Best Charger?

[LSX]

So, I want a new charger.

The two I currently use are the Nitecore i4 and the Thrunite MCC-4. I like the Nitecore because it has always been reliable for me but the problem is it is painfully slow. Especially when trying to charge 4x 18650 3400mAh Panasonics. The Thrunite can charge at 1A but it has never been reliable in terms of stopping at 4.20v. It will stop anywhere between 4.15-4.22v which I don’t like. So I looked at HKJs review of the new Opus charger and there was a number of issues which he brought up which made me think maybe I should keep looking.

So I have decided I might as well just bite the bullet and step up to a decent hobby charger. I found a thread which mentioned the iCharger, Accucell-6 and imax B6. So my first question is, is it worth paying the extra for the iCharger? I am happy to spend up to about $120 possibly more if absolutely necessary, which I believe would cover all of them. Secondly, is it possible to buy a holder to use with these hobby chargers which I can just place 4 batteries into at once and charge them all at the same time? or will i need to just stick with the magnets etc? Lastly I want to be able to charge everything from an IMR10440 to at least a 26650.

Any other info or tips would be great.

Cheers!

[leaftye]

An Accucel 6 or B6 will be faster, and an iCharger will be even faster than those. Since you're in Australia, buy the iCharger 206b clone from Hobby Kings Australia warehouse. I wish the US warehouse had some in stock.

Radio Control Planes, Drones, Cars, FPV, Quadcopters and more - Hobbyking

You can use a parallel battery holder, but it won't give you individual readings for each cell. Balance charging in series will give you individual readings, but will be slower.

If you want fast discharge tests, then get either the Opus, iCharger or iCharger clone.

[tatasal]

@leaftye

An Accucel 6 or B6 will be faster, and an iCharger will be even faster than those. Since you’re in Australia, buy the iCharger 206b clone from Hobby Kings Australia warehouse. I wish the US warehouse had some in stock.

Radio Control Planes, Drones, Cars, FPV, Quadcopters and more - Hobbyking

You can use a parallel battery holder, but it won’t give you individual readings for each cell. Balance charging in series will give you individual readings, but will be slower.

If you want fast discharge tests, then get either the Opus, iCharger or iCharger clone.

+ 1

I have both the iCharger and the Opus BT-3100. The best advantage of the Opus is that it can take 4 up to 70mm long cells at the same time, programmed differently at each bay, in any combination, whether charging/discharging each bay up to 1A, (2A in bays 1 and 4 only) refresh, regardless of cell size and chemistry, gives the correct discharge capacity, etc., among the other features it shares with the iCharger.

[AlexGT]

The opus is not on sale anymore, right?

[Ejected_Filament]

GB ended a few days ago.

My guess is it will be soon enough though just to move the stock.

[LSX]

Thanks guys. So how do you set up charging say 4 batteries at once with the iCharger?

[tatasal]

@LSX

Thanks guys. So how do you set up charging say 4 batteries at once with the iCharger?

There are 4-bay battery cradles I bought from FT (available in series or parallel connected) but only for unprotecteds. I think the longest that can fit is 66mm only.

[LSX]

So is it possible to just put 4 batteries end to end in series with magnets and then hook the charger leads to each end?

[tatasal]

@LSX

So is it possible to just put 4 batteries end to end in series with magnets and then hook the charger leads to each end?

Yes, but in li-ions, most people prefer to do it in parallel. I have tried both and doing it in parallel sort of balances the different starting cell voltages in the end. Series is recommended for niMh though.

You mentioned in your OP you have up to $120 budget…why don’t you get an iCharger 106B+ AND a BT-3100!

[ryansoh3]

I use a portable battery pack as a cradle. Cost me $12 from eBay.

