I totally agree with you benckie. I missed the fact that we dont know the real capacity of some batteries unless you first tested them..
However, in the case of Imax, when chargin Li-ion it stops perfectly 4,20 volts. And when charging li-ion, you dont need "capacity cutoff" neither "timer cutoff". You only need "temperature cutoff"
The problem appears only with NiMh. If delta peak doesnt work, you need to "guess" the capacity. But thanks to god, I only use good known batteries...
for that reason i would only suggest the imax b6 geniune and clones for li-po and li-on charging as its about voltage not peak and it should under 50 mv out per cell give or take. with the imax b6,s ive had one was okish and one was an under charger and my old mans is an over charger.
So according the pics, this is fake/clone Imax charger. Right?
Yes, the one I have (the one in this review) is a clone
clones are cheaper :D
( if i ever buy a hobby charger, i would get the Imax B6 clone/original too!! Thanks for the presentation. )
Do we need this here? the new Imax B6 model:
EDIT: clones are not cheaper. the original (called "genuine") costs US$33.99 (FREE shipping), or US$24.99+9.99$ shipping from Hobbyking (China).
alternatively, battery chargers with integrated battery holders for NimH cells only (no Li-Ion!!!) and digital displays (voltage, capacity, time, ..):
Maha Powerex MH-C9000 WizardOne Charger RRP 69.95$, AMZN 49.95$, akkudo 39.00€ shipped, powerex-info.de 43.99€ shipped incl. 3 years warranty
La Cross Technology BC-700 Alpha Power Battery charger RRP 49.95$, AMZN 34.95$, Accucell.de clone 22.95€ shipped incl. 3 years warranty
4x SANYO NEW ENELOOP 1,2V MICRO AAA AKKUS HR-4UTGA + FRISCHE BOX NEU im SET, ebay 6.79€
8x Sanyo New Eneloop Mignon/AA HR-3UTGA 8er Pack, 2er AccuCell AccuBoxAA Akkus, 12.99€
In comparison, the Jetbeam Intellicharge i4 costs ~24.95€ and has no digital display or advanced features. No go!
I just got an Imax B6 AC/DC clone yesterday. I know nothing about the operation of this thing so I know RTFM applies and I did make a go of it. I have not had much time to really play with it, I'm waiting on magnets which will help. I tried to charge an 18650 this morning. I am sure I had all the settings right to charge the single cell @1A. When I held down the start button I received an alarm indicating that the battery voltage was too low. Well it was too low, 2.73V, but thats why I was trying to charge it. I then tried to charge another 18650 that was 3.92V and that looked like it was going well. I stopped that because I was just holding the leads on to see if it would work. It started charging at .2A then moved to .3A before I stopped. Sound normal? I dont get that I cant charge a battery that has low voltage.
That is a safety function, you are not supposed to charge LiIon if they are too much discharged.
You might want to check two other safety functions: Maximum charge time and maximum mAh. The time might break the charge if you use a low charge rate.
I was able to figure out how to discharge an 18650 and I am now charging the same battery at 1A. I have not figured out how to get deeper into the menu yet for the safety functions but I'm searching YouTube vids to help. The discharge terminated at 3V. Is this too far?
That is fine, if you check the battery with a DMM you will see the voltage is significantly higher, because the battery recovers when the load is removed.
Depending on what LiIon cell you are testing, the minimum varies between 2.5 volt and 3 volt. In my tests I uses 2.8 volt, this is a habit I got from the CBA, that uses this as the default value.
Thanks HKJ. That helps.
Is this how I set up to charge batteries in parallel?
Yes, that is correct. The terminals can be connected anywhere along the lines. It doesn't necessarily have to be in the middle.
Can hobby chargers be used to test efficiency of led drivers at different voltages?
No, they are designed as constant current devices, not constant voltage devices. There voltage regulation is usual very slow, this works fine with batteries, but would not work very well with a led driver.
Just make sure the batteries have the same or very close in the same voltage
Yes, that is very important if your charging cells in parallel that they be no more than 0.5V difference. The sudden in rush of current will be greater due to the imbalance of voltage and thus cause damage to cells that can't handle that much charging current.
IMO your better off series balance charging
Not really, series balance charging requires all batteries to be of equal capacity (or else it’ll take years to charge them all), while parallel balance charging only requires similar SOC (easier to achieve, especially if you parellel-charge cells that you use in 1 multi-cell light)
IMO your better off series balance charging, even more so for muti cell lights
Even less so, you mean ;)
Balancers CAN be inaccurate (especially in cheap B6 knock-offs), parallel charging will ensure that all cells are at SAME voltage and there can't be any inaccuracies (like with balancers)