Need advice on a budget oriented 6s Lipo charger

[sur3fir3]

I have been doing some research, and I understand some things, but others I don't. I haven't bought a decent charger in years. I know what I want, but I am unsure of a few things i think you guys can help me with.I dont plan on running anything bigger than a 6s 5000mah. At a 5A charge rate it should take a bit over an hour to fully charge a pack. That is acceptable to me, but if I could get higher and still get a decent brand and stay in my budget I would like to. I am trying to spend somewhere from 80-140 for the setup.

I already own a Schumacher Car/marine battery charger to recharge whatever DC battery I need. Or if its better to go with an ac/dc converter setup I can do that as well. As far as connectors go I was thinking of using EC5s since they are rated at a higher amperage than deans. When it comes to the unit itself it doesn't bother me if it takes a while to figure out the menus, as long as it has decent instructions. I am willing to pay more for a decent warranty, but I cannot exceed my limit by much.

Here are the questions I have. I have seen people selling para boards. They are for charging more than one battery of a certain connection.(from what I read) It would be nice to have the ability to expand later on by buying one of these to charge more than one battery at once.

Is it better to get a charger that has the multiple ports built in if your not charging multiple connection types? If I use a DC battery for the power source, do you need a deep cycle battery, or can I just use a cheaper car battery? Lastly given everything I have listed do you have any recommendations as to what charger and power supply would work well in my situation? Also if you own a 6s charger in my price range and have had a good experience with it please let me know. I am really interested in anyones experience with the Turnigy chargers, as some of their stuff it great and others... not so much .

 

[jk6672]

This is the only charger I have experience with and I really like the versatility.
http://www.hitecrcd.com/products/chargers-setup-equipment/x4-ac-plus.html

 

[sur3fir3]

This is the only charger I have experience with and I really like the versatility.
http://www.hitecrcd.com/products/chargers-setup-equipment/x4-ac-plus.html

that one is just a bit out of my range at $219. Though it is a nice setup.

 

[hamz9561]

I have the Venom Procharger, It's really nice and will charge and balance just about everything on the market today.

 

[trax de max]

If 6s 5000mah is going to be the biggest your going to charge your going to need a charger with a power rating of 130W for that battery to charge at 1C.
At that sort of power you'll need a power supply to go with the charger.You could make one for a few dollars. But it's added cost.

 

[Greywolf74]

He already has a battery and a charger for it....

I bought a Powerlab 6 but the iCharger 306B is a good charger too. If these are to expensive for ya then look at the iCharger 206B or the iCharger106B. Throw a parallel charging board on one and charge up to 6 LiPos with the same cell count and similar mAh value.

 

[sur3fir3]

The 206b looks like it would be right up my alley, Thanks Greywolf, I'll bookmark that. Though that power lab6 is worth the extra cash. It will be a hard choice, but at least I have a direction now thanks guys

 

[trax de max]

the powerlabs seem great I'm picking up the pl8 this week, been playing with the software on the laptop, awesome.

 

[Greywolf74]

Powerlab is just about as top of the line as you can get from what I understand. The only thing with the more powerful chargers is they really need to run off of 24-32V (depending on the charger) to fully utilize their full potential. Theres a guy over in the RCTech forums. that sells homemade 1100W and 1400W, 24V and 36V, 44A and 57A Power Supplies. They are modified server power supplies. I bought one of the 24V 1100W 44A PSUs from him for 55 bucks shipped. you can get the 1400W one for about 60-70. If you look at his listed prices he will generally sell them for 10 bucks or so cheaper than his stated price. At least I was able to talk him down $10 bucks. If you watched my "I has many boxes video on my youtube channel you probably saw the one that I bought from him. In retro spect I probably should have bought the 1400W one but I didnt know at the time I was gonna buy a Powerlab6, I originally was planning on buying an iCharger 306B. They both say 1000W chargers but the PL6 can charge up to 40A and the iCharger only goes up to 30A. I'll see how it goes though and if the 1100W one isnt cutting it I'll probably have to reorder a bigger one lol. Anyway for anyone interested let me give you a link to his PSUs.

http://www.rctech.net/forum/r-c-ite...power-supplies-sale-12v-24v.html#post11243234

 

[SMaxxin]

Check out the Hyperion EOS0720iNET3, $159.00 and it will take care of your needs.

