If your looking for a better charger IMO and willing to spend a few bucks more ? In return
the i think there’s serious bang for the buck available to some folks in Hobby Grade Smart Chargers compared to typical 18650 chargers i.e X-Tar, Soshine, and these dont compare .
Hobby grade or Smart Chargers are well advanced and most will typically charge and balance multiple cells at once . And not only for Lipo cell users but most will charge just about any chemistry type available. Once you purchase the charger there’s a huge number of accessories /add on’s to customize your charger for your application. I use Lipo cells often up to 6S packs with the same charger i can easily charger a number of 18650’s and balance them according to my settings with $10 worth of accessories from Radio Shack and you can charge/discharge/balance any size cell , capacity, voltage cell. Mine is a bit old but its USB compatibel and will data log a specific cells charge and discharge history on your laptop.
Below is an example of a basic charger similar to the one i have, only my charger is 1 year older and a classic. There are actually much better ones with built in power supplies , active cooling, 4-6’ LED screens and and included add/on’s to charge, balance, discharge most any battery possible. Below is an example …You can actually find these way cheaper if you look. If your going to spend $25.00 - $30 bucks on a charger why limit yourself to the huge amount of functionality available at the same price. Mind you these are mostly smart chargers they will actually correct you if your input falls outside of a set parameter so safety is a huge benefit alone. Especially when charging Lipo or Li-ion there’s little room for error and the charger will shut down completely if necessary
Hey, its worth a look. Thought i would pass along the information so good luck
Check out Hobbyking - Prices should be 50% less but ships from HK watch the shipping costs
NitroRCX - Pretty good prices ships in the USA, Service? …Don’t expect any
And many many more…Shop until you find your price
Thanks darkside! The gt (is this thing any good?)while OOS is $11.00 + $11 for power supply. What else would one need? Since I am getting into the LiIon batts i am wanting to go this route but since it”s new with me I”m not sure what I”m looking at. I”ll be watching this thread.
$11.00 bucks…When i copied the link it was $30.00 . That’s cheap. Heck, if you can get it for $11.00 why not
Budynabuick- Whats your buying is the charger as you see and you dont see the outbound connection ( battery bay, connectors etc) most of these chargers come with neg/pos clamps you would then connect to as many as 6 battery bays . Each individual bay ie 18650 is charged Independently of the others and the charger will monitor the charge/discharge/ and finish with a balance r. The LCD screen lets you plug in information and select features ( Lipo charge - No balance - How fast charge /discharge in amps. Or which is what i did at first the charger runs a quick diagnostic on the cell that’s plugged and its has a 1 touch charge feature which works well with lithium cells. Not so good with a 5 or 6S lipo 10000mah.
In your case you want to discharge your 18650 and run it through a charge cycle and .5 amps and balance at 4.2v. Thats pretty much your entire input and depending on how fast your cell can take a charge and the amps its a very quick charge and perfect. At the end of the charge cycle the display tell you everything you need to know Length of Charge, cell capacity at start/finish, if balanced how much etc…It will discharge your 18650 very quickly and you can watch the dispaly and actually see the rate in real time. The charger knows from the resistance to either slow or speed up the discharge…
My ultrafire 188 did a great job and i haven’t seen the thing in almost 2 years. The newer charges have a USB port and software…No plugging numbers you can do it all on your PC save your input for a specific set of cells or 1x 18650. Even if you dont use it for Lipo there’s a good amount of functionality available that you would consider very useful. The diagnostic feature alone is tremendous
I just checked the listing for the GT, darn thing costs $11.00. I have the same but from a different manufacturer . Most are re-labelled. The price jumps to $30.00 if you get the package which includes a 10v power source . Which is a waste you dont need it. The BR takes up to 12v will power up and work fine with the same 10-12v power source utilized in for most battery chargers…
Been a while but i remember stealing the 10v connector from my wife’s Samsung phone charger. Should be hard to locate one in your parameters…And Like i said the B6 is considered Old Tech…You can easily find a better smart charger if you look around…but $11 USD!!…
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$11.00 bucks…When i copied the link it was $30.00 . That’s cheap. Heck, if you can get it for $11.00 why not
Budynabuick- Whats your buying is the charger as you see and you dont see the outbound connection ( battery bay, connectors etc) most of these chargers come with neg/pos clamps you would then connect to as many as 6 battery bays . Each individual bay ie 18650 is charged Independently of the others and the charger will monitor the charge/discharge/ and finish with a balance r. The LCD screen lets you plug in information and select features ( Lipo charge - No balance - How fast charge /discharge in amps. Or which is what i did at first the charger runs a quick diagnostic on the cell that’s plugged and its has a 1 touch charge feature which works well with lithium cells. Not so good with a 5 or 6S lipo 10000mah.
