ATCme

I'm looking for the best LiPo charger/balancer unit, which is the best one for the best price?
I've seen the DN Power/Tenergy charger and that seems like a good deal @ about $85 for the charger and AC/DC converter. I've also seen the Cellpro for $55.
What are the differences of these two and what are the advantages/disadvantages to each?

So my main question is: What is the best LiPo charger/balancer unit?

Thanks,
ATCme [sm=tongue_smile.gif]

IamDisaster

I've got both and here is what I noticed so far.

The Cellpro is brainlessly simple...you can't go wrong with it. Just plug your battery in and it goes into fast charge mode followed by a balance charge. The only issue I had was when I first got it and it was set for A123 mode and gave me error messages everytime I plugged in a regular Lipo. It was confusing holding down the button and seeing all the modes flash by. But now that it is set...it really is a situation of "set it and forget it." They also sell adapters for all the major battery types. It says it has a "battery restore mode" which will attempt to fix overdischarged cells in a pack.

The DN Power/Tenergy charger is a more substantial and similarly has separate charging circuits for each cell. However, it isn't clear to me if it has a balance mode or if it just separately charges each cell at varying rates which helps achieve a balanced battery. It isn't clear to me if it will pull a low cell up if the other cells are already at 4.2V...haven't used it long enough...or had a battery out of balance badly enough to check that. It says something about not charging a pack if any battery is below 2.1V...no "battery restore mode" like Cellpro. Also, I can only seem to find Thunderpower adapters for it. I assume I'll have to fab the other adapters myself. Out of the box it works with the Electri-fly type adapter.

Natch

I have had three different Lipo chargers and in my opinion the Cellpro is by far the best and easiest to use.
You can read all about it here. http://www.fmadirect.com/Detail.htm?...116&section=45
Lipo charging for dummies, which is just great for me.
Happy Landings.

ATCme

What taps does the CellPro come with? What information does it show on screen?
Also, will it charge a battery without the balance leads?

Thanks,
ATCme[sm=tongue_smile.gif]

IamDisaster

Doesn't come with any leads for any batteries...just the Cellpro socket. They sell leads separately...but they had leads for all my batteries and the price was very reasonalble. It is a balance only Lipo charger.

Toker41

My complaint is that it looks like it only charges 1 battery at a time. Since I have 6 batteries, it's much to slow a process to do one at at time. Isn't there a charger that will charge 4 at a time with a 1c of at least up to 2.1 amp rate?

Natch

Hey Toker,
Why not just get 4 chargers?

IamDisaster

All Lipo balance chargers are basically parallel chargers. This one charges 4 cells maximum. I've seen ones that go up to 8 (e-station BC8.) I don't know if any allow you to split between two batteries...unless you wanted to balance all the cells and wired them in series. They make adapters for just that purpose because some people run series of batteries in planes and therefore need to keep multiple packs balanced with each other. You can buy chargers with multiple ports but they don't come with built in balancing. You'll need to add a balancer to each port if you want to balance the cells while charging. The e-station 902 does that...and up to 12 cells.

aeajr

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Friends,

This forum is set up for members to ask questions of the resident expert, in in this case Sal from NE Sailplanes. No one else should be responding to questions and I have been instructed to delete anyone else's posts. So this should be a one on one between the thread starter and Sal.

Sorry guys, but that is how this forum is to run.

I will be deleting all other responses.