Reccomend me a Li-Po charger

[ErikBobbo]

I just moved to Li-Po after a fellow airsofter sold me one at a game. As it was unplanned, I do not have a charger or balancer for it. I don't need a lot of fancy bells and whistles, but I don't want some cheap thing that will break down or ruin my battery. Any recommendations?

[DarkLite]

http://www.component-shop.co.uk/html/body_lipo.html

 

The second one down is the one I have: Easy to use and cheap.

[gzus11]

dont get those type.

go for the turnigy accucell6 4th down the page. great for lithium and will charge them

better than the cheapo chargers, those thing come free with cheap rc heli/plane etc.

lipo are best charged at 1c unless stated by the manufacturer. and with the computer

chargers its easier to understand whats happening during the charge.

 

the accuceull will need a 12v supply either car battery or something like a pc supply

with 12v 6-8Amp. with the swapable leads will also charge every other battery you have

in the house.

[SinfulSaint]

turnigy accucell6 is a sure shot.

[Wingmann]

dont get those type.

The second one will work nice. It gives a steady load of 1.2A and cells end up in a perfect 4.2v charge after about 1.5h.

 

I have the G&P model that is the same as the Turnigys and there's nothing wrong with them.

[Crimson]

turnigy accucell6 worth every penny

[hwagan]

Another vote for the cheapo blue plastic turnigy box from me - Charges all my 7.4 8 and 1200's in a short time, and is absolutely idiot proof. Plug in, green light goes off, shoot things. Simple and effective.

[kruck]

I am largely unwilling to spend more on a charger than on the battery I'm charging. I just got one similar to that cheapo component shop one for a fiver off ebay, as hwagen says: idiot proof.

Cheapest conversion to lipos ever, 8 quid lipo, 5 quid charger, done. But then, I barely use my AEG any more, so I need something simple, plug and play, that I don't have to remember to charge before games.

[Triggerhappychappy]

The issue I see is that most guys dont like the idea of spending ~$55 on a proper charger when their gun only cost $150-200 say. The cheap chargers will work just fine though, the issues only start when you over discharge a pack and the charger doesnt recognise the correct number of cells say; in r/c, there is an easy trick to get the charger working properly again, but with a fixed rate, non-adjustable charger with no lcd display... you're stuck.

 

If you want a cheap charger that works and you use an LVC on your gun, the cheapy blue box will work fine. If you want to invest in a decent charger to go with your high end gun/ lipos, spend a bit more money & feel safe in the knowledge that you can monitor the condition of the pack more accurately and fix any issues with the settings it provides.

 

Whatever you do though, read the *fruitcage* manual !

[hwagan]

£8 a lipo is cheaper than a bottle of gas - I consider them consumables these days. Saying that, on 6-8 months of using said charger/battery combo, i've yet to damage a battery, my gun, or myself. Hurrah!

[The General]

I have one of those blue cheap chargers. Check the cell voltages and you will find they are not great at balancing. Least mine was not. You would get 4.27v on one cell and 4.13 or so on the other.

 

Changed to a B6 charger and now my cells balance correctly, I have a LOT more functionality and I am a happy bunny.

 

Lipo batteries are great and with a bit of care, really reliable.

 

A half decent charger and trusted brand of battery is not something to skimp on in my experience.

[Isamu]

http://www.component.../body_acc6.html The best and worth every penny, I own one and its great, just need some time to get used to it

[gzus11]

wingman, the charger shown is rated for 800mA, how do you know it pushes 1200mA, and again how do you know the final

cell voltages? i assume you have a multimeter etc hooked up to monitor the charge current then check the voltages after

charging. why not get a charger that displays all thsi information in real time while you are charging the packs? and

they also show in mAh how much charge has been transferred into the pack, which i find usefull in understanding how

much i have used in an outing or for the health of the packs.

