Niek

I have a rc-power 601BC for about two weeks.

First impression: Looks ok. Nice blue display.

tests witha brand new 3s lipo: The voltage of each cell can be displayed but this hangs after a while. Also the amount of charge is then not correct anymore. This is also shown on the logview window (German program) as a non changeing line. [:'(]
During chargeing, the current drops from e.g. 1 A downto 0.3A when it approaches 4.2V. The amount of charge is not correctly updated when the voltage hangs. Apparantly there are two voltage measurements. One for the main pack and different a/d converters for each individual cell.

Balance after stopping manually when the main diaplay was at 12.60V: 4.12, 4.17. and 4.15 V. That is unacceptable. [:@]

Apparantly the firmware is also too buggy for me.
I'm pretty dissapointed with this unit and I cannot rely on it.

I contacted the seller (through ebay, seller is in HK). No reaction yet. But if it is not solved to my satisfaction, I'll start a chargeback.

3d Marky

You may have the MK1 version which had known issues with voltage stability. I spoke to a reseller in the UK that had a number of returns with the Mk1. Now he is selling the MK2's and has had no further problems.

LiPoly's should be charged to within 1% of each cells total voltage. If your charger is not doing this then there is a problem.

I recently got a Mk2 601 ( were available from mid March 2007) and i am currently testing it against the Mk1. The voltage of LiPoly's tested to date have been within 1% of each other.

Niek

Aha,

I've send mine back to rvmhop in HK

samuelx

This charger is CRAP. I have 2. 601BC chargers.....Had 2. 601 BC chargers. First one broke in first day When I was Charging 5s1p 2000mah lipo in 2A current. Smoke was coming inside of the charger after second charge.

Second charger broke after 4. cycles when I was charging same kind of pack. [:@]

samuelx

IC= 4407

Manufacturer logo is AP or something like that

I am trying to find parts olso for my broken chargers...

Fade2Gray

Hi Everyone,

I just purchased this charger unit and are currently charging and discharging 2x IB4200 mAh battery packs using a Y series connector.

Seems to work ok, pity about the fan noise, l wish there was some way that the fan would automatically switch off once the batteries have reached their charge.

I have a question and was hoping someone could shed some light on my recharging problem. When l fully charge the battery packs, a day later just before l go off to race my boat (Super Vee 27) I recharge the same battery packs so they are fully charged to the optimum level. The problem is that 2nd time round this charger takes a long time to charge the battery packs (over 2 hours @ 1.5amp) - I would have thought that the second time round that it would not take this amount of time to charge up, especially as l have fully charged them the day before.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

BTW: Does anyone have the link please for the Log View program? I can't find it anywhere.

Thanks in advance.

cmavr8

1. Fan noise: I hate it! I might mod it later and put a more silent fan...

2. I think I read somewhere "do not try to recharge an already charged battery". It should automatically detect it's charged, so why do they say that???

3. Looking for the program? Don't you have a cd?

Fade2Gray

Hi cmavr8,

The CD did come with the charger, however it is not the Log View program but some useless program that doesn't work - Does anyone have a copy of Log View program that they could upload somewhere for us please?

I would have thought with this charger that it would automatically detect the amount of voltage and only charge up to remaining amount required - At the moment it doesn't do this in which the charger treats the battery packs as new packs.

Do you charge two packs at the same time? I might try charging one pack at a time to see if that makes any difference.

Oh... that noisy fan, the wife complains about this constantly.

3d Marky

Charging two packs together is not advisable. The charger was not designed for this purpose. To charge multiple packs you should purchase a dual output charger. Try charging one pack at a time and I think your problems will cease.

The fan noise issue was a problem on the MK1's. A simple fix is to add a resistor in the + or - lead to the fan so reducing its speed. That’s all they did on the MK2's to silence it.

To answer why the fan does not switch off after charging... This is because you probably have the unit set for trickle charge. Disable Trickle function and the fan will stop once the charge is complete.

Hope that helps.

Fade2Gray

Excellent advice, l will try that...

BTW: Do you know the value the of resistor to attach to fan?

3d Marky

A fairly low value in the region of 50 ohms should do the trick however I would experiment. Let your wife be the judge
Fan should run nice and quiet at around 6-8 volts.

lk808

601BC manual (Acrobat format) available [link="http://www.huayu-hobby.com/download-en/manual/601BC manual.pdf"]here[/link].

Fade2Gray

Does anyone know the style of Lipo balance charge connectors used for this charger unit? I have noticed that there appears to be a couple of differecne TP connectors on some brands of Lipo batteries and knowing my luck, l will go out the purchase my first Lipo battery only to discover that it will not connect onto BC601 Lipo balancing conector.


Thanks again in advance.

jvictorfc

I don´t know about it, see if TP ballancer conector is similar to Hi model, if yes, it´s compatible! Anyway if is different you can switch the wires in the connector.

trackdog

I have seen different variations of this charger. Some say 80w circuit and have a black case, the blue ones say 50w circuit and have blue case. Also some seem to come with temp senor while others dont. Could someone clarify which one is the mosto date and how to use the temp sensor?

lk808

I received one of the blue "V2" units off eBay yesterday and it didn't include a temp sensor. I've also seen mention and pictures of the temp sensor, however there is no connector for it on the charger as there is on the Bantam charger. The 601BC's firmware lets you turn on/off the temperature cutoff and setpoint, but the external temp always reads 0C during operation. The manual mentions 801BC in at least one place, so I suspect that the 80W rating of the 801BC also got mixed in by accident.