In your case you want to discharge your 18650 and run it through a charge cycle and .5 amps and balance at 4.2v. Thats pretty much your entire input and depending on how fast your cell can take a charge and the amps its a very quick charge and perfect. At the end of the charge cycle the display tell you everything you need to know Length of Charge, cell capacity at start/finish, if balanced how much etc…It will discharge your 18650 very quickly and you can watch the dispaly and actually see the rate in real time. The charger knows from the resistance to either slow or speed up the discharge…
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Thanks darkside. Too bad the thing is OOS. I will keep a eye out for the GT when it comes in stock. Looks like a good introduction into the hobby charger world.
I'm really tempted to get a hobby charger, too, but I'm a little concerned about how accurate they are.. so if there is a rather accurate one at a reasonable price with the possibilty of charging to 4.3V.. I'm all in. :P
My pleasure!. And the link and vendor was more for information and visual aids. There’s a
bunch of on-line sites that carry these type of chargers as cheap if not cheaper ( B6 aside )
I’ll name a few places that have provided better than avg service or no service along with cheap
prices. I haven’t found the the magic combination. And i cant explain why DX and similar do not carry a selection of smart chargers. DX does sell the B6 and that’s about it.
NightCrawl - In regards to the accuracy at which these smart charges function you should defiantly ask the question before buying. From my own experience charging 3s, 4s 5s and 6s Lipo packs there’s little or no room for error rather. The downside of charging ultra high discharge Li-po packs as much as 150c is they incinerate themselves and very difficult to extinguish. I also do check my 5S and 6S packs after a charge with a professional meter . I have yet to find an error or deviation or hardware malfunction causing an incorrect reading. If you have a multi-meter use it with your smart charger until your convinced of the units accuracy. And you can charge your 18650 above 4.3v but the charger will not let you. Criteria is limitless the cells are not and the charger will display Charge ETA, capapcity , amps, etc before the charge starts
Commen sense rc - Great place and if you have any questions pre and post purchase - Product
support does get any better. You can ask for Bruce Sund , owner operator and
will walk you thru the inventory and make sure you get what your looking for.
- HobbyKing - Cheapest and largest inventory - Shipping not included and 3-4 weeks.
You can easily score a $100 I-Charger for $40-$50 shipped with all the add on’s.
The I-Charger is one of the better and easiest to use and data logs.
I hate HK but i still shop there for Lipo cells etc. When you see the prices you’ll
know why.
lhttp://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/_216408Battery_Chargers_Acc-Battery_Chargers.html
NitroRcx - Great prices , nice selection, ships fro CA , always a sale so dont pay advertised price
Dont bother with Customer Service.
Link is for a Thunder Charger , Great Charger high end with functionality and then some
use the link to look at there inventory
Places like DX carry your basic smart charger as mentioned above here’s a link , expensive. B6 charger - Sold as Lipo charger but if you read the details it will clearly tell you it will support most cell chemistry. And maybe the reason why the don’t sell them. Why sell a charger that is limitless in regards to chemistry, capacity, voltage, etc. The darn things can get re-flashed with new software and update for new functionality, if its worth it. Most cases its easier to order a new charger. http://dx.com/p/imax-b6-2-5-lcd-rc-lipo-battery-balance-charger-100-240v-us-plug-35190?item=2
Im just asking because this is interesting to me, but where do the batteries go?
