Universal discharger from Perfect Regulators

[RichardV]

Are you happy with yours? Any issues?

I'm considering getting one, as having to unpack my charging equipment in the lounge to discharge is a pain. Also my charger takes ages and makes a heck of a racket.

Rich

[mahbouni]

I was wondering if I could fit an EC5 connector to one of these and make cups of tea

The ORIGINAL Big Red 24v Kettle 1.5l MKII HELLA Plug Fitted - Trucks Lorry Coach | eBay

[Mark_T]

Looks like a useful device for sure, appears to be able to handle close to 300W which is way better than any of the built in dischargers on any charger I've ever owned.

Can't help with direct experience, but it looks good, but then you already knew that

[Grumpy]

I was wondering if I could fit an EC5 connector to one of these and make cups of tea

The ORIGINAL Big Red 24v Kettle 1.5l MKII HELLA Plug Fitted - Trucks Lorry Coach | eBay

Good find!.. If you have an iCharger Duo you could hook that up to one channel, set discharge channel voltage to 24V and discharge a battery of any voltage through the other channel and the charger would stop the discharge when you reached storage voltage.

If you had a lot of batteries to discharge you might have to drink gallons of tea though! I use a modified hairdryer for the same purpose.

[mahbouni]

Good find!.. If you have an iCharger Duo you could hook that up to one channel, set discharge channel voltage to 24V and discharge a battery of any voltage through the other channel and the charger would stop the discharge when you reached storage voltage.

If you had a lot of batteries to discharge you might have to drink gallons of tea though! I use a modified hairdryer for the same purpose.

Ah, yes my PL8 has regenerative discharge and probably a safer option. I was worried about the spark just plugging the kettle into a 6s LiPo. Also the input Voltage of the receiving appliance doesn't need too match the LiPo's Voltage.

Your mention of using a hair dryer has given me another idea. I can get a portable fan heater.

£25.65|12/24V Volt Ceramic Car Van Fan Heater Warmer Window Defroster Demister

[Grumpy]

Another good find! My hairdryer does 1000W but the 300W heater is better than any charger's inbuilt discharger.

Unfortunately you cant use it as i described with the PL8 as it doesnt support resistive discharge loads. AFAIK the iCharger Duos are the only chargers that will do it.

[mahbouni]

"resistive discharge loads" What does that mean?

Is your hairdryer 220V?

[cjm180]

i went with the universal discharger from Perfect Regulators. i find it really good. it auto discharges to 3.85v per cell.

I bought the buzzer to go with it so i can here when its done. Simple and easy to use!

[Granpappy]

"resistive discharge loads" What does that mean?

Is your hairdryer 220V?

Resistive load is something that converts current to heat such as a light bulb, heater, kettle. An inductive load is something that converts current to an electromagnetic field such as an electric motor.

Grumpy, I've got a Icharger 4010 Duo so I'm guessing I could use an old hairdryer. (Don't have any hair anymore). Do you just use the heater coil as the load and disconnect the motor, or is there an additional modification to be done?

[mahbouni]

Resistive load is something that converts current to heat such as a light bulb, heater, kettle. An inductive load is something that converts current to an electromagnetic field such as an electric motor.

Isn't a battery also a resistive load when it's being charged? The regenerative discharge feature of the PL8 is intended to charge a Lead Acid battery. How is that difference to a kettle? not disagreeing with anyone. Just want to understand why.

[Granpappy]

Isn't a battery also a resistive load when it's being charged? The regenerative discharge feature of the PL8 is intended to charge a Lead Acid battery. How is that difference to a kettle? not disagreeing with anyone. Just want to understand why.

I think a battery is a capacitive load. Internal resistance of batteries is negligible so it does not represent a load to the charger. The battery does however 'push back' (ooerrr missus) against the battery charger due to it's own output voltage which presents a load to the input voltage of the charger. The load varies depending on the level of charge in the battery. therefore the load is capacitive.

I don't know why a PL8 cant handle a resistive load. Might be due to being unable to hold a constant current due to temperature changes in the load itself.

[Grumpy]

It was a revolectrix rep over on HF that said that the Powerlabs wouldnt discharge to a resistive load, i'm not sure why exactly.

If you use a hairdryer you have to 're-wind' it to reduce the resistance of the heating element to about 1 Ohm. I've got some pictures of what to do somewhere if your interested?

[Mike Sanders]

There is a cheaper device but rather less sophisticated.

RCX03-245 : RCX 3-in-1 Battery Balancer, Discharger & Voltage Indicator (150W Discharging) [RCX03-245] Review - USD11.99 : MyRcMart.COM : The Battery Meter/Balancer/Discharger is designed for Li-Polymer and Li-Fe battery, it can measure battery volta

Does anyone have one of these?
It seems from the video that the package includes the connectors and bulbs but from the description on the vendor's website this is not too clear.

[cjm180]

in my own ignorance, this is why i went for the perfect regulators route. Sure i am not learning much, but when u charge a load of packs for the next day, and it rains, i just want a complete device that keeps itself cool that i just plug in my packs to get them straight to storage

[coolice]

"resistive discharge loads" What does that mean?

Is your hairdryer 220V?

Hey Buddy.

Here is the link to the original idea;

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...d#post27844007

The hair dryer I used is no longer available, but there is other options. Attached are some photos of one I assembled and then boxed with my laser cutter to make it look nicer.

Ian