Charger for antweight (and good practices)

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khady
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu May 31, 2018 12:30 pm

Charger for antweight (and good practices)

Post by khady »

Hi!

I'm in the process of ordering pieces to build my first antweight. So I'm reading a bit about everything. And I still didn't figure what charger to buy. I searched in the forum too, but didn't find enough to make my mind.

Two examples of guides I have been reading about batteries and charging:

Batteries and Safety - Beginner Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6hGvXxFTFA
A Guide to Understanding LiPo Batteries: https://rogershobbycenter.com/lipoguide/

The goal is to charge those 2s 180mah batteries (unless you have a better one in mind): https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-nan ... -5pcs.html

It's a bit hard to know what is safe to buy because the description of the batteries is not the same as what is written in the spec. "• Fast charge capable, up to 15C on some batteries." VS " Max Charge Rate(C): 2.00".

In any case, it seems better to stick to 1C.

For now I have been recommended different models. After all my readings I wonder if they are actually correct and what you would advise.

- https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-12v ... arger.html
This is a 800mah charger. Which means 4.4C. Unless the charger is actually smart enough to use less power when charging small batteries. But for this price it would be surprising. And it actually needs an external power supply, so it's not that cheap.
- Imax b6. Genuine or not? It's not even sure that the genuine is genuine. Some people on rcgroups.com or other places from the internet seem to dislike this charger.

I also read about:
- Turnigy P403 which has one bad review on rcgroups.com too but has the advantage of inbuilt power supply.
- Kinexsis KX80
- Turnigy Accucel-6 (but there is also Accucell S60)

And many others that are more expensive.

For chargers that can be configured such as the Imax B6 and the P403, what is the granularity of the Charge Current Range? If minimum is 0.1A, next possible value is 0.2A? 0.5A? 1A?
Is rcgroups.com forum a legitimate source?
Are all chargers able to charge through the balance connector only?
Does it worth going for chargers even more expensive given that I don't plan to build bigger than antweight anytime soon?
Which charger would you recommend?
Is there some lipo safe bags to avoid (I guess it's hard to check before to actually burn a battery)?
khady
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu May 31, 2018 12:30 pm

Re: Charger for antweight (and good practices)

Post by khady »

I read more about the different solutions and I came to a conclusion. It seems that the best is to get a DC charger and a power supply. Because most of the higher end chargers are DC chargers. So using an external power supply allows to change to another charger without buying a new power supply. The problem is to find a good power supply at a reasonable price and to carry/stock one more thing.

So probably starting with those is not a bad idea:
- Turnigy Accucel-6 (the 80W is almost the same price as the 50W) https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-acc ... pable.html
- power supply from https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AC100-240V-t ... 2227993858 or https://hobbyking.com/en_us/12v-8a-powe ... -plug.html
The one from hobbyking is only 8A though, limiting the charger.

For people building bots that are (way) bigger, it seems that the Turnigy Reaktor are interesting. And not much more expensive.

BUT at this point I'm lazy. I spent so much time trying to find what is the good choice that I was about to give up building anything. So I'm going to buy the imax B6 AC V2. Because it is A$10 cheaper, it comes with more cables and I don't have to worry about the power supply. It's less powerful, some people have bad experience with it, it doesn't handle LiHV. But at some point I need to buy something and it should be way enough for small batteries that are used in ants.
Paulmchurd
Posts: 227
Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2017 4:39 pm

Re: Charger for antweight (and good practices)

Post by Paulmchurd »

Hello,

Have you bought a charger already?

You charge by the capacity of the battery. 300mah charge at 0.3 amps. My 180mah battery I charge at 0.2 and it’s been fine. Tbh I’ve never tried the fast charge feature. I am happy to wait and not to keen to expirment with it all.

The charger I bought was https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/iMAX-B6-Digi ... SwYhdbDhYV

It’s been great and super easy to use.

It charges up to 6S. I think even in heavyweight bots people don’t go above 6s. If they need more voltage they put the batteries in series to create a higher voltage.
khady
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu May 31, 2018 12:30 pm

Re: Charger for antweight (and good practices)

Post by khady »

I received the charger and the battery today. This is the imax b6 v2, so almost the same you have I think. I only used to storage mode so far, it seems to work well.

Thanks for you answer!
minionhunter
Posts: 185
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 5:36 pm

Re: Charger for antweight (and good practices)

Post by minionhunter »

khady wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 12:44 pm I received the charger and the battery today. This is the imax b6 v2, so almost the same you have I think. I only used to storage mode so far, it seems to work well.

Thanks for you answer!
Would those of you who have this charger still recommend it today @ about $36? Or has something else come along that's better?

I'm also still trying to decide if I should get 4 individual chargers or get one multiple charger for my family
MySolderIsOlder
Posts: 190
Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2018 1:22 pm
Location: Kent

Re: Charger for antweight (and good practices)

Post by MySolderIsOlder »

I started out with one of those and it was fine for about two months, then the internal PSU burned out.

Replaced it with a Keenstone unit like this one. had that for about a year now and it's behaved impeccably.

Personally I tend to buy bulk packs of LiPOs when HobbyKing have them on special and then take a whole fire-proof bag-full of charged batteries to events, rather than messing about with a charger on the day. Then I tend to have the used ones charging one at a time in the background while I'm in the workshop.
Stuart (Tony's dad)
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