Chargers??????? What are you guys using?

[detox]

Doug, Thanks for letting me use your 12V Interstate battery at the races.

[Doug Smock]

Doug, Thanks for letting me use your 12V Interstate battery at the races.

No problem sir, it was good to have you there!
Doug

[srislash]

And this will be my Power supply http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1563369

It is on it's way.I am going to some HV stuff when it arrives from FC.

[properchopper]

Well it arrived at my door LESS than 24 hours from the time I ordered it. $115.70 including (free) shipping. Unit looks solid; heavy at 2.6 lbs. Will give it a shakedown & report soon.

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[Jersey Crewmax]

I have a Hyperion 610 Duo, I'm content with it. Doesn't have a discharger though.

[srislash]

Well it arrived at my door LESS than 24 hours from the time I ordered it. $115.70 including (free) shipping. Unit looks solid; heavy at 2.6 lbs. Will give it a shakedown & report soon.

DSC03380.JPG

Holy!! Are they just down the block from you Tony?

[oscarel]

FMA PowerLab6 and 8 with safe parallel boards.

[ray schrauwen]

If you looked a little more you could have found the extra 5% off coupon like I used to snag one of those. For me it was $119.xx shipped but, it takes a week more to Canada. I could really use it this weekend, oh well...

I also have 3 Astro 109's and 2 x Hyperion 1210's. I got sick of those LBA's and sold them. I use aftermarket balancers but, with this new charger, Balancing will be much faster at 50 wats discharge per channel I think? That helps when you want to balance packs that are slighly out so you don't have to wait forever @ 2 or 5 watts...

Well it arrived at my door LESS than 24 hours from the time I ordered it. $115.70 including (free) shipping. Unit looks solid; heavy at 2.6 lbs. Will give it a shakedown & report soon.

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[Derrick Davis]

Propperchopper,

I do like my new ultimate 800 charger. Love the multiple battery profile settings that I can create and store. the lighted dual displays are cool too! It has far more bells and whistles than what I was used to with my dual port hobbico 50 watt charger. The manual seems pretty thorough but I haven't done anything out of the ordinary with it yet. I'm your average weekend sport boater and frankly, I suspect that this is more charger than I need. But, it will be nice to grow into it... learning as I go. I'm still trying to figure out the manual and auto settings. I'm sure I'll get it once I spend more time with it. It has no problem charging lipos in short time. I do prefer to charge slow, say between 1 - 2 amps as many of the folks here have suggested is better for the battery and it's longevity. I apologize for just now replying to your question. [embarrassing and how rude of me] ciao,
D

[10gauge]

What is a RELIABLE cell balancer?...
I haven't had good luck with 2 Hyperion LBA10+ balancers.

[ray schrauwen]

Reliability is an important factor, quality and watt ratings are another. Quality meaning the ability to accurately balance cells watt ratings the higher the faster it gets done.

I have seen some balancers at HK and I have a pair. Not 100% reliable but, I was able to repair one with a bad solder trace.

It is black and has both a balance and discharce function although, pretty crude it does work.

There are also other versions similar but, with external extra discharge loads with lamps. 50, 100 and 150 watt drain balancers. They are at a few other places as well.

Thunder power makes a very reliable accurate balancer http://thunderpowerrc.com/html/TP205V.html

[ksm2001]

What is a RELIABLE cell balancer?...
I haven't had good luck with 2 Hyperion LBA10+ balancers.

I know Astro Flight makes a blinky lipo balancer for 2-6S

I haven't had any problems with my Hyperion EOS720I super dou3 so far, knock on wood, but have had my icharger 106b+ for a number of years and this spring noticed cells 5 and 6 on my 6s packs were out of balance by .15v below the others according to the display readout. I checked them against the Hyperion 720I and my voltmeter and all 6 cells were in balance. The nice part with icharger's is you can get into the calibration part and input your voltage readings of each cell taken from an accurate voltmeter reading and your back into balancing accurately.

[properchopper]

What is a RELIABLE cell balancer?...
I haven't had good luck with 2 Hyperion LBA10+ balancers.

Both of my LBA10's died on me after about a year's use - good riddance-they were totally goofy to operate. Then one of the internal balancers on my Hyperion EOS06101i quit. Bought 4 of these and love 'em. Decent voltage bleed @ 50ma and accurate to .01V . Each comes with a TP adaptor and wrist strap (?) [ Hey dude, that a cell balancer on your wrist ? In a Night Club ? lol]

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http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXAEPR&P=ML (check out the short video)


BTW I'll have a review of the Sky RC Ultimate Duo 400 X2 in a day or so. Got the programming mostly figured out. The instructions take you 80% there, the rest is subject to guesswork and cosmic intervention.

