I had the same a few months ago in my basement system. My PCB was quite dusty and had some corrosion signs so I bathed it in cleaner (carb clearer was what I had to hand) gave it a decent scrub with a stiff ESD safe brush while wet and let it dry. To my surprise it’s b en working fine since. I wish you the same luck
I've since built the UcPure III using 2.7V Tecate batteries and can answer my own question. I measure output at 5.18V, so it luckily falls under the 5.25V limit some audio companies (e.g. Chord) specifies for equipment requiring "5V." I haven't built it with 3V batteries, and I've seen reports of 5.28V output with 3V batteries, but who knows if this is due to the battery voltages, battery brand, or circuit.
For those of you that have tried 2xUcPure as a bipolar power supply for R2R DAC chips, what was your experience? Any issues with the voltage drop during the discharge/charge cycle? Did you like/keep it for this purpose?
Hello everyone,
I must be blind, however I am unable to identify the R015 resistors on LIFEPO4 MKIII. Can anyone point out where are they located?
It looks that I am unable to charge. Any other ideas beside replacing R015 are welcome.
I have a configuration for 2x3.3V, 1x 6.6V and 1x 9.9V. I use LDOVR LT3045-1A0G and LT3045-1A5IO LDOs to 5V from J3 and J4 to power StationPi PRO.
I must be blind, however I am unable to identify the R015 resistors on LIFEPO4 MKIII. Can anyone point out where are they located?
It looks that I am unable to charge. Any other ideas beside replacing R015 are welcome.
I have a configuration for 2x3.3V, 1x 6.6V and 1x 9.9V. I use LDOVR LT3045-1A0G and LT3045-1A5IO LDOs to 5V from J3 and J4 to power StationPi PRO.
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The yellow-ish resistors labeled '0592' are in those positions. I cannot easily get to the bottom of the MkIII I have here (they are mounted), but here is a picture of the bottom of my original (now dead) MkI showing those resistors marked.
Not sure why and when Ian changed the value. IF you have a meter that reads sub-ohm values accurately you can try to measure them.
If you remove the LiPoFE4 cells (pull them if in holders, carefully unsolder and lift the outer tab one at a time to check the resistor for that cell if not) and check each for continuity.
If all have continuity, you likely have another issue.
Greg in Mississippi
Not sure why and when Ian changed the value. IF you have a meter that reads sub-ohm values accurately you can try to measure them.
If you remove the LiPoFE4 cells (pull them if in holders, carefully unsolder and lift the outer tab one at a time to check the resistor for that cell if not) and check each for continuity.
If all have continuity, you likely have another issue.
Greg in Mississippi
Many thanks Greg. It looks that they measure well. So there must be something else.
I have noticed that the batteries discharge too much. If I load them with MC3000 first they load with 0.15 A for some time until MC3000 can load with 1 or 2A (they discharge to 2.5V or lower sometimes). I have a second set of new batteries also which behave in the same manner - therefore the batteries can be ruled out also.
@iancanada: any ideas what I could check next?
I have noticed that the batteries discharge too much. If I load them with MC3000 first they load with 0.15 A for some time until MC3000 can load with 1 or 2A (they discharge to 2.5V or lower sometimes). I have a second set of new batteries also which behave in the same manner - therefore the batteries can be ruled out also.
@iancanada: any ideas what I could check next?
Not sure what an "MC3000" is & what the rest of that statement means. Can you clarify?
To help troubleshoot, can you provide the following:
- What you are using for a charging supply?
- What messages do you see or don't see that indicate a problem with charging?
- How the problem started? Was it there from when you setup and started using the LiFePO4 board? Or did it come on gradually or all at once? AND did you make any changes at or around the time the charging problem started?
- Where did you source the cells? Some problems have been traced to using substandard cells. To prevent problems like that I use cells that are new, tested, & certified by a reputable battery source in the US.
- Are there any other things associated with the problem that we should know, such as other troubleshooting that you've tried?
