Power supplies for chargers

[F-150]

Long story short I HAVE to get a Spektrum charger to charge my ONE G-2 battery. G-2 batteries have no external balance lead, so it has be a G-2 charger 

The one I want is cheap and powered by an external power supply connected by USB-C(sold separately) ok so I need a laptop power brick putting out 100 watts to efficiently charge up to 4s batteries. 

I found several laptop computer "chargers" that put out 100 watts, but.... Are these laptop charging bricks good to power a RC battery charger? I'm confused....are they the same as a "power supply?

I'm just wondering if I get a 100watt laptop power brick and plug it into the charger, it won't do anything. When I actually needed a 100 watt power supply/bank. 

**** I'm always paranoid about these things lol. Thanks.

[alvinlwh]

12 hours ago, F-150 said:

I'm always paranoid about these things

Being paranoid is good, I had blown up an USB QC charger by more or less doing what you want to do before. 

Now, as for power supply, just go and get a second hand brand name (Lenovo, Sony, etc...) laptop power supply that match or exceed the numbers you need and you will be good. I use my Lenovo charger that I also use for my laptops to power my lipo chargers occasionally. 

[F-150]

2 hours ago, alvinlwh said:

Being paranoid is good, I had blown up an USB QC charger by more or less doing what you want to do before. 

Now, as for power supply, just go and get a second hand brand name (Lenovo, Sony, etc...) laptop power supply that match or exceed the numbers you need and you will be good. I use my Lenovo charger that I also use for my laptops to power my lipo chargers occasionally. 

I over think things a lot 

Now I'm deciding, since my new Losi sprint 22 is all Spektrum with Spektrum connectors, to just go ahead and get a Spektrum A.C. charging unit. A lot more money than the USB ones. 

Horizon/Spektrum are pulling a fast one, they sucked me into the Spektrum battery family lol. 

They decided to put the balance function into one connector so I can't use my normal charger to charge smart batteries ...clever. I never cared about the smart functions, so I just charged them normally....not anymore!  

I guess I can switch the connector of the Baja rey and Losi sprint.... Put on an XT 60, but not sure if the smart battery will work after I do that. 

Man I'm really thinking about just giving the darn thing away and taking a loss.  I'd have more money into a whole new charging setup anyways. 

Not saying Spektrum is bad, I just like my dumb batteries ..I like manual control of them and don't care about smart functions or telemetry stuff, plus I can use whatever brand I want....whatever is on sale.

 

[Guest]

You can charge non Spektrum brands on the Spektrum charger, but you can't charge Spektrum on other chargers You will need a charger capable of putting them in storage mode after a run. I use the Spektrum S1100. It has storage mode and you can change the smart battery settings to your own preferences, they're preset from factory for 72 hours. The cheaper option is the S155 charger but that doesn't have storage mode.  The USB charger you have can only charge them and it is very slow, I tossed mine after 2 uses. 

 

[alvinlwh]

41 minutes ago, F-150 said:

I guess I can switch the connector of the Baja rey and Losi sprint.... Put on an XT 60, but not sure if the

It is possible, depending on how comfortable you are defusing a bomb, sorry, I meant soldering a lipo. You need to patch in additional wires to the + and - and together with the third wire in the original connector, form a balance plug. Can be done if you are careful I suppose. 

[Mad Ax]

Maybe a daft question, but isn't there an adapter to convert to a regular battery connector for charging / discharging on a regular charger?

Something like this perhaps..?  I don't know what your "smart" battery connector looks like.  I expect it's not as smart as it claims.

[F-150]

15 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

Maybe a daft question, but isn't there an adapter to convert to a regular battery connector for charging / discharging on a regular charger?

Something like this perhaps..?  I don't know what your "smart" battery connector looks like.  I expect it's not as smart as it claims.

Hmmm interesting.  

