Should i buy a Powerlab 8 Charger or choose another brand?

[phil67]

Now I have purchased a Trex 700E, I need a charger that can handle the charging of the lipo packs.

So should I choose the powerlab 8 v2 and then choose the combo for £289.99 from Fast Lads, as ive not really got much in the way of decent lipo charging stuff or are they some other great brands around that you would recommend?

ive already purchased a power supply from Coolice, so have the means but not the charger lol

Thanks

[waveydavey]

You can't go wrong with the powerlab, Hobbyking do a licensed copy of it, obviously cheaper

Edit : Just had a look and can't find it, yes I can

http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking...e_Charger.html

[fishfiend]

Erm, that's an icharger 3010b copy not a powerlabs one.. Saying that, I've got it and it's great!

[waveydavey]

Apologies, thought it was a copy of the 8. Must be mistaken.

I am it was called the Turnigy fatboy and I can't find it

[myxiplx]

PowerLab and iCharger are both top notch, the PowerLab is worth taking a little while to get your head around the presets, but once you understand it charging is a piece of cake, love mine.

[st200ol]

Hobby King's clone of the PowerLab 8 was called the turnigy fatboy 8 its no longer sold.

Google search to pictures for what it used to look like.

https://www.google.com/search?q=turn...=1920&bih=1006

[Phill. H]

Can't fault my Powerlab 8 had it for a couple of years and used a 12volt lead acid battery or an Efuel power supply to power it. I have charged Blade 130x batts on it and up to 6 x 6S 3000- 5000 lipos as well as different LiFe packs. Will do up to 6 x 8S if I needed or more if I bought another board and better power supply.

Bought it from local Revolectrix chap in Sheffield South Yorks as his service backup at the time was first rate. Revolectrix UK - Welcome

[djandyling]

The PL8 with an MPA board is a good charging setup, the only thing in my opinion stopping it from being great it the fact the the accurate and storage charge modes are limited to 10amps which is a real pain in the arse.

For example returned from the field today after flying 7 12s packs, and I go on holiday Friday so storage charging the 7 packs has taken far too long

[fatboyrob]

for me phil i would go for the icharger 406 it is just so powerful and accurate on ballancing. it does everything you could possibly want it to. i have one running on a coolice power supply top setup

[coolice]

for me phil i would go for the icharger 406 it is just so powerful and accurate on ballancing. it does everything you could possibly want it to. i have one running on a coolice power supply top setup

Hey Buddy.

Phil also has one of my PSU's with the required protection circuit for the iCharger DUO's, so he's all set for one.
I love my 308 DUO, two 800 watt chargers in one case.
.

[Dean airwolf]

I have a pl6 and it all what I need and more.
Pl6 and pl8 come up for sale on here most of the time on here so hold firer

[philipjdall]

The PL8 with an MPA board is a good charging setup, the only thing in my opinion stopping it from being great it the fact the the accurate and storage charge modes are limited to 10amps which is a real pain in the arse.

For example returned from the field today after flying 7 12s packs, and I go on holiday Friday so storage charging the 7 packs has taken far too long

all you need to do is enable the 'high power storage charge' under presets and you're away. Most of the amp limits can be lifted through the pc software too.

[Grumpy]

Personally faced with a similar choice I went for the iCharger 4010 Duo the dual output make at equal to two powerlabs for all practical purposes. I never regretted it for a moment, it would literally take me twice as long to charge my packs with the PL8. Also the screen and the buttons on the iCharger are far better that the pocket calculator display on the PL8. It's a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.
For 6s packs the iCharger 406 Duo is just as good at less money.

[philipjdall]

Well, I've used both and I eventually settled with two pl8's. As IMO it is a better charger.

Two key things I noticed are: firstly it balances throughout the entire charge whilst all others seem to only do it at the end of the charger cycle. And second if you ever accidentally over discharge your packs I have had cases were ichargers and others haven't been able to restore the pack whereas you pop it on the powerlab and it has no problem bringing it up from LVC (3.0v in some cases)

Sure the screen on the icharger is better but the pl8 is built around presets. Set them up and you'll never need a big fancy screen. Also, revolectrix have developed bump charging which will be out soon and is backwards compatible with both the he pl8 and pl6.

[Grumpy]

Phil,

maybe you are talking about older 'pre-duo' iChargers?

The Duo model chargers have loads of pre set options and can recover over-discharged LiPos, and they balance through the entire charge. In fact they have little bar graph displays so you can see in real time the balance drain current on each cell throughout the charge process.

And of course much cheaper than two PL8's

'Bump' charging seems like a neat trick but only works with packs with the 'bump' transponder installed, plus of course it's an add on module that you need to purchase separately. Personally I'm happy to spend (literally) one second scrolling with the ichareger scroll wheel to the current pre-set I need, in fact it probably takes no longer than 'bumping'.

End of the day we all chose the product we want for our own reasons and preferences but I'm confident if you do a cold and purely objective side by side comparison of specifications and features there will only be one winner.