Recycling old Dell PowerEdge for expensive RC parts

[RCSteve]

Anyone buying old computer servers for the power supplies and fans? A lot of these servers have two 750w+ 12v PLATINUM power supplies and tons of 40mm HIGH POWER fans. At 14v they spin around 3x as fast as my high power fans and draw over an amp (for one of the two fans connected together, probably over 2amps for each unit). I was also thinking about setting the fans up for a discharger, using a castle BEC to drop the voltage to 12v and monitor voltage. With 7 units of fans, I’m thinking that it is at least a 14amp draw, or a 168w discharger

I’ve seen the power supplies modded a little for bench power supplies. You can buy them cheap on eBay ($15-20) and they are far better than any power supply you are going to get from a rc company. They have ridiculous efficiency of 90%+.

I’m wondering why I haven’t seen these tall (65mm) double fans in the RC world. Is it because they are louder than the car at full speed?

 

[gotnitro]

Fans are RC eye candy only. They do ok on an esc but they only cool the outside of the can when internally it’s screaming hot and you get bad, inaccurate temp readings.

Discharge batteries by driving your RC.

 

[CrashBoom]

I've used server PSUs to power lipo chargers. You can buy them standalone dirt cheap, they are all over eBay. Never used the fans for anything, but I imagine you can find them standalone as well.

 

[rotauq]

Plenty of people use serverfans for cooling, but i am also on team "cooling motors is bad"
I do use them to cool between runs if required.

As for discharger, I used 2 TEC in series on an old videocard coolers to heat and cool 150W. High power fans just make too much noise.

Discharge batteries by driving your RC.

Sometimes cars break on a bashday. Can't always discharge by driving RC.

 

[SUISLIDE]

Fans are RC eye candy only. They do ok on an esc but they only cool the outside of the can when internally it’s screaming hot and you get bad, inaccurate temp readings.

Discharge batteries by driving your RC.

So what is 1 supposed to do when a rig running 11,000Mah packs breaks 5 minutes into a run and you need to discharge like 40Ah worth of juice ?

 

[gotnitro]

Plenty of people use serverfans for cooling, but i am also on team "cooling motors is bad"
I do use them to cool between runs if required.

As for discharger, I used 2 TEC in series on an old videocard coolers to heat and cool 150W. High power fans just make too much noise.


Sometimes cars break on a bashday. Can't always discharge by driving RC.

I get it. I’ve left packs alone for months fully charged, 1/2 charges, perfectly idle charges too, none lasted longer or gave me any reason to think they lost power. I’ve never discharged a lipo, unless it was in the car. Even then at LVC, on the workbench for months, no problems. To each their own. Some treat packs like gold, to me they are disposable junk that gets replaced with new disposable junk.

So what is 1 supposed to do when a rig running 11,000Mah packs breaks 5 minutes into a run and you need to discharge like 40Ah worth of juice ?

You should have parts on hand. Everybody knows that.

 

[RCSteve]

Fans are RC eye candy only. They do ok on an esc but they only cool the outside of the can when internally it’s screaming hot and you get bad, inaccurate temp readings.

Discharge batteries by driving your RC.

I don't always have that luxury, I have a Rovan (Parent Company of Primal) Raminator running a Max4 12s powered by 4x 6AH 6s batteries plus a 2s 6ah for the steering, it likes to break down alot. It did fine with 6hp but around 20 real hp, things snap easy, even if the punch is set to one. Try draining those 4 6s batteries that are damn near full. Takes hours on a charger. I also have some 10AH batteries for my 8s outcast. Sometimes I don't want to run that long, I'm old.

 

[Exc3l]

I get it. I’ve left packs alone for months fully charged, 1/2 charges, perfectly idle charges too, none lasted longer or gave me any reason to think they lost power. I’ve never discharged a lipo, unless it was in the car. Even then at LVC, on the workbench for months, no problems. To each their own. Some treat packs like gold, to me they are disposable junk that gets replaced with new disposable junk.

Where do you keep your packs? I could never leave my packs fully charged in the basement right beside our natural gas lines.

I don't always have that luxury, I have a Rovan (Parent Company of Primal) Raminator running a Max4 12s powered by 4x 6AH 6s batteries plus a 2s 6ah for the steering, it likes to break down alot. It did fine with 6hp but around 20 real hp, things snap easy, even if the punch is set to one. Try draining those 4 6s batteries that are damn near full. Takes hours on a charger. I also have some 10AH batteries for my 8s outcast. Sometimes I don't want to run that long, I'm old.

Why don't people just leave them on a charger? Sure it takes a couple hours but whats the hurry? I am genuinly curious as sometimes I charge up 4x 3s Lipo's and I don't get to use 2 so i just discharge those. Helps if you have 2 dual port chargers.

 

[gotnitro]

Where do you keep your packs? I could never leave my packs fully charged in the basement right beside our natural gas lines.

Then don’t lol..

Mine are in an ammo can on the work bench in my garage, the same one I’ve owned for 40+ years. All of them are not fully charged but most are, some are still at LVC.

There seems to be a misunderstanding that liops mysteriously just catch fire alone. I’ve never ever seen one catch fire by spontaneously combusting. I have seen them go up while using, mistreating and charging.

 

[RCSteve]

On granite, I have multiple large pieces that I hobbled together to give me a soldering area and battery area. I do not keep my packs charged unless by accident.

Where do you keep your packs? I could never leave my packs fully charged in the basement right beside our natural gas lines.

Why don't people just leave them on a charger? Sure it takes a couple hours but whats the hurry? I am genuinly curious as sometimes I charge up 4x 3s Lipo's and I don't get to use 2 so i just discharge those. Helps if you have 2 dual port chargers.

I got two dual chargers and a single.leaving them on isn’t much of a problem until they start going off at 3AM. Not cool.

 

[gotnitro]

I don't always have that luxury, I have a Rovan (Parent Company of Primal) Raminator running a Max4 12s powered by 4x 6AH 6s batteries plus a 2s 6ah for the steering, it likes to break down alot. It did fine with 6hp but around 20 real hp, things snap easy, even if the punch is set to one. Try draining those 4 6s batteries that are damn near full. Takes hours on a charger. I also have some 10AH batteries for my 8s outcast. Sometimes I don't want to run that long, I'm old.

If you don’t want to leave the packs full, buy lower MAH packs. When you get tired, you should be at LVC. That or only run 2 6s packs at a time. I’m a time management expert.

 

[rotauq]

Then don’t lol..

Mine are in an ammo can on the work bench in my garage, the same one I’ve owned for 40+ years. All of them are not fully charged but most are, some are still at LVC.

There seems to be a misunderstanding that liops mysteriously just catch fire alone. I’ve never ever seen one catch fire by spontaneously combusting. I have seen them go up while using, mistreating and charging.

I've done that too in the past. I even have a full crate with old bad lipo's which untill now never caught fire.
I keep my small drone packs charged as well, as i want them standby ready to go. And they are cheap so they are real consumables.

The reason i do discharge (to storage voltage) my bigger packs is (unequal) cell resistance growth over time. True, packs do wear harder from high discharging during regular driving, but keeping them at LVC/fully charged as well certainly shortens their life.
And with a high powered discharger, which was a fun project to make, it doesn't take long to do.

 

[gotnitro]

but keeping them at LVC/fully charged as well certainly shortens their life.

That’s when I

 

[RCSteve]

I keeps it real, putting in storage.

Don’t worry about that discrepancy between the numbers. Just evening out now.