Here's what I've noticed of my 601BC so far:

- When using the coax power input, the black input clip is automatically disconnected, however the red clip is live so be careful not to let it touch the metal case of anything that is grounded. The coax input is center positive. If I decide to keep this unit and void the warranty, I will probably desolder the wires from the unit and put a coax plug on the desoldered ends.

- The Inc button didn't work very well and requires a harder push or multiple pushes. I turned on the button confirmation beep to help. I can't tell if it's poor quality switches, poor button debouncing, the loose nut behind the button ;-), or a combination of these.

- There's a red LED inside the case and somewhere near the Start button. It blinks from time to time but it is somewhat difficult to see. The buttons are blue and somewhat translucent, so the red light isn't conveyed very well.

- The right side panel wasn't assembled correctly. The red banana jack was soldered at a slight angle and the assembler couldn't get it to go on flush, so s/he tightened the screws anyhow. There was a slight gap allowing the backlight to shine through which was annoying. I loosened the screws and realigned the panel.

- The CD contains Silabs CP210x v4.2 drivers and the monitoring software (interestingly, in a folder called "e-station"). I tried to download and install the WHQL-certified v5 drivers from silabs.com but the Silabs installer was unable to install on my system, so I used the CD drivers. It works on XP Pro. I can view various graphs as well as the charger settings.

I've been cycling various 7- and 8-cell Sub-C NiMH and NiCd packs, mostly new. I haven't tried charging lithium batteries yet. Here's what I've noticed:

- During charging and discharging, the charger starts at a high rate (but not necessarily the rate that I select) and gradually tapers down as it nears the end point. I've selected 2A discharge and the highest rate I've seen on the display is 1.3A discharge. The packs were partially charged, so I suspect that it starts at the rate specified for a particular state of charge.

- The case gets pretty hot during discharge. It has stayed cool during charges up to 3A. Although there is a finned heatsink on top of the case, it is interesting that the FETs contact the bottom panel and the power resistors don't contact the case and rely on the wimpy fan for air cooling.

- During charging, the current and fan will stop and start repeatedly. I haven't noticed a definite pattern, but during the first charge I thought I had a defective unit. I assume that it is trying to determine how full the battery is.

During the last 4 charge cycles, the charger reported Connection Break just as it neared the end of charge. This happened on 3 different packs and always towards the end. I'm using the alligator clips on wire leads to a Tamiya connector. I just reclipped the leads and I'm testing again to see if it was a bad connection.

diomar

I used mine (601BC) only once and noticed that is not balancing the cells (4,20 - 4,13 - 4,27). Second use and smoke came out. Tried to use one more time and had the same results - unbalanced battery and stoped when time limit reached the end. Apparently is a crap unit and I will return it to seller (HK - Rc-guru or Rcmegashop) asking for refund.

lk808

Sorry to hear about that. Good luck with the return/refund. My eBay seller unregistered a few days ago, so I am stuck with this unit. I'm going to take my unit apart for a closer look at the components.

It seems that if I keep the charge rate at 0.5C or less, it is able to fully charge NiXX batteries without the Connection Break error message appearing. However the charge capacities of my NiCd batteries seem way too high. I had a 1200mAh 7-cell pack that was going up to 1700mAh according to the 601BC, and a 1500-rated pack that hit the 2000mAh limit that I set. Unfortunately I was not there when they were at these high levels so I don't know if the packs were hot.

Jeff_Green

I received the Rc-power 601BC today from YPIN2000 (who is now a non registered user) i was told that my charger is the new version and will confirm that soon. I was thinking I was getting the temp sensor but there isn't even a jack on the charger for it? I have yet to test it with a Lipo only HiMH and NiCd packs. Dose anyone know what balancing plug the charger uses?

jvictorfc

Be careful is not every battery-pack able to be charged by 601BC, some of then have to switch the balancer conector. otherwise it will burn some IC'S like happened with me and stop to balance. I also checked as the person who wrote about non balance and my unit wasn't balacing the packs also.

Jeff_Green

Are the balance jacks wired like the BC6?
So fare the charger seems to work well . I checked to see if it is the newer model and it is.
people who are using this charger are you using a power adapter if so what are its specs? From what I see the people who are selling these are supplying a 15v 5A adapter.

jvictorfc - were you able to fix your charger?

cmavr8

I think 5A is too little!
I modified a computer power supply unit, and I made a PS capable of giving ~15A @ 12V

jvictorfc

I couldn't find the IC's they sell then just in large quantity (5000). =( Does anyone know anything else about it?

Jeff_Green

I am using a modified computer power supply now the 12v buss is capable of 12A but I have yet to see what the charger draws. What I was looking at was a 15v 6A power adapter for a laptop. I just want something that will give me a stable voltage greater than 12v. I have found with other chargers drawing from a car battery they work but when the battery is up around 14v witch is when the car is running.
From what I see they are power mosfet's and there number is af4407 but I will not be shore on the part number until I take it apart again.
[link=http://www.tranzistoare.ro/datasheets2/27/270247_1.pdf]Data Sheet[/link]

Jeff_Green

I would definitely say they are mosfet's on the board all the gates drains and sources are connected but the part number is AP 4407. any 4407 mosfet should work. Having the same case will make it easer but it is not a must just get the g d s right. good luck.