- Can you post pictures of the setup, focusing on the LiFePO4 board, the charging source, & what it feeds?
Greg in Mississippi
P.S. I believe Ian is unavailable for responding to questions at this time, based on his extended absence from this site.
To help troubleshoot, can you provide the following:
- What you are using for a charging supply?
- What messages do you see or don't see that indicate a problem with charging?
- How the problem started? Was it there from when you setup and started using the LiFePO4 board? Or did it come on gradually or all at once? AND did you make any changes at or around the time the charging problem started?
- Where did you source the cells? Some problems have been traced to using substandard cells. To prevent problems like that I use cells that are new, tested, & certified by a reputable battery source in the US.
- Are there any other things associated with the problem that we should know, such as other troubleshooting that you've tried?
- Can you post pictures of the setup, focusing on the LiFePO4 board, the charging source, & what it feeds?
Greg in Mississippi
P.S. I believe Ian is unavailable for responding to questions at this time, based on his extended absence from this site.
Quick sanity check for the intelligentsia here. I'm wiring up a UCPure pack and using a SMPS to power it. I'm hoping to just use the J2 as a DC input rather than dealing with the hassle of wiring up a barrel connector. The impression I have is that the polarity doesn't matter using J2, but I can't find any examples of a build like that.
made a test omitting batteries with directly sun powrred class d amplifier
First test with some used LifePO4 mini, 6.6v in series to give ~13v output. Both units were pre-charged separately using a SMPS to charge them up quickly, but then I used a single battery power supply to power them on. I thought this would work because I measured 13v output prior to connecting to the load and all LED's/operation was fine, but when I connected it to the load I presume that because I used a single power feeder that the balancing failed (as there is no balancing between the two). I now have the lower 6.6v unit working, but the top one the power LED will not light (even when powered separately). Does the top one just need a new fuse or something?
Moving forward I'll always use two separate power supplies!
Moving forward I'll always use two separate power supplies!
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Not clear what you meant by a "single battery supply to power them on..."
Was it a single LiFePO4 cell?
Was it a single one of the SMPS supplies you used to charge them up?
Or something else?
& was it connected the AC or DC input & within the stated "AC 6V-12V or DC 9V-12V"?
& based on your description you had the 2 6.6V LiFePO4 Minis outputs wired in series while you had their inputs wired in parallel with a single supple, correct?
Section F of the instructions states "...Both AC and DC inputs have to be independent and cannot be shared with other devices." So you violated that if I understand how you had them wired & powered
Also I am not sure how the MOSFET devices used to connect the LiFePO4 cells both to the output & to the CC-CV charging circuit would react when running 2 of them in series.
Did the setup function at all hooked up the way you described & failed after some time? Or did it fail immediately?
Finally did you confirm this mode of operation with Ian before you tried it?
I can see a number of possible ways this could fail. Understanding exactly how you had it hooked up, what was powering it, & how it failed will help debug this.
But I am pretty sure this is not an intended or viable use-case for these.
Let us know.
Greg in Mississippi
Was it a single LiFePO4 cell?
Was it a single one of the SMPS supplies you used to charge them up?
Or something else?
& was it connected the AC or DC input & within the stated "AC 6V-12V or DC 9V-12V"?
& based on your description you had the 2 6.6V LiFePO4 Minis outputs wired in series while you had their inputs wired in parallel with a single supple, correct?
Section F of the instructions states "...Both AC and DC inputs have to be independent and cannot be shared with other devices." So you violated that if I understand how you had them wired & powered
Also I am not sure how the MOSFET devices used to connect the LiFePO4 cells both to the output & to the CC-CV charging circuit would react when running 2 of them in series.
Did the setup function at all hooked up the way you described & failed after some time? Or did it fail immediately?
Finally did you confirm this mode of operation with Ian before you tried it?
I can see a number of possible ways this could fail. Understanding exactly how you had it hooked up, what was powering it, & how it failed will help debug this.
But I am pretty sure this is not an intended or viable use-case for these.
Let us know.
Greg in Mississippi