Its my birthday:), what charger to buy?

[stumpe]

Ok, so i am 21 again (for about the last 20 years), going to see about getting a new charger that is capable of charging 2/3/4 3 cell batts at one time and 2x 6 cells at one time.

Only got a turnigy which has been great, but i need something with a little more ommph in it, would like a straight to mains charger without having to mess around with a PSU as electrics has never been my thing.

Dont charge at the field as i have enough batts, but would like to not spend half a day charging batts....

I have a mixture of nanos / flightmax / turnigy / Crapp power.....

Any ideas as would like recomendations rather then 'this is the best charger money can buy' advert.

Lee

[Jamin_00]

All good chargers Lee require a PSU and I have a PSU you can buy if you like as its just a spare now for a score.

I use a Hyperion Duo and it is a great charger but there are many a good charger that can charge qiuckly.

Or just get a couple of cheapies??

[rhysduk]

Was fortunate that my dad is a Radio-Am so has plenty of PSU about the shed and house!
We've just invested in a new Pro-Peak Constellation charger... Just the job

[coptermanic]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEE !!!!!!!!!

[Eckchaz]

Happy birthday Lee..

It depends on your budget and as Bens mentioned.. good chargers need a PSU.. theres are quite a few on the market at the mo but top end ones are the Powerlab, Voltz, Hyperion's.. How much did you want to spend and you have to bear inmind money for the PSU (Power supply!)

[Mslater]

Happy Birthday - now got out and fly.

[Kozmyk]

Your choices are either to get:
1)one high powered single port charger (600W-1000W) and connect your packs to it in parallel to charge many at once.[Cellpro Powerlab 8, Voltz 101k, iCharger 3010B]
2)a high powered dual port charger (300-500W per port) so that you can have the choice of single packs on separate ports OR paralleled packs in either port e.g. 3s packs in one port and 6s paralleled packs in the other [ Hyperion 0720 DUO3, Fusion Emperor]
3)two or more separate medium powered chargers (200W-300W) i.e. medium but powerful enough to charge your 6s at an acceptable rate. [2 x iCharger 106B+, 2 x Voltz]

Plus, of course, a suitably large PSU.

Oh! btw Hippy Bathday

[stumpe]

Ok, i have been looking around and found this charger, nice and simple to use and 50w max per output, can charge 4 x 6 / 4 x 3 cell at once.

Lipro Quad 6 Balancer Charger

Anybody got this?, what you think?

Lee

[Mark_T]

Ok, i have been looking around and found this charger, nice and simple to use and 50w max per output, can charge 4 x 6 / 4 x 3 cell at once.

Lipro Quad 6 Balancer Charger

Anybody got this?, what you think?

Lee

This one requires a PSU and 50W per channel is too low to be useful.

[asomaro]

I have a couple of hyperions that I use for my 6s lipos, but I also have quad 6 which I use for my 3s lipos and it works really well for them. It doesn't have enough "umph" for a 6s lipo because it only delivers 50 watts per channel, however, it will charge 4 x 3s 2200 mah lipos at 2c in 35 mins which is great, however, as mentioned you do need a PSU - I use the ripmax 20 amp 13v supply unit which works well for me.

I do have other chargers but that's 'cos I'm just greedy....

[Kozmyk]

Almost all chargers will require a separate PSU and all with a medium to high power output currently available certainly do.

I've got one of those Lipro Quads and, as mentioned above, each channel can only output 50W so at 25.2V for a 6s they will only give 1.98A so even a relatively small 2000mAh pack will take 48mins to charge 80%, 6s 3000mAh will take over 73mins for 80%.
For 3s it's fine.
If those times are acceptable then the Lipro will do the job but it will be at it's max limit.

I added an Hyperion Super DUO to do my 6s lipos in a fast enough time for my requirements.

[stumpe]

Cheers for the comments all

Resigned myself to having to get a psu, I know this charger is not the greatest at only 50w but being able to charge 4 x 3 cell 2200 is a bonus and I can just put 4 on charge and go back 45 mins later and out another 4 on.

I have another charger (turnigy) which can charge Up to 5c which is fine for my 6cell nano's.

One thing I don't fully understand is the charge rating, my charger does Upto 5c, but you guys talk about 1.98a?, what's the difference?.

Lee

[Kozmyk]

The magic words here are "up to 5C"

The limits for a PSU are Wattage, Voltage and Current.
If you divide your max Watts by your Voltage then you get your max current.

So:
50W (Lipro max current per port) / 25.2v (charge voltage for 6s pack) = 1.98Amps

For 3s charging you get:
50W / 12.6V = 3.97Amps

The C rating means its max charge or discharge rate.
1C for a 2200mAH pack is 2.2Amps.
So a 2200mAh 20C-30C pack can deliver 20 times its hourly capacity = 44Amps with a short term peak of 66Amps
The max charge rate is roughly 1/10th of the discharge rate so => 2C or 4.4Amps

[horsham rc]

so if i wanted to upgred my charger will my 30a 15.5v power supply be ok to use?

3V-15V Adjustable 25/30A Max Linear Power Supply

• 3V to 15V variable
• 25A/30A max
• Thermostatically controlled cooling fan
• 10mV RMS noise & ripple
• Volt and current metering
• Over current warning indicator
• Short circuit protection
• DC ouput 4mm sockets & 2 pairs of snap-in terminals
• Dimensions 150x145x300mm

[Kozmyk]

so if i wanted to upgred my charger will my 30a 15.5v power supply be ok to use?

3V-15V Adjustable 25/30A Max Linear Power Supply

You can do a fair bit with 375W.
It all depends on how much charging you want/need to do at once.

Also it's possible to limit the current draw of a powerful charger so that it doesn't overload the PSU, some chargers have an input current setting and with others you have to do the maths before you start a charge.
So you CAN have a charger that's more powerful than your PSU, you just have to limit the amount of current it draws.

For example, I'm currently (no pun intended) using my two chargers off a 200W supply as I'm still putting my server PSU system together. I just have to make sure they don't pull too many Amps.