What power Supply for Power Lab 6

[cruiser73]

Hello everyone. Am planning to buy PL6 after reading a lot of favourable reviews. What would be a good power supply for this charger? Am lookin at a mid range one. Don't know much bout PSUs. Would Sim Lim Tower be a good place to buy?
Thanks in advance guys

[ah_liang]

You can get the efuel psu from RCS or any other hobby shop ie rotor, jethobby etc I woulg suggest to get the 1200W one.

[cruiser73]

Thanks bro. Will look into that.

[hallobaby]

they cost too much a bomb compare to using industries PS.

[PoNkY]

you can use the meanwell brand and this brand is come with warranty also with a lot of choices.

[yhchoong]

OP, have you considered the PL8? I know it's a little more expensive than the PL6, but many power supplies come in multiples of 12V, so the common ones you are looking for will be a 24V one for the Powerlab series.

However, a 24V power supply will never allow the PL6 to reach its max charging capabilities no matter how many watts or amperes it can provide. This is due to the inherent 40A max current which the PL6 can draw from a supply. You will need something like a 30V, 40A power supply to obtain the 1000W charging capability of the PL6, assuming 85% efficiency. A 30V output is normally only obtained from a high-end variable voltage/current laboratory-grade power supply costing over $500. The efuel, despite being 1200W, is unable to do so since it can output a maximum of 24V at 50A.

Conversely, the PL8 is able to take in up to 60A of input current, you can almost max it out using the more commonly available 24V power supplies. They are much cheaper than a custom boutique 30V power supply, and I think Revolectrix makes a nice 24V, 55A one themselves. If you are interested in building one I also have a very detailed thread on how to do so under the HP DPS 600-PB title.

To sum it up, for the same amount or even less money, you can get a PL8 with a less expensive power supply as compared to a PL6 with a more expensive power supply if you want to max it out, which can happen quite frequently when parallel-charging high capacity lipos.

The only reason you should go for the PL6 is if you are really budget constraint or will never need to utilise the full capabilities of your charger. It's just not as value-for-money as the PL8 when you take into account the power supply for the entire set-up. Regardless, for either the PL6 or PL8, I recommend going with the Revolectrix power supply. Check out their thread in this forum.