Hobby City Does It Again
 

4 battery charger/balancer for $99.99, will do up to 6s packs.


http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=11170

I was just eying this one down. I saw it in the email they send. This charger looks good, I wonder whats the output wattage tho...

It only includes 1 balance board in JST-XH style tho. They should include 1 more at least.

what about this:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=11455

Maximum Charge Current per port: 6A

And the extra balance boards are under 3.00 each and depending what plugs you use much cheaper.
http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...dProduct=10612

Do we really think this can support 150watts per output?

I know the other 4 port charger that HC sells is rated at 50watts per output.

Also if this can do 150 watts per output you would need a 50+ amp power supply to feed it if you max each output.

Read the specs again, says: Power source: 12V DC (car battery) / AC mains PSU (>200Watts)

So that would indicate 50 watts per output. 8.4v (2s lipo max) at 6amps (what they say it can do) is 50watts. I hate it when these charger mfg don't list output in watts....

James, I saw the PSU rating of 200+ amps... I had a feeling it would only be 50w per port. It would be nice if they could double that! But it just seams that they crammed 4 of the cheap chargers into one case.

It may not be ideal for the guy who has 5&6s packs but certainly would be the shiz for the fellas whom have 2&3s packs I guess ?

Yeah, if you run something on 2-3s, it can do a 6amp 2s charge and a 4amp 3s charge. So instead of running 6s you could do a pair of 3s packs in series. Buy 6 packs and this charger and run 2 while charging 4. With HC lipo prices I am sure you could do it for about 400 bucks. Not bad.

On the flyer, it says a 400 watt charger coming this week, 20amp capable, but no link, price or anything else. If it's a dual, it would be nice.

its the same as the hobbyking one but i guess it will do 6 amps instead of 5. i have the hobbyking one and it works great with a 25a power supply. same as the new imax one, software and everything. works very well on 2-6s packs and yes you do have to supply more balance boards if you run anything other than a jst tap otherwise it plugs into the side of the charger.

Pshaw, balance boards are for people who don't know how to hook up a lipo. As long as the balance plug has 0.1" pin spacing, just use a pin header and it will work 99.99% of the time. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh today, but I've already had my fill of incompetance at work and am a bit touchy. :grrrrrr:

And while on my rant: why another low cell count 50w charger? It's not the market isn't already flooded with them or anything. How about a few more high cell count/amp/power chargers? Like 20s, 20A, 1000w? Now there's a niche that needs filling IMO.

Problem solved:
http://images2e.snapfish.com/2323232...3%3C9343nu0mrj

Are you referring to the 6s/20A/400w charger or the nitro engine? If the charger, it's still only 6s. If the engine, well, I won't go there...

Of course the engine! I've been using one for about a year now. It increases the overall watt output of my HC charger from 50 to 350w. It turns and generator hooked up to a flux capacitor!

The charger is only 6s yes. I can't really see a market for higher lipo cell counts unless you are running multiple packs into a series charge connector, which looks like they are trying to rectify this problem with multiple ports chargers. Large aircraft and large boats are pretty much the only markets for high lipo counts otherwise. Sure there are some guys running electric large scales on some HV setups but I'd imagine that they make up a small fraction of the % of high voltage users.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it! I'd love to be able to hook up 2 5s packs to a charger at once! However, I just dont see it appealing to manufacturers of mass production to please the masses...

2 chargers does the job for my HV stuff. I actually have 4...

I see your point, and maybe 20s is a bit much (I was selfishly thinking of E-bike applications), but there are already soooo many 6s chargers on the market. OK, how about a good 10-12s, 20A, 1000w balance charger with a suitable built-in switching power supply?

If you read the comments it says IIRC that its good for 90W / channel which is enough for a 4s 5k or even a 6s 4k pack...

I was tempted but the hyperion 610i and 5i/lba10 together still do pretty much all i need...

Might sell the 5i/lba10 and try it... just wish some hardcase packs would come back in...

Some of you may be excited to see this in your accounts with hobbycity:

http://images2e.snapfish.com/2323232...57654343nu0mrj

Looks like their warranty program is up and running.

Oooh, interesting development^.

I do like these multi-lipo chargers, saves time having to tell newbies how to make a special charging harness ( a la BrianG style ), even if the charge power is a bit limited it still means you get 4 fully charged batts in a couple hours say, and thats enough for a full afternoon's fun generally.

Hv chargers for ebike and 1/5 scale loonies would be sweet though, I can see a definate market emerging with rtr ebikes and conversion kits appearing on the market more regulary now ( I'd like to make one myself eventually, maybe a project for a bit further down the road once I've got my spare room fully setup as a mini machine shop :intello: ).

it does come in handy when racing multiple classes. gotta say i love the fact that i always have a fresh pack to run for all heats. races are only 5min 1/10 and like 5-10 for 1/8 so the charge times are not that bad. nice to have just one case for all of it too.

