Buying a Lipo Charger

[Mojo]

Hello All,

Been looking around the forum for advice regarding a charger and seen a few threads discussing the topic.. General opinion is to go with Cellpro 4S (everyone seems to love this one) Also people have good things to say about the Bantam..

Have been looking around and have a choice of the following (they are in the same price range, give or take a few pounds)..

Imax B5
Bantam 301DX
LiPro +5
Cellpro 4S
Hyperion EOS 5 (this one is a bit cheaper, not sure if it's compatible with Lipo's)

I know i should probably go with the majority on the Cellpro, however, it's out of stock and it's upgrade is a bit more expensive. In case i can't get my hands on one of these, Which one would you recommend out of the others.

Any comments and advice would be appreciated..

Cheers,

Mo

p.s. i am slowly sinking in the money pit, haven't started flying properly yet and the buying is still going on I'm loving it though!! Feeding the addiction beast

[heliward0]

you should really look at getting the cellpro 10s mate.. i know your prob thinking " i dont need a 10 cell charger" but trust me you WILL so spend out now ONCE not 2 or 3 times (AS I DID!!)

[Andy from Sandy]

Accept what heliward is saying but if you want a Cellpro 4S there are other shops that sell it. Aurorra do not have an exclusive on this product. For example you could go to Revolution Models. http://www.revolutionmodels.co.uk/cg...1770#a1_211770

Near the bottom of the page.

Home page: http://www.revolutionmodels.co.uk/

[David Drew]

I think the old 4s is out of stock, but there is a new one that also does other types of battery. Now that has to be worth looking at.

Otherwise, as Nathan says, the 10s, but that is expensive. For 4 cells I'd always go for the 4s. Just a brilliant charger.

David

[Balders]

I have a Mystery B5 (IMAX clone) and so far it's been excellent. Only cost me about 30 quid off chinese site on ebay. I used an old laptop adaptor with a different size plug and it supplies enough wattage to charge easily at 1c, not gone above that as I choose not to.

[Andy from Sandy]

I think the old 4s is out of stock

Only with Aurorra. Formby Models, Revolution Models, Model pro and Sundon Models to name four have it in stock.

[robgt]

Aurorra do not have an exclusive on this product.

Actually, they do... but they also supply a few shops to sell it through.
Just for clarification

Cheers,
Rob

[Mojo]

Thank you all so much for your comments...

I know i should aim to get myself a 10 cell (as it'll be essential when i upgrade heli's or acquire more lipos) and i do value your advice (Thanks heliward).. The difference in price is quite significant and i'm thinking i'd rather put this money towards spares to see me through the learning process for the time being.

I have seen the Mystery charger on ebay for £40 delivered, but i guess for the difference in price i would go for the cellpro. I'll have a look around the suggested sellers and hopefully get myself one.

But what about the other ones, any preference? I am sort of lost in the jargon in the description of these chargers (What they can handle and rates, etc..)..

Thank you and sorry to be a pain..

[robgt]

Not sure on the other chargers, but the CellPro 4S will charge up to 4 cell LiPos at a time (i.e. 1 cell, 2 cell, 3 cell and 4 cell lipos).

It will charge at up to 4 amps.

If you are using a 3 cell (3S) pack with a capacity of 2000 mAh - which equals 2 amps - you could charge that LiPo at 2C (twice the capacity) i.e. 4 amps. In all likelihood, you would charge it at 1C to get the best lifetime out of the packs though.

I hope that gives you some pointers for what to look for on the other chargers (before you buy the CellPro 4S anyway ).

LOL
Cheers,
Rob

[Mojo]

Thanks Rob..

I guess you've been around the forum long enough to completely understand how beginners think i just cracked up laughing when i read you last comment (cause its true, i know what i should get and would probably do)

Much appreciated clarification of the working of chargers..

Cheers,

Mo

[cambs flyer]

Like Rob said just get yourself either the Cellpro 4S or 10S, all the info on charging and the do's and don't soon become apparent when you have all the info on a LCD screen, where you can go through different menus and see whats happening during the charge process.

You can rapid charge a Li Po on the Cellpro's without doing much damage, however if your going down the Leccy route with future machines it's important to have an excellent charger, and one that'll keep the health of your battery investments still going after a boat load of flights/recharges.

Some of my first gen; Maxpoly purchases have reached 130 flights +, this includes two poor buggers which I nearly fried on my Trex 500 before I knew what I was doing, lol, there a bit puffy due to this but still give superb flight times.

Honestly it isn't half as bad as it sounds, limit yourself too say six minutes max with doing basic flying (example, a 450 class with a 2200mah batt) leave it too cool for around 15 minutes then recharge.

Also and this is important, for the first six flights of a new Li Po limit to three minute gentle flights, so to bed the cells in slowly, this'll also make your batts last longer.

Example my first batch of Li Po's cost around £27 for a 3S 2100mah, there now amounted just over 130 flights which means each flight has cost 4.8p, OK this doesn't include the price of the chargers, but eventually once the cost of them is absorbed in the grand total per flights it makes for some seriously cheap flying, so long as you look after them with a good charger, and bed them in to begin with.

[Airhead]

Cellpro 4s has been replaced with Cellpro Multi4 same thing but charges more battery types (Li-po, lead acid and A123).

I have bought this after a lot of research and think it is probably the easiest + safest charger for the price. It charges and balances + can be hooked up to your P.C. for any firmware upgrades & you can if you want keep records of each pack you charge on your P.C. For £30.00 more than the average cheap charger you get the best IMO.