Onyx 235 Charger

[Checkmateguy01]

I've been looking at getting an Onyx 235 Lipo charger/balancer, anybody here have expirence with them? Are they any good? I buddy of mine that races brushless dirt track cars/trucks said they are quite common and work well, wouldn't mind some more opinions before i pull the trigger, may buy 2 if they are worth it. Also looking at a finally getting a couple sets of lipo's too. Thanks!

[SweetZ28]

I've been looking at getting an Onyx 235 Lipo charger/balancer, anybody here have expirence with them? Are they any good? I buddy of mine that races brushless dirt track cars/trucks said they are quite common and work well, wouldn't mind some more opinions before i pull the trigger, may buy 2 if they are worth it. Also looking at a finally getting a couple sets of lipo's too. Thanks!

That line of chargers are great.
what size lipo you using how many cells?

[Checkmateguy01]

I don't have any lipo's yet, i still use NIMH's, plus i don't have a good lipo charger which is partly why i have not yet gone to lipo's for my boats. A friend of mine just made the switch from NIMH's to lipo's and is very happy with the increase in performance. I'm thinking about getting a pair of 2S lipo's to start with, then a set of 3S packs after that. I have the Spartan now, plus i'm looking at another large 36" vee-bottom hull that's layed up for nitro that i'd like to do a brushless set-up in and i know NIMH's probably won't be enough for it.

[SweetZ28]

Hi reason why i asked how many S lipos you will be running is because the 235 won't charge at high amps for a 3s lipo only when using a power supply or car battery because the limit is 5 amps with the ac wall power but the charger can go to 8 amps with other means of power supply.

[Checkmateguy01]

Hi reason why i asked how many S lipos you will be running is because the 235 won't charge at high amps for a 3s lipo only when using a power supply or car battery because the limit is 5 amps with the ac wall power but the charger can go to 8 amps with other means of power supply.

OK, if you have a 3S 4000-5000mah pack, 5 amps would be just right for a charge rate wouldn't it? What type of power supply do you need?

[SweetZ28]

OK, if you have a 3S 4000-5000mah pack, 5 amps would be just right for a charge rate wouldn't it? What type of power supply do you need?

I seen a post on another board about the 235 when you charge a big 3s battery like that from the power of AC wall it won't charge it at the highest 5 amps setting due to total wattage of the charger ... there is a way to figure this out but i am not sure how to or what the formula is.

You should get a power supply that is 8 to 10 amps if your charger could charge up to 8 amps this way you will be able to use it's full charging amprage as the dc supply in the charger is limited to 5 amp charge... fine for 2S but 3S less than 5 amps will be available for charging.

[SweetZ28]

Found the post about the 235 on another board i seen and a guy replied with this... this was for charging 4s so a 3s may charge at 3.5 to 4 amps maybe?

Charging current will be limited by the output of the charger

Your 235 charger has a 50 watt limit when running on AC power and a 70 watt limit when running on DC power (seperate power supply)

50 watts for a 4s pack will limit charging current to 2.97 amps

70 watts for a 4s pack will limit charging current to 4.16 amps

50 watts for a 2s pack will be 5.95 amps

[sailr]

Must be a charger marketed to the car guys. I've never heard of it.

[SweetZ28]

Must be a charger marketed to the car guys. I've never heard of it.

You never heard of duratrax onyx chargers?
There pretty good for the $
check duratrax.com and see the onyx 235

[sailr]

Aha, see? Duratrax.... CARS. I'll check it out.

Best charger I have found for the $$ is this one. I have two and they are great! Also free shipping! AC/DC 6S 5A, balance, charge any kind of battery including wet cells! Only $42.70

http://www.hobbypartz.com/thac6smbachw.html

[SweetZ28]

Yea there are some good chargers for cheap but i think duratrax has a full 5 year protection.

[Checkmateguy01]

Found the post about the 235 on another board i seen and a guy replied with this... this was for charging 4s so a 3s may charge at 3.5 to 4 amps maybe?

Charging current will be limited by the output of the charger

Your 235 charger has a 50 watt limit when running on AC power and a 70 watt limit when running on DC power (seperate power supply)

50 watts for a 4s pack will limit charging current to 2.97 amps

70 watts for a 4s pack will limit charging current to 4.16 amps

50 watts for a 2s pack will be 5.95 amps

I wish they'd tell you that on the Duratrax website. No where does it say the higher the cell count the less amps you have available to charge. Say's just 1-4S Lipo, 8 amp charge with DC, 5 amp for supplied AC input. So if i had 3s 5000mah Lipos, best it would do with the AC power about 3.5 or so amps, which would take a quite a while longer to charge than at a full 5 amps, correct? I was really interested in this charger, i've looked a ton of other chargers on Hobby Kings web site but most of them seem really cheap and alot the comments show the "get what you pay for" attitude towards them. Plus, $280 for a Hyperion Duo is crazy of you ask me, i'd rather spend half that on 2 other decent chargers!

