hv chargers.....what are my options?

[kfxguy]

Eventually I'd like to take advantage of the hv batteries I have, so I'll need a charger that will go to 4.27v per cell. I don't need a real expensive one or one with more than one charge port. What's my choices?

[NativePaul]

How many cells? What sort of charge current do you require? What terminal voltages do you want? The Revolectrix powerlab chargers seem like obvious choices, but if you can make do with 4s or <5A or 4.25v, you can spend a fraction of what one costs.

[kfxguy]

How many cells? What sort of charge current do you require? What terminal voltages do you want? The Revolectrix powerlab chargers seem like obvious choices, but if you can make do with 4s or <5A or 4.25v, you can spend a fraction of what one costs.

Whoops...forgot to put that. For no...or quite a while the biggest pack I'll need to charge is 4s. Charger I have now only goes up to 6 amp. That's fine too but if I could get one with a couple more amps that would be great too. I would like to take advantage of the 4.27v they can be charged to....but it's not like 4.25 is that much less lol.

[jcald2000]

Revolectrix powerlab chargers, sure now your 4s. Next few years you will definalty be at least 6s or 8s. LOL that's just the way it works.

By far the best system out there in my opinion and not much more cost than the 10 to 15 amp systems instead of 40 amps.

[kfxguy]

Revolectrix powerlab chargers, sure now your 4s. Next few years you will definalty be at least 6s or 8s. LOL that's just the way it works.

By far the best system out there in my opinion and not much more cost than the 10 to 15 amp systems instead of 40 amps.

ive been looking at those....just not sure which one to get. In a few years i may....not be in this hobby anymore or needing to buy another charger anyway because technology changes and you never know with these batteries...mine may become obsolete in 2 to 3 years...so im not trying to spend a wad of $$ on it :)

[Rocstar]

Powerlab 6 or 8.

[Jdpb614]

I am using an icharger 206b it does everything you require. I can charge 6s 5000mah packs at 7.5 amps 1.5c no problem. It is running on a single 12v power stubbly and has adjustable termination. I would also look at the 3010b or 306b. Both of their chargers do need 24 volts to run full wattage which is really the number we care about. I am currently using my own made power supply but will be picking up a couple from another supplier as I get into bigger batteries and chargers.

Power supply best value I've seen for ones you can run in series.
www.2zo-rc.com

Icharger 206b review
www.tjinguytech.com/reviews/icharger-206b

[Jdpb614]

Sorry revo makes great chargers too my buddy has one they are just way out of my price range and my I charger does everything his power lab does. Honestly I think my icharger balances better but don't tell him that!

[kfxguy]

I am using an icharger 206b it does everything you require. I can charge 6s 5000mah packs at 7.5 amps 1.5c no problem. It is running on a single 12v power stubbly and has adjustable termination. I would also look at the 3010b or 306b. Both of their chargers do need 24 volts to run full wattage which is really the number we care about. I am currently using my own made power supply but will be picking up a couple from another supplier as I get into bigger batteries and chargers.

Power supply best value I've seen for ones you can run in series.
www.2zo-rc.com

Icharger 206b review
www.tjinguytech.com/reviews/icharger-206b

So the ending charge voltage is adjustable? how high will it go if so? This is the main thing i'm worried about and every charger i look at has no mention of this....

[Jdpb614]

Here's a link to the manual which stated that it wil charge to 4.30v.

http://www.hillrc.com/UploadFiles/iC206B_en.pdf

[kfxguy]

[QUOTE=Jdpb614;587464]Here's a link to the manual which stated that it wil charge to 4.30v.

So if I get this charger.....Q hat else do I need to make it work? I see no balance board....

What about the 106b+? I don't need to charge at over 7 amps. I don't race and I'm never in a hurry to get them charged. Bare bones is what I want.

[Jdpb614]

A 12v 350watt or greater power supply and that's it. I can take some pics of my setup. A computer atx power supply works well.

[kfxguy]

What about the 106b +? Does it come with a balance board? I didn't see one in the pic

[Jdpb614]

It has balance plugs on the side of the unit same as 206b. I would recommend at least a 206b. Trust me one day you will want to charge your 5000 mah bats at 2 or 3c. It worth the little extra dough!

