6s charging advice

[Prawn1]

I just started running the 6s brick packs the Turnigy Bashers 4000 milliamps but I find out that my IMAX will barely charge it at 2 amps so I'm looking for a charger and curious of what size and how many amps I can charge these things at safely thank you any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Dvarg]

I've started charging my batteries at 2C or highest available. whichever is lower. I've got two Hitec chargers, X2 Plus, and X2 Pro. I'm thinking about getting a DC power supply. It'd allow another 100Watts on each charger.

 

[olds97_lss]

At 22.2V and a 4A pack, I think you need something that can do at least 90W to charge at 1C. To charge at 2C, you'd need 178W.

Can check it out here:
http://www.radiocontrolinfo.com/information/rc-calculators/rc-charger-wattage-calculator/

Chargers are limited by wattage and amps.

Whichever limit it hits first. Most of the lipo's I run now are 7200/7400mah 2S packs. My charger puts out 10A/100W per channel, I charge them at the maxx of 10A, so I'm charging at around 1.3C.

If I was charging a single 5000mah 6S pack, my charger wouldn't put out enough watts to charge at 1C as it would require 126Watts.

 

[Dvarg]

Yup, Olds nailed it. It comes down to watts typically. Sounds like you're trying to charge a 6S pack at 50 watts. I went ahead and bought a power supply today, I tried running my x2 plus from a marine battery to help speed along, something like 20 amps caused voltage to dip, and it threw and error. I know i can make it lower but not ideal.
I went ahead and bought an 85amp PSU from SMC: https://www.smc-racing.net/index.php?route=product/product&path=141&product_id=459

This should allow me to charge at 300 Watts, and 200Watts on my Hitec Chargers (200 x 100) (100 x 100). That will work pretty well for me, I have a single 6S pack, and 2 x 3S packs. I can max out 3 channels around 8Amps each, and still have a 100W channel for other packs. Still not 2C, but should get me out the door in 30minutes from a storage charge. Kind of a silly expensive solution at this point but its grown with time, now with a proper PSU I can do it right going forward.

Had i known i'd be charging 6S packs, I would have gone DC a long time ago. Something like dual 300W would be great now.
https://www.amazon.com/Turnigy-Reak...id=1533364597&sr=8-5&keywords=turnigy+reaktor

 

[slick2500]

Yup, Olds nailed it. It comes down to watts typically. Sounds like you're trying to charge a 6S pack at 50 watts. I went ahead and bought a power supply today, I tried running my x2 plus from a marine battery to help speed along, something like 20 amps caused voltage to dip, and it threw and error. I know i can make it lower but not ideal.
I went ahead and bought an 85amp PSU from SMC: https://www.smc-racing.net/index.php?route=product/product&path=141&product_id=459

This should allow me to charge at 300 Watts, and 200Watts on my Hitec Chargers (200 x 100) (100 x 100). That will work pretty well for me, I have a single 6S pack, and 2 x 3S packs. I can max out 3 channels around 8Amps each, and still have a 100W channel for other packs. Still not 2C, but should get me out the door in 30minutes from a storage charge. Kind of a silly expensive solution at this point but its grown with time, now with a proper PSU I can do it right going forward.

Had i known i'd be charging 6S packs, I would have gone DC a long time ago. Something like dual 300W would be great now.
https://www.amazon.com/Turnigy-Reak...id=1533364597&sr=8-5&keywords=turnigy+reaktor

Yeah if I would have known when I first got into this hobby that I would be running 6s lipos, I would not have went with the Thunder AC6 charger as my first charger. Glad I got my Hitec though. Gotta love having 200 watts per channel.

 

[bicketybam]

Yeah if I would have known when I first got into this hobby that I would be running 6s lipos, I would not have went with the Thunder AC6 charger as my first charger. Glad I got my Hitec though. Gotta love having 200 watts per channel.

What is the exact model Hitec that you have? I need a better charger myself.

 

[slick2500]

What is the exact model Hitec that you have? I need a better charger myself.

I have the Hitec X2 400 which is now discontinued.

I have heard a lot of good things about this charger https://hobbyking.com/en_us/0620duo-600w-charger-300w-x2-version-2.html?___store=en_us
It is almost always cheaper to buy Hobbyking products direct from Hobbyking. And use coupon code hobbyking10 for 10% off.

 

[joostin420]

Realized my trusty hitec x4 ac is okay for my 2s and 3s packs but not for the big boys. I purchased a new charger after getting my 4s and 6s graphene bricks. I have always liked hitec so I stuck with the manufacturer.

I use this method:
https://www.venompower.com/blogs/ne...amp-rate-you-should-use-for-your-lipo-battery

Hitec x2 700 and turnigy 1080w power supply. 700w per channel. Great charger and fast.

 

[chevys10zr2003]

@joostin420 I love my X2 700 as well. I remember back when I was looking at chargers. I looked for 2-3 weeks to find the right one that did everything that I was looking for and this was the only one that met everything. It's high powered at 700 watts per channel, it had one of the fastest current drain for lipo balancing (800mah per celll) out of all of the chargers I looked at (a lot of chargers don't list this spec), had a decent discharge rate (30 watts per channel discharge rate) and the big thing for me was that, if you have a large enough power supply, it can achieve the full 700 watts per channel on a 12 volt power supply. Most high wattage chargers limit the power if it is less than 24 volts.

I also looked at the iCharger 308Duo because it had 1,200mah per cell current drain for balancing as well as 80 watts per channel discharging, but it does require more than 24 volts to achieve full power and it was more expensive. With Tower's discounts and Ecash that I had I got the X2 700 for around $110 where the 308Duo would have been $260.

I'm sure the iCharger is a great charger, I just couldn't justify the extra money for the charger and the extra money required for the 24 volt power supply.

