Good Battery Charger for 4000+ mAh?

[kah00na]

I've mostly been using 500 mAh to 2650 mAh 3S & 4S lipo batteries. My kids recently got some RC cars with 4000 and 5000 mAh 2S batteries. I have a few of these DC-4S 1-1.5 mAh battery chargers from Hobby King and they can charge 2S, 3S, and 4S batteries but the larger batteries take forever to charge. Are there any suggestions on a good charger for larger batteries? I'd like something that has about a 5 or 6 amp output so I can charge the batteries in about an hour or so.

 

[Mustang7302]

Charger: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...cer_Charger_w_accessories_USA_Warehouse_.html
Power Supply: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...Switching_DC_Power_Supply_USA_Warehouse_.html

With this setup you can charge upwards of 6A for those 2S batteries.

 

[xuzme720]

I can second that. I have the same setup and love it! Big mAh batteries are no longer a waiting game...at least not as long a waiting game...seems like we're always waiting on a battery every now and then...

 

[jetpackninja]

The AC 6 is an excellent charger and will work great for the batteries that you are talking about. It advertises that it can charge at 6 amps but the highest charge rate I've ever got out of it is around 4.5. Still, an excellent charger.

 

[Mustang7302]

THE AC5 is only a 50 watt charger. It will only charge a 3S battery at 4.5A because that hits the 50 watt limit. A 2S battery can run up to the 6A limit.

 

[jetpackninja]

Makes sense- thanks for the clarification. All my stuff is 3 s

 

[Cyberdactyl]

My canned response for the power supply. . ..

If you have an old PC power supply lying around, you can get 12V, 5V and 3V off different rails (colored wires). Those 5V and 3V rails are great for testing servos, cameras, etc.

 

[jetpackninja]

Yeah- converted PC power supply works great with this charger.
So does an old laptop charger if you can find one with the right voltage.
Works great straight off of the car battery too.

 

[kah00na]

Which charger would anyone suggest for a 4S 5000 mAh battery?

 

[Craftydan]

Good Gravy Kah00na, do we need to prep our slide-rules to recommend a 5s 6000mah while we're at it? got some battery size creep there

for a 1C charge rate for the 4S 5Ah will need ~105W, so you're looking at needing a 150-200W charger (next step up from 80w chargers).

As for which charger, I'm happy with my Accucell 6, but it's a 50W charger -- the Accucell 8 is a 150W charger, but no idea how well the product line shares similar quality/design.

As for power supply to use with it, I'd look into CD's recommendation above.