New charger advice

[miniadventure]

Im after some advice on a new battery charger.

I have looked around and found out as much info as I could

I plan to charge no more than 4 x 6s 3000mah lipos for my 500

so..

25.2V x 4 x 3A = 302Watts @1C (if I have understood correctly)

the other charge would be max 6 x 3s 2200mah for my 450

12.6V x 6 x 2.2A = 166Watts @ 1C

Assuming I would normally charge at 1C what charger would you recommend?

I realise I would need to convert a server PSU to run most charger which I am prepared to

I might add that I do not plan on going any larger than a 500 electric , once I progress to a 600 etc I want to go Nitro for that size

Cheers

[maddog7]

If your happy to spend the money, Hyperion or Revolectrix/Cellpro. I have both and both are really good. The PL8 from Cellpro will give you a little headroom or you could get away with a PL6. I presume you would be parallel charging? If so Cellpro do an individually fused parallel board. Hyperion EOS 0720i would probably be a good choice too.
I've not used them but people speak highly of the Bantam and Icharger devices too.
Hop this helps
D

[cjcj1949]

I like the icharger. Speak to or email Chris at ElectriFlyer he is very knowledgeable and helpful.

iCharger 206B « ElectriFlyer

I'm a bit doubtful about Cellpro. Be careful with parallel charging, it's not a proper way of charging as lipos are not meant to be voltage charged but current charged as the current varies a lot with changes in voltage. Putting lipos in parallel means you are assuming they are all identical which is never true. Make sure you only charge well within the battery spec and keep a check on each battery by individual charging and internal resistance checking. The icharger will check ir for you. Equalise voltages before connecting the batteries together.

[miniadventure]

I was planning on parallel charging as it will make things easier in my opinion. Thanks for the options available, i didnt really want to spend as much as what the PL6 are but I will have a look at the ichargers from Electriflyer

Thanks for the info regarding paralell charging as well

[helimadness]

1c is fairly slow. I would make sure you have double that capacity incase you need a fast charge at the field or a quick chance to sneak a flight in. I like parallel charging and do at the field but is always good to do an individual charge now and then to check each pack individually
In have a pl6 for my 500 and its great. I logged a full charge on each individual pack through the pc software so I can monitor the condition of each pack over time.

Cheers

[SLIPPERY STEVENS]

New charger advice

Pl8 and the MPA board just got mine and love it.! Charge 6x 5000 at once.

[miniadventure]

That is a beast.... but a bit more than I wanted to pay, if i planned on going electric on helis bigger than 500 then that seems the one to go with but the biggest cells I will charge are for my 500

[yuppyflyer]

Re: New charger advice

+1 here for IChargers, got 208 and 3010. Decent psu is a must for parallel charging

[Varelco]

This:

iCharger 206B « ElectriFlyer


and this:

P350 Power Supply « ElectriFlyer

Reliable 300W set up for less than £140, this is what I use, although slightly under powered for me now its a brilliant set up and very compact. I can parallel 3 6S 4000mah packs at just a tad under 1C.

[heathy]

Bear this in mind though, you WILL soon move on from what your flying now and end up wanting more power!! Better to go big now than have to buy twice.

[tomatwalden]

+1 For iChargers and Chris @ Electriflyer.

Personally, I'm using a (250W) iCharger 106b with a 350W power supply.

T

[cjcj1949]

Vicky has info about chargers in her blog. With any new charger I'd watch it very carefully to begin with. If your cells start off from 3.85V and there's no point in keeping them lower, they will charge in about 35 mins at 1C. You don't gain much from the last part of charging and it is better for your cells if you end the charge early. On the icharger there is a fast charge option which stops earlier. If you can charge at the field you'll probably be able to charge for at least 15mins for all batteries except the first. I tend to get the bulk of charging done at home so that the field batteries don't get so drained. Lead acid batteries tend to drop a lot of volts at more than 5 amps and the capacity drops a lot. People then get generators. Other people spend most of their time talking rather than flying and for them field charging isn't a problem. Your batteries should be around 3.80V per cell after a flight or more than 3.6V during flying.

I managed to get some old batteries from disabled vehicles from a local shop. I use two 17AH deep charge batteries that happily give 5 amps each.

[miniadventure]

Thanks for the advice on chargers- I went with the 306b (which I arrived today) in the end just incase I did decide to go larger than a 500 electric. Chris from Electriflyer was very helpful and I would highly reccommend him.

I plan on building my own PSU from 2 server PSU's which are on the way

Cheers

[Martind]

Re: New charger advice

Good choice just what I run, gone a little smaller on the psu's so I can case them up for field charging.

[cjcj1949]

Make sure no mains bits can be touched by pets or kids. Best if cases can be earthed, needs track cuts usually. One 12V psu will do to begin with though.