HV is becoming more popular with large heli's. the trex 600e was designed for 6s out of the box, but it's been proven by the extreme 3D fliers that it's too hard on the system. so, most guys are running 12s. there's even a handful of 8s and 10s setups - just anything more than 6s.

the only thing keeping me from going HV on my heli's and my xray xt8 is already having a really good charger for 6s. plus, the cost of redoing the entire powerplant and battery system in everything. having really efficient motors and esc's with what i have now helps too (have i mentioned how much i love neu and CC lately??)

got this email too, definitely getting one of these depending on the price even though I literally just ordered one of their 150watt chargers :whip:

You could always sell it on ebay and double the price like alot of re-sellers are doing with hobbyking stuff.. :lol: :no:

no thanks, I actually get quite angry at said sellers. :lol: Nothing wrong with having both when all your batteries are 4s and 6s packs :intello:

I saw that about a week ago. Not sure how their warrantee actually works though. Also 24hrs to enter it kind of sucks but atleast they are starting to do something.

Actually had good luck with their packs so far but I have had 2 packs that definetly had a weak cell in them.

Cell 4 wont charge above 3.9v in one of my newer 5s flightmaxx packs, but the pack still works fine- just gotta monitor it more closely during use and stop running earlier. If this were a Hyperion or something then I'd definately warrenty it, but as it is... I aint that worried.

A fellow drag racer has the first iteration of the HC charger and it's decent for the price and a good choice for 2S and 3S packs as mentioned before. Somebody who doesn't know how to use it plugged in a 3S pack and charged it as a 4S and destroyed the battery. I think it had an "auto sensing" feature that didn't work well at all, and looks like it has been removed from the newer version.

My charger of choice:

http://www.fmadirect.com/detail.htm?...247&section=72

It will charge two 5S packs at once, or single 6S to 10S packs at 10A Max (260W continuous max output). What's really cool is it lets you hook up two packs of different mAH, C and S count and will charge them both together. Charging the new chemistry lipos at 3C is a cinch with this beast. A little pricey, but I am glad I bought one. Plan on getting another one or one of their 4S chargers to complete my raceday equipment.

I just ordered one to give it a try - I have a lot of crawler packs and after a competition I have at least 10 packs to charge.

This should make life a bit easier...

That 400w charger looks appealling to me but I don't have a power supply to suit so I found this psu on ebay. Do you reckon it will handle the load with the charger near capacity? The specs look alright but it looks as nasty as it is cheap :neutral:

I wouldnt like to guess really. Check Amain ( I think ) for a few decent PSU options- there was a thread recently that discussed this very issue & some good suggestions were put forward for decent prices vs spec. I think ofna had a good one thats worth having a dig for...

Have you got a link to the thread Neil? I had a look about and can't find another suitable psu as I have 240v mains and the charger states 400w @ >15v. So I'm looking for a 15-18v 27a supply. They don't seem too common.

I cant for the life of me find the thread again sorry, but I did find a couple useful links- PC PSU conversion & a good ready made PSU:

http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/show...&highlight=psu
https://www.ssl-stormerhobbies.com/c...pl?pn=RIVRDC30

I think I found the PSU though that was mentioned in the thread:

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...C-Power-Supply

Pretty sure thats the one, though its only rated for 252watts in theory. Otherwise, they do have some other options that are nice:

http://www.amainhobbies.com/index.ph...Power-Supplies

I'd go with a PC one converted for r/c use personally, 400watt supplies are pretty cheap, though it depends on the brand I guess.

Thanks for the help Neil. :smile: I'm not bustin' to get it now so I'll just keep an eye out. The converted psu is probably the best like you say so I might be able to find one cheap hopefully.

Ok so the 400w charger came in. Looks great. Nice construction, almost resembles a Hyperion in shape. It does not come with instructions though. I'll have a look at the programming tonight but it seems to be similar to the cheaper models with a couple more features.

http://images1f.snapfish.com/2323232...%3B36335nu0mrj
http://images1f.snapfish.com/2323232...3C663335nu0mrj


Now my dilemma, I picked this up since I could get it in in 5-7 days since my LHS would be weeks without a new Hyperion Duo 615. Well somehow the LHS got a new Duo in stock yesterday so I want to get the Duo instead...
Is anyone interested in this charger? I'll keep it if no one is interested.

http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26543

I bought one and I'm very happy with it !

Ok so this charger ooks cool, thats about it. I tried 3 different lipos on it and none will charge. Everytime I try to start the charge, it say connection break. So I decided to try a lipo on Nimh mode, still the same so that should rule out the balance port being bad. I then check the outputs by reversing polarity. The charger noticed the reverse polarity as soon as I plugged it in. So there must be some programming issue with this controller.

I'm going to attempt to use Hobby King customer service and try to return this sucker....

That's too bad.:grrrrrr: I take it you'll be going to LHS for a Duo.

Picked up a 2 week old Duo615 for $200 shipped. Can't complain and I know the Duo will be superb!