LipoShirly
Active Member
Just started in this hobby about a year ago, thought I would share my Ammo box Lipo charger and how it evolved. Like many on the forum, given the opportunity to purchase a complete working product, I decided instead to build my own and spend twice the time and money doing it. Also like many others, my understanding of lipos and the inherent danger has gone from completely clueless and reckless ( I actually charged a lipo on my kitchen table ) to " Oh my god these things are gonna blow any second" to finally understanding how relatively safe 99.9% of all lipos actually are if handled properly, but to always be ready for that .1% ( I don't charge in the house anymore).
On to the charger.. when I placed a $20 lipo bag from Amazon directly into an ammo box I realized there was enough room for a power supply as well. Mount the controller to the outside and its now a relatively safe portable charging station. The first version used an old Dell Laptop supply. Plenty of voltage but current was limited to about 8 amps (but it was free). The second version shown below uses a MeanWell power supply rated at 10amps ($25). My goal is to mount a second ISDT Nano to the case so I can dual charge some of my smaller capacity (2200mA) batteries. I built the charger around my current needs. I'm running 2 of the Typhon 3S buggies for my grandson and I, so 2S and 3S batts up to 5700mA. I placed all the STLs on Thingiverse, and they can be found here... https://www.thingiverse.com/liposhirly/designs , there is a summary writeup included there.
Advantages (things I like about the setup).
I built 2 so I essentially have a dual charger.....
I used the ISDT Q6 Nano chargers, good little inexpensive controller with many features.
Using individual pieces (power supply and controllers) cost me more money but..... if any one of them fails I can easily and cheaply replace only that item, rather than buying an entire new dual charger.
I got to use a lot of tools......
Disadvantages (things I don't like about the setup).
The MeanWell supply is only rated at 10amps. I plan on turning that box into a dual charger for the 5700mA batts, but will have to limit charging current to 5amps each. Should have gone with the slightly higher wattage supply.
I used the ISDT Q6 Nano charger. Don't get me wrong, I do like these controllers, but the one button menu system can be frustrating. The other thing I recently learned about the Nanos is this, I assumed charge speed was based only on the available charging current, therefore my Q6 nano could charge as fast as any $$$$ charger. Balance charging uses the smaller leads to discharge the individual cells during a charge cycle to try and keep them close (balanced), the nano can do this but is limited to about half the discharge current of what the $$$$ chargers can do, therefore it is slower to final charge. On a good battery that stays pretty well balanced charged I don't think its a problem, I go from storage to full in about 20 minutes.
These Harbor Freight ammo boxes are tough, anytime you drill into them it creates extremely sharp edges and burrs. I highly recommend Greenlee dies for the larger openings....
There are enough openings in the box for wires and cooling that I put the seal back into the lid. I took it out originally for safety reasons, but it doesn't stay latched very well without it. And with that said, NEVER PUT A LIPO INTO A COMPLETLY SEALED AMMO BOX.
Overall the pair of chargers fits my needs pretty well right now, I like the portability they provide.
I would NOT recommend carrying this thing into an airport, although that probably goes for anything labeled AMMO BOX.
On to the charger.. when I placed a $20 lipo bag from Amazon directly into an ammo box I realized there was enough room for a power supply as well. Mount the controller to the outside and its now a relatively safe portable charging station. The first version used an old Dell Laptop supply. Plenty of voltage but current was limited to about 8 amps (but it was free). The second version shown below uses a MeanWell power supply rated at 10amps ($25). My goal is to mount a second ISDT Nano to the case so I can dual charge some of my smaller capacity (2200mA) batteries. I built the charger around my current needs. I'm running 2 of the Typhon 3S buggies for my grandson and I, so 2S and 3S batts up to 5700mA. I placed all the STLs on Thingiverse, and they can be found here... https://www.thingiverse.com/liposhirly/designs , there is a summary writeup included there.
Advantages (things I like about the setup).
I built 2 so I essentially have a dual charger.....
I used the ISDT Q6 Nano chargers, good little inexpensive controller with many features.
Using individual pieces (power supply and controllers) cost me more money but..... if any one of them fails I can easily and cheaply replace only that item, rather than buying an entire new dual charger.
I got to use a lot of tools......
Disadvantages (things I don't like about the setup).
The MeanWell supply is only rated at 10amps. I plan on turning that box into a dual charger for the 5700mA batts, but will have to limit charging current to 5amps each. Should have gone with the slightly higher wattage supply.
I used the ISDT Q6 Nano charger. Don't get me wrong, I do like these controllers, but the one button menu system can be frustrating. The other thing I recently learned about the Nanos is this, I assumed charge speed was based only on the available charging current, therefore my Q6 nano could charge as fast as any $$$$ charger. Balance charging uses the smaller leads to discharge the individual cells during a charge cycle to try and keep them close (balanced), the nano can do this but is limited to about half the discharge current of what the $$$$ chargers can do, therefore it is slower to final charge. On a good battery that stays pretty well balanced charged I don't think its a problem, I go from storage to full in about 20 minutes.
These Harbor Freight ammo boxes are tough, anytime you drill into them it creates extremely sharp edges and burrs. I highly recommend Greenlee dies for the larger openings....
There are enough openings in the box for wires and cooling that I put the seal back into the lid. I took it out originally for safety reasons, but it doesn't stay latched very well without it. And with that said, NEVER PUT A LIPO INTO A COMPLETLY SEALED AMMO BOX.
Overall the pair of chargers fits my needs pretty well right now, I like the portability they provide.
I would NOT recommend carrying this thing into an airport, although that probably goes for anything labeled AMMO BOX.
I have the same lipo bag. Using it within the Ammo box was a great idea, absolutely added insurance FWIW. The Ammo box seal does need to trimmed at least in some areas for pressure relief. Or you definitly have a potential shrap metal Bomb. 
(no pun intended) and I love ammo boxes and I agree with the comments about the bat safe and it's toy-like cheapness and I agree that if you sold these you would do quite well, I'd much rather give you my money than whoever makes the bat safe because yours is cool and arguably more protective. In the video you linked, many of the phones are exploding/catching on fire when they aren't even on a charger. Just like RC Lipos and really any other type battery to include car batteries and good old AA's, damage or mishandling results in bad things, the bat safe isn't saving anybody, it seems to me, most of the fires you hear about with RC lipos happens while they are in the car rather than while charging. For me the bottom line is this; don't use damaged batteries, don't use damaged phones, decrease your risk that way or let's put ALL batteries in a protective bubble, the risk is the same for all.
