Imax B6 Balance charger .

I got the Imax B6 balance charger , since they are so cheap [ less power supply ]

Now on the power supply , center pin is + and the outer connection is - , keep this in mind if you go for a 3rd party power supply [ read cheap ]

I personally went with a 13.5v 1A computer [ laptop ] power supply / charger , but I did need to reverse the plug , oooh thats the other thing , the Imax uses a non standard plug size , I was lucky to have one that fitted on another power supply that was 16v , so a little chop chop , and a little soldering and its up and running ..

The only reason I got this was for testing batteries [ discharge for capacity ]

Now I always thought these things were a little larger , you can see the Imax pictured next to my Trustfire charger , and its not that much larger ...

Im just draining the two Palight cells I got recently @ 500mAh , I look forward to draining a solarforce cell I can tell you ...

SO looks like the tool kit is complete ....

So far I like the Imax ...

Thanks for the mini-review. Good chargers is one area I've neglected so far in this hobby. I guess I need to start reading up on em to see what all the fuss is about.

Not so much a mini review , maybe a prelude to such ..

But there so cheap now [ less power supply ] . And if you feel the need to test batteries , then its probably a much needed tool .

There selling for $25 or there abouts , shipped .. [ less that power supply ] , so much cheaper than the $50USD + they used to cost some time ago ..

And working with single cells , I know of no issues [ balance charging ? but im not going there ] ..

Its nice to do a run time graph , because its real world , but its also going to be nice to test for capacity ..

good to hear you got one, im still waiting for the one from hobby king. ordered it 3 weeks ago, and the tracking number isnt working

same as an order from DX.... this is getting annoying

Do you know how to upgrading your Imax B6 balance charger?

I am interested in that.

Are you talking new firmware ? Or simply calibrating the charger ?

There is a forum somewhere , where they talk about this charger a fair bit ..

Some one is doing a kit [ parts ] , and you replace the parts to get more accuracy [ Again for balance charging - something I will not be doing ]

I will only be doing single cell stuff , and for this I understand the charger is well capable off , and to my best knowledge there are no issues ..

Except for maybe calibrating it [ if its out ] ..

+ I got this for the discharge function , I wont be using it to charge batteries , though I probably could .

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=827821 Here is a link , lots of info ....

I just went crazy and ordered an iCharger 106B+ from Germany.

I could have settled for a less expensive unit, but wanted a PC connection to make curves and it should also discharge at a greater current than 1 A.

I could'nt find a suitable unit without a lot of reported problems so just got tired of seeking.

I'm a little ashamed.. being a budget light freak

But this is not a light, it is a tool

Hope to contribute to the battery database, higher drain currents possible.

Nice purchase, Sixty545. Wow...I just got done reading the specs on it. That's one heck of a charger!

If you really want to you can spend properly silly money on a charger. Schulze make awesome RC products, their chargers are I'm sure very good...but at anything upto €600 I'm never going to have one :P

http://www.schulze-elektronik-gmbh.de/prs11-2010_e.htm

Absolutely LOVE my icharger, I've even taken it on my rural posting for these two weeks, charges my 18650s, my 16340s, my AAs, and my 3S LiPo battery pack for my work headlamp (with the appropriate battery holder/adpater/plugs)

Whats the voltage input range of the imax charger. Im also using a laptop switchmode for my charger. Unfortunately the iCharger is limited to 18V, so ive got the powersupply on the 16v option. If you can have a higher voltage option, there will be less losses through the PSU and the cables. I guess thats more relevant when I'm charging my large battery packs for the RC stuff (5A power draw at 12v is reduced to 3.5A when running 16v) and I do get warm cables! oops!

Owen

That is some massive prices at Schultze, I got away with 112 EU shipped for the iCharger.

And it has a massive support in service, tips and upgradeability and the vendor is known for his helpfullnes. I'm reading for full in the manual now. Impressive how many things it can do. For instance re-use the energy from a battery that is discharging and put it back into the power supply (if this is rechargeable, for instance a 12V automobile battery)..

Just can't wait for it now...

[EDIT]: Got the iCharger already, delivery time from Germany to Denmark 38 hours!.

It was half the size that I thought it would be. Worked fine from a 5A power supply for a cooling box I had, the plug matched. USB driver and logging program 'Logview' installed easy without problems. Have used it for discharging and for 'forming' (reviving) an old batterypack with 6xNiMH.

In short a success until now.

Yeah it's a very nice charger I read abou them a while ago, I ust can't justify getting charger untill my current one breaks....which it's just refusing to do! :P

I've read the specs for the imax b6 and the input voltage is 11-18v, I have an old 15v 4A toshiba laptop psu, hoping that'll work, my b6 is in the mail. These budget torches are getting expensive lmao.

It'll work fine but you may have to go to Maplin to find a suitable plug.


They do that! The thing is you'll be just as broke as the CPF "No light costing less than $1,000 is any good" squad but you will have 1,000 times as many lights.
Know which I prefer - especially as I'm never going to be in the market for silly dollar/pound/euro lights.
I own two lights that cost more than 50 quid (59 euros/$78). One of them is still worth it a year later, the other one was when I bought it 4 years ago. Today I expect better than the triple K2 from any 14500 capable light I buy. No XM-L light you can buy produces such a "small" amount of light.

I'm bound to be able to bodge the psu, if I go to maplins I won't be able to leave with just a dc plug.

And yes, many (potentially) good lights are better than one expensive (and soon to be outdated) light.

I'm amazed at the quality of some of these chinese lights, for the money they are astonishing. Why pay more for a minor imrpovement in quality ?

i like my icharge too, you should look into the p350 power supply, i got one for mine not a bad power supply

http://www.progressiverc.com/p350-power-supply.html

i used a pc power cable as it came with a usa plug.

the imax b6 charge is ok ive had two my old man still uses one for his rc stuff they are acurate with in 0.5v when balancing, but differ from charger to charger as if i compared his to mine, mine under charged his over charged and nimh,s oftern cut out early.

if you want to use them to there full charging potential you should use a minium 4 amp power supply 5 amp is best any laptop power supply or look on hobby king or ebay for ones that have a correct plug they are pretty cheap just search imax b6, you can even buy ones with built in power supply for 100 to 240 volt but they cost a little more.