[Jdpb614]

You can see them in hk main photo.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__6792__icharger_106b_plus_250w_6s_balance_charger .html?gclid=CKTs2db11MACFcRcMgodd00Alw

[Jdpb614]

I'm kind of lucky and have value hobby.com local so I pick up from their warehouse. They also happen to be an authorized icharger dealer. I also use their gforce batteries and have been reasonably happy. After seeing your vids though I think I'm going to have to pick up some revo's and spc to try.

[kfxguy]

I'm kind of lucky and have value hobby.com local so I pick up from their warehouse. They also happen to be an authorized icharger dealer. I also use their gforce batteries and have been reasonably happy. After seeing your vids though I think I'm going to have to pick up some revo's and spc to try.

I have 2 3s packs I just put for sale.....

I found a power supply here at work that puts out 41 amps....for free. Lol

[Jdpb614]

It's not just about the amperage it's also how many watts on the 12v rail it supplies.

[kfxguy]

It's not just about the amperage it's also how many watts on the 12v rail it supplies.

Will 492w do? That's what I have to start with.

[Jdpb614]

Yes that will work. There are tons of write ups online how to do it. I will tell you the 25 watt 2 ohm resistor works best.

[kfxguy]

Yes that will work. There are tons of write ups online how to do it. I will tell you the 25 watt 2 ohm resistor works best.

Resistors? For what? Don't I just need 12v? I figured our what's 12v out.....

[Rocstar]

Resistors? For what? Don't I just need 12v? I figured our what's 12v out.....
Computer power supplies are load dependent. Therefore a resistor is wired in to act as a load. I would suggest if you're going to mod a computer PSU, read up, be careful, and understand why things are done the way they are.

[kfxguy]

Computer power supplies are load dependent. Therefore a resistor is wired in to act as a load. I would suggest if you're going to mod a computer PSU, read up, be careful, and understand why things are done the way they are.

Thanks and will do.

[Rocstar]

http://www.kbbforums.com/post1493.html#p1493

[kfxguy]

http://www.kbbforums.com/post1493.html#p1493

Thx! I actually fell asleep reading on it last night. One guy used the fan across the 5v side and that gave him the load instead of a resistor....I think that's the route I'll go.

[Jdpb614]

Most of the fans have intelligent circuitry which allow variable speed based on heat and load. I would just use a resistor you can pick one up at a frys or radio shack. Like I said earlier 25watt 2 ohm seems to work best.

http://customers.swcp.com/~tandberg/LinkedPages/SailplaneArticles/PowerSupplyATX_03.htm

Third post down link to more info than you could ever need.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=446764

[Jdpb614]

I was using a surecharge 2010 which is not a terrible charger. It could only charge my 2x3s 5000mah packs which I run in series at about 2.5-3 amps. I can now charge the same packs at 10 amps. I know you aren't concerened about time but when you can charge 4 3s packs as 2 6s packs in the same time it took you to charge 1 3s pack you'll want more. I can fully charge said 6s pack in about 25-30 minutes.

[Brushless55]

Are there any that charge above 4.3v per cell ?

[Peter A]

A little while back I got a reactor charger (20A)from HK. Not too bad a charger so far and I did discover that I can reset the end voltage on it and it does other stuffI haven't figured out yet. But... unfortunately one day my daughter (15) got sick of it beeping and decided to turn it off, by disconecting from the supply!!! Bugger bec. it fried the balance ports and now it will only read/balance 2s packs. I can still fast charge with it with and as long as I don't need the other balance ports it is ok. Just a bit annoying though! Interestingly I couldn't find it at HK today, it seems to have vanished from their store!?

[kfxguy]

I ended up getting an icharger. ...it charges much faster than my x4. I like it a lot so far. It discharges about 3 times as fast.

[flraptor07]

I found a badass one, Elangears it charges up to 4.30, it's AC/DC, and has a built in power supply so you can piggyback other chargers of it and has a USB port. $169.00 or they have a strait DC version for $94.00 also a 2 bank AC/DC for $299.00 http://www.elangears.com/?page_id=1502

[kfxguy]

I found a badass one, Elangears it charges up to 4.30, it's AC/DC, and has a built in power supply so you can piggyback other chargers of it and has a USB port. $169.00 or they have a strait DC version for $94.00 also a 2 bank AC/DC for $299.00 http://www.elangears.com/?page_id=1502

The icharger I have...will charge to 4.30v, is supposed to be one of the most accurate and fast balancers, has a micro usb, regenerative discharging, temp sensor (included) charges to 10 amps, 6s ...computer connection, discharge up to 7 amps....not bad for the price!

