Hi Guys

i am planning to buy a lipo charger/balancer...any suggestions as to which one is a good bet ? I guess i can stretch upto $60. My friend is travelling to US so i am planning to ask him to buy 1 for me.

Regards

I guess the ThunderPower and Bantam ones are sort of the higher end (although there are many others also, like Shultz), the Imax, Cellpro, etc ones are mid range, and the Turnigy etc ones from Hobbycity are on the lower-end.  There are many others also that fit into various capabilities. 

But these days, even the lower-end ones seem to work great; from personal experience, as I have been using a Turnigy Accucel 50W for a few months now.  Upgrading to a 150W one from Turnigy and the 50W one will go to my brother (as he has no 6s charging requirements). 

Just confirm the requirements for yourself, like number of lipo cells supported, and whether you want A123 support etc, and then get the best one for your budget.

Remember that you have to figure in the cost of a power-supply for most of them, although dual input ones are coming up now.

(1) http://hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7523&Product_Name=Turnigy_Accucel-8_150W_7A_Balancer/Charger
(2) http://hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7386&Product_Name=GT_A-6-10_200W_Balance_charger_&_discharger

I personally recommend the iCharger as this has great reviews on accurate balancing.. And the quality is also very good... I just bought a 300W iCharger capable of charging upto 20A and 8s... My max usage now would be 3s on 10A... And for the price it was well worth the money.. I had already had a few things coming down so I just put it in as a part of the order..Attaching the link below,

http://hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10382&Product_Name=iCharger_206B_300W_8s_Balance/Charger

If you are looking a cheaper alternative, then try the 250W version which would be more than enough for all our applications,

http://hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=6792&Product_Name=iCharger_106B-plus_250W_6s_Balance/Charger

I have been using the BC-6 from RCforAll for a long time and it has served me faithfully.. But now it is time for me to upgrade too.. I have zeroed in on the above chargers after a lot of recommendation and research.. They are slightly expensive but again you get what you pay for..

Signing off 
Chan

Thanks for pointing out Hobbycity carries multiple classes/ranges of products. My earlier messages was a little misleading in this aspect (unintentionally, of course).

Hi Chan

I have read great reviews for the iCharger too regarding its balancing capabilities but its way too over the budget. I was thinking about turnigy accucels/imax/ gt power series of charger/balancers.

Anwar i dont have any requirements in mind as currently i dont have any planes in my hangar  . I just have an Extra 330 arf kit
from phoenix which is yet to be assembled.
http://www.rcindia.org/electric-planes/phoenix-models-extra-330s
Its a long term investment...i think a charger capable of charging/balancing a 6s lipo would be sufficient..what do you say? how is the balancing with accucel...have read in reviews that it does not balance properly...a first hand experience would help.

How about gt power a6 series...how do they perform??

Check this:
http://hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=2055&Product_Name=hexTronik_Balancer/Charger_Dual_Charge_Capable
low budget up to 4s charger. will buy this soon.

Basically, the GTPower / Imax / RCPower line of chargers behave the same.. They have the same features and my assumption is that the board is also the same... If you are looking at sourcing that line of chargers, you might as well pick up a GTPower A6 from Rotor or a RCPower BC-6 from Rcforall.. It should save you some wait period and also probable hassles with the customs.. As I have previously mentioned, I have been using a BC-6 for the past one and a half years without any problems.. Been using it to charge Lipo, Life and Nicd packs.. Been good at it.. But sometimes it does not balance accurately.. A good entry level charger..

- Chan

Quote from: sandeepm on January 07, 2010, 09:13:55 AM
Check this:
http://hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=2055&Product_Name=hexTronik_Balancer/Charger_Dual_Charge_Capable
low budget up to 4s charger. will buy this soon.

The lack of an LCD screen is a significant issue, right ?  The Turnigy Accucel 50w is only a small bit costlier.  Being able to read the voltage etc is a real advantage.

The "restoration using slow-charging" method of reviving lipos that have been over discharged (which is highlighted as an advantage) can be done with other chargers also.  I have done this for lipo packs from other flyers whose chargers refused to charge these (they detected the wrong number of cells too).  The key is to "trickle charge at like 0.2A", until the cell voltages are good enough for proper detection of the number of cells.  Watch the battery while you are doing this.

Quote from: ankurkaul17 on January 07, 2010, 09:07:07 AM
Its a long term investment...i think a charger capable of charging/balancing a 6s lipo would be sufficient..what do you say? how is the balancing with accucel...have read in reviews that it does not balance properly...a first hand experience would help.

My experience with the Accucel has been that it does *reasonable* balancing.  I have not done any systematic testing on this aspect, but whenever I have looked at the individual cell voltages on 3s packs charged and balanced using the Accucel 50W, they have been pretty good (not perfectly 4.2v per cell though).

But you should consider the locally available models which are slightly better, as suggested by Chan.

Yes indeed its a long term investment. Get one that also charges A123.
I have a Tahmazo charger i got from Singapore and love it.

Also something to look for is that the charger should work with both a 12V input voltage along with 220V so you can use it at home plus a field .

+1 for turnigy. I have been using Accucel-8 on 6S LiPos. Balancing is good.

Thanks guys for your inputs... i think ill settle for the accucel 8....till someone else can convince me to do  oherwise 

This  discussion is very interesting in that it  seems  details are being over looked  and names are the ones that are  being discussed .
Chan is the only one who has mentioned  the fact that  be it I max or GT Power Or RC Power BC 6  Or Turnigy accucel  the  functions  ,  possibly the Board and in all probablity the company making them are the same .


