powerpal multicharger
Any Which Way By Simon fennell
Etronix PowerPal, Multi Charger
The Powerpal will charge almost anything you like, NiMH, NiCad, LiPo, even lead acid
Intro
Whether at home or trackside, running electric or nitro powered vehicles you will always need a charger you can rely on to provide the best possible performance and safety possible. In the field you need something that will run from 12 V, whether a dedicated lead acid leisure battery or simply hooking up to what you have already stored under the bonnet. At home you don’t want to be lugging a 12 V lead acid battery about so you need something that will run from mains 240 V AC power. Likewise indoor racing, and some outdoor permanent venues alike, offer a mains hook up at each pit bench, reducing the risk that your race day be foreshortened by the lack of capacity in your ailing 12 V battery. How do you get all that in one easy to use, reliable package that doesn’t cost the earth? Etronix have the answer with their first entry into the charger market, the PowerPal is an exciting, feature packed and competitively priced all-in-one unit, with a built in AC power supply, microprocessor controlled high performance charger/discharger/cycler for NiCad, NiMH, and even lead acid batteries with an integrated LiPo cell voltage balancer. This is one special packaging exercise by the Etronix designers for sure! Must be some ‘Timelord’ DNA in there because it has to be bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside! How do they get all this in there? The blue anodised alloy case doubles as a heat sink for the internal circuitry but it never gets hot enough to be worried about, as the internal fan regulates the temperature to achieve best efficiency from each component on the microprocessor controlled PCB within. The three-pin mains socket ensures the case is earthed whenever you are hooked up to 240 V AC. The 12 V supply lead is terminated in small croc clips, which I would prefer to cut off and replace with 4 mm gold tubes so I can slide on a pair
72 WWW.RADIORACECAR.COM 08/09
Run from mains power or 12 V for indoor and outdoor use
of larger croc clips to suit typical 12 V lead acid terminals, or indeed push straight into a 12 V PSU which all have 4 mm sockets on their outputs these days. The output is connected to a set of leads supplied, terminated in a 5 mm jack plug, whose mating half is terminated in the 4 mm gold tubes to push into the charger sockets. This remains in place while you simply exchange the lower half for the one with the best-suited terminals, and you have a few to choose from! There are croc clips supplied on a flying lead so you can clip onto almost any connector like the typical 4 mm gold tubes used on most NiMH race packs these days. A handy glow plug adaptor is provided so you can recharge it at the field to make sure you have the best possible starts. There is a small two – pin receiver pack socket and a three – pin version too so no matter how your nitro buggy is set up you can safely recharge the receiver pack without worrying about reverse polarity connections when you are in a hurry between races. The other major connector style that is widely used is the Deans flat blade twin socket and you get a male half to plug straight into your battery pack. Strangely there are two obvious omissions from the collection, firstly you cannot plug a 4 mm gold tube straight into the charger, which on a 5 Amp charge rate I would prefer to using croc clips for a more accurate voltage measurement for the charge circuit, but that’s easily fixed and I soon had two leads soldered and heat shrink wrapped with a 4 mm gold tube on either end.
rrci test bench Spec Check
Dual input power AC/DC Charge current up to 5 A Discharge current up to 1 A 1 to 6 series of Lilo/LiPo/LiFe Integrated Lithium cell balancer 1 to 15-cells of NiCad/NiMH 2 to 20 V Lead - acid (Pb) 1-5 Cycles Charge/Discharge 5-model memory Battery Data Temperature sensor option
on the
test bench
Adaptor leads to suit many connector types are supplied 5000 mAh 2S LiPo battery connected for a 5 amp charge cycle with cell monitoring for ultimate safety and performance
Individual cell balance charging and discharge monitoring, via integrated balance circuitry
acid battery so I can be sure it is at full capacity before my next race day.
Cycling Without Pedalling
The other obvious omission is the world standard Tamiya plug, which appears on just about every RTR battery pack ever made, but the small croc clips can be attached to the pins in the battery socket or you could make up your own adaptor lead if you prefer. The same goes for anyone using the high current flat blade Traxxas connector or the encapsulated dual tube design used on the Losi products, indeed any other connector on the market could soon be made up into a flying lead to suit your particular preferences, but Etronix have given you a good selection to get you going. Making your own custom adaptor lead is something that shouldn’t challenge anyone with a basic knowledge of soldering and heat shrink application.
Charge!
Being able to charge such a large array of battery chemistries requires a lot of clever programming, and Etronix have done all the hard work for you, including a 5-memory capability so you can store your most popular charging requirements for easy selection. Typically I would have a set up for NiMH race cells on a 5 Amp charge with a 7 mV per cell delta peak, another programme I would dedicate to 5 – cell receiver packs, using a 1 Amp charge rate and 5 mV per cell delta peak to ensure they do not over heat as they peak out. My third choice would be a LiPo setting to suit my various race packs, though I will need to make an adaptor cable for some of them as not all use the popular JST XH plug as supplied on the 2S to 6S balance board. Being able to recharge a glow start at the track would be a good set up to store, and finally I would keep a memory for charging my 12 V lead
Being able to cycle a battery up to 6 times between charge and discharge, no matter whether it is a large or small NiMH pack, or indeed a 12 V lead acid battery, can give an indication of its performance and lifespan; a 45 Amp Hour lead acid that only gives 10 Ah on a 1 Amp discharge won’t see you through a race day, so it’s a good idea to cycle test it occasionally to see how it is holding up. Likewise receiver packs, flicking through several receiver packs in my collection I could weed out a couple of suspect packs before they cost me a run-away when they failed during an extended final. Cycling LiPo packs is not usually required, as they balance charge each cell individually, but as individual cells are monitored on the discharge cycle you can see if your pack is going out of balance due to a weak cell under load. One great feature, among the safety time out setting, the over temperature settings (with optional temp sensor), and the low supply voltage cut out, is the ability to limit the charge capacity of a battery, so I can choose to put just 500 mAh into my NiMH cells for storage between meetings, likewise a storage mode for LiPo is Class: Multi Charger a great idea, keeping them Type: 12 V – 240 V supply at half capacity while safely Manufacturer: Etronix tucked away in your pit box. Price: £79.99 RRP Overall the PowerPal is a great addition to anyone’s pit box, with features that belie Dislikes its modest appearance and 12 V supply croc clips too small reasonable price tag. The first 1 A discharge limit charger from Etronix is a brilliant piece of equipment; what will Likes they come up with in the future? AC or DC powered Watch this space, and the CML Compact and lightweight website for details! RRCi Adaptor leads supplied Integral LiPo Cell Balancer Programmability and flexibility
QUICK SPEC
CONTACT
Simple 4 button menu controls the multi layer menus
Individual LiPo cell monitoring lets you weed out a poor cell before it restricts your performance
Time out, temp cut off and capacity limits can be set to terminate charge, as well as delta peak settings
CML Distribution Tel: 01527 575349 or visit www.cmldistribution.co.uk
08/09 WWW.RADIORACECAR.COM 73
