Testing 200p packs with iCharger

R

Rasmusm88

Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2022
Messages
54
Hi all

Curious, how are you testing your packs with iCharger, I have the x8?
I have not tried it yet, just got the regen function to work.
Should I do a manuel charge to 4.2 and then keep an eye on it when it's done to do manuel discharge?

Or can I actually use the cycle function hmm, can choose CHG -> DCHG STO, but it probably won't show me the discharge capacity right?
There's also a CHG -> DCHG function will that let me see discharge capacity?

Just wondering how you are doing it :)
Have a great weekend

From Rasmus
 
In my case, I charge my individual (18650) cells up to 4.2v and let them sit - as part of the test cycle - looking for self-dischargers. The ones that maintain 4.15 (or so) go into packs. Once the pack is built - I use my iCharger X8 to bring it down to 'Storage' (has auto-shut-off) which is about 3.6v - ready for integration into the powerwall as this is where the powerwall is each morning after inverter shut-off.

I've found the iCharger 100% reliable - you can depend on it to 'stop' (charge or discharge) per the settings / mode you choose.
 
Hi yea :)

I have build my packs, and they should be roughly 425ah pr cell. Trying to test that with iCharger now.

Question is if I can use the cycle mode (chg-dchg) to 4.2 and down to 3.0 and get capacity that way?
Or will I have to manually charge it in the setting menu to 4.2, and after that go out and manually change the menu to discharge to get capacity?

My packs are currently in storage
 
Last edited:
Here's a good intro of using an iCharger X6 on a pack - X8 is same menu as earlier X6.
View: https://youtu.be/S-2XPxplNtI


The "Cycle" option is billed as "...It will discharge and then charge automatically.". Suggest searching for an example of using this if you're hesitant after getting used to the iCharger.
 
Thanks, so I ran into trouble testing the packs..
First few tries the iCharger threw error 2001. Could not get it to charge at 30a it would do 20a better than 30a, at 30a it would imidiatly error out.

So I tried shortening the cables since there was 0.15v drop on my 8awg. Same result. I then tried to add a 35v 1000uF capacitor to the +&÷ from the 3S going into the charger, that helped me do one full charge / discharge cycle. Pack came out at 397.89ah.
Testing the next pack this morning I had the same error 2001, what's going on here ?
Is the charger faulty
 

Attachments

  • 20220328_054658.jpg
    20220328_054658.jpg
    1,007.8 KB · Views: 64
  • 20220328_054915.jpg
    20220328_054915.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 60
Nice setup! If it works at 20a but not 30a, maybe it just can't do 30a for some reason? I haven't tried to push mine to it's extremes. Maybe someone will have detail on this.
 
Thanks :)
Will try to shorten the input wires.

Edit: Shorter wires didn't make any difference.
Also bugs out without balance cables, but cycling at 25a seems okayish for now, time will tell.
 
Last edited:
So 25a and 20a also gives the error now within minutes ... gonna message the place I bought it and request a new one I think
 
Just to get back to this, regenerative at 30a works great with 4s on input side, not 3s some how
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top