override
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This is more of a write up than anything but also to show off my new setup 
I have recently gotten into brushless and started selling of nitro. The charger I had was just not cutting it and I figured I would share my experience and research into a new charger. For those looking at an affordable solution this is the way to go! iCharger 306b and 3010b were the first two chargers I was looking at but the only thing I didn't like was reports of them catching fire on people. There are not many reports but one report is already to many in my opinion :\
After more research I stumbled upon a website called Progressiverc that carries some very nice charger setups for well....more money than I wanted to spend. The power supply is really the part that ends up getting your cost up there to high. Well in effort to find a cheaper solution for a power supply I started brainstorming. I used to build gaming computers and I know that you can get power supplies that output some high ratings, so I started doing some more research. Come to find out server power supplies are perfect for making charger power supplies and whats even better is they are CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!!!!!
Take for example two HP DPS-600PB server power supplies on ebay go for about $25 shipped and the cost to convert them is (if you don't already have the supplies) cheap. You need a solder iron, 26 gauge or equivalent solid strand wire, 12 gauge wire capable of handling at least 40a, male and female banana plugs (castle 4mm work just fine) and heatshrink.
Solder three pins together with the 26 gauge wire so the units will power on, take one of the units apart and eliminate DC ground. Put it back together and then solder your 12 gauge wires up. Make a double pin jumper for connecting the two in parallel and you now have 1000w 40a capable power supplies
As of now this is what I have but I plan make things a little better. Going to mount it all in a pelican case for on the go charging and well of course to keep it all protected. I will update pictures of the case setup after I am done with it.
Enjoy the pictures!
What the insides look like
Severed and took up the DC ground on all four corners top and bottom
Soldered the wires on and pins together to power on
The fans are really loud (24cfm/54 dba) and I imagine can be smaller, I picked up two sunson 40x40x20mm fans with a 27dba and 10 cfm. Should be significantly quiter and still cool the PS off enough.
Spliced two power cords together
Finished for the time being
The largest mah battery I have capable of 5C is a gensacearespammers 2s 5300 mah. At 5c I can push 26.5a to it I charged this battery from 37% to 100% in less than 10 minutes. I started the charge and my squid (small gauge) wire got very very warm and I imagine would of got hot enough to melt the wires. I stopped the charge and soldered up some 12 gauge banana plug to deans really quick (whats pictured coming off charger leads). Popped the battery back on and the only thing that got warm after that was the deans plug. I stood there and held my hands on the wires the entire charge so it was nothing to worry about on the deans.
Although anything higher than probably 30a with a deans plug might start getting to hot, I imagine thats why you see EC5 plugs on these high capacity chargers and batteries is for this reason. The harder you push your charger the better connectors and wire you need. I tried to use everything rated for 40a or higher. For anyone looking to get a setup like this just keep that in mind.
---------- Post added at 1:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 1:13 PM ----------
All the talk about power supplies and I forgot to talk about the PowerLab 6....
Everything I have done with this charger is remarkable! For $184 charger you really can't beat it. You can charge multiple chemistry's, you can select what discharge rate you want for the balancing which is very nice for those fast charge days. You can set your discharge rate higher so that you still get a good balance on your cells. Capable of 5c/40a charging. 23 factory presets for every chemistry the charger will allow and the different types of charging you can do on each chemistry.
Shows the internal resistance, capacity when charge started, cell volt when charge started, real time display of what your power supply is pumping out to the charger, total mah pumped in, cell volt while charging, and several other things that I don't pay attention too. You can set what you want the end voltage to be per cell aswell which I thought was really cool. Also has regenerative discharge, which means if your charging off a battery (such as your truck) the discharge goes back into your battery rather than wasting that power.
Also its nice you can hook the power supply up to your PC and control it all from your PC, customize all your presets and get real time logs of your batteries.
Of everything I have looked at this is by far the best charger for your money, it is rated #1 in many heli/plane forums from what I have read. Also if you wanted to save a little and not do as much work on the Power supplies it will run off of one just fine. Just make sure you set your charger to draw to correct power as to not over work your PS.
