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eleblanc
06-04-2012, 01:53 PM
I'm looking into buying the necessary to be able to charge at lest 4 batteries at the same time, doesn't really need to be quick. I currently have a Triton EQ, but even with parallel cable, you can only set charger to 5000mah. So if you are doing 2x 3500mah it will end around 8v at 5500mah nothing more. So i need to restart the charge.

So what is the charger you use, do you use parallel cable? or does you chargers allow you to charger multiple batteries?

I understand that multiple battery chargers have the advantage of being able to setup multiple different type of batteries. Somthing you cannot do with a parallel cable

Show me your setup!

d.a.v.e
06-04-2012, 02:55 PM
I use a Hyperion 720i Duo3 & a 606i with a computer powersupply (47amps). Most my packs are 5000mah and I charge them at 10amps on the 720. This seems to charge them about 20-30%faster but I only do 2 at a time. I have a friend that charges 4 or more at a time using a special board he bought that lets him balance charge all of them at the same time. He bridges the same charger so he can balance up to 14cells.

Personally I would look at one of those trinigy chargers that can do 4 packs at like 5amp each. They seem pretty reasonably priced?

stadiumyamaha
06-04-2012, 03:13 PM
I've had great luck with the hitech x4
They make one with and without internal power supply and on most batteries no balancing boards are needed. Just plug you balance plug in to the charger.
I've been using mine for a year and half with no problems. Pretty cheap too.

eleblanc
06-04-2012, 03:14 PM
You mean Turnigy chargers? Those high amp output chargers do not have power supply, therefore you need a big and bulky power supply.

Since the UL-1 and most boat requires 2 batteries a good and inexpensive setup would be inexpensive 5amp that you can set up to 10k + MAH and connect 2 batteries in parallel. And if charging 2 batteries aint enough buy a second charger, or a third one, etc...

ezhitz
06-04-2012, 04:41 PM
I started using the 24v 47amp power supply & ICharger 306B with a balance board to charge/balance 6 4s 4500mah packs at once so far seems okay.
http://www.progressiverc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=18

d.a.v.e
06-04-2012, 05:09 PM
If you want to charge a lot of packs fast you may have to bite the bullet and get one. I tried to avoid it for a while but now that I have it I hardly notice the extra step of plugging it in during set up and its smaller then many of the packaged power supplies out there. I think I got mine for around $50 and expect it will last me though several generations of chargers.

If you have all day to charge them then you can get away with the setup you described to charge 4 batt's at once using something like this charging board (assuming your charger will support the cell count): http://kintecracing.com/Chargers.html Unfortunately when you plug a bunch of batt's into a low amp charger like yours its going to take at least 4 times as long to charge and may damage your charger (as you would be pushing it at it max). Anytime you want something faster it costs extra money.

Personally I had avoided RC boats for a long time simply because of the expense I knew it would take to buy a nice charging system and the number of cells I would need to race vs what I used for my RC cars.

stadiumyamaha
06-04-2012, 05:36 PM
Like I said, hitec also makes one with internal power supply.

Stinger9D9
06-04-2012, 09:31 PM
My Triton EQ charges 2 5000mah 7.4v packs no problem. I just charge them in series. The charger sees it as a single 4S pack and off it goes.

- I picked up a Checkpoint TC1030 off Ebay for $10(!) around Christmas - 2 more packs on the go
- Then another Duratrax ICE charger ($40 with a Trakpower V-Balance - Ebay), again with the packs in series and now I can charge 6 packs at a time.

I use one of the 47 amp HP server power supplies (but not one of the ones for sale in the Swap Shop - I picked up a pair for $30 shipped off Ebay and have a spare.

In all (chargers, balancers, leads and power supply, I have less than $150 in, and can easily charge 6 packs at 5 amps.

Then again, you could just get one of these:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__18812__Turnigy_4x6S_400W_Lithium_Polymer_Battery _Charger.html

And one of these for the power supply...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-DL380-G4-DL385-G1-Server-Power-Supply-575W-S-P-406393-001-321632-501-/320812207731?pt=US_Server_Power_Supplies&hash=item4ab1e5ce73
...by following the simple instructions on this page:
http://sites.google.com/site/tjinguytech/my-projects/HP47A

And make up some series balance adapters following my post (#10) in this thread:

http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/showthread.php?29584-How-to-charge-2-2s-battereis-as-a-4s&p=365165#post365165

And you could hook up 8 packs at a time (at a little over 6 amps each) by running 2 packs in parallel - off each port, for oh...about $150.

Take the money you saved doing all that and buy more batteries!

(Parallel charging is for squares after all, don't you know?)

Stinger9D9
06-04-2012, 09:35 PM
If the task of making the series balance adapters is a bit out of your comfort zone, you could always by them pre-made from here too:

http://www.greathobbies.com/productinfo/?prod_id=TGHX1000

But what's the fun in that?

Here's a pic of the Triton (with my old 9amp power supply) charging 2 packs in series. Done in (about) an hour, just like it would charge any 4S pack.
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siberianhusky
06-07-2012, 11:52 AM
I also wire packs in series to charge, takes far less time to put 4000mah back into a "4s" pack than 8000mah into a 2s2p charging setup.
Especially as I run the charger at a full 10 amps and charge a 2c.
2 years with this method and no issues using quality batteries, they all still balance out perfectly and still hold good voltage under load.

Stinger9D9
06-07-2012, 06:08 PM
Yeah, I never thought parallel charging made sense (for the amount of time it takes).

Ever since the SV27, when I was running twin nimh packs, I always paired up the packs, discharged (ran) the same two packs together and charged them together as a single large (12 nimh cell) pack.

Now, with the UL-1, Motley Crew, VS1 and whatever uses 2 2s packs next, I stick to that method with the lipos.

Don't try to charge two dissimilar packs (different brands, capacities or packs that have been discharged to different levels) together as a single pack, but if they both ran together side by side in the same boat, no reason not to keep them together on the charger.

Here is a photo of the way I modify those cheap little Hobby King balance boards to act as a 2x2s to 4s balance adapter:
78285

Here's a couple photos of a Turnigy 4x6 charger charging 8 packs at a time. This particular charger can only handle 50w per port, so I'm charging the batteries nice and slowly at 3 amps. That other charger I pointed out above though, is a more powerful version (100w per port) that will be able to do the same thing (8 packs) at over 6 amps
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