3 1300 mAh packs. I don't use the 3s 4000 mAh packs that often the so this will mean they get a little more use. I guess I could get some sort of USB-C activation circuitry in-between but might not be worth it!. 

 

Still the M7 is clever little unit and is great value for money. I have a SkyRC Q200 quad charger too but it is a lot less portable ;) 

I got the P200 as well for use with the M7 but also for powering / testing other 12volt items (old car stereo for example - although I wonder if it will be noisy?).

 

cheers

 

G.

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No I am using the XT60 to usb-C adapter so I think you are right (thanks) - although the OTG power bank powers up with the usb-C lead plugged in - as you say it is a dumb lead on the XT60 end and therefore does not start providing current to the M7 - should of thought about that before I bought it! Did look at the M4 but wanted the ability to charge little NIMH packs too. 

I have done some charging from a 3s 4000 mAh (overlander sport track) to a 2s 4000 mAh (Core RC) pack successfully also to smaller s3 1300 mAh packs. I don't use the 3s 4000 mAh packs that often the so this will mean they get a little more use. I guess I could get some sort of USB-C activation circuitry in-between but might not be worth it!. 

 

Still the M7 is clever little unit and is great value for money. I have a SkyRC Q200 quad charger too but it is a lot less portable ;) 

I got the P200 as well for use with the M7 but also for powering / testing other 12volt items (old car stereo for example - although I wonder if it will be noisy?).

oh though occurs to me that there is a USB A port on the 'charging side of the M7 I wonder if a future FW update might enable PD talk somehow??? although there will probably be a current issue through that port.

 

cheers

 

Guy

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2 hours ago, gizard said:

No I am using the XT60 to usb-C adapter so I think you are right (thanks) - although the OTG power bank powers up with the usb-C lead plugged in - as you say it is a dumb lead on the XT60 end and therefore does not start providing current to the M7 - should of thought about that before I bought it! Did look at the M4 but wanted the ability to charge little NIMH packs too.

I can only guess about what your cable is but I came across a Toolkitrc cable that is spec to have the right protocols. 

https://a.aliexpress.com/_EvQKHwr

I had not tried it so cannot confirm if it will work or not. 

One thing to note is on some powerbanks, they start giving power at the lowest current, communicate with the device and then go off and on again at the higher current. Meaning, say on a phone, it slow charge when plugged in then goes off and on again before fast charging. This takes a few seconds on mine. Not saying that is the problem with yours, just something to be aware of. 

For NiMHs, I use the ISDT PD60 which can also work off USB C. 

This USB protocol is just a mess, and is expected to get worse with 4.0, etc... 

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that is the lead I have - maybe I need to investigate the settings further!!!

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