Help! Imax B6 LiPro Balance charger - "Input voltage error"

[Karthik1130]

Hello all, using Imax B6 LiPro Balance charger, with 12V,1Amp SMPS adaptor.
Whenever I connect the 2S 850mAH battery for balance charging at 0.8A, error message of "Input voltage error" is displayed.

I guess, the power adaptor is not sufficient to provide enough power.

Could anyone suggest a good adaptor to charge upto 6S battery configuration.

 

[Foamforce]

Yup. 12v at 1a is only 12w. With 80% efficiency, that drops to 9.6w useable output.

A 2s battery would charge at 8.4v. At .8a, that’s 6.72w. Theoretically that should work, but the overhead might be higher than I thought.

To just make sure, try hooking it up to a car battery. If it works, then it’s definitely your power supply.

To find a power supply that works, just find a 12v power supply that has high enough watts. Multiply 12 by the amps. So a 5a power supply is 60w. Now multiply volts by amps for the battery you want to charge. So if you have a 6s 1.3ah battery, that’s 25.2v multiplied by 2.6 (for 2c charging), so that’s 65.52w. Divide that by .8 for overhead and you arrive at 81.9w. Adjust those parameters because I don’t know what size 6s you want to charge or the maximum amps of your charger.

 

[HVB79]

I guess, the power adaptor is not sufficient to provide enough power.

This is not correct. With these older chargers, with limited screens, you can't just guess you need to read the manual as the errors can be unclear.

Per the manual (link to the manual here):
"Input voltage error" = Erroneous selection of voltage of Lithium pack, please check the voltage
of the battery pack.

What the charger is trying to tell you is that you "input" the wrong voltage relative to the battery you plugged in to charge. For example you told it 11.1 volts (3s) and plugged in a 2s battery.

This is also only a 50w charger. Fine for charging small 2 and 3 cell batteries but way to small to charge 6s batteries unless you are OK with two hour charge times.

 

[Foamforce]

This is not correct. With these older chargers, with limited screens, you can't just guess you need to read the manual as the errors can be unclear.

Per the manual (link to the manual here):
"Input voltage error" = Erroneous selection of voltage of Lithium pack, please check the voltage
of the battery pack.

What the charger is trying to tell you is that you "input" the wrong voltage relative to the battery you plugged in to charge. For example you told it 11.1 volts (3s) and plugged in a 2s battery.

This is also only a 50w charger. Fine for charging small 2 and 3 cell batteries but way to small to charge 6s batteries unless you are OK with two hour charge times.

Odd. Two other manuals I’ve read say that the error is related to input voltage and not the battery (output) voltage. You may be right though.

So @Karthik1130, make sure you set the number of cells and battery type correctly. If yes, then try to set the charge amps to .1. Also, maybe check that your power supply is actually providing 12v.

 

[Merv]

...error message of "Input voltage error" is displayed.

I guess, the power adaptor is not sufficient to provide enough power...

I agree with @Foamforce, the power adapter is not giving enough amps. If you get that error pulling from a car battery, you will not be able to start your car.

If you want to test it. Start with a low charge rate then increase the charge rate until you get the error. I once bought a power supply that was rated with enough amp to run the B6, but was highly over rated. I don't recall the specifics but I used this technique to prove to the seller his power supply was not up to the task. He ended up giving me a refund.

I'm currently using a 15V power supply for my B6. If I recall the B6 can take something like 18V input. Best to double check me on the max input. I just figured more input voltage is better.

BTW, I balance charge a 2200 mha 6S pack in about an hour. A 6000 mha pack would take much longer.

 

[Bricks]

You could also be getting that error message if your battery is drawn down to low and the charger will not recognize the battery or the battery has a bad cell..

 

[leaded50]

This is a message "normal" seen on earlier used Imax B6 charger many times. I found it was normally either the power adapter, or error by battery voltage ( one cell ruined, or too low voltage on battery) The Imax B6 charger seems to be very much sensitive , more than many other chargers. I stopped using it, and got me another charger with more W .