This fact  is acknowledged by Hobby city them selves in their item description :
Features;
Microprocessor controlled
Delta-peak sensitivity (NiMH/NiCd)
Individual cell balancing
Li-ion, LiPo and LiFe capable
Ni-Cd and NiMH capable
Large range of charge currents
Store function, allows safe storage current
Time limit function
Input voltage monitoring. (Protects car batteries at the field)
Data storage (Store up to 5 packs in memory)
Battery break in and cycling.

Spec.
Input Voltage: 11~17v
Circuit power: Max Charge: 50W / Max Discharge: 5W
Charge Current Range: .1~5.0A
Ni-MH/NiCd cells: 1~15
Li-ion/Poly cells: 1~6


This charger has a JST-XH charge plug, which makes it compatible with Zippy, HXT, TURNIGY and any pack with a JST adapter.
*This unit has the same functions (except PC-USB) and features as the iMAX B6, except that it comes with an internal cooling fan.

I have used the RC Power BC6 earlier and now use the GT Power 10A 200 W charger  and there is absolutely no difference between their operation.

Hobby King is not a Manufacturer but a retail hobby shop hence TURNIGY is surely a re branded version of the Original Manufacturers products  possibly a OEM supply from either GT Power OR IMAX OR FLY SKY  who are the original Manufacturers of these types of Chargers .

This is just an input from my side  to highlight that   we need to be looking a bit deeper into things  rather than  discuss matters at a superficial level.

Chan    for having  looked a bit deeper into facts before advising.

Sai

Ankur Please have  closer look at Specs before deciding

Sai -

1) We were all pretty much reporting what we have experience with (either seeing others use, or our own personal experience, or just based on what we have read/understood from other sources like forums).  Chan reported his experience, so did others. 

2) Note that Ankur finally decided on something that is not available locally (at least from looking at the common local sites). If he had chosen to order a Accucel-6 for which there are local alternatives / sources , then it would make every sense to support the local hobby stores by buying it locally.

I don't see what was superficial about the earlier discussions as people were reporting what their experiences where. In fact, in my very first post, I mentioned that all the lower-end ones are also pretty much reliable these days.  So not listing all the names of the lower-end ones makes the discussion superficial ? 

Anwar ,
What I am saying is we should pick up our level from being reporters to going a bit deeper and looking at things as technical person would  after all this hobby is a technical hobby .
I am not blaming any  one , I am trying to see if there could be some who  now start looking beyond the surface  and go deeper into understanding products .

My idea is to stimulate thinking  beyond what is obvious .

This has nothing to do with what Ankur buys  or does not .

If I were Ankur  and I had names like Accucel , GT Power , Imax , RC Power etc thrown at me I would have  gone thru the specs of each of these  to see  what they are about  and when I did that I would have found all are similar but for a few minor differences .This would then have led me to understand matters in a different way .

BTW I max and GT power are also available with Hobby City for the sake of those who did not know .

That is the motive  a charger sold or not sold is not so much of an issue to any one of us thanks to  the kind of response we are getting now .




Sai

Hi Mr Sai,

Quote from: rcforall on January 09, 2010, 01:54:37 PM

If I were Ankur  and I had names like Accucel , GT Power , Imax , RC Power etc thrown at me I would have  gone thru the specs of each of these  to see  what they are about  and when I did that I would have found all are similar but for a few minor differences .

That is exactly what i did...i had taken note of Chan mentioning the level of similarity of these chargers...now if all are almost of same features..i choose accucel 8 because---it gives 8s handling capability, 150 w charging circuit, temp sensor, rotor has given a first hand experience on its balancing and it is cheaper than equivalent gt power model which i think is of $80 and well is comparable to imax b8 ( i dont like the way imax looks... sorry  ) and then i dont have to worry about getting another for a very long long time.

If you think that i am still missing something you are more than welcome to highlight it here. . It will definitely help beginners too.

Regards
Ankur

Actually, the more you investigate these chargers, the more you realize they are all the same, and other considerations (cost, availability, etc) take precedence !  At least, that was my experience. 

If one of the cheapest (6s, multi-chemistry, 50W) can be this good, do you have to look a whole lot ? 

Ankur ,
It is good you did the analysis yourself , but for the benefit of the vast majority it is important that those with experience and knowledge do some part of this thinking .

sai

Quote from: rcforall on January 09, 2010, 01:54:37 PM
If I were Ankur  and I had names like Accucel , GT Power , Imax , RC Power etc thrown at me I would have  gone thru the specs of each of these  to see  what they are about  and when I did that I would have found all are similar but for a few minor differences .This would then have led me to understand matters in a different way .

Sai - Out of curiosity (just like Ankur said), what difference are you highlighting ?  In other words, what should one be looking for in the detailed specs ? 

Making such information public (if one is already aware of those) would benefit everyone in the long term.

How would your understanding be different with these names in hand ?

Also, this whole thread is a bit confusing due to the fact that it started off about buying a charger *from the US*.

hi
was reading posts about batteries and charger when bumped into this one.
there's this balance charger for 2S/3S Lipos (i have 2/3S LiPo).

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=8247&Product_Name=Turnigy_2S_3S_Balance_Charger._Direct_110/240v_Input#


well one thing it is not suitable for car charger (12V), but for charging at home wont it be good?

The reviews on the HK page itself show an unusally higher number of people who had issues with these, along with many more satisfied users.

If you must purchase from HK and have a bit more budget, I would suggest that you look at the Accucel 6, which can be a life long charger that supports all cell chemistries, and my own personal experience with it has been very good. 

Anwar would the Accucel 6 be able to charge A123's also?

Yes, just choose "LiFe" as the cell type.

Yes doc, Accucel-6 is LiFe (123) capable