I have recently gotten into brushless and started selling of nitro. The charger I had was just not cutting it and I figured I would share my experience and research into a new charger. For those looking at an affordable solution this is the way to go! iCharger 306b and 3010b were the first two chargers I was looking at but the only thing I didn't like was reports of them catching fire on people. There are not many reports but one report is already to many in my opinion :\
After more research I stumbled upon a website called Progressiverc that carries some very nice charger setups for well....more money than I wanted to spend. The power supply is really the part that ends up getting your cost up there to high. Well in effort to find a cheaper solution for a power supply I started brainstorming. I used to build gaming computers and I know that you can get power supplies that output some high ratings, so I started doing some more research. Come to find out server power supplies are perfect for making charger power supplies and whats even better is they are CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!!!!!
Take for example two HP DPS-600PB server power supplies on ebay go for about $25 shipped
and the cost to convert them is (if you don't already have the supplies) cheap. You need a solder iron, 26 gauge or equivalent solid strand wire, 12 gauge wire capable of handling at least 40a, male and female banana plugs (castle 4mm work just fine) and heatshrink.Solder three pins together with the 26 gauge wire so the units will power on, take one of the units apart and eliminate DC ground. Put it back together and then solder your 12 gauge wires up. Make a double pin jumper for connecting the two in parallel and you now have 1000w 40a capable power supplies
As of now this is what I have but I plan make things a little better. Going to mount it all in a pelican case for on the go charging and well of course to keep it all protected. I will update pictures of the case setup after I am done with it.
Enjoy the pictures!
What the insides look like
Severed and took up the DC ground on all four corners top and bottom
Soldered the wires on and pins together to power on
The fans are really loud (24cfm/54 dba) and I imagine can be smaller, I picked up two sunson 40x40x20mm fans with a 27dba and 10 cfm. Should be significantly quiter and still cool the PS off enough.
Spliced two power cords together
Finished for the time being
The largest mah battery I have capable of 5C is a gensacearespammers 2s 5300 mah. At 5c I can push 26.5a to it
I charged this battery from 37% to 100% in less than 10 minutes. I started the charge and my squid (small gauge) wire got very very warm and I imagine would of got hot enough to melt the wires. I stopped the charge and soldered up some 12 gauge banana plug to deans really quick (whats pictured coming off charger leads). Popped the battery back on and the only thing that got warm after that was the deans plug. I stood there and held my hands on the wires the entire charge so it was nothing to worry about on the deans. Although anything higher than probably 30a with a deans plug might start getting to hot, I imagine thats why you see EC5 plugs on these high capacity chargers and batteries is for this reason. The harder you push your charger the better connectors and wire you need. I tried to use everything rated for 40a or higher. For anyone looking to get a setup like this just keep that in mind.
---------- Post added at 1:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 1:13 PM ----------
All the talk about power supplies and I forgot to talk about the PowerLab 6....
Everything I have done with this charger is remarkable! For $184 charger you really can't beat it. You can charge multiple chemistry's, you can select what discharge rate you want for the balancing which is very nice for those fast charge days. You can set your discharge rate higher so that you still get a good balance on your cells. Capable of 5c/40a charging. 23 factory presets for every chemistry the charger will allow and the different types of charging you can do on each chemistry.
Shows the internal resistance, capacity when charge started, cell volt when charge started, real time display of what your power supply is pumping out to the charger, total mah pumped in, cell volt while charging, and several other things that I don't pay attention too. You can set what you want the end voltage to be per cell aswell which I thought was really cool. Also has regenerative discharge, which means if your charging off a battery (such as your truck) the discharge goes back into your battery rather than wasting that power.
Also its nice you can hook the power supply up to your PC and control it all from your PC, customize all your presets and get real time logs of your batteries.
Of everything I have looked at this is by far the best charger for your money, it is rated #1 in many heli/plane forums from what I have read. Also if you wanted to save a little and not do as much work on the Power supplies it will run off of one just fine. Just make sure you set your charger to draw to correct power as to not over work your PS.
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