ridgewalker

Hi,
I have been away from the rc truck scene for a while,i have been sucked into flying rc helis and i am getting going with the trucks again.
I last had some nimh battery packs for my e-maxx,stampede ect.
Now i will be switching to lipo.....

But i need a charger first
I will be charging batteries for my e-maxx(mabey a couple 3000-5000 mah 2s packs)
And i will be charging the batteries for my helicopters...3s battery from 1000-3000mah.
So i am looking to get a charger that can charge my rc truck and helicopter battery....not a high cost one....just one that will work well and not cook the battery
I have a Piranha that i use for nimh and nicad from the days before lipo.It works very well and shows the mah going back in.The charge voltage is adj from 0.01v to 5.v in .01 increments,the delta peak value can also be adjusted.It can plug in the wall or to a car battery.It has ten battery profile memory slots.
I only paid like $60 at the lhs back in 2006.
I would like to find a charger basicly like the piranha with all its adjustability that can do the same with a lipo battery.....oh yeah...i hope to find one like that for $100 or under....and i prefer to stay away from hoddy cing ,

So what are some of the chargers you guys are useing to charge your lipo's with?

Any brands of charger that i should stay away from?

qoisdhc oqina

My Feedback: (-1)

http://www.hobbypartz.com/60p-dyc-1004.html

Thats what im using.Same as the imex, venom pro, accucel, etc.All the same.
Works great for me.up to 6s lipo, 5a charge, hell it can charge your car battery if ya want.

ridgewalker

Thank You for the link.
Frustration...dial up and windows 95 [>:]...i just waited 15 min for that link to load up.....guess my antique pc didn't want to load up the site.

So could you tell me wich one you are talking about exactly...so i can do a search on it,if it is a good price at the link you posted then i'm sure i can find a way on there site

What else you guys use?

ridgewalker

I do have a few in mind,but i'm not 100% sure they are what i need.
1.Hyperion EOS 0606i
2Hyperion EOS 0403i
3.Triton EQ
4.Dynamite Passport

They all are ac/dc..thats good because i don't have a power supply.


Anyone have anything good or bad to say about any of those that might help me decide?

dug44

My Feedback: (2)

The TRITONEQ!!!!! YEAH-A-YEAH, LOVEMINE!!!! Best $130 I have ever spent in this hobby....

qoisdhc oqina

My Feedback: (-1)

win95![X(]

Can you say "Upgrade?"Lol

Dynam DC6.Search for accucel-8, imex b6 or the dc6.

Those are good chargers, but, IMHO, not worth the extra $100 over the other chargers.

carlbellybutton10

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...-w-LCD-Display


i have kinda the same one but mines not the dual. excellent charger and very easy to use. and its got memory for like 10 different batteries so you just plug it in and select the memory and wallah

edit:
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...-w-LCD-Display

just in case you dont need dual charging but this is the one i have and i recommend to anyone

Dialed_In

Here is another one from that site that is AC/DC powered. http://www.hobbypartz.com/thac6smbachw.html It's the Thunder AC6 for $60 shipped.

Their site probably loads slow because of all the youtube and facebook crap that's on every page of their site

cbb10, He was wanting a charger that is lipo compatible.

carlbellybutton10

is cbb10 me? those chargers do lipo


edit: never mind the double charger doesnt but the single one that i linked does do lipo its the one i have

ridgewalker

Thanks guys,carlbellybutton10....on the box iirc it sais Duratrax it.....the charger has Piranha,so i guess it's a Piranha charger...it was a while ago lol.
I did check out the dc 6...but i am looking for something i can plug in on the bench.

Is a 5000 mah battery say for an e maxx or a stampede consideded a big battery?
With nimh i had some 7 cell 4200 mah batteries i would run in my e maxx...with brushed stock motors and it was enough mah to give a good runtime and had enough power.
Now when i change the maxx over to the brushless motor will i need anything higher than 5000 mah?
I figured since 4200 was good enough with nimh that 5000 should be good enough for lipo.

The bigger the battery the bigger the charger i'll need so i am wondering what the avr. mah people are useing...not the pro guy who is racing ......but the backyard,parking lot,school yard,sand pit basher is useing!

carlbellybutton10

i just got some 5000mah 2s lipos finally getting to run them in the morning so ill reply and let you know how much time i get out of it. i would ran them tonight but i had tranny problems for a weird reason.

Dialed_In

The Onyx 220 is not a lipo charger. Where in the specs do you see it is compatible with lipos? http://www.duratrax.com/caraccys/dtxp4220.html

The Onyx 230 does charge lipos. Did you mean the 230? http://www.duratrax.com/caraccys/dtxp4230.html

Even if you have a 230 you would still need a separate lipo balancer.

Edit: If you are charging lipos with the Onyx 220 please stop immediately.

To the OP: The average lipo size for a large vehicle would be from 4000mah to 5000mah. To charge a 5000mah lipo you would need a charger capable of putting out 5 amps. You also need to take into consideration the C rating of the battery. We would need your motor specs to give you a C rating and mah suggestions.

ridgewalker

Thankyou very much.
As far as the motor well i haven't got one yet for the e-maxx,i'm still running the stockers titans.I wont even be useing those motors,i will probably get the brushless emaxx motor and mamba monster esc down the road.
I do have an airboat that i am running an e maxx motor 24t on 8 nimh cells useing a stampede xl-5 esc turning a 7'' prop and at times a 9'' prop...the battery gets pretty warm.I will be getting a lipo for that...something equel to the 8 cell mabey but with more mah,around 5000,I will be getting a 45 amp esc and a 1020kv motor eflight park 480....
Then i can also use the battery in one of my trucks.