[Ejected_Filament]

balance charging 18650's / 26650's

here is a 2s balance charge lead set up for 18650's i had to cut the springs in the battery boxes as they are for none protected cells and I'm using protected cells so to get them to fit i had to remove the spring and reverse the polarity of the battery boxes (run the batteries the other way round) i have also made some singular ones for protected cells and use red heat shrink to cover the black wires and black heat shrink to cover the red wires so there is no confusion witch way the battery goe…

or maybe

4 x 18650 balance charge cradle for Hobby class chargers

With all the bright 4 battery lights I have been getting lately I have found charging all my 18650’s to be a little onerous. So I ordered a couple of these battery holders from DX here and built myself a 4 cell battery holder with a balancing lead to connect to my hobby class chargers. This will safley charge and balance 4 batteries in a little over the same time it normally takes to charge one battery. I got the balance circut here So far its working great just remember polarity when putting i…

or

Hobby Chargers

So, lets start of with some discussion around hobby chargers. Why aren't more of us using hobby chargers to charge our flashlight batteries? Sure, they are more expensive but in return they offer so much more versatility that they almost pay for them self. I'm using my Turnigy Accucel 6 for all my flashlight batteries, Li-ion 18650, 16340, 10440, NiMH AA and AAA and even the battery pack for my cordless drill. In all cases I can set the charge current from 100mA to 5000mA and the charger always…

[pinkpanda3310 (Pinky)]

@LSX

So is it possible to just put 4 batteries end to end in series with magnets and then hook the charger leads to each end?

If you were using the same 4 cells in a given light and never split them to use in other lights so they were all the same age with the same life cycle then you could do the above. BUT they would still need a balance charge every 3th - 4th charge.

@ ryansoh3 he wants to charge 26650’s as well.

[LSX]

26650s I can get away with charging single cells as I only have a couple of them at the moment.

[ryansoh3]

@pinkpanda3310

If you were using the same 4 cells in a given light and never split them to use in other lights so they were all the same age with the same life cycle then you could do the above. BUT they would still need a balance charge every 3th - 4th charge.

@ ryansoh3 he wants to charge 26650’s as well.

I would actually advise never to charge any type of cells in series without proper balancing cables attached. Not worth it when parallel charging is so much easier.

I haven’t seen 26650 parallel cradles though, I usually charge my individual cells with a magnet with wires soldered to it.

[pinkpanda3310 (Pinky)]

@ryansoh3

I would actually advise never to charge any type of cells in series without proper balancing cables attached. Not worth it when parallel charging is so much easier.

Used to do it all the time with my RC lipo’s

[ryansoh3]

@pinkpanda3310

Used to do it all the time with my RC lipo’s

I’d rather have a lipo pack catch on fire in a RC instead of a 18650 in a flashlight.

[tatasal]

@ryansoh3

@pinkpanda3310

Used to do it all the time with my RC lipo’s

I’d rather have a lipo pack catch on fire in a RC instead of a 18650 in a flashlight.

I think you guys meant the same thing, as I believe most(?) RC lipo packs are in series and with balancing cable as standard.

[pinkpanda3310 (Pinky)]

After a while you get a feel for the battery. How hard you push them affects how soon/often you need to balance them. Of course, there are horror stories of batteries blowing up (literally) but there are thousands more that die more peacefully. I’m not worried about any of my batteries blowing up.

[LSX]

What are you talking about when you say balance the batteries?

So is there a safe way to charge 4 18650s together?

[pinkpanda3310 (Pinky)]

If you don’t understand much about balancing then best to start with parallel charging like suggested.

The small battery in the pic is a single cell so it doesn’t need a balance tap but the others are more than one cell so have balance taps.

Lithium batteries are more prone to different discharge rates (when in a pack) than nimhs. These small differences means you have cells with different voltages when the pack has run flat. If you were to charge them as a pack without balancing then the differences would magnify as the higher voltage cells would be over charged while the lower ones wouldn’t reach full charge. The balance tap has a wire running from the + and - of every cell in a pack so the charger can see which ones are higher voltage than the others and will drain from that cell through the balance tap while the pack is still being charged as a whole.

I hope I was clear enough but not to basic for you