Lol, its always like that, more more more! Hobbyking to the rescue!
Regarding the sparking, definitely more on 6S, I can see the blue light flashing through my balance connects when I connect the 6 cell batteries to the charger. The charger balance pins are changing shape due to the "welding" that occurs every time I plug one in. So I let the damage occur on the 6 cell 2 pack adapter that you have shown in the pics.
Where abouts are you in WA? Id love to see your setup some time.
I have many LiIon chargers and often use them, but I do also use hobby chargers. I have two of these:
Where I can charge two cells in parallel.
For special size cells I have made made a clamp into a battery holder:
I always uses the hobby chargers to charge odd size batteries and when I want to charge fast, for regular charging I sometimes use the hobby charger, sometimes one of the other LiIon charges and if I need to charge many batteries I can have more than 6 chargers running.
I often use hobby charges to get a check on my LiIon cells, how much capacity they have left or when I want to discharge a cell.
i like that clamp HKJ very handy and thats a luminous battery holder you linked me before, i still cant make up my mind for a flat pack or compack 6s battery holder for balancing.
im sure you would know but with the ichargers you can check the internal resistance of your batteries, it also will show resistance in charge leads, but the best part is checking the internal resistance of the batteries you can see them go down hill over time and how the batteries are charged affects the internal resistance.
ive seen some of my lipo,s go down hill fast with parrallel charging due to voltage diffrence, they dont like voltage diffrence, they can handle huge discharge rates but not charge rates.
another bonus with the icharge as im sure you know you can check an alter the calibration if needed, upgrade the firmware online and do logveiw to see how the batteries perform and adjust the sensitivity for charging nimh witch i find is good, they are cheap i dont know why more dont have them.
i spoke to my old man last night, i gave him a jetbeam bc40 and a couple of trustfire flames batteries as a gift with a single charge cradle i made, he told me it takes to long to charge one by one, so i will give hime my 2s balance charge lead and ill make another and ill make a 4s blance charge lead for myself as well.
ill have to get him a decent charger his imax b6 over charges and sets off the over voltage protection, hes had it for 5 or so years, the imax b6 ive played with normaly under charge and dont do nimh well, i can see him ending up with my 106b+ as i need some thing with more amperage for rc.
i have not seen DasFriekon for a bit i wounder how his set up is going ?
Where do you get the plugs that go into the balance ports (on the Turnigy Accucell 6 in my case). I have even tried ebay, and while I can get made up cables for various battery packs, it does not look like I can find the plugs themselves easily.
I bought a JST-EH adaptor board with the Turnigy. That looks useful - so I guess I would be looking for EH type plugs. Or I could buy a whole pack of JST-XH plugs for the 6S port on the Turnigy, and only wire up each plug for the config I want?
I want to have a setup for 2S, 3S and 4S. I cannot imagine using any more than that. Currently (until I get this wiring issue worked out), I am simply using magnets and charging in series.
Sure - but the Turnigy Accucell 6 is currently only $22. Delivered to my door for around $32. That is less than HALF of the price of the iCharger. I have only had my Turnigy for a few hours, but so far it seems just fine for charging torch batteries. I don’t think I would use one if I was a serious R/C hobbyist, but as an alternative to AA, AAA and 18650 chargers, it seems like a good bet.
I think if I was a serious R/C nut, I would look at something like the Hyperions, myself.
these are all from aussie sellers i belive, but if you want longer jst-xh balance wire extentions ive been getting a few of these from 30 to 45 cm,s i rather be looking at the extra lenght then looking for it i rather have to much then not enough, but its from the usa post time is around 2 weeks.
no worries im happy to help and im not sponsored by ebay lolls just i can not get this stuff localy, also more joins adds more resistance, but thats being anal it should not be a problem till you hit 5s and 6s balancing like the set ups ive done but there is many ways to do it, i also ment jst-xh is the most common not jst-hx a typo there i have edited it, have fun.
my old man pinched my 2s balance charge lead for his torch so i had to make another, i used shorter 22 awg 20 cm 2s balance extention lead and cut of the female end and used 18 awg main charge leads as the bigger stuff is not needed for these low charge rates and the usual male 4mm bullet connectors to plug in to the charger, lucky i had 3 magnets left over from my other leads i made.
What will be best balanced Charger? to charge all types of cells ranging from Lead Acid,Nicd,Nimh,Lion,Lipo etc,& still is cheap reliable & has a good lifetime