I will be useing this charger right now for my heli batteries.
One is a 3s 11.1v 1000 mah 15c for my Blade SR that has a 3900kv outrunner eflight motor,the other will be for my t rex 450 3s 1p 11.1v 2100 22c running a 430 xl 3700kv align motor,inrunner.
Mabey those specs will help.

Dialed_In

For the motor, you usually go by the continuous and peak amp specs. Let say you have a motor that has an amp rating of 120 amps like the 2200kv mamba monster. You need a battery capable of 120 amps.

5000mah x 20C = 100000 and then you divide by 1000 which = 100amps (not good enough for the mamba)
5000mah x 30C = 150000 / 1000 = 150amps (should be good enough for the mamba but sometimes it's best to consult the manufacturer)

If a motor peaks higher you would want to take that into consideration and go a bit higher on the C rating.

For the traxxas VXL it specs at 65 constant and 100amps peak

5000mah x 20C =100000 / 1000 = 100amps (which should be good enough for the VXL)
4000mah x 25C =100000 / 1000 = 100amps (again, good enough)

The batteries also should have constant and peak output specs.

I hope this helps.

qoisdhc oqina

My Feedback: (-1)

False.You can charge at 1 or 2 amps if you wanted.Would just take FOREVER, but you could.

e123

That's the one I have. I like it. I've had it for about a year now and no problems.

FireFrenzy

If i were in the market for a new charger i´d just buy a 20 buck one from turnigy since i know tonnes of people who have used those to good effect...

ridgewalker

Some great info there...thanks for taking the time to explain.So the formula is..battery mah X the "C" of the battery,take that number and divide it by 1000 to get the amp value,i can understand that...thank you.


I noticed that the chargers with out a power supply are a bit lower cost.
I was thinking of useing an old 12v auto battery charger as a power supply...it outputs 12v DC at 10 amp.
So do any of you guys with a bit of exp know if it would work?
Here are some pics of what i have.....

FireFrenzy

Should work, correct voltage and enough amps... Another option if your competent and confident in your electrical engineering is to use a computer power supply and hack that one up...

ridgewalker

I do have an ATX power supply from an old pc.But the highest voltage is 12v at 6 amp.....but is says 200W so i really don't know if it would be good for a charger power supply.
Plus i don't have the wire diagrams and there are a lot of wires there!
I would turn it into a power supply if i could find some instruction on how...i know the info is ou there with a simple google search but since it says 6 amp i never went any further with it....should i?

I have done some searching as far as useing a automobile battery charger to be a power supply for an RC charger.
I have read that the electricity from the charger is noisy...Reminds me of when i had my first car and you could hear a buzz through the radio speakers in the car...the more the engine RPM increased the higher the buzzing sound would get...There were ways to get rid of it...like hooking up the radio right but..i do remember some noise supresser thing that some would install between the radio and the power source..mabey something like that could be used if the auto charger was to noisy

Wow i was really getting off topic,but i think it could somehow relate....my memory has faded from those days

Here is a pic of the specs on the ATX power supply...

ridgewalker

You know...i was just sitting here looking at the sticker with the specs on it for the ATX and i noticed....One of the output reads...+3.3v 10A max....and i also see a +5v 18a max...

I thought it read 1.0 and 1.8 ha ha...
So i see i could have plenty of amps but the voltage matching to the higher amps is low for powering a charger.....I wonder if i could somehow get 12v at 18amp out of this to power a charger.
The auto charger with a car battery to power a charger seems less complicated at this point.

So what other chargers you guys use,are most still useing nimh batteries?

Willystylz

Hyperion EOS0606i

AC/DC, silent, built-in balancer, and charges everything goin.........by far the best charger I've ever owned.

ridgewalker

That was the one i liked...seems like it is one of the top names in chargers these days.
Then i saw the Dynimite one with a higher amp charge rate.
It seems to be pretty much close to the same kind of information it provides while charging as the 0606i but with an 8 amp charge rate.
So i guess i could charge an 8000 mah battery in one hour with the Dynamite...will i ever have or need an 8000 mah battery...i don't know but i doubt it.
I am not the type to hurry and recharge my battery to go again...i just buy enough batteries for the amount of time i want to run.
I used to get about 20-30 min runtime just bashing around a dirt parking lot with a few piles of dirt to climb and do jumps from on the stock motors with 7 cell nimh in my e maxx and i was fine with that...and i had two sets of batteries for the e maxx when i wanted to drive longer.

So really the Hyperion would probably work just fine for me...but...i like the 8 amp charge rate of the Dynamite.
I could charge a 4000 in half the time with it..and heli batteries seem to be a lower mah than the truck batteries...

I always read to get the highest charge rate/watt charger for your needs and that is just about all that is pushing me toward the Dynamite Passport Ultra.
Both are available at the lhs.
So i guess it is between the Dynamite Passport Ultra and the Hyperion 0606i....I have also have,and still use to this day a Dynamite Vision Peak 2 charger and it always works well...even though it is just a charger with LED's to show it's status.So since i never had an issue with Dynamite they get a +1 in my book.

But the Hyperion is liked and used by many.....But the charge rate is only 6 amp...Hmmmmmmmm.......
I know most would probably choose Hyperion over Dynamite...just by name alone...Hmmmm
I'm going to have to sleep on this one....unless i read some real problems with one of them to turn me to the other....Hmmm...

ridgewalker

I'm leaning toward the Hyperion right now.
Any idea when the Hyperion 0606i came to market?How long has it been around?

rclugnut10

My Feedback: (1)

thats my current charger, got mine off guver here on RCU for $90 shipped super nice charger, no complaints at all

the lug