[flraptor07]

The icharger I have...will charge to 4.30v, is supposed to be one of the most accurate and fast balancers, has a micro usb, regenerative discharging, temp sensor (included) charges to 10 amps, 6s ...computer connection, discharge up to 7 amps....not bad for the price!
Isn't that straight DC, you need a power supply?

[kfxguy]

Isn't that straight DC, you need a power supply?

Right now I'm using a car battery. I have a computer power supply but I need to make the i terns connections to make it work. Earlier in the thread there was a link posted on how to do it. Easy a pie. Just gotta find time.

[flraptor07]

I went ahead and ordered the Elangears AC/DC Dual bank http://www.elangears.com/?page_id=789&preview=true&preview_id=789 The place I ordered from gives you a free case and extra leads for $299.00 shipped

[Jdpb614]

Not a great choice. It can only chage up to 150 watts which on a 6s is 6 amps not a lot of room to upgrade.

[Brushless55]

I went ahead and ordered the Elangears AC/DC Dual bank http://www.elangears.com/?page_id=789&preview=true&preview_id=789 The place I ordered from gives you a free case and extra leads for $299.00 shipped

300bucks and max of 120/180watts at 10/ 15amps ??

[flraptor07]

300bucks and max of 120/180watts at 10/ 15amps ??

Granted it's not a super high power unit but I like the fact that I can piggy back another charger to it cause it has a built in 12v 45a DC power supply (One less piece of equipment to carry) and all the other features it has like USB ports and temp sensors also it will measure battery IR and one other feature it has a Race Charge Mode that charges 230w 20a so it's really not as low powered as you thought.

[Jdpb614]

See man it can charge up to 230 watts which means a 6s battery can be charged at less the 10 amps. Voltage x amps equals watts. It's really nice piece if you charge a lot of 2s and 3s batteries. Those are max numbers and usually are not sustainable so by the time you hook up another charger you'll be taxing the supply. You might be able to charge 2 3s 5000mah on each charger at 1c. It's a lot of math.

[flraptor07]

See man it can charge up to 230 watts which means a 6s battery can be charged at less the 10 amps. Voltage x amps equals watts. It's really nice piece if you charge a lot of 2s and 3s batteries. Those are max numbers and usually are not sustainable so by the time you hook up another charger you'll be taxing the supply. You might be able to charge 2 3s 5000mah on each charger at 1c. It's a lot of math.
The built in power supply is seperate it's just in the same case it's 12v 45amp. so whatever charger you hook to it won't effect the two banks on the Elangears. at least that's the way it was explained to me.

[kevinpratt823]

The built in power supply is seperate it's just in the same case it's 12v 45amp. so whatever charger you hook to it won't effect the two banks on the Elangears. at least that's the way it was explained to me.
For the life of me I don't understand why they would equip it with a 540 watt power supply it it only puts out half that, kind of defeats the purpose IMO if you have to hook a second charger up to take advantage of the power........Only 30Watts of discharge means only 2 amps for a 4s, 1.35 amps for a 6s. It says "extra power 10 amps max", I'm assuming that means you can only pull 10 amps from the aux port to the second charger...... I'm not familiar with the brand so I have no idea what kind of support they give...

I just went from a Hyperion 720i and a Hyperion 720i net3 SuperDuo to a CellPro Dual Powerlab 8, and so far the thing is awesome! Paralell charged (8) 5s/5000 packs in under 24 min. Took a bit of time to learn the computer software, but it makes setting the charge parameters much easier.

[Jdpb614]

You have a ton of power behind your charger. The specs just don't seem to add up. Everyone is concerned about amperage but watts drive amps. So if your charger is rated to 20 amps or 300 watts you can't charge more than a 3s at 20 amps or else you start pulling more watts than the charger can handle. I'm not saying it's not a nice charger it just doesn't have the flexibility I was looking for.

[Brushless55]

300bucks and max of 120/180watts at 10/ 15amps ??


