It is also almost 3X the price 
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 = $1 at thrift store
I guess you are right.
But since the OP mentions large lead acid batteries and parallel charging 6 cells at 1A each the ISDT may save a lot of time.
Plus it is much cooler.
I have a B6 Mini and the SC608. I like them both, but the SC608 is very nice design I just have not used it enough to give a strong recommendation on it yet. I like it enough that I’m buying their new model the Q6 Plus. If I was buying today, I’d wait until you can get a Q6 Plus and start with that, learn something about it and then you can make your own informed choice on your second charger if you need one.
As hobby chargers those 15-40$ ones are good for common RC battery packs, small solar batteries, modded power tool packs or selfbuild e-bike battery
For analysing cylindrical cells there are good 2 and 4 slot chargers, using a RC charger is a lot more time consuming
To fast charge 18650 or 26650 there are some 2A chargers, I would not use a hobby charger
But if you want to get a good calibration or a high power discharge to refresh big lead batteries there are other professional chargers
Wouldn’t hurt them to charge to 4.35 either. Maybe lose a few life cycles out of 400, but whatever
I think for now i’ll keep using my friends charger for the lead acid batterie, as I only need it once a year. If i can find an all in 1 solution great but I don’t think that will be possible.
I read the whole tread about isdt 608 and I might go for it (already asked for a code maybe I should ask one for the 620 also). Only thing bout 608is that it cant read Ri of single cells just from packs. Am i correct?
Sorry i don t reply to everyone but i m on a phone and it s a pita. But i do apriciate the replies
I’m not on the latest firmware but yes seems like you must use the balance tab to get IR estimates.
What is a good charger or other device to test LiIon cells for capacity, internal resistance, and max current under load?
You test the resistance with a multimeter, and the capacity with a hobby charger that has a discharge function which almost every good one does.
There is no max current under load, unless it’s protected. This is why they sometimes explode.
Before buying a 608 make sure you look at the new Q6 Plus.
I did but I can t seem to find much info on it, not like 608 on the rc forum.
From the op:
“My budget is around $50 but I wouldn’t mind paying more (even double that) if it’s really worth it.”
I suggest you get a hobby charger (for charging six or more cells as you mentioned, individual cell analyzing, 4.30v and some lead-acid batteries, etc.)
however, this thing can only charge/discharge, in parallel or series more than one cell but of the same capacity always and Mode, which is not optimum for salvaged cells. (major disadvantage of a hobby charger: you can only analyze one cell at any given time)
AND
an Opus BT-C3100 v2.2 (for analyzing salvaged cells 4 at a time without the hassle of cables and holders, charge up 4.35v, do almost everything the hobby charger can do but can do this in any combination of modes(charge/discharge/refresh) and/or cell chemistries at the same time, etc. with individual read-out for each bay.
These two can be had for less than $100…
I have both and couldn’t be more happy. I used to scour around for laptop batts all over town too.
That’s what I was planning to do cheers.
How important is Ri measurement for determening a cells’ quality?
It’s a nice feature for salvaged cells, of which a majority of them has undergone a long, hard life and would surely have high ir values already. This can be very helpful to salvaged cells for though some of them might charge near 4.2v volts, it cannot tell you the real health of the cell until you try it in high-drain lights (it cannot sustain prolonged turbo mode, sometimes jumping down in mode in less than a minute to the next lower mode , this happens from cells with high Ir)
Edit: After re-reading your op and your succeeding posts, and perhaps the joy of analyzing salvaged cells are your more important concern, a hobby charger has indeed very little appeal because it can only analyze cells singly thereby very time-consuming. (I have gone through this route before)
Perhaps getting two analyzing chargers like the Opus has the better suitability to your needs (plus the added feature of no more wires to connect, no battery cases to buy or fabricate, analyze up to 8 cells at once, etc., etc., though it was a great experience having gone through it all)