you beat me to it. I was just about to post thisHere is a video on the mod to get a Ground wire on the 5 in 1 blue charger.
I picked mine up local, but the store is www.frys.com
I installed it by unsoldering the "load" in, right next to where i soldered in the ground wire thats missing. I put the switch inline with the incoming hot wire before it gets to the board.
On the ground wire I soldered it from the plug to the board and to an eye that goes around the bolt that holds the 120v plug to the case. So I have a ground on the case and the board.
I might open it back up for pics later as i didn't think to take any while i was busy working.
The top I drilled a hole and used a square file to open it up to fit my Switch which pushes down and snaps in place.
I thought about putting the switch on the ends instead of top but with the vents it wasn't gonna sit right or look right. So i just put it in the top corner where there was an empty spot on the board and it left me room.
The switch was just a standard two pin, 10 amp mini or micro switch. I didn't get the fancy one thst lights up when on. Lol
Good tip. I have one of these due here any day. Search for 'Mavic 5in1' on eBay and you will find tons. Note the nut/bolt just to the left of the power connector. Solder a 2" wire to the empty terminal, crimp or solder a ring lug to the other end and put it under that nut. Scratch a little bit of paint off first and you will be good to go.
UPDATE : I received mine today. My tip on grounding the case will work HOWEVER the power cable supplied is only two wire so you would need to replace the power cable with a three wire cable (one that has a ground pin on the wall socket end).
I also noticed it is 110/220v. That is a super bonus for travelling !
Ive been using 2 dell server computer power supplies connected together, providing 50amps to parallel charge Lipo batteries for years. You can build this yourself for less than $50 bucks and when your done you will have a top notch, hi quality power supply that can charge just about anything you throw at it. So if your not in a rush just wait a few months.
Great minds think alike!I have always used old computer power supplies and for the past few years the converted Dells as you do . They work perfect and I am waiting for a supplier to make the Mavic lipo connections available . I was tempted to buy the cheap blue charger just to snip the leads off ,lol
Just bought one of these and have yet to add the ground wire, which is something I plan on doing. Pretty easy mod. I tested it out and with two batteries charging from about 30% it took about 80 minutes. I was a little surprised, for some reason I was thinking it would be quicker. One thing that was a little unsettling is when plugging it in to a wall socket the plug sparks. It's too bad they didn't include an on/off switch. I tried it with batteries plugged and unplugged into the charger and it didn't make any difference.
Pretty easy to add an inline on/off switch. I used a file, filed a square hole and installed a rocker switch on the top of the case. As for the sparking, it is the electrolytic caps charging up super fast when you plug into the mains. A bit unsettling but not dangerous in any way.
My "blue" Mavic charger came with the earth pin connected to the case, HOWEVER the manufacturer had not scratched the paint off underneath the washer and therefore when tested there was no continuity to the earth. I scrated the paint under the washer to the bare metal, refitted the bolt and tested, the case is now earthed. Nice try by the manufacturer, but failed to earth effectively. I'm in the UK 230V we like metal to be earthed for safety.
harryb,
Read the small print in the description, this is not a parallel charger, it charges one at a time ! 1 bat 1hr, 2 bats 2hrs, & 3 bats 3hrs.
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