Granted it's not a super high power unit but I like the fact that I can piggy back another charger to it cause it has a built in 12v 45a DC power supply (One less piece of equipment to carry) and all the other features it has like USB ports and temp sensors also it will measure battery IR and one other feature it has a Race Charge Mode that charges 230w 20a so it's really not as low powered as you thought.

port #1 run 10amps at 120watts and port #2 runs 15amps at 180watts combined you get a max of 20amps at 230watts
with the built in power supply it looks
and to daisy chain off the current power supply may heat things up if charger is already being maxed out?

cool charger, but I think for $300 bucks they could make this one with way more watts backing this one up :smile:

[flraptor07]

port #1 run 10amps at 120watts and port #2 runs 15amps at 180watts combined you get a max of 20amps at 230watts
with the built in power supply it looks
and to daisy chain off the current power supply may heat things up if charger is already being maxed out?

cool charger, but I think for $300 bucks they could make this one with way more watts backing this one up :smile:
From what I was told, the built in DC power supply is seperate from the charger power supply. Suposedly it's a AC/DC charger and a seperate DC power supply all in one case.

[Brushless55]

it would be great if they had better specs on their site..

[flraptor07]

it would be great if they had better specs on their site..
Very true, I talked to Express RC Hobbies in Hollywood Fl, they are a distributor for Elan gears he said the Elangears web site is real vague. He's been selling these chargers for about a year now and said he's had only one warentee claim and customer service was excellent.

[PatrickM]

As evidenced by this e-mail response from Revolectrix, their chargers are not all capable of charging the HV cells to full capacity. Odd that their website would infer the opposite..... The Multi4 has a max overvoltage of 4.25v.

Good Day,

The Cellpro Multi4 currently has a maximum charge voltage of 4.2 volts per cell. You would not be able to take advantage of the higher voltage but it will definitely make yours pack last longer by only charging to 4.2 VPC. Our design engineer is currently working on firmware updates for our chargers to support the newer high voltage packs. We will make an announcement when the presets are available for this, thanks.

Discovered this after purchasing a Multi4 and some 4800 Silver packs... caveat emptor!

[keithbradley]

As evidenced by this e-mail response from Revolectrix, their chargers are not all capable of charging the HV cells to full capacity. Odd that their website would infer the opposite..... The Multi4 has a max overvoltage of 4.25v.

Good Day,

The Cellpro Multi4 currently has a maximum charge voltage of 4.2 volts per cell. You would not be able to take advantage of the higher voltage but it will definitely make yours pack last longer by only charging to 4.2 VPC. Our design engineer is currently working on firmware updates for our chargers to support the newer high voltage packs. We will make an announcement when the presets are available for this, thanks.

Discovered this after purchasing a Multi4 and some 4800 Silver packs... caveat emptor!

What lead you to believe that the Multi4 would charge at higher voltages?
The only thing I see on the Revo site is this:

"Charging Instructions. *!**All good RC Hobby chargers can still charge to 4.2V per cell level but for fullest capacity extreme performance using an intelligent charger to 4.27V.*!**"

Odd choice of words there, but I think it's pretty clear that not all chargers will charge to HV cell levels. The Multi4 is an old charger. I didn't even think you could still buy it. Their power lab chargers are the "intelligent" line. Multi4 is the lowest model they offer, isn't it?

[Jdpb614]

Yes that is why I went with the Icharger. I was specifically looking at picking up revolectrix hv series battery and this had the ability to charge them. I do think based on the math I've done and the research that the elanwhatever charger specs and claims are ridiculous.

[PatrickM]

What lead you to believe that the Multi4 would charge at higher voltages?It must have been the first line in the Multi4 description: "The Cellpro Multi4 charger directly supports all Cellpro Revolectrix battery packs." Omitting the fact that it doesn't support all packs to full capacity must have been a simple oversight.


The Multi4 is an old charger. I didn't even think you could still buy it. Their power lab chargers are the "intelligent" line. Multi4 is the lowest model they offer, isn't it?OK, so I'm friggin' cheap if that's where your going.....
The website states that the Multi4 is a new design. It replaces the old 4S Gold which is no longer available. They claim it has four times the processing power of the old design, but it must be that the intelligence upgrade will only qualify it as "semi-intelligent".

Do the Cellpro intelligent chargers have a specific mode for HV cells or are they relying on the overvoltage adjustment that most brands feature to achieve 4.27V?

Quoting Harvey: "Our design engineer is currently working on firmware updates for our chargers to support the newer high voltage packs." Does this imply that all Cellpro chargers will require new firmware? If so, will the upgrades include an overvoltage adjustment beyond 4.27v?

The bottom line is that clarification needs to be made on the Revolectrix website.