I purchased my Tenma 72-7295 approximately 8 years ago for $99 on sale at MCM Electronics. They still carry them, but they're double the price now.
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/TENMA-72-7295-/72-7295
I have seen them I think it's to easy for the cells to get un-balanced even more so with cheap cells, ideally I think they need balance wires added IMO.
The icharge will only take what it needs as long as the out out voltage of the psu is over 10 volt and under 18 volt.
I use a 15 volt 23 amp 350 watt psu and my icharger has not blown up, it only draws what it needs. A 10 amp charge with a 7.4 volt 8800 mAh lipo battery it only draws 6 Amps at 15 volt.
A 7 amp discharge it will only draw 0.5 amps running on a 15 volt psu, diffrent battery voltages and charge rates draw different current rates. for Li-on torch battery charging and discharging a massive power supply is not really needed.
I would down load the manual off progressive RC or hobby king give it a read or look at the 220 watt start pack link I posted from progressive rc it's around 130 usd shipped where the charger it's self is around 94 usd shipped from either seller.
Thankx atbglenn for sharing the Link.
Actually I planned for Imax charger but settled for icharger which is double the price,it seems the combo deal is great but still will settle for harvested psu cuz I am way off budget,its 350w old from Nvidia.
3 x 26650 balance charging setup, its the same as the 18650 setup
I put this in another thread but i thought ill put it in my balancing thread.
Now if I could just trace what wire went where? lol.
loll yeah it does look like a mess doesn't it, but with a quick bit of heat shrink i know where they all go as the wire's are paired, the icharge will beep and flash a connection warning if you get it wrong and i can save myself hours of charging time, it just does not look sexy.
The reason why i bother is so i don't have to buy any more chargers one does the lot and for example it takes 4 hours to charge a 4000 mAh 26650 at 1 amp one by one with say cheap single 26650 charger so 12 hours to charge 3, where i can balance charge all 3 in four hours, saving me 8 hours and many trips walking back and forward to the charger to see if the batteries are finshed or not.
Now only to make them look pretty, i could neaten them up and make them look better but they work and do there job and only cost a few dollars in parts.
Messy? I thought it looked pretty good. Cover them wires up and you will be in trouble. Fools like me need all the help we can get and most of that comes from looking at pictures. Seriously though, Bludger and I both need a lesson on how these hobby chargers work and what all the wires do. Maybe time for a new thread?
I will not get into how the charger works its self, but if your asking about the balance leads ill try and help this thread will be ok for that.
Basicly the hobby charger has two types of leads the main charge cables and the balance leads.
The main charge leads are red + and black - easy seen in my pictuers as the thicker leads.
The balance leads are skinny and can be made from colours from red + blue, yellow, orange, white, brown and black - depending on how many batteries your trying to balance and the type of lead as some of the cheaper ones will only have one red + and the rest black.
Take a 2s balance lead as an example its for balancing 2 cells (batteries) it will have 3 wires one red + the middle will be either white, blue or black depending on the lead maker and the last one will be black - to make a balancing lead like i have done, the red + of the balancing lead needs to go to the red + of the main charge lead, the black - needs to go to the Black - main charge lead, its simple if there is only one red + and the rest are black since there is only 3 wires its the one the most distance away from the red + one. The middle balancing wire is easy this one goes inbetween the two batteries by its self, so now the charger can pick up induvidual battery or cell voltage, the batteries must be lined up -+ (in series).
Here is a picture of a 2s balance lead.
The black line ive drawn in at the female end need's to be cut off and the above instructions followed then solder the made up balance leads to magnets or your choice of battery holders, i sugest starting out with a 2s lead first as it will help you get your head around it.
It should like some thing like these two.
When making 3s, 4s, 5s and 6s balancing leads the same follows, the red + of the balance lead goes to the main charge lead and the one on the opisite far side of the plug will be back - and that goes to the black of the main charge lead, but keep in mind the one next inline to that has to stay next inline meaning the black - main charge lead and the black - balance lead soldered together go on the first - end of the battery and the one next to that goes on the other end of the battery, and you keep this in order untill you get the red + of the balance and main charge lead as that will be on the + of the last battery, if that makes sense ?
If you start off with a 2s balance lead so you can balance charge two batteries at once, it will be a good starter and then you will know what i mean, im crap at typing, spelling and im a little smashed, i hope that helps if not and you need some thing made more clear just ask.
All itmes needed can be brought of ebay or hobby king really cheap and if you do make a mistake the hobby charger will come up with an erro of over or under voltage and so on and will beep and will not let you charge. I hope that helps Shane
Wiring thread sounds good....I turn my charger on, connect up the lipo packs via the oh so convenient factory plugs and walk away.... the DIY approach is a big cliff for me.
One day soon. Your a champion.
If you go back to post #43 there is a list of items i use, they can also be brought from hobby king
Thanks. I have read it and forgotten. Its hard to keep track of everything.
A link for other types of battery holders for hobby chargers
Ive had a weak cell drop to 1 volt after being used but the other cell being used with it in series was around 3.8 volt, the torch dropped out of regulation and ran in dim mode, but i was doing a timed run and was not looking at it all the time, but the cell did not explode or deform.
Ive also had other cells from ebay do similar things but it has been picked up by my hobby charger when discharging and charging with low cell voltage warnings and the charger beeped to warn me then stopped the cycle, this is a big advantage of series balance charging and discharging with the balance leads connected as each cell connected to the charger, bit harder to pick up for parallel.
If you don’t have a hobby charger just make sure you use a DMM and check cell voltage before, after charging and after use in the flash lights if there is any big differences investigate and stop using that cell, if you don’t have a DDM (digital multi meter) you can buy really cheap ones of ebay 4 or $5 and they are normally pretty accurate for voltage and will give consistence readings when measured against it self.
What balance charging exactly means?
Isnt that term a little misleading?
Cells are more balanced if you charge them like that, in comparison to charging in ordinary charger??
i got acccucell 6, how does balance parallel charging 4x panasonic ncr18650 work ? can anyone shed some light on what i need. i got a 4s jst hx plug on the way. atm i am just charging them 1 at a time which takes like 2 hours .
Balance charging is done in series
Hi there,
quick question: I just ordered a Nitecore TM11 and was wondering if there is a difference in using eight cr123 cells or four 18650 cells?!
thanks,
G
Can someone quickly clarify the mention of black being +ve / clarify the connections for a newbie?
I have just picked up a balance lead for 3s of ebay and as far as I can work out I connect the +ve from the charger to the+ve lead on the first cell, then (using magnets) connect the black? lead from the balance connection to the same +ve connection, then blue and yellow (does it matter which way round?) between the +ve and -ve on the middle cell and finally the -ve from the charger with the red from the balance lead on the 3rd -ve cell?
These magnets
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200901377593?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&\_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
Using a UAC40 Core hobby charger (next thing will be what settings I need to put this to but assume it will have an option for 3s and guess about 1a)