Turret-on battery charging wiring diagram??

[Chris Singer]

Hi All,

I have the Panther G powered with 2 x 12 volt Lead Acid Yuasa 22ah batteries in series

My set up is currently quite preliminary in that I still have to remove the turret to get at the batteries and charge each one separately.

Can anyone share a really simple wiring diagram to allow me to run wires to say the rear engine hatch so that I can charge each 12v battery individually whilst not disconnecting anything in the belly of the beast?

I have seen 'Tony' on Youtube use a breaker device, but cant figure out what else needs doing, and don't want live loose ends of charging cables flapping around inside the tank when in use?

Sure there must be really good simple solutions!?

thanks in advance,

C

[Adrian Harris]

I charge my batteries independently, and add a short lead to each battery with an XT30 socket on the end for that purpose.

I then run a pair of XT30-XT30 extension leads to wherever is convenient in that particular model.

Adrian.

[Gerhard Michel]

In my models I'm using a kind of control panel with main switch / fuse, buttons for driving power / control circuits and leads for charging and singe cell observation when using LiFe cells. Here 3 variants; the first one with plug for LiFe cell monitoring and balancing. All panels are placed under suitable hatches of the glacis plate or the casemate back door of tank destroyers:

[Martin Donnison]

Hi Chris,
I fitted a remote charging lead and socket to the batteries so I don’t have to remove the deck to charge the batteries.

[Andre Meylan]

how about the wiring and not creating a short-circuit ??? I also have Yuasa's ... but with LiPo's ???

Cheers, Andre

[Martin Donnison]

Hi, as long as you isolate the breaker no voltage will get to the power control unit so it will be safe.

I use a 24v charger so all I do is power off the unit and plug in the charger.

[Gerhard Michel]

Hi Andre,

in my opinion LiPos are NOT a suitable kind of battery for our tanks. You mean LiFePO4 batteries instead, I suppose.

LiFePO4 batteries are either combined to one 24 volts block (8 cells) with a battery management system (BMS), or to two 12 volts blocks, also with BMS, or to 8 single cells without a BMS. The one 24 v battery can be charged like a 24 v lead acid battery. The two 12 v blocks should be charged one after the other to avoid BMS conflicts. The batteries may stay connected together while being charged, but you need an additional wire in the middle of the 2 blocks. This is the green lead at my control panels. The 8 single cells without BMS can be charged like a 24 v battery, but must have an additional wiring for each cell to connect a balancer. They need a specific LiFePO4 charging device with integrated balancer.

I'm using a very powerful LiFe charger which can charge up to 10 cells with or without a BMS up to 40 amps per channel or up to 70 amps when combining both channels.

[Chris Singer]

I charge my batteries independently, and add a short lead to each battery with an XT30 socket on the end for that purpose.

I then run a pair of XT30-XT30 extension leads to wherever is convenient in that particular model.

Adrian.

Hi Adrian - thanks for this

Sounds simple then - does it matter that the batteries are still connected to the power module and each other in series whilst they are being independently charged?

C

[Chris Singer]

Hi Chris,
I fitted a remote charging lead and socket to the batteries so I don’t have to remove the deck to charge the batteries.

Thanks Martin,

so you run remote charging leads + & - to each individual battery? And leave them also connected in series and to the power module?

C

[Chris Singer]

Hi, as long as you isolate the breaker no voltage will get to the power control unit so it will be safe.

I use a 24v charger so all I do is power off the unit and plug in the charger.

ok... Is the 'bullet shaped thing' in your pic a breaker? how does this fit into the scheme of things?

does it sit between the batteries and the power module? on the + or the - side?

(electrics is definitely not my strong point!?)

cheers,

C

[Adrian Harris]

Sounds simple then - does it matter that the batteries are still connected to the power module and each other in series whilst they are being independently charged?

The power module is isolated with a relay, so no problem there. The only issue with charging in series is whether the chargers have floating outputs. I've have Ctek and Nobo chargers and both makes are happy to charge the batteries in series.

Adrian.