Onyx 230 good battery charger?

[Jesse J]

Does anybody know about the charger in the new RCBM issue, the Onyx 230? it boasts quite a bit for a pretty good price.

I question its AC/DC feature; I've heard the best chargers are all DC...

Any thoughts?

[oldshovelhead]

I just picked mine up.
Got it specifically to charge my a123 packs.
I'll have to pickup a balancer though if I decide to go lipo.
I charged a couple of NiMH packs up while at work and it seems to charge nicely- gives a good readout while charge is in process.
I'll report findings charging the a123 packs when I get to them tonight or tomorrow.

[JimClark]

For just a little bit more money here is a great charger that has a balancer internal for the lipos
http://www.allerc.com/product_info.php?cPath=9&products_id=3630&osCsid=2a04ec2730777ba52ae22e9430f3cbcc

Jim

[oldshovelhead]

yes but that charger requires a power supply-
THAT'S why I went with this one.

hobbies are so layered. I've been looking for a decent power supply to run the home-set slot car track my son and I set up. Thing is, the power supplies I look at all run into the 100's - and I can't sneak 200+ past the wife right now:cursing:

[JimClark]

But does it balance? If you are going to charge Lipos you will need a balancer also

Jim

[Flying Scotsman]

Jim is correct. I believe you will have to purchase balancing connectors for that charger and that makes the charger suspect with no balancing option for lipo, if you wish to charge only nimh and nicad it may be great. Plus I prefer an outboard power source

Douggie

[oldshovelhead]

so far I'm only using NiMH and a123.
From what I understand, the a123 do not need to be balanced.
If not for this I would have gone with that 0606I charger.
I suspect though it won't take me long to be looking for a balancer.