Do you have to make a holder to hold the batteries, then you connect the wires to each end of the battery.
Im sorry my question is really basic because I am coming from eneloops, but do you use the hobby chargers for flashlights or are they more for RC helicopters and cars?
The charger is for Nimh , Lion, Li-po, Life battery cells. The application the cells are powering be it flashlights or brushless motors has no bearing on the type of charger. Outside of this discussion its safe to say your cells will performe better as the user can modify and adjust charge, balance, discharge settings and come as close to optimum conditions as possible. Example, i used to run all nitro large scale race cars and usually the guys with tuning savy were the ones with the fastest cars, period. It didn’t happen by luck and certainly not by spending on the best parts ( helps ). I run electric brushless cars powered by 5S and 6S lipo cells. Now, open the bank for premium li-po cells and buy the best performance you can afford. I have cheap Li-po 6S packs and a few expensive race packs. The impact on performance is dramatic to say the least. I do run a 2S li-po
low discharge pack on one of my lights direct drive. The cell pack is small enough to slide into your wallet and flexible enough to bend for a good fit into a 18650 host.
I used magnets for a little while but way to dangerous. Radio shack cells pre-wired battery trays for every size i have come across. Either clamps or soldered directly to the lead wires which plug in to the charger. Smart chargers will come with one or two leads and i did purchase a few extra. A few of the vendor links posted for reference have a section just for connectors. If they don’t have it already i have it they make them to your specs. My setup - Lipos cells connect to a deans connector then to charger lead. 2x 18650 tray plugs directly into the charger - 6 x 18650’s plug into a connecting board. A number of methods are available i just happen to like connecting directly to the charger , no connectors in-between. The charger you decide to buy will determine how many cells its capable of supporting. A El-cheapo B6 can charge 6 cells independently i.e 6 x 1S at 3.7v or 6S1 at 22.2v configuration.
Specs for a basic I-Charger Considered a mid level charger with a bunch of “nice to have” features that doesn’t come with a B6.
The iCharger 208B is capable of handling up to 350W or 20A charge rates. LiPO, LiFE and A123 compatible as well as able to charge up to 8 cell packs.
The iCharger is famous for its ultra-accurate balancing feature. Each unit is calibrated at the factory prior to shipping!
We are iCharger’s Authorized Dealer. Warranty handled in Illinois.
Specifications:
Input Voltage Range: 4.5 - 32.0V DC
Charge Current Range: 0.05 - 20.0A
Discharge Current Range: 0.05 - 20.0A
Maximum Charge Power Capacity: 350W @ input voltage > 18V
Maximum Discharge Power Capacity: 30W
Maximum Extern Discharge Power Capacity: 600W @ 30V/20A
Current Drain For Balancing: <350mA
Balance Accuracy: <10mV
Lithium (LiPo/LiIo/LiFe) Battery Cell Count: 1-8 cell (In non-balance mode, expand LiFe to 10s)
NiCd/NiMH Battery Cell Count: 1 - 25 cell
Pb Battery Cell Count: 1-18 cell (2 36V)
Log Files Storage: 16Mbit (36 hours)
Battery Setup Memories: 10
Intelligent Temperature Control: Yes
PC Connect: USB port
Weight: 420g
Dimensions (L X W X D): 143 x 97 x 26mm (5.63 x 3.82 x 1.02in)
Package Content:
208B Balance Charger/Discharger
Software CD with user’s manual
2 aligator clips
Banana leads
One temperature sensor lead
JST-XH balance board
Power supply not included
NightCrawl - After looking at the specs in detail . This is not a suitable charger for 18650 Li-ion cells. A bit to overpowered for 1S - 3.7v - 4.3v cell. The connection board required is easy to use but not plug n play as i had first thought…I’ll keep an eye out for a multi bay Li-ion charger
i tried ordering this morning. couldn’t tell what i was getting the charger or the power supply, so i blew it off.
called the store and got a temp, who know’s nothing…
there supposed to call me bak with info. will post if relevant
Just bought BC700 for ~$35 last week :bigsmile: D’oh! 