I decided to get an Accucel 6 from HobbyKing and have gotten as far as the payment screen. However the left side of that screen only shows the charger amount. At what point do I see the shipping cost and options? If I click continue after entering a credit card or paypal account, have I committed to buying the charger without first knowing the shipping cost?
I’ve read that their shipping costs are high but I’m ok with that since they are just shifting total cost from one bucket to another. I just don’t want to be unduly surprised by an extremely high amount.
I will be ordering from their USA location for shipment to California if that makes any difference.
From memory I was always given the options when you opened your shopping cart. It gave you weight and different shipping options. I used to juggle different amounts of batteries in the shopping basket to get the best rates per amount of batteries.
Don’t remember but the shipping cost will be high and probably still a good deal. I bought the soldering station for around $16 and $16 shipping for a total of $32, still a good deal.
Register first and log in. After putting item in your cart, view cart. Ignore the prices at the bottom when it tells you how much more you can buy, they are not live and probably too low.
The next screen is to verify shipping address and then the next screen shows shipping and payment options. Total cost in the upper left hand will change if you change a shipping option, don’t go forward until it does.
I’ve got a friend who hates their website. I don’t feel as strongly, but it has a learning curve so best not to be in a hurry.
Different warehouses have different prices and shipping costs. When you look at an item look at the flags near the price and each represents a different warehouse. Green arrows mean in stock at only the warehouse you are looking at.
Some items will have a discount if you let the tab/screen sit for a while. If you clear cookies the offer will come back again. If you find a buddy code for an item you want, it may be possible to buy some items for less than even the discounted amount. You may find codes via RCGroups, HK forum, or Google.
Don’t include any backorder items on the same order as in stock. Same thing for items from different warehouses, though it may not let you do that.
Use paypal, even for credit purchases. Canceling an order will go into store credit, which will not let you use it to cover shipping on later orders.
Important for sanity - NEVER order anything out of stock with an order you want to ship. They hold everything until the last item is in place. Sometimes you have to remind them a part has come in.
I’m of the group that have sworn them off. The US has some much better vendors, prices only a little higher and actually have customer service. I’d rather support that.
Thanks for everyone’s help. After I registered the shipping prices appeared when I added it to the cart. In the future I’ll be able to actually test my batteries rather than making guess based upon runtimes and wild speculation
Another question…do I need anything other than what comes with the charger? I already pulled a power supply from an old desktop so I’m covered there. Single battery charging/discharging seems simple enough. But do I need balancing leads if I’m charging > 1 battery in parallel? I already made up connectors to parallel charge batteries (positive battery connector to positive charger lead, etc). The charger only sees 1 battery (as I understand it) so the only other thing that I have to do is set the charger to a higher current, correct (example 2A for 2 3400 Panasonics)?
I guess it’s simpler to ask if parallel leads are only needed for battery packs.
You can use parallel or balance leads. I’d use balance with lipos - could be needed with some functions. I use a lesser balance charger with packs and it gives me charge state for each cell before, during, after charging. Makes it a lot easier to see the status of each cell. My charger is only 1A and only uses the balance plug to charge.
This morning I dug up this link (posted some time ago by moderator007) for a friend who was revising a 3 cell pack to a 2 cell pack due to his accidentally shorting one of the cells. On his hobby charger the discharge plug (pos + neg) is connected and the balance plug is connected, presumably for higher current. Basically the balance leads connect at each end of all the cells in series.
PS - I see the Accucel has a small port on the power side. My friend’s Dynam charger came with a temp sensor and also a computer interface for that port. If you make up cradles and want to do balance charging, you’ll need connectors for the balance ports.
If you haven’t already done so, you might want to download the manual from the Files tab on the product page, which is where I found this link
GottaZoom…the diagram shows the batteries connected in series. So the jst cable is only needed for that? I found this on the “other site” Turnigy Accucell-6...Am I missing something? | Candle Power Flashlight Forum and it seems from what I see that parallel charging doesn’t require any cables other than what comes with the accucel 6. But I certainly could be mis-interpreting things.
The JST cable is used only with balance charging, which is done in series.
Parallel charging will work fine with known, healthy comparable cells. The 2 heavy wire leads supply the higher amps for charging multiple cells in either parallel or balance charging. No balance charging jacks/wires are used when doing parallel charging.
Consider this from the link you provided:
The just sees one big battery part means we don’t get info or protection for individual cell problems. The charger is set with total expected capacity, but it won’t provide feedback on where that capacity was pushed. Check the manual on what your charger does when actual is less than expected capacity/voltage.
The cells are self balancing when parallel charging part also needs to be considered. With lipos, we don’t want self-balancing at high amps if a cell has unknowingly become much different from the other cells in the chain.
I’m going to get/make 2S, 3S, and 4S balance charging cradles to use with my round lipo cells.
Happy if it helps you and anyone else. Lots of people are doing only parallel charging. And I’m sure it’s fine for many, most of the time.
I was primarily thinking of charge safety, but someone else points out balance charging is faster/better in this CPF thread found looking for more ideas to balance charge round lipo cells.
Not sure if the linked post is 100% correct, but with my new HK charger I won’t be doing parallel. My charger doesn’t have the high amps or leads.
