embpic1

Update:

Well I have been using this charger quite a bit lately. It has been holding up pretty well with one exception. Every once in a while when I am balance charging a lipo, I get a message that it has lost connection with the balance charger. I just restart the charging process and complete the charge.

Other than the aforementioned problem it has been working just fine. Even after the 'smoking' incident.

Just my experience.....

embpic1

I wonder if you have the first generation of this charger. I have the second and the fan is very quiet. I have heard that fan noise was a common complaint of the first generation chargers.

Zaquron

Probably first generation.

cmavr8

Yeah, I experience that also..

Just be careful when restarting, the charger might not correctly detect when the battery is full, as it did in my case...

cmavr8

I added a ~85 ohm resistor inline with the red wire going to the fan. It is now less noisy, but still not good enough...

Aircraft800

Well...

After the first ones fan started making noise, and the "lost connection with the balance charger" message, the replacement one works fine. I have had it for 3 weeks knock on wood!!

It seems like it does a good job of balancing the cells, all within .003 V.

Should I be concerned if the ending voltage is 4.217V per cell? I set up the charger to the 3.6V setting to get a more desirable 4.11V final voltage. This should help save the batteries a little.

reg price

just ordered a 601 £35 ,,,$70 after reading this lot wish I hadn,t.will see when I try it out.

Zaquron

Good luck with that...

cmavr8

If you have the latest version, which does not make noise, you're ok.
If you have the old version, ask the seller for a replacement, with the newer version. Tell him the noise is ridiculous.

reg price

ok thanks Chris

reg price

I know nothing about electrics,with this 601 do i need an external balancer?

cmavr8

No, you need a power supply 12V for this charger.

Then you can plug the battery in the embedded balancer of this charger.

TampaRCGuy

My Feedback: (282)

I would recommend that you go with a brand that has dealer and manufacturer support. Brands such as Bantam e-Station, Thunderpower, and FMA for example. Then you have someone to call for support and questions.

cmavr8

I definitely agree.

hamishrock

I have been using my Mk2 601 for around a year now charging NiCad's and NIMH with no problems.

I did however buy this charger to future proof my move into LIpos. I now have my first 1200 2s lipo, which has a 4 cell plug balance plug on it with 3 wires connected.
I can charge through the balance lead without the main battery lead connected, or with just the main lead or with both.
Its a brand new battery and I haven't charged for more than about 10 mins as yet as I am a little unsure of the correct way to connect it. All connections seem to work, but I can not get any reading on the individual cells, when I press the < decrease button. All cells read 0v.

Which is the correct connection and does anybody else see the individual cell voltages?

reg price

my 601 ad has no balance socket,i think i could use an extrnal balancer?maybe.

cmavr8

I don't see why this would cause a problem..

cmavr8

Ok,
1. what do you mean 4 cell plug with 3 wires? The plug has 4 or 5 holes, and only 3 are used? strange..
2. You can charge either with the main lead or the balance lead connected, but the second is definitely better, and it's called balanced charging.
3. DO NOT CHARGE your batery unless it's empty. Ok, here:
3a. Stoping a charge may be bad for your battery. Not fatal, but bad. It's not a good habbit to start the charge, stop it, then come back after two hours and charge it to full.
3b. THIS stupid charger doesn't always know the exact charge state of your bat. I mean, if you charge 50% of it, and stop, and then try charging the rest 50%, the charger MIGHT think your battery is at 0%** and over charge it. It happened to me once, and the battery swelled, and is now useless.

SO be careful, don't over-charge, don't over-discharge (that's important also. I had lipos swell for that, too) and always pay attention to the charger. Have a fire extinguisher handy, lol. This is chinese cheap product. I don't trust it. If you can, sell it. I'M SELLING MINE.

**By 0% I mean the minimum level of a lipo. This is the SAFE minimum, the minimum you can get it without destroying it.

I do see individual cell voltages, but can't tell you how, as I'm far away from the charger.. sorry.

hamishrock

I managed to borrow a 5-2 cell adapter lead, which I have now used and charged up the 700 mah battery at 0.6A. Using the balance charger sockets on its own the battery charged up for just over an hour recording 740 maH charge with the charging current dropping down to 0.1A, but it never switched off reporting full.

With the adapter lead in I was able to monitor S1 and S2, which obviously went up in value during the charge, but S3,4,5 reported a voltage of around 2.21.

I have just charged it again, but this time with the main lead connects. Same result it charges the 2 cells to 4.19, which is the max voltage, but continues to charge at 0.1A.

I am guessing that even though it reports a 2 cell battery when it checks before charging, it still try's to charge the remaining 3 empty cells, waiting for them to reach 4.19 volts, which of course they wont.

I will try to get a proper 2 cell adapter or a plug and see how I go with that.

lfalsetto

My Feedback: (10)

Where do you get the balance adaptors that will fit?

hamishrock

I bought a 5 to 2 cell adapter from [link=http://www.micronradiocontrol.co.uk/]Micron radio[/link] here in the UK, and it now works correctly.

jvictorfc

Hi all,

I have been using my charger for over a year now, and It start to display Low Input Voltage, has anyone had this problem. I've checked my power suply and it still working great, in both way, throught power supply or algator jacks it gives the same erro/ message at the screen, With terrible bips. What can have happened? Pls help!

digithom

Hi all,

I have a 601bc balancer/charger and I have the impression that it can't charge batteries with a tensio higher than the one provided to the 601BC.
It looks like if it is not capable to lift up the tension to allow charging of battery.
Can anybody confirm this please ?
Is my one broken ?

Thanks in advace,

Thomas Paoloni

lords

well I don't know about anyone here but I charge Battery's of all sorts 150MAH to 3000MAH
with out the fan running(hooked up) and it's been working great for a year straight every day...

I must have been the lucky one on this unit...
the only thing it don't have is a hookup for a temp unit but the electronics are there so maybe I will look into this in the future....

PEACE!

Folira81

Hi Friends,
I'm looking for it's manufacturer company website , actually RC-POWER .,
If anybody can help me pls send the reply to my mail : [email protected]

Regards,
Foad