What's a decent LIPO 6S charger in the $100+ range.

[Yankeedoodle30]

It's time to upgrade my Tenergy charger.(I'm having problems discharging or storage mode 6S Lipos with this unit) What do you folks recommend.

 

[tntpoof]

do you have a power supply to run a new charger? my guess is no. gotta include that in your price...I was sent a isdt 8 and a M8 i prefer the M8 by toolkit.I dont discharge thru any of my chargers wont put them thru that amount of heat.I use stand alone dischargers

 

[Yankeedoodle30]

do you have a power supply to run a new charger? my guess is no. gotta include that in your price...I was sent a isdt 8 and a M8 i prefer the M8 by toolkit.I dont discharge thru any of my chargers wont put them thru that amount of heat.I use stand alone dischargers

Guess I will look into a stand alone discharger. Never knew there was such a thing. Thanks

 

[olds97_lss]

This is a very capable charger that is well liked by the arrma forum guys:
https://www.getfpv.com/hota-d6-300w-ac-dc-dual-channel-smart-charger-discharger.html

AC/DC
6S
150W x 2 AC
650W x 2 DC
15A x 2 AC/DC
Balance current 1.6A (which makes it balance faster than many others)

Only discharges at 15W though.

I started using another cheap tool to discharge packs when they are full:
https://www.amazon.com/CellMeter-Battery-Checker-Discharger-Charging/dp/B07LDWK1FN

I set it to 3.7V per cell, then keep an eye on it. When the main draining lights go out (after about 30 minutes with a 6200mah 4S pack that's full), I take it off, then put it on my charger and charge it back to storage voltage, which only takes a few minutes usually.

You can find it on banggood and ebay. I ordered mine via ebay from China and waited a month for it to show up. The I modified it a little bit to mount the light fixtures to it as well as a deflector for the bulbs as they were super bright when discharging.

Looks dumb, but so far, works well:

All 3 of my chargers will discharge at 50W per channel, but I figured this was cheap enough that I could get it and use it vs putting that extra work on my expensive chargers.

I started with a traxxas dual ID charger, but got tired of it taking so long to charge up the 2S 9000mah packs I was running at the time in my brushless revo. Since it takes 2 packs, I was having to cycle them twice in that charger just to fill them. I got a dynamite 4x100w/4x10A charger instead and it did well, still does. I later bought a used Hitec D7 which is a 20A x 2/200W x 2 charger, but it started getting flaky with balancing and taking forever.

So I replaced the D7 with 2 Revolectrix GT500 (20A/500W) DC chargers and built a 24V 1100W 75A PSU to drive them. I typically parallel charge 2 3S x 5000mah packs on each of them at 15A (1.5C). My packs can handle 4C+ charge rate, but I'm content with the time it takes at 1.5C, so I don't push it.

When I go run trucks, I typically charge up 8 packs, which I can do all at once with the 3 chargers. DC chargers are a good option if you plan on growing. It also limits the impact to your wallet if one piece dies. If a PSU dies, you can replace just it. If a charger dies, you can replace just it. When you use AC/DC chargers, when it dies, your forced to pay premium again.

The GT500's were $100 each. The PSU's cost me $24 each on ebay. So for $150 (and a bit of effort/time converting them for charging use), I got 40 amps and 1000watts of charging power. Since I only run at 15A, I could actually run 2 more chargers off the PSU I built and double my output.

Just wish I had more room for stuff as it's kind of cramped:

 

[tntpoof]

stand alone 250 watt dis.
Amazon.com: SKYRC BD250 Battery Discharger & Analyzer for RC LiPo Battery, 250W 35A: Toys & Games
m8
Amazon.com: ToolkitRC M8S Battery Balance Charger Discharge Color Screen 400W 18A DC Output for 1-8S Lipo LiHV Life Lion NiMh Pb (Black): Toys & Games