A question about A123 battery chargers

I have just bought a 4s pack A123 batteries and a b8080 novatech charger, from BRC hobbies.

In the blurb on the website it said that the standard battery pack will not connect to the charger without an adaptor lead so I bought on of these as well. Ok up to now.

The Battery lead does plug into the socket on the charger and so does the adaptor, but the adaptor will not fit the battery pack. But most disconcerting is that the positive and negative leads on the adaptor and batt pack are completely opposite. ???

Help - anybody??

Trev

Have you got some links and pictures of them Trev?

Trev, Unless I have missed an update on these chargers, the B8080 is a LiPo charger, not a LiFePo4. Can you check that your charger is suited for A123s?

Leo, charger is Li/ion and Li/poly

Had the wrong adaptor cable, all connects now, but I have yet to use it.

It is very hard to get good information for these things - I bought it so that I could vote at the next FRA meeting with some experience - but so far I am more confused. I bought a 4.8v regulator to power the reciever from the batt pack and the sheet of paper that came with it said soldering required, but no circuit diagram and it doesnt even say which is the input or ouput. I can figure it out but many will struggle. It really is not good enough when these batteries, if abused, can go wrong bigtime.

Gripe over

Trev

Heres some info Trevor on the A123 bats just incase....

Theyre NOT Li/ion or Li/poly theyre
Li-Ion FEPO4 nominal voltage 3.3v.

Specs and charging recommendations etc here ....
http://www.first-products.de/specsenglisch.htmhttp://www.first-products.de/specsenglisch.htm

Woody, are you saying this charger is no good?

Trev

Not a clue .... Id need to turn the question around and ask you ...do the charger specs include A123 Batteries?

Chargers usually list A123 bats if theyre suitable for charging them.
Otherwise you need a Lipodapter or similar ....http://www.slkelectronics.com/lipodapter/index.htmhttp://www.slkelectronics.com/lipodapter/index.htm

(Message edited by woody on December 22, 2007)

From what Ive just read, doing a quick search, then the voltage cut off is at 4.2V. But wether that means its too high for charging M1s, I dont know. I also read that this charger did orginally overcharge batteries, but was updated with a lower cut off.

The battery packs are listed as BRCfePo4 but then refer to them as lithium-ion

http://www.brchobbies.co.uk/product_images/20070712105906_FEP04%20016.jpghttp://www.brchobbies.co.uk/product_...EP04%20016.jpg

Can someone please enlighten me before I blow up a £65 battery pack.

http://www.first-products.de/product8.htmhttp://www.first-products.de/product8.htm

From the same site that I previously linked to ...looks exceedingly similar ...possibly rebadged.

Id suggest the additional purchase of a lipodapter.

(Message edited by woody on December 22, 2007)