Maxamps Lipo

[MetalMan]

They come with nickel strips welded to the positive side. The negative tabs are always nickel, so you don't need to worry about those. One must excercise extreme caution when soldering with Lipo. I have gotten a lot of shorts while building the packs, but fortunately haven't had any problems with that. Also, you have to be careful with the heat on the tabs because too much heat can ruin the seal around the tab and basically destroy the cell... You also don't want to bend the tabs too much because they can tear.

[Dafni]

What would you suggest? I want a couple of 2S packs and some 3S packs. (so I can run 4S, 5S and 6S combos)
I just don't like the lenght of Maxamps 3S pack. What should I get??

Edit: Nevermind. I just found their Car Packs! 4000mAh, verious voltages, and nice price tags.
http://www.maxamps.com/index.html?lmd=38629.674456

Mike, would you mind an order at Maxamps??

[MetalMan]

In case you want to be able to charge 5s packs (which as you know the ICE won't do), here is a very inexpensive, but great looking charger:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXKSY1&P=ML

5s at up to 5 amps! That's 105watts at the highest point! And it can do 14 NiMh cells. Once I get the cash, I think I will get this charger!

[squeeforever]

will it condition the batteries?

[MetalMan]

It can cycle NiCd/NiMh for up to 5 cycles. But with 6 cells it can only discharge at a max of about 0.80amps. Basically, this charger can't do any sort of battery conditioning. I think it should be used strictly as a battery charger.

[mothman]

Metalman, is this charger really good? I was about to buy the ICE, untill I saw your post. Is this a CC/CV charger Ihave 5S lipo, so if I buy the ICE then i have to charge the battery two times. So what do ICE have that this charger dont have? ?

[squeeforever]

have you considered the astroflight?

[mothman]

Ok, I just read about this charger in few forums. Many ppl are happy with this charger. It has some very nice features. Looking at the instruction sheet it appears that you set battery capacity, not charge current while in Li-Po mode. Does this mean that if I have a 3700ma Li-Po pack, I can't charge it at less than the 1C rate?
1C is the maximum charge rate, so I'm thinking that charging at less than maximum might increase the life span of the packs. Don't think I'm alone on that thought. At home I'm in no rush, so why not charge at a lesser rate.

By the way, astroflight is not a CC/CV. Im looking for a CC/CV coz its better to charge you battery with this.

[MetalMan]

Originally posted by mothman
Metalman, is this charger really good? I was about to buy the ICE, untill I saw your post. Is this a CC/CV charger Ihave 5S lipo, so if I buy the ICE then i have to charge the battery two times. So what do ICE have that this charger dont have? ?

Originally posted by mothman
Ok, I just read about this charger in few forums. Many ppl are happy with this charger. It has some very nice features. Looking at the instruction sheet it appears that you set battery capacity, not charge current while in Li-Po mode. Does this mean that if I have a 3700ma Li-Po pack, I can't charge it at less than the 1C rate?
1C is the maximum charge rate, so I'm thinking that charging at less than maximum might increase the life span of the packs. Don't think I'm alone on that thought. At home I'm in no rush, so why not charge at a lesser rate.

By the way, astroflight is not a CC/CV. Im looking for a CC/CV coz its better to charge you battery with this. [/B]

I haven't heard any reviews on it yet. But if you have, and they are good, then that is good :L:. If you set the charger so that the battery's capacity is 3700mah, then it will charge at 3.7amps. You could just set it to a lower capacity, and it will charge slower. But this could be a problem, as the charger might not allow you to put more back into the battery than whatever you select for the battery's capacity.

The ICE has A LOT of features that this charger does not. Perhaps that is why there is a $40 difference. For starters, the ICE has a display that's about 8 times larger (it's a dot matrix display, the Multiplex's is just a 2-line). The ICE can show a graph of charge/discharge, which is an awesome feature IMO. It has a built in fan for doing high cell/high current charging/discharging. It has a 10 model memory, and can do 10 consecutive cycles for NiMh/NiCd. It can discharge up to 10amps, and charge up to 8 amps. It is easier to navigate because it has a nice wheel. It has a brushed motor break-in feature that can be used as a variable voltage power supply (or even as a BEC for use on the workbench). I think that's about it. Now, the only downsides of the ICE (IMO) are that it can only charge up to 4s Lipo and 10 NiMh/NiCd cells. If it could do more cells even for $20 more, it would be the single most popular charger on the market.

You are correct about the Astroflight 109. It is a "pulse" charger, not at all a CC/CV. If this charging algorithm were better than CC/CV, then there would be more chargers on the market that use it (it is probably the only one that does). CC/CV has to be a more popular method for a reason.

[squeeforever]

can anybody provide a little more info on this charger? http://h1071118.hobbyshopnow.com/pro...prod=TMEXTRLWM

[MetalMan]

That's interesting! It can be hooked in-line with your car's battery and controller to tell you the voltage of the batteries, the amps that the motor is pulling, etc. It is a variable voltage power supple (1-12v). It can charge 1-10 Lipo cells at up to 8amps.

[squeeforever]

is it worth it? does anybody know if its a cc/cv? will it condition the batteries?

[MetalMan]

It doesn't say that it is a CC/CV charger, but it probably is. By "conditioning the batteries", what do you mean?

[squeeforever]

will it use the taps to charge the batteries so that each individual cell is charged to the same voltage for longer life?

[MetalMan]

It can. You need the male JST connector though. And then you set the charger to 1 cell, and it'll do it.