Question about best charger

[kimozekri@gmail.com]

Hi, I just built a FT Versacopter and bought a 1300mAh 4 cell battery, but don't have a charger that fits 4 cells. I would like to know which charger is better...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C7NKR0A/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2K5FO51JJ4BW2

or,

https://www.amazon.com/EV-Peak-50Wa...8-1&keywords=4+cell+lipo+battery+charger+14+V

Thanks

 

[mactek]

Both of the chargers you have listed only charge off the balance lead which is not the best way to charge. If you want something inexpensive go with something like this. Depending on the brand battery you have this charger will allow you to charge a 1300 at 3c which will give faster charge times and get you in the air more.

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-SKYR...&qid=1467140802&sr=1-10&keywords=lipo+charger

This would at least get you started in the hobby and allow you to charge your batteries. Once you are in the hobby for a while an accumulate lots of batteries you will want to move on to something with higher watts and amps with a separate power supply.

 

[kimozekri@gmail.com]

Thank you

 

[mactek]

Thank you

No problem. This should get you started in the hobby. When i first started i bought something similar to what you had listed and it took forever to charge my batteries. Then i moved on to something similar to what i listed for you. It got me thru at least a year before i needed something more powerful. Have fun with the hobby, quads are blast to fly and definitely get some planes in the air to.

 

[Burly]

+1 on mactak charger on amazon link.

 

[pressalltheknobs]

If you get a programmable charger though, make sure you understand how to use it. LiPo's can be dangerous if mistreated. Most problems occur due to charging mistakes with programmable chargers.

You have to know about which chemistry, charging mode , cell count and charge rate. If you set the wrong one you can burn your house down.

If you don't know what these mean, FliteTest have some videos or ask here.

 

[pressalltheknobs]

and get one or two of these...You can get them cheaper elsewhere.
https://store.flitetest.com/lipo-storage-bag/

to keep the battery in while you charge it and to store your batteries. They are reasonably effective at containing the battery if it does go wrong.

Never charge a liPo unattended or near anything flammable - charging in a bedroom, for example, is generally a bad idea..

 

[kimozekri@gmail.com]

Okay, I was also wondering if this was a good charger, it is a little bit cheaper...

https://store.flitetest.com/imax-b6ac-pro-battery-charger/

 

[pressalltheknobs]

probably fine. Out of stock though.

The one thing I don't like about the SKY RC one is the Deans connectors on all the adapters. You can replace them with direct banana plug adapters but it's work and/or money.

Neither come with XT30 adapters.

I have this one...http://www.hobbypartz.com/73p-ac680-accharger.html

It's ok. Doesn't come with XT60 or XT30 adapters though.

 

[Capt_Beavis]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V0981BA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I have this one.

Here is an XT30 plug.

https://www.amazon.com/Charger-Cabl...TF8&qid=1467160799&sr=1-4&keywords=XT30+deans

 

[PsyBorg]

I use one of them b6ac clones for charging. They are nice chargers for the hobbyist and will charge any type of battery you can imagine. I got mine from Nitroplanes.com when I ordered my Pitts bi plane from them a few years ago before I found Flite Test and caught the quad addiction. They usually have them for a fair price when others are out of stock.

 

[Bricks]

I have a Dual Power AC6 charger for sale this charger will take care of your needs for some time to come here is a link http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?28037-Dual-Power-AC6-Charger-for-sale A much better and versatile charger then any that have been listed so far for less cost.

 

[PsyBorg]

That's one of the clones I mentioned. Mine is the exact same thing just put out under the skycharger name and yes it is an awesome charger until you get to where you have so many batteries you need to parallel charge.

 

[rcplaneboy1]

how about a turnigy acucell 6

 

[PsyBorg]

Same family of chargers. The only downside is that requires a separate power supply where the AC6 clones have them built in and do the same stuff for the same price. If you can find one with a power supply for around 40 -45 dollars then thats not bad but anything more your better off with one of the clones.

 

[Userofmuchtape&glue]

I use a IMAX B6 and love it. eBay for $18...

 

[JimCR120]

Why is charging through the balance lead inferior? Is it only because the charge rate can't go as high?

My old Turnigy charger did that. It was so simple; you just plug it in and it automatically detected and charged. My new Accucel has a cable to the power supply (that Inhad to buy separately), a cable to the wall, the lipo power lead, and the lipo balance lead. And it needs to be told what to do. If it's better, I don't yet know why. Anyone?

 

[Craftydan]

It's inferior because you *can't* tell it what to do . . . and because they're inferior.

A clever balancing charger can tell what the cell voltages are and how many cells are involved, but it can't tell what the maximum charge rate is. This means a balance-only plug-n-play charger may charge at a faster rate than the pack can handle (or slower, if you're charging a larger pack than it's designed for).

They also have a tendency to be inferior because the charge circuitry is inferior -- Cheap products are made cheaply. If all it has to do is run a lipo charge curve and an indicator LED, the charge controllers can become very simple . . . and lack the sophistication needed to manage the charge process well across multiple cells.

I've had a balance-only charger I've used for smaller 2s packs unbalance charge a perfectly good pack. Light goes green for done, pull off the pack and test with a battery alarm . . . one of the cells was full and the other was under 4v Put the pack on a programmable charger and told it to top off, and it accurately topped off the less-than-full cell, reporting the voltage it measured the whole cycle through, and that battery is still running fine. If I'd flown with that pack out of balance like that, I'd likely have damaged that pack.

I'm not saying there aren't golden chargers that despite their minimalist interface are wonders of charging science, that so long as your battery can handle it's full charge rate, it will work like a champ . . . I'm saying it's very unlikely that the balance-only charger you'll run into will be worth the power to run them.

 

[mikeporterinmd]

I would think charging through the balance leads makes sense for batteries up to around 1000mah. 1amp would be a 1C charge rate, which is OK, just not terribly quick.

However, since you should always balance charge, such a charger will typically be more efficient at balance charging than the way most other cheap chargers work when balancing (charge all cells, discharge the high cell(s), charge again, repeat until low cells come up to 4.2.) This type of balance charging is fairly slow if the cells are not close in voltage and all charge at about the same rate. Better chargers use the main for charging and can also individually charge any cell that is low.

I always balance charge and I buy (bought) various reasonable chargers when they were on sale. I now have six, which is a lot of decent parallel balanced charging. I paid about $15 for Turnigy accucel 50watt chargers when they were on sale during the holidays and I also picked up a pair of their fancier LCD display graphing 100watt chargers when they went on sale (probably because they are not designed to charge some of the latest and greatest battery types? Graphine? Not sure.) Coupled to a computer power supply - it all works and can get me outside fast.

Edit: i just read Dan's post. I didn't realize the cheap chargers we are talking about can't have the charging current set. In that case, you would need, in my opinion, a charger sized to a specific battery size and hopefully it is well tuned.

Mike