It looks like a G-2 can plug into it, and now have a separate balance lead and a connection to a standard charger with a standard Ec3 connector. That may work, but the G-2 battery has no separate balance lead ..it's literally one lead, somehow balances through the main connector. 

[F-150]

2 hours ago, Dangerous_Beard said:

You can charge non Spektrum brands on the Spektrum charger, but you can't charge Spektrum on other chargers You will need a charger capable of putting them in storage mode after a run. I use the Spektrum S1100. It has storage mode and you can change the smart battery settings to your own preferences, they're preset from factory for 72 hours. The cheaper option is the S155 charger but that doesn't have storage mode.  The USB charger you have can only charge them and it is very slow, I tossed mine after 2 uses. 

 

The S1100 is the exact one I'm looking at. It's the cheapest, full featured, 100 watt one they have. I don't need anymore than 100 watts....I usually charge up to 3s 5000 at 4 amps....100 watts is plenty fine.

 My new LOSI sprint 22s is all Spektrum(comes like that) so if I race it in a spec class, it might have to be all stock including the Spektrum stuff it came with. Soooo I'd have to run Spektrum batteries in it. Between racing my Losi sprint and playing with my Baja rey I guess investing in the 1100 would be a good investment, plus it will charge dumb batteries as well.

Looks like Spektrum got me now! LMAO.

However in my helicopters and boats I'll continue with gens ace... Spektrum stuff is real expensive.... I'm not replacing my entire battery line for all Spektrum.

[alvinlwh]

27 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

I don't know what your "smart" battery connector looks like.

It looks like a giant balance plug. 

 

[Guest]

Just now, F-150 said:

The S1100 is the exact one I'm looking at. It's the cheapest, full featured, 100 watt one they have. I don't need anymore than 100 watts....I usually charge up to 3s 5000 at 4 amps....100 watts is plenty fine.

 My new LOSI sprint 22s is all Spektrum(comes like that) so if I race it in a spec class, it might have to be all stock including the Spektrum stuff it came with. Soooo I'd have to run Spektrum batteries in it. Between racing my Losi sprint and playing with my Baja rey I guess investing in the 1100 would be a good investment, plus it will charge dumb batteries as well.

Looks like Spektrum got me now! LMAO.

The S1100 is a good charger dude, it can charge up to 6s. 

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, F-150 said:

However in my helicopters and boats I'll continue with gens ace... Spektrum stuff is real expensive.... I'm not replacing my entire battery line for all Spektrum.

It is very expensive. I wanted to go brushless on my Gorgon. It would have cost well over £400. I have gone with a Hobbywing combo, DumboRC transmitter & receiver and it has cost me less than £200. Modelsport can solder the connector you need onto the ESC so I can use my spektrum batteries. I will change brand in the future once I get a little bit more experienced. 

[Mad Ax]

1 hour ago, F-150 said:

the G-2 battery has no separate balance lead ..it's literally one lead, somehow balances through the main connector. 

If your battery is the same one in the photo above, the balance lead is the little skinny one between the red and black.  On a conventional battery, the skinny black and red wires on the separate balance plug are connected to the same parts of the battery as the main black and yellow power wires.  The adapter lead just splits it out into a conventional harness.

[F-150]

It's a hard decision, if I want to spend on over priced Spektrum stuff for the smart experience, or not 

I mean ..you can get a Junsi Icharger, 800 watts for 129 bucks..... 

I dunno, man....  I'm thinking of just taking a loss on this G-2 and getting a couple of gens ace 3s with Ec5 connectors that will hook up to the Baja rey Ic5. 

I could care less about smart capabilities, I'm more into manual control myself .

[F-150]

The most irritating thing about this G-2 battery there is no way to tell how it's doing. It's a new battery, but I've had it for about 4 months, never charged it. I don't know the health of it and can't tell without a specific Spektrum charger. Can't even use my low voltage alarm with this.

SMH. 

