I’ve used the compact and reasonably quiet Dell 550W server power supplies:
Attach some zip ties to hold the latch mechanism:
Cut and bend a solid wire to short the correct pins:
Use some hot glue to hold it in place to make it easier to solder them:
Cut this metal part to make it easier to apply the foam tape later on:
Fill the exposed board with some hot glue to avoid short circuits on the exposed pins:
You can also use a small piece of 100mm heat shrink to protect it (the hot glue makes it stick well).
Solder the wires and also one of the computer fan cables that will power one of the 80mm fans:
One power supply will be ungrounded (i.e., the ground pin will not be connected), so it *must* be isolated. Read this post about the safety of connecting power supplies in series. Connect them in series at your own risk!
The 100mm Turnigy heat shrink worked perfectly for isolating it:
Use a sharp x-acto knife to cut openings in the shrink wrap for the venting holes:
Apply the foam tape to one side of the power supply:
Stick them together and solder the wires to both power supplies. Note the two red wires soldered directly to the power supply case; they’ll be used to wire the AC120V alarm/buzzer to indicate a failure in the power supply:
The setup below powers 5 chargers with 3 power supplies. One power supply (12V) for the 4 small chargers and the other 2 in series (24V) for the Powerlab 8. It has room for another Powerlab 8 and a required 4th power supply.
Transporting and connecting all my charging equipment at the field to charge multiple batteries is somewhat inconvenient. Even when charging at home, it gets pretty messy connecting 5 chargers and ~10 batteries to charge them all at the same time.
I’ve seen many pictures of portable charging stations that fit in a carrying case as an all-in-one solution. All you have to do is plug it into an AC outlet and connect your batteries; everything else is already connected and ready to be used.
I’ve then decided to build my own charging station. Here’s the final result:
In the next days, I’ll be posting a detailed build log here.
It’s been a while since my last RC flight, but for a good reason: I’ve relocated to California, got an exciting new job and haven’t settled down completely yet. I hope to find a nice RC club and get back to flying soon!
Sunday was a nice sunny day and I had a couple of flights with my AXN Floater Jet (AKA Clouds Fly, glider, etc) over our field (TEMAC). The good old $14 camera is still working wonders!
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