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

[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=78...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=78...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

[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

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.