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, F-150 said:

The most irritating thing about this G-2 battery there is no way to tell how it's doing. It's a new battery, but I've had it for about 4 months, never charged it. I don't know the health of it and can't tell without a specific Spektrum charger. Can't even use my low voltage alarm with this.

SMH. 

They're set from the factory to go down to storage mode after 72 hours. I would check it as soon as you can though, 4 months is a long time to leave a lipo unchecked. I check mine weekly. 

[F-150]

2 hours ago, Dangerous_Beard said:

They're set from the factory to go down to storage mode after 72 hours. I would check it as soon as you can though, 4 months is a long time to leave a lipo unchecked. 

 

decided to go ahead with the S1100 and another G-2 battery for my Baja rey and Losi Sprint. I also got the Spektrum battery checked/servo tester..

Since that charger does G-2 AND dumb batteries, why not. A little expensive, it is what it is.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, F-150 said:

decided to go ahead with the S1100 and another G-2 battery for my Baja rey and Losi Sprint. I also got the Spektrum battery checked/servo tester..

Since that charger does G-2 AND dumb batteries, why not. A little expensive, it is what it is.

I can't complain. I think its a good brand regardless of the price. I have kids here so safety is always the priority. The smart tech takes them down to storage voltage if I forget. Which does happen 🤔 👀 😕. I think the only critics of these batteries are the guys that don't use them. 

[alvinlwh]

6 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

If your battery is the same one in the photo above, the balance lead is the little skinny one between the red and black.  On a conventional battery, the skinny black and red wires on the separate balance plug are connected to the same parts of the battery as the main black and yellow power wires.  The adapter lead just splits it out into a conventional harness.

I originally think like you but they have 3-6S with the same setup. Not sure how that works?

https://www.hobbytimerc.com/spektrum-rc-smart-g2-powerstage-air-bundle-w-3s-sm.html

[Mad Ax]

7 hours ago, alvinlwh said:

I originally think like you but they have 3-6S with the same setup. Not sure how that works?

Interesting.  Unless the middle cable carries serial data and there's a chip in the battery transmitting the voltage for each cell?  Part of me wants to open one up to see how it works, but it's why I'm not personally a fan of these innovations - keep it simple and let people buy their own batteries.

[alvinlwh]

1 hour ago, Mad Ax said:

Interesting.  Unless the middle cable carries serial data and there's a chip in the battery transmitting the voltage for each cell?  Part of me wants to open one up to see how it works, but it's why I'm not personally a fan of these innovations - keep it simple and let people buy their own batteries.

Don't know enough about data buses to comment but found this picture showing what the middle wire connects to. 

I think it moves some of the function like balance, discharge, LVC, etc off the charger onto the battery itself. 

[Mad Ax]

Yeah.  Exactly how it works I couldn't say, but looks like that middle wire is able to return the voltage of any of the cells.  

Would be interesting to test the voltage on a 2S version and see if it reads the same as a regular 2S balance wire.

I'm guessing having the balance wire always connected to the ESC means it can safely cut off if one of the cells goes under voltage, and maybe there is some self-balancing going on with that circuit.  Who knows?

[ucacjbs]

FWIW, spektrum’s website/marketing materials do mention a chip inside the battery, which is connected to the blade pin in the center of the connector (as in the image above). So I’d go with the serial bus explanation too. 
 

The automatic storage mode is handled by that chip. Presumably balancing too. 

[F-150]

I can't post a picture over 30KB, but I got my Spektrum smart charger today along with a 3s Spektrum battery and the Spektrum battery checker. Looks like I'm in the Spektrum family now lol. From all my research and finally having the real deal in my hands, I'm quite excited about it. Tonight I will read through the manual and get used to the controls, then charge my first smart battery. 

It literally says I just plug the battery in and that is it.   

I got the S2100 model .. 2 ports at 100 watts each is more than I need, but a cool thing is, if only using one port....it will do 200 watts.  I only charge at 1C so....I won't need more than a 100 watts anyways.

So far so good!