 

[Voltron7]

I just started running the 6s brick packs the Turnigy Bashers 4000 milliamps but I find out that my IMAX will barely charge it at 2 amps so I'm looking for a charger and curious of what size and how many amps I can charge these things at safely thank you any advice would be greatly appreciated

I have the same lipo and charge it with a SkyRC imax B6AC v2. I usually use from 2-3 amps and it's quick enough for me...takes about
40-60 minutes to go from 3.8-4.2.
HTH

 

[chevys10zr2003]

I have the same lipo and charge it with a SkyRC imax B6AC v2. I usually use from 2-3 amps and it's quick enough for me...takes about
40-60 minutes to go from 3.8-4.2.
HTH

But if you are charging it from LVC after just running it and it's at like 3.3 volts per cell, it would take around 2 hours to charge before you can drive again. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that but you must be a very patient man LOL. I don't think that I would be able to wait that long for my charger to charge my batteries personally.

 

[slick2500]

But if you are charging it from LVC after just running it and it's at like 3.3 volts per cell, it would take around 2 hours to charge before you can drive again. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that but you must be a very patient man LOL. I don't think that I would be able to wait that long for my charger to charge my batteries personally.

First rc I ever had the charger took 9 hours to charge the battery, the battery was only 900mah lol. Needless to say that I bought a better nimh charger.

 

[chevys10zr2003]

First rc I ever had the charger took 9 hours to charge the battery, the battery was only 900mah lol. Needless to say that I bought a better nimh charger.

I remember those days too. LOL Nothing like charging at 1/9th C! But now with the new technology and everything there is no way I could do that.

 

[slick2500]

I remember those days too. LOL Nothing like charging at 1/9th C! But now with the new technology and everything there is not way I could do that.

That was 3 years ago lol

 

[chevys10zr2003]

That was 3 years ago lol

Haha then you were doing it wrong....or I was ahead of the game because 3 years ago I had lipos and a Hitec X4 charger. I really wish I would have kept my older ones from back when I was younger.

 

[Voltron7]

But if you are charging it from LVC after just running it and it's at like 3.3 volts per cell, it would take around 2 hours to charge before you can drive again. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that but you must be a very patient man LOL. I don't think that I would be able to wait that long for my charger to charge my batteries personally.

I usually am done bashing well before LVC...lipo doesn't usually get below 50%. So, I wait about 10 minutes after running, and charge it. It never takes more than 1-1.5 hours. I either get work done or fly a chopper if I need to "wait for it." Also, got too many other lipos for the Typhon, so I never really have to wait...and yes, I am sometimes patient, lol.

 

[slick2500]

Haha then you were doing it wrong....or I was ahead of the game because 3 years ago I had lipos and a Hitec X4 charger. I really wish I would have kept my older ones from back when I was younger.

It was one of those Ecx 1/18 scale trucks, don't buy one of those by the way. I've come a long way in the past 3 years.

 

[chevys10zr2003]

I usually am done bashing well before LVC...lipo doesn't usually get below 50%. So, I wait about 10 minutes after running, and charge it. It never takes more than 1-1.5 hours. I either get work done or fly a chopper if I need to "wait for it." Also, got too many other lipos for the Typhon, so I never really have to wait...and yes, I am sometimes patient, lol.

Yeah, if you have more batteries then you can really get by with it. Before I go out I normally charge 16 batteries in 30 minutes and then when I get where I am going, I get 12 more batteries charging and I never have to worry about running out.

 

[Jerry-rigged]

I have the Hitec X2 400 which is now discontinued.

I have heard a lot of good things about this charger https://hobbyking.com/en_us/0620duo-600w-charger-300w-x2-version-2.html?___store=en_us
It is almost always cheaper to buy Hobbyking products direct from Hobbyking. And use coupon code hobbyking10 for 10% off.

I've got one of these, great charger. I really like being able to charge 2x packs at 10-12 amps each... Sometimes I wish I would have sprung for the 4 channel version, though. LOL For DC power, I picked up a converted server PSU, 1050w from SMC racing.

 

[olds97_lss]

I usually am done bashing well before LVC...lipo doesn't usually get below 50%. So, I wait about 10 minutes after running, and charge it. It never takes more than 1-1.5 hours. I either get work done or fly a chopper if I need to "wait for it." Also, got too many other lipos for the Typhon, so I never really have to wait...and yes, I am sometimes patient, lol.

Do you just not run very long?

I usually take 2 trucks, one that uses 2 x 2S 7200/7400 packs and one that uses 1 pack, packs charged and in the trucks. I take 3 extra packs with me that are charged. I use my 2 oldest packs in the 1 pack truck. In all 3, my brushless revo, savage flux and now my outcast, I get about 25 minutes of solid run time at the skate park and 20 minutes at the regular park on a pair of packs. The outcast seems harder on them as I get a few minutes less and the packs come out of the truck 110-120F, which is warmer than the other two.

After I run my first set of packs, I swap them out with the fresh pair, leave the packs to cool and run the second set in the big truck. After the second set are dead (LVC), I break out the small truck and put the first pair of packs on my charger in my car (2x12A /2x150W output). I get about 25 minutes in both of my single pack trucks as well. By the time the first pack is dead, my first pair are charged and ready to go.

I basically do that usually at least twice. So I'll actually run for 2-4 hours straight run time on a bash day. If I don't break something and if kids don't show up.

I used to take 6+ charged packs with me, but then I got a charger for my car so I wouldn't have to needlessly drain packs if things broke or if kids showed up before I used them all up. That happens/happened quite a bit. The savage and revo broke a lot. I got both to a point to where they can last quite a while unless I do something retarded. The outcast just seems to go and go, regardless how stupid I get with it. lol!