[SweetZ28]

could get one of these to go with it a 30amp supply for $40.00 shipped i have one of his supplies they work great!
http://www.feathermerchantrc.com/

[sailr]

I just got two of Feathermerchant's 47amp supplies for $90 shipped! I plan to wire in series for 24V so I can get max output from my new Hyperion 720DUO charger!

[SweetZ28]

I just got two of Feathermerchant's 47amp supplies for $90 shipped! I plan to wire in series for 24V so I can get max output from my new Hyperion 720DUO charger!
:buttrock:Cool i have one a 42 amp from him the thing is awesome runs cool and works great!!

[Checkmateguy01]

Browsing thru Towers web site again i came across this charger...

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?Q=1&I=LXAGTS#tech

What do you think? Sounds like a good charger, and a little cheaper than the Onyx, and has up to a 10 amp charge rate! But it say's it requires a DC power supply, other than that supply you mentioned what other power supply would be good? I wish they would just tell you in the specs to get "this" power supply. I wonder if the power suplly from my SuperBrain 977 would work?

[sailr]

I have read it several times. It doesnt seem to give a max charge rate, just a max discharge rate of 10 amps. Since it is a 200W charger, it could charge a 6 cell lipo at about 9 amps but I have found most chargers will limit that a bit further due to heat in the charger itself.

Very hard to evaluated this charger without better info. Kinda typical Towerhobbies vagueness.

[SweetZ28]

That should be good i have the 4 port charger and it works great.
The MRC 10 amp supply will be perfect for it.
Looks great to!
http://a763.g.akamai.net/7/763/1644/3/app.infopia.com/img/image/fp/VPID/9334242/img3/img.jpg

[dirty]

i have the thunder ac6 charger,I ordered one from hobbypartz,but when it showed up,it didnt work.So i sent it back and ordered one from somewhere else for more money and it worked.But all in all the charger works excellant.I also have an onyx 225 but it doesnt charge lipos

[sailr]

Interesting your AC6 didn't work. Between myself and a couple of friends we now have six of them. All have been flawless. Unfortunately a few bad apples get through regardless of brand and cost.

[Checkmateguy01]

That should be good i have the 4 port charger and it works great.
The MRC 10 amp supply will be perfect for it.
Looks great to!
http://a763.g.akamai.net/7/763/1644/3/app.infopia.com/img/image/fp/VPID/9334242/img3/img.jpg

Yeah i was looking at that 4 out-put imax charger too, but it looks like the exact same Quatro that Hobbyking sells for $90, and most of the comments say "not very accurate, balancer sucks". Also, say's it's only 50 watts per-charge port, so wouldn't that be like the Onyx and have limited amps for higher capacity 3s or more lipos? I really would love to have the 4 out-puts, have just one charger and be able to charge a bunch of batt's at the same time would be an nice advantage.

[sailr]

check out this charger that does 400 watts! It will charge up to 20A so long as you have 15V input. That finally allows actually charging at high C rates. For example, a 6S 5000 pack, 22.2V, could be charged up to 18A which is 3.6C! A 4S 5000 could be charged at the full 20A which is 4C.

What you have to look for in a charger is the total WATTS it will handle.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idproduct=15143

Here is a duo that will charge two packs up to 200W each:

http://www.nitrohouse.com/Brushless-Electric-Lipo-Chargers/c403_408/p22608/Imax-B6-Duo-400-Watt-DC-Duel-Lipo-Balancing-Charger/product_info.html

[sailr]

Here is the new Mack Daddy from Hyperion! Two 20A 500W channels up to 14S lipos!



http://www.empirerc.com/hyperion-eos-0720i-super-duo-7s-16n-charger-dual-20a-500w-14s-sync-mode-p-5747.html

PM me for a discount on this charger.

[Checkmateguy01]

What you have to look for in a charger is the total WATTS it will handle.

Here is a duo that will charge two packs up to 200W each:

http://www.nitrohouse.com/Brushless-Electric-Lipo-Chargers/c403_408/p22608/Imax-B6-Duo-400-Watt-DC-Duel-Lipo-Balancing-Charger/product_info.html

Now that's a nice charger!! Not bad on the price either, dual out-puts and plenty of charger rate for fast charging. I was reading on the Hobbywing site about the Quattro 4 charger and they at least explain the limited amps with the higher cell count batteries, say' the 3S are limited to 4.5 amps max charge. Not that i would charge at high rate all the time but if i get a set of Lipos that are 5C rate capable it would be nice to take advantage of that sometimes. You guy's will have to help me tho with the electrical asspect of power supplies, they have a several power supplies listed for Imax chargers but not that B6 Duo, but are DC supplies mostly the same? Plus i don't see that B6 Duo listed on any other hobby site besides Nitrohouse, i wonder if it's a discontinued charger?

[SweetZ28]

Do a google search alot of places sell this charger.
here is one
http://www.commonsenserc.com/product_info.php?products_id=2229

http://www.google.com/search?q=B6+Duo&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SUNA

in fact Venom has it and hi tech but they may not be out yet but they are the same charger but with there names on them.
I would also get a power supply from the link i listed before .