Review: IMAX B6 multi-battery type charger

BTW: I did not know this can do discharge for alkalines also.

Testing now a D-cell for capacity.

keep an eye on the temps of the nimh,s when charging Wink

Yes, or put the temp sensor and "temperature cutoff" to 45ºC

the delta peak some times does not work and can cook the batteries

I have noticed also, when charging "C"-cell NiMh´s, that they tend to get pretty hot...

I have pulled them early and still they reach some 1,48V or so. Can´t see why it is cooking them so long, topping up the last mah´s?

When I use the imax for charging NiMh, I use the "capacity cutoff" and "timer cutoff". In that way, no problems at all

they should get warm but not hot, if the delta peak is not senseing when the battery is full or near full they will get hot as the charger is over charging them, or if your fast charging them cause your in a rush and using high amp rate they might get hot

does not always work

@benckie - "Capacity and timer cuttoff not always work?"

The main way to stop charging NiMh batteries in the Imax is the "delta peak". The delta peak not always work, that´s way it offers 3 more "security features" to prevent overchanging in case the delta peak doesnt work:

1- Capacity cutoff

2- Timer cutoff

3- Temperature cutoff


And all of the 3 works. Is the only way I stop charging NiMh batteries with the Imax, because the delta peak has never worked...

well

1- Capacity cutoff

say if you buy some cheap cells like 10 000 mAh D cell,s but in real life they only take 4500 mAh and the second one takes 5200 mAh and the third one takes 4700 mAh and the fourth takes 5300 mAh so you have to set the capacity cutoff to the lowest mAh rating so the other 3 batteries dont get to take there full capacity.

or worse the guy who is new to hobby chargers sets the capacity cut off to 10 000 mAh and there for over charges the batteries, or he buy,s some cheap 2400 mAh 18650,s that only take 900 mAh not as much of a big deal with li-xx as its about voltage not peak, but there still is the potential of over charging.

to truly set the Capacity cutoff for nimh you have to cycle each battery a good few times till the battery has leveled out and set it to the lowest of all batteries you have or record the time and mAh of every battery you have and mark them and change it to suit each battery, but to do this you have to cycle the batteries and if the delta peak does not work well its to late then realy isnt it as the batteries could already be cooked by some one who does not under stand.

2- Timer cutoff

we that works much the same way as the capacity cutoff, if will depend how many mAh the battery will take, if the batteries are dead flat, half flat or doing a quick top up, or you have to fully discharge them to the minium voltage and full charge each battery and with the maxium discharge of 1 amp that the imax b6 has that can take all day with big cells.

to truly set the Timer cutoff for nimh you have to cycle each battery a good few times till the battery has leveled out and set it to the lowest of all batteries you have or record the time and mAh of every battery you have and mark them and change it to suit each battery, but to do this you have to cycle the batteries and if the delta peak does not work well its to late then realy isnt it as the batteries could already be cooked by some one who does not under stand.

this feature is best to make sure you dont forget and leave your charger charging all night

3- Temperature cutoff

is the best one, but it will depend if its a hot day or a cold nite or summer or winter inside side or out side charging as for me there can be upto 20 degrees diffrence but it has to be the best out of the 3 saftey features, realy you need a good charger with delta peak or where you can adjust the sensitivity so you dont damage you nimh.

its all trial and error with out a good working charger and people new to the hobby chargers can get it wrong easily i have owned a couple of imax b6,s and a imax b6 ac and my old man still runs his imax b6 it pays to check with a DDM and set all cut offs on the safer side (low).

there is alot of factors, users, batteries and conditions its hard to say one settings suits all.

I totally agree with you benckie. I missed the fact that we dont know the real capacity of some batteries unless you first tested them..

However, in the case of Imax, when chargin Li-ion it stops perfectly 4,20 volts. And when charging li-ion, you dont need "capacity cutoff" neither "timer cutoff". You only need "temperature cutoff"

The problem appears only with NiMh. If delta peak doesnt work, you need to "guess" the capacity. But thanks to god, I only use good known batteries...

for that reason i would only suggest the imax b6 geniune and clones for li-po and li-on charging as its about voltage not peak and it should under 50 mv out per cell give or take. with the imax b6,s ive had one was okish and one was an under charger and my old mans is an over charger.

So according the pics, this is fake/clone Imax charger. Right?

Yes, the one I have (the one in this review) is a clone

clones are cheaper :D

( if i ever buy a hobby charger, i would get the Imax B6 clone/original too!! Thanks for the presentation. )

Do we need this here? the new Imax B6 model:

EDIT: clones are not cheaper. the original (called "genuine") costs US$33.99 (FREE shipping), or US$24.99+9.99$ shipping from Hobbyking (China).

alternatively, battery chargers with integrated battery holders for NimH cells only (no Li-Ion!!!) and digital displays (voltage, capacity, time, ..):

Maha Powerex MH-C9000 WizardOne Charger RRP 69.95$, AMZN 49.95$, akkudo 39.00€ shipped, powerex-info.de 43.99€ shipped incl. 3 years warranty

La Cross Technology BC-700 Alpha Power Battery charger RRP 49.95$, AMZN 34.95$, Accucell.de clone 22.95€ shipped incl. 3 years warranty

4x SANYO NEW ENELOOP 1,2V MICRO AAA AKKUS HR-4UTGA + FRISCHE BOX NEU im SET, ebay 6.79€

8x Sanyo New Eneloop Mignon/AA HR-3UTGA 8er Pack, 2er AccuCell AccuBoxAA Akkus, 12.99€

In comparison, the Jetbeam Intellicharge i4 costs ~24.95€ and has no digital display or advanced features. No go!

I just got an Imax B6 AC/DC clone yesterday. I know nothing about the operation of this thing so I know RTFM applies and I did make a go of it. I have not had much time to really play with it, I'm waiting on magnets which will help. I tried to charge an 18650 this morning. I am sure I had all the settings right to charge the single cell @1A. When I held down the start button I received an alarm indicating that the battery voltage was too low. Well it was too low, 2.73V, but thats why I was trying to charge it. I then tried to charge another 18650 that was 3.92V and that looked like it was going well. I stopped that because I was just holding the leads on to see if it would work. It started charging at .2A then moved to .3A before I stopped. Sound normal? I dont get that I cant charge a battery that has low voltage.

That is a safety function, you are not supposed to charge LiIon if they are too much discharged.

You might want to check two other safety functions: Maximum charge time and maximum mAh. The time might break the charge if you use a low charge rate.

I was able to figure out how to discharge an 18650 and I am now charging the same battery at 1A. I have not figured out how to get deeper into the menu yet for the safety functions but I'm searching YouTube vids to help. The discharge terminated at 3V. Is this too far?

That is fine, if you check the battery with a DMM you will see the voltage is significantly higher, because the battery recovers when the load is removed.

Depending on what LiIon cell you are testing, the minimum varies between 2.5 volt and 3 volt. In my tests I uses 2.8 volt, this is a habit I got from the CBA, that uses this as the default value.

Thanks HKJ. That helps.

Is this how I set up to charge batteries in parallel?