10 20 20 50 100 200
Battery 1,
20+20+50 = 90mA
Battery 2,
100+200 = 300mA
Battery 3,
50+100+200 = 350mA
Battery 4,
10+20+20+200 = 250mA
Component
locations
and
Current
Set
Dip
Switch
setting
example
Using
the
Four
Play
Pro
Determine the capacity of the battery to be charged (it’s printed on the battery) and set the Four‐Play
Pro to your preferred charge rate. A 1C charge rate will take approximate one hour to fully charge
your battery. A 3C rate will charge the battery in approximately 20 minutes. For example, a 3.7V
110mAh battery charged at 110mA is being charged at 1C. If it is charged at 330mA then it is being
charged at 3C
.
A higher charge rate will reduce the life of your battery while a lower charge rate will
extend it.
To
prevent
battery
damage
or
the
risk
of
fire,
do
not
charge
at
more
than
a
3C
rate.
Once you have determined your charge rate, push up the individual switches on the
CURRENT
SET
DIP
SWITCH
to set the charge rate. Simply add up the numbers above each switch. For example, if
the 100, 50 and 20 dip switches are pushed up (on) then the charge rate is 170 mA. Check all the
switches (on or off) to ensure the correct charge rate. See example above.
Connect the Four‐Play Pro to a 12 DC power supply, AC to DC wall transformer, 3‐cell Li‐Po or other
12VDC power source. The green
POWER
LED
will light. If the LED does not come on either the
polarity is reversed or the voltage is below 9.6 volts DC.
Insert the battery to be charged in one of the four
CHARGE
RECEPTACLES
. Remember to set the dip
switches first. The battery can only be installed in one direction, the battery label should point
toward the
CHARGE
LED
. The
CHARGE
LED
will turn red if the battery is charging. At full charge, the
CHARGE
LED will turn green. If you forget to detach the battery after it is fully charged there is no
need to worry, as the Four‐Play Pro automatically stops charging after the battery is fully charged.
However, the
CHARGE
LED
will remain green until the battery is removed. It is normal for the
CHARGE
LED
to be either red or green without a battery plugged into a
CHARGE
RECEPTACLE
.
3
Charging
single
cell
Li
Po
batteries
without
compatible
plugs
DO
NOT
TRY
TO
CHARGE
MULTI
CELL
LIPO
BATTERIES!
DOING
SO
MAY
DAMAGE
THE
CHARGER,
AND
WILL
SHORT
THE
BATTERY
AND
POSSIBLY
CAUSE
A
FIRE.
It is possible to charge other SINGLE cell Li‐Pos that will not plug into the
CHARGE
RECEPTACLE
. On the
right side of the unit there are four sets of pads that make up the
AUXILIARY
BATTERY
CONNECTIONS
that
are marked positive and negative (1+ 1‐, 2+ 2‐, 3+ 3‐, 4+ 4‐). Charge pigtails may be soldered to these
pads. Each pair of pads corresponds to battery receptacle with the same number (1 to 4) and its current is
set using the corresponding
CURRENT
SET
DIP
SWITCH
above the normal
CHARGE
RECEPTACLE
.
If
you
use
these
connections,
you
may
charge
from
either
the
CHARGE
RECEPTACLE
or
the
one
you
have
added
but
not
both
at
the
same
time.
Four
Play
Pro
charging
two
110mAh
,
one
70mAh
batteries
on
board
&
one
65mAh
remotely
Technical
description
The Four‐Play Pro is a state of the art battery charger that uses the best characteristics of both
switching regulators and analog battery management circuits.
Pre
Regulator
The first stage of the Four‐Play Pro is reverse polarity protection followed with an efficient switching
pre‐regulator. This reduces the input voltage to 5VDC with an efficiency of over 85%. A low voltage
detector will shut down the pre‐regulator if the input voltage drops below 9.6V. This detector is
included to protect a 3‐cell Li‐Po pack used as a power source. The secondary function of the pre‐
regulator is that it reduces the current required from the input supply allowing you charge more flight
batteries. Because of the voltage differentials, the current supplied by the input battery will only be
about one half of the current going into the flight battery being charged.
Charge
Management
Controllers
Following the Pre‐regulator are four independent single‐cell, fully‐integrated Li‐Ion/Li‐Polymer
charge‐management controllers. Each controller has a dip switch array that enables the user to select
any charge rate from 20 to 400mA. A bipolar red/green LED indicates charge status. The output from
each controller terminates with both a plug compatible with the flight battery and also with a pair of
solder pads for your auxiliary connectors to mate with any single cell Li‐Po batteries with non‐
compatible plugs.
Charge
Algorithm
The charge algorithm is comprised of 4 phases; Preconditioning, Fast Constant Current Charge,
Constant Voltage Charge and Charge Termination. The Charge Indicator LED glows red during the first
3 phases and turns green after Charge Termination. If the flight battery voltage is less than 2.8V the
precondition phase charges at 10% of the charge current until the voltage reaches 2.8V when the
charger switches to the fast constant current phase. In this phase the charge current is that set by the
dip switches. When the voltage reaches 4.20V the charger switches to the constant voltage phase and
the battery is held at 4.20V until the current drops to 10% of the set current. At this point the charge is
terminated and the charge complete LED is green.
EF Technologies, Inc ‐ 119B Sandy Drive ‐ Newark, DE 19713 ‐ Phone, 302‐451‐1088
www.eftmodels.com
Four
Play
Pro,
Li
Po
Charger
/
Part
Number
10EF
106
0015
4
Rev1
3/26/09