[MIGMaster]

The guys at my LHS couldn't stop raving about those Electrifly units - especially for $19.00 - $20.00 a pop. I'm using one of the HobbyKing Chargery http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...S_series_.html units for my MRC 977 and it's working well - all my other chargers are balancing.

[properchopper]

I have an early version of the HK balancers - they seem to be slower than the Electrifly ones.

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[MIGMaster]

Good to know ! I need to check out the one I have and pick up an Electifly one now just to cure my curiosity ;-)

[ray schrauwen]

For some reason I have a hard time trusting a flashing LED but, thats just me.

The Chargery unit looks like a knock off of the Thunder power and they seem to always be out of stock.... popular means something...

[10gauge]

Thanks ksm, Ray, Mig, Tony. The Elecrifly seems like the way to go. I'll go with a couple of Astroflight 109 chargers and a 12V/25A Switching power supply. Good riddance to Hyperion!

[10gauge]

Properchopper or anyone else: Does the Electrifly Cellmatch 6-cell Balancer accept the Hyperion connector? I am asking because my LiPos are mostly Polyquest.

[properchopper]

Properchopper or anyone else: Does the Electrifly Cellmatch 6-cell Balancer accept the Hyperion connector? I am asking because my LiPos are mostly Polyquest.

Had to dig out an old Hyperion from the retired battery pile, but plugs right in ('tho the actual Hyperion tab has a safety catch on it that bends back a tad to allow entry). You'll be fine with the Poly's (and a happy camper with the E-Fly thang)


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[watts=power]

I am using a Thunder Power TP820CD and so far it has been a great charger. I have it paired with a 24V PS that stuffed into an Align T-Rex case.


Before this I was using the Astro 109 / Blinky combo, but I noticed on my larger packs the LEDs on the Blinky never seem to settle down in a timely manner, even at a 1C charge rate. I believe the blinky can do a 150mA/cell discharge, while the TP802CD and other chargers internal balance circuits can do 300mA/cell discharge. I loved the Astro 109's, but I did not want to have to find a separate balance mechanism, so that is why I moved on to the the TP820CD.

[785boats]

A few months ago I bought the Hyperion EOS 0720i Super duo. The IR feature is great for monitoring the condition of the cells.
Now I can charge 2 x 5000mah bricks in parallel, per channel at the same time. That's 4 packs in about 40 - 45 minutes at 1C.

[Jersey Crewmax]

Please disregard, I searched and found the answer to my question.

[10gauge]

I always have been in the habit of charging a depleted pack with the LBA10 Balancer every time. The problem I have with the Hyperion 1210 charger is that I get an "Open Circuit Error" and the charge cycle never starts. Repeated attempts kills an entire day just to charge a handful of LiPos. That's one of the main reasons I haven't been running boats for the past 4 years.... Maybe I should start off charging WITHOUT the balancer in the beginning. This way the voltage of the cells will reach a threshold that the 1210 charger will accept. Once the charging cycle starts, the 1210 charger shows that there is at least 50% charge left.

Thanks Properchopper for the photo of the Electrifly in action. That TP820CD looks impressive too. It says that there are JST type connectors with the kit, so does that mean I can use the Polyquest/Hyperion packs on the TP820CD?

Thanks

[properchopper]

I always have been in the habit of charging a depleted pack with the LBA10 Balancer every time. The problem I have with the Hyperion 1210 charger is that I get an "Open Circuit Error" and the charge cycle never starts. Repeated attempts kills an entire day just to charge a handful of LiPos. That's one of the main reasons I haven't been running boats for the past 4 years.... Maybe I should start off charging WITHOUT the balancer in the beginning. This way the voltage of the cells will reach a threshold that the 1210 charger will accept. Once the charging cycle starts, the 1210 charger shows that there is at least 50% charge left.

Thanks Properchopper for the photo of the Electrifly in action. That TP820CD looks impressive too. It says that there are JST type connectors with the kit, so does that mean I can use the Polyquest/Hyperion packs on the TP820CD?Thanks

From page 6 of the TP820CD instruction manual: "The included balance connector adaptor connector boards (2pcs) allow the built-in balancers to be used with 2-8S Thunderpower-compatible balance connectors as well as the JST-HX balance connector found on many other brands of batteries from Align, Dynamite, E-Flite, Parkzone, and more."

(The Hyperion connector is pretty much what you'll find on most of the batteries from Dinogy{my favorite - hint }, Hyperion, Polyquest,Turnigy and assorted others).

[10gauge]

Thanks, Properchopper for the affirmation. The majority of my LiPos are Polyquest 25C.