 

[Greywolf74]

My concern with a Hyperion charger is do they come with the more common JST-XH balance adapters or do they come with Hyperion balance adapters only? If they only come with Hyperion plugs you will have to buy adapters if your lipos use JST-XH balance plugs.

 

[SMaxxin]

It comes with both.

NEW! Up to 20A high-speed charging on an AC outlet.

Versatile all-in-one charger that is easy to use.
Charge 1-7 Lipo, 1-7 LiFePO4/A123, 1-16 NIMH-NICD, 1-12 Lead Acid cells
Up to 20 amp charge rate
100-240V AC (90W max charge)
10.5-15V DC (150W max charge)
Capable of quick 5C charge rate
Comes with built-in Dataport and supplied USB cable
Comes with Integrated LBA Balancer
Includes Hyperion and Align/JST-XH 2S-7S Multi-Adapter
1-year guarantee
This charger is incredibly versatile and has 6 available modes!

Charge only mode
Balance Charge mode
Balance only mode
Cycle mode (Lipo and LiFePO4)
Discharge mode(50W w/ 5A max current)
Lipo & LiFePO4/A123 Storage mode(Allows fast and simple discharge to 60% capacity for proper storage voltage which equals longer battery life)
This charger is carefully designed with many built-in safety features such as reverse polarity protection, input voltage error warning, and cell count mismatch warnings for lithium chemistry batteries.

Of course, the AC/DC part means that you can charge directly from an AC wall supply or from a 12V DC battery/power supply.

Convenient DC Cord Storage on charger bottom

Terminal Capacity Selection (TCS)

Temperature Sensor Port

20 User-definable Memory Positions

Note: This charger can be powered with a 12V DC power supply which increases the max output to 150W.* Order one from the drop-down menu on this product and save.

Click here to watch video instructions and walk-throughs using this charger.

Click here to download the Hyperion EOS0720iNET3 Manual in PDF format*

 

[trax de max]

I was going to try and make myself one of them power supplies. Instead went for the playstation 3 supply. The power supplies in the shops are just so expensive. all in for a single supply was less than £10 posted incl. ordering a switch and used an old led for fun.
If you want to save money it is worthwhile making a supply.

 

[Greywolf74]

If you want a lipo charger that has some ass but dont have the cash to fork out right now for a high quality name brand you can check out this TURNIGY 400W Lipo Charger . Its only $70+S&H in stock in the US warehouse.

 

[sur3fir3]

I was looking at that exact Turnigy charger. My main concern with using the AC chargers is my wiring in my house is very old, it has only 15 amp breakers, and the wire is the 1970's hard plastic that breaks apart after 10 years... I can mod my own computer power supply if it comes down to that.

I was hoping on using a DC battery to do all my charging. At first I'll just use one car battery, but when I want to step it up, I can always wire 2 smaller car batteries in series to achieve the correct voltage, and at about 50 amp it should be more than enough.

Then I can change them to parallel and charge them with my Schumacher battery charger. Another feature I like with the Pl chargers is when you discharge your lipo it charges your lead acid battery. It can't get any better than that.

I don't know too much about car batteries. I understand the wiring because I used to do car stereo, but in your opinion would the smaller car batteries work? Around where I live many people drive electric go-karts so car batteries are cheap and easy to come by.

 

[Greywolf74]

Dont know much about car batteries....i got nothin' for ya on that side of things.

 

[sur3fir3]

I'll just do some research and brush up on my equations to make sure I will have enough amperage. But thanks to all for giving me ideas on where to go with this, at least now I have a few choices in my price range and I can research what I need battery wise.

 

[trax de max]

don't confuse the output of power supplies with what it inputs. The one i went for inputs only 1.5A and outputs 23.5A @12V. With the car batteries your going to need to charge them at some point. With the regen chargers they charge the car batteries when the lipo is discharged.

 

[SMaxxin]

The best advise i was ever given about batteries and chargers..........Don't buy a cheap charger your batteries will thank you!!!!

 

[sur3fir3]

don't confuse the output of power supplies with what it inputs. The one i went for inputs only 1.5A and outputs 23.5A @12V. With the car batteries your going to need to charge them at some point. With the regen chargers they charge the car batteries when the lipo is discharged.

I have this for charging my car batteries:

The best advise i was ever given about batteries and chargers..........Don't buy a cheap charger your batteries will thank you!!!!

I don't plan on it. I like the hyperion charger, but the power labs is better with a 24v+ power supply. Its something to think about.