should I buy a hobby charger?

I use a DPS5015 and a iSDT sc608, you don’t need the DPS but it does add flexibility. I did a video here playing around with the units but only watch if your considering as tbh it’s a bit long and boring otherwise. Link: YouTube sc-608 at the end I get round to doing a large SLA on the unit.

I also have a few battery holders on route and a dc load, much better than the discharge avalible from most hobby chargers that take forever and discharge nowhere near the rate modern LEDs consume power.

It all takes a lot of parts, effort and time but ultimately you do end up with a far greater range of options.

Can someone who owns a imax b6 comment the link i posted? Seems like everyone here likes em yet on the rc forum they say it s cheap knock off with a lot of errors and inaccurate readings. Am I missing something?

I initially bought the clone and it worked fine. A friend has the authentic item (for RC) and it feels the same. I don’t have any software issues with my clone and it works fine with lithium cells.
Apparently there are issues with NiMH cells in series (that would be the setup for them to charge/discharge) but I frankly have such a variance in my NiMH cells (age, brand, price are all different) and I don’t have a strong need for charging these products.

My clone was sold as “real” but I realized b/c of price and seller it is a clone before I bought it. you can change the firmware on select models.

useful link:
link to RC groups

edit: please note that there are many different imax B6 clones. 50W vs 80W different discharge rate etc

I have to recommend the ISDT SC608.
It’s far superior to the outdated B6 and family.
It has a cortex M4 processor, bright full color IPS screen, and a simple, fast, high quality button.

It can charge at up to 8A or 150W, several times more than the B6, whereas the B6 will not even be able to parallel charge 6 batts at 1A each. The ISDT has options for HV lithiums without flashing anything and it’s easy to update firmware. It also has higher precision voltage measurements and takes individual IR estimates with the balance tab connected. It has a much wider input voltage range as well.

The best part is that it’s tiny and fits in the palm of your hand but still dissipates the same amount of power as the B6, except that it has thermal monitoring.

Can be found for 40 shipped from a US supplier. This new charger far outclasses the antique B6 that we used to use like 10 years ago.

I have a clone B6 that I got for $20 shipped and have been using for years, and it’s acceptable but the ISDT is nicer to use. The B6 has a crappy blue calculator screen, the buttons are finicky, and voltage measurements are not as accurate. It also charges much slower. I don’t like to wait so I charge my 18650s at 2C, which wouldn’t be possible with the B6.

I still use my B6 but I can hardly recommend any electronics that were designed over 10 years ago and hasn’t really been updated since. I know it’s cheaper though.

For refresh cycling large solar batteries you need a way bigger charger

Just imagine refreshing a 120Ah 12V battery with 15W max discharge of those hobby chargers

Most do it with a charger that can supply at least 0.2C for your biggest battery
and then connecting the battery to a 1500W inverter powering a cheap heater

@ lexel: I taught also, gonna look for a decent charger just for lead acid batteries or just keep borowing my the one from my friend.
hello: really? I saw a post here somwhere bout a charger like that and that scrolling wheel just looks like it won't last long. Just the way it's build makes me think it's crap but I never had one in my hands so... milspec: ok they’re talking bout clones and not the skyrc one that explains alot thx.

I don’t know about the liitokala, but the Opus will definitely charge to 4.35v. I cut a circle hole in the bottom of my Opus so I didn’t have to remove the cover every time I wanted to switch it from 4.2v to 4.35

like i said before, there are lots of fake b6s around, some are ok some are total garbage. b6 is a good charger for the price, (the real one at least).

i’ve never used SC-608, it seems to be good, on paper, and at least 1 member here seem to be happy with one, if you can find that one that fits your budget go for it. just make sure it is real, as soon as something gets popular and demand grows, fakes flood the market.

If you are able/willing to spend 40$ or around that budget I’d not recommend the imax B6. The clones are cheap (I believe I paid 9$US plus shipping for mine) but at a higher range there are significantly better balance chargers!

One recommendation is in this thread and the RC groups will give you a good overview, reviews and rankings.

No I don’t have 4.35 cells but 4.30 icr 28 samsung sdi cells.

About the scroll wheel, yes it’s a high quality encoder.
Everything about the build is solid quality, even the IPS is quite nice and all functions are color coded, as well as charge complete screen.
All luxuries but nice to use.

you can still charge them to 4,2v it will not cause any harm to them, actually it would be even better as far as lifespan, but you will lose about 100-200mah in capacity by not charging them to 100%

I use a Imax B6 for most of my charging needs with a 14X parallel cell holder with built in volt meter for quick voltage testing of cells, just toss it in for a second to get a reading.

It works great and I could not be happier. I do have a cheap nitecore single cell charger for times when I just have a single cell to charge (rare).

I went from B6 to SC-608 and no way would I buy the B6 over the SC. The rotary encoder is easy and feels decent quality.

It is also almost 3X the price :wink:

You can’t beat the bang for the buck on the Imax B6. Flash new firmware to it and it is a very nice unit indeed for $15.

I use an EZ peak 6 amp traxxas charger, although soon I will probably upgrade to a hitec or graupner or something similar.
The graupner is a bit expensive, about $400.

That is a very fair point, although does that 1/3rd of the price B6 come from a reputable place as a genuine version?

It is technically a clone but now days I think all B6 are “genuine” since while mine didn’t have any stickers to say it was genuine when I opened it up to flash the firmware it has the genuine hardward layout and needed the genuine firmware flashed for it to work.

In other words “clone” doesn’t really matter, they all work the same. Plus since it is off ebay you know you are 100% protected should there be a problem in the first 3 months.

I have a feeling they are all made on the same assembly line now days in massive bulk and some just get a sticker and some don’t. With the custom firmware mine is very accurate and works as good as I could ask for the price.

The stock firmware sucks because you can’t calibrate it, which I am guessing is on purpose with the clones. The genuine versions seem to have a better factory calibration, I would guess that the “genuine” models get a calibration step before leaving the factory and the clones do not.

If you add in a laptop power brick to both it’s only twice as much.

For an extra $20 you get perfect out of the box performance without needing any calibration or firmware. It also has 3 times the output power and is much nicer in general.

Power brick = $1 at thrift store