 

i also have to question the fixed rate of these cheap chargers, can/do they drop the current off when the max voltage

is reached? lipo charge at constant current, constant voltage (CC-CV) to get the voltage up, then push in maximum charge

by dropping off the charge current. with out constant monitoring of current and cell voltage how much charge has been

out into the cells, what is the cell condition, or has the charger just stopped when the voltage is reached?

 

airsofter will spend money on brands, weapons, upgrades, kit and bbs but not on quality batteries and chargers. it baffles

me. but then i want to know how my kit is performing so i can put my confidence in it and trust the reliability.

[Wingmann]

I don't know the technical intricacies, but I surely can read what people with more knowledge than me wrote. Here is what I read about this charger:

 

- It has build in DC/DC isolated converter with 3 separate outputs, based on UC3843 and 3 Li-Po charger circuits based on VM7205 http://wenzi.blog.dianyuan.com/u/53/1179760207.pdf Need to modify - limit charging current, if you are using LiPos less than 800mAh.

That's ok with me, I want it exclusively to charge 7.4 1000/1200mAh LiPo batteries.

Got two and bench tested them to resolve 2 unanswered questions:

1. What is the smallest mah battery this charger will work with? Answer - If you want to strictly adhere to battery mfg. recommendations - 1000 MAH BATTERIES - because the charger is set to maintain a constant current of 1 amp until the max voltage is reached - this is not adjustable - I will probably charge my 900 mah batteries (close enough). Larger batteries will charge at 1 amp, also, resulting in a slower charge proportional the the size of the battery.

2. Will a voltage supply of only 12 volts be high enough for a 3 cell (12.6 volt) charge? The advertisement says to use a 12 to16 volt source causing this question to arise - Answer - YES - I connected a well regulated 12 volt power supply to the charger and the output with no load measured 12.6 volts - therefore the charger has a voltage step up circuit in the design - impressive for a $6 charger.

I will use these easy to use chargers for my biggest batteries and continue to use the harder to use power supply for my little ones. Thanks Turnigy and UH.

Again, this information suits my needs.

 

This is the second unit I have ordered. Very accurate charger. You actually get a balancing unit with three good cutoff regulator circuits included. Not the bells and whistles of expensive chargers but does the job well. You can spend quite a bit more for really practical purposes not much better. This is especially good for entering level flyers of electric. Very very cost effective.

Alright. I'm an entry level person with entry level needs. It, again, suits me.

 

All in all it gets the job done, and by the time the batteries are in bad shape... they'll be in bad shape anyway for many other reasons. If I would need to charge smaller or bigger batteries I'd probably buy something different.

And if you are really picky with the difference in balance, the Esky EK2-0851 is said to balance the cells perfectly.

 

To answer your question about current, yes, they drop the current separately for each cell after reaching 4.2 volts. There's a comment about this in the last quote.

[gzus11]

thats good information,

the link to the pdf didnt work for me,

[Wingmann]

thats good information,

the link to the pdf didnt work for me,

Try this one

[blackdiamond]

I am largely unwilling to spend more on a charger than on the battery I'm charging. I just got one similar to that cheapo component shop one for a fiver off ebay, as hwagen says: idiot proof.

Cheapest conversion to lipos ever, 8 quid lipo, 5 quid charger, done. But then, I barely use my AEG any more, so I need something simple, plug and play, that I don't have to remember to charge before games.

 

Considering the potential volatility of cheapo, low quality control, Lipos mixed with substandard chargers it's only "idiot proof" so long as nothing goes wrong. candlepowerforums, RC forums and youtube have lots of interesting accounts or videos of what can happen to Lipos when they go wrong. At the very least, when you charge a Lipo with a cheap charger you place it away from combustibles and be nearby.

 

The good thing about having a 'proper' charger like the Turnigy is that it's useful with differnt types of battery types beyond Lipos. You can use them to cycle your AEG NiMH packs or household rechargeables. You can also use it to store your Lipos at the right charge to prolong their life (storing them full charged will kill the capacity by around 20% in the first year).

 

Still, if you've only got a single cheap rechargable and you're willing to keep an eye on it, a cheapo charger isn't a terrible idea.