Eachine Gemini 2x80W Charger review.

Started by SK1701, April 11, 2016, 10:32:14 AM

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SK1701

I recently got this charger from banggood to review. It is a dual channel charger (80W charge; 5W discharge per channel) that supports all common battery chemistries, accepts AC and DC input and has a nice, portable form factor.  Here are the technical specs:

  • Dual channel; 80W charging per channel
  • 5W Discharge (per channel)
  • Supported Battery Chemistries: Lipo, Lilo, LiFe, NiCd, NiMH, Pb
  • Input: 100-240V AC / 11-18VDC
  • Temperature probes supported (not included)
  • Weight: 930g
  • Size: 96x138x192mm

After using it for a bit, I have found the following to be the pros and cons of this charger.
Pros:

  • Twice as much power as a standard 4-button charger.
  • Very simple interface. Anyone who has used a 4-button charger before will have no trouble with this.
  • Nice form factor making this charger compact and portable.
  • 2 independent charging circuits letting you simultaneously charge different battery chemistries, cell counts etc.
  • AC + DC input for easy charging at home or at the flying field
Cons:

  • Mediocre build quality. The sticky buttons seem to be a common issue and the misalignment of the case halves doesn't make this charger look very good.My charger also came with two internal connectors unplugged.
  • The biggest letdown for me – no LiHV support. I've been wanting to pick up some LiHV packs for a while now but neither of my chargers support it. A small tweak in the firmware to allow charging up to 4.35V per cell would really make this charger a winner (if the build/ QC issues are sorted).
  • No extra adapters included (such as JST or even a servo plug for my Tx pack).
  • No internal resistance checker (would have been a nice feature but is not a strict necessity)

I have posted the complete review as well as details of how I repaired the buttons on this charger on my blog. I will also be testing it with the LM35 temperature sensor and will update this post with my results.