Chargers 250W/10A charger

D.O.G.

D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
Dammit Smoggie Lol. So for what I need, mostly charging 4s battery the most. 6s second but not as much. The 106b will do me? I had that copterX charger from day one I started to learn how to fly. If the 106b will be a little faster to charge then the copterX, that's fine by me. I mostly only charge 2 battery at a time. Tell me the 106b will do me :0
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
I would still go with the largest charger that you can afford. You know you have some larger birds coming in at some point, might as well invest in a good charger to start with. And I would stay away from any clone chargers. Bad things seem to happen with them. Traces completely burning up, some catching on fire. The list goes on when you start taking high amp electronics and making them very cheap. Just my opinion though.
 
E

Eggy 71

Member
I'm in agreement with Tony. Go as big as you can afford, it will payoff later on. I had the same dilemma last year. I was under powered for a charger for my 450l so looked icharger. The 206 would probably work but was approaching the limit again. For only. A few more dollars the 306 which is can be 500w or 1000w will do anything I will ever buy. Just remember Ichargers are DC input. You can't just plug them into the wall.
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
That is correct, if you only have a 12v source for the 306, it will still do 500w of power. But if you can get a 24 volt setup like I have, then you are looking at 1000w of power.
 
Smoggie

Smoggie

Well-Known Member
I agree with the others that if you are in the hobby for the long term it's good to get the best charger you can stretch to, but do bear in mind that you will need a suitably rated power supply to go with it, so factor that into the cost. For charging several 4S packs the 206b (or the Reaktor 300W) is a lot faster than the 106b.

Even if you eventually end up getting a high end powerehouse charger down the line something like the 206b still makes a good field charger that's small and easy to carry.
 
E

Eggy 71

Member
One last point, faster charging is only good to a point. I've been tracking total charge and internal resistances on batteries at different charge rates. 1-2 C is best for almost all batteries. That means between 1 hr and 30min for a full charge. Any faster and it seems the battery only takes 85-90% at best of the charge at a slower rate and internal resistances start to climb. A bigger charger will let you charge in 15 min but you only get '3/4 tank of gas' and a little battery damage that shortens its overall lifespan. The real benefit of a larger charger is being able to charge multiple batteries or big multi cell batteries at this 1-2C rate.
 
Smoggie

Smoggie

Well-Known Member
Derek,

A faster charge should still end up with a fully charged battery, but it depends on how you set up the charger. If the end current is set to (say) 10% of starting current then the higher the charge amps the earlier the charger will finish and the less charge you get, but you can adjust this in the charger settings so no reason for the battery not to get a full charge.

As a rule I charge at 2c but if i'm in a hurry in the field i'll go to 3C 'fast charge' (with no balancing). The balancing cycle adds quite a bit to the charge time and you dont need to balance on every charge.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom