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Rebalancing and charging - DC6 vs. B6AC

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by FirstFlight, Jun 16, 2012.

  1. FirstFlight

    FirstFlight Member

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    I know a lot of people on here talk specifically about the DC6 charger/balancer. Has anyone used the BCA6 for this? If so, are there any pros or cons that were noticed when using the B6AC?

    The biggest benefit I see is that the B6AC has four channels. Other than that, the user manuals look identical. In fact, to me it seems like the same person wrote the manuals.
     
    #1 FirstFlight, Jun 16, 2012
  2. wegortw

    wegortw Junior Member

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    Did you ever find the answer to this? Looks like I am going to have to replace rebalance my pack.
     
    #2 wegortw, May 7, 2013
  3. Britprius

    Britprius Senior Member

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    There is no difference except for the 4 channels making it 4x quicker. The only problem is the requirement for a high current supply. If charging at 5 amps on each channel you need a 20 amp supply.

    Using 2 BCA6's you can rebalance a complete battery in 7 days, but this the requires 2x 20 amp or 1x 40 amp supply unless you stagger the charge/discharge cycles.

    John (Britprius)
     
    #3 Britprius, May 8, 2013
  4. wegortw

    wegortw Junior Member

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    It looks like the B6AC has the AC to DC power supply built-in (on the Amazon version), and uses a standard wall outlet. How would you adjust the amperage on this type of unit?

    I saw using the DC6 you have to setup a separate power supply (computer ATX, 12v battery, etc...), but I thought the built-in on this B6AC would be an additional benefit so you didn't have to mess with the power input.
     
    #4 wegortw, May 8, 2013
  5. Britprius

    Britprius Senior Member

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    From my experience the B6AC and the DC6 can be used with the chargers own power supply, but this is limited to a maximum of 6 amps.
    If using 4 channels the current output of each channel would be 1.5 amps. This will work but the charging times will be extended accordingly, 5 amps per channel being a more realistic level of charge.
    I may be wrong on this having only used ten DC6 chargers at one time, but from reading the Amazon adds they state maximum 6 amps.

    John (Britprius)
     
    #5 Britprius, May 8, 2013
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