Help choosing a charger

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Let's just assume, and it's a safe assumption, that I am completely ignorant regarding lipo batteries and everything needed to use them. Does that unit come with everything? I don't want to have to find another unit to discharge, then one to balance, then another to balance the discharge. It's all a bit overwhelming. I just want to hook my batteries to it and have them ready for use.
 
ISDT K2 Air. (y)

I'm sure you will get a million suggestions. I would look for a modern Smart Display type charger. More intuitive, the GUI and all. Instead of the old style "2 line display" chargers, whatever you do choose.


Question... What kind of Lipo packs will you specifically be charging there???? # of Cells and capacity?
You want to consider future proofing your Charging ability for subsequent larger capacity/higher voltage packs down the road. As you progress in the hobby.
 
Last edited:
SrC said:
ISDT K2 Air. (y)

I'm sure you will get a million suggestions. I would look for a modern Smart Display type charger. More intuitive. Instead of the "2 line display" chargers, whatever you do choose.
Click to expand...
+1. Great advice regarding the display. The more information & the better its presented to you, the better.

I've been using this for a year now. Works great for my needs.

Screenshot_20240101_152203_Amazon Shopping.jpg
 
+1
Also a great smart display charger for sure.
Its easy to get dizzy looking for one, there are dozens and dozens out there to choose from. Especially if its your first one.
My K2 Air is a dual channel.
I would only consider a dual channel charger, myself these days To charge 2 packs together. makes more sense. 4 channel chargers make no sense to me. I rather have 2x 2 channel chargers, to charge 4 packs simultaneously. And if one charger craps on you, which does happen, you have the other charger available.
One 4 channel charger will leave you high and dry if it fails. Been through many chargers over the years. Sometimes only one channel will crap on you. Leaving one channel ok. Best case.
No charger will last forever. Your mileage will vary. Either one channel fails first or the Internal PSU does. Sometimes you can just plug in an external PSU and you are rockin again.
 
Last edited:
So why is everything so unreliable within the hobby? I understand power supplies will have their share of issues. They work hard. But from what I've been reading, and your comments about losing a channel etc... It just seems like everything is "made in China" quality. I have heard some bad reviews on the "Venom" chargers, which was where I was headed. So now I'm reluctant to make a move on anything. I think you're right about a single 4 channel unit. It makes sense to not have all your amps in 1 basket, as it were. If I spend more money can I get a longer lasting and reliable system?
Thank you, by the way to everyone adding their input. You guys are great on this forum.
 
The chargers listed here are pretty good quality. There are more expensive chargers out there, but you start to get into things like the iCharger and it's ecosystem. I think it's important to remember that your mileage may vary depending on frequency of use as well. My SkyRC T100 is a good charger but on the more affordable end of things and it's given me no problems over the last few years I've had it. But I'm a more casual user when it comes to actually charging up and running my rigs so it's lifespan would probably be longer than someone who is charging pack after pack multiple days a week. The D300 and T100 I have now will probably last me for many years.
 
SrC said:
ISDT K2 Air. (y)

I'm sure you will get a million suggestions. I would look for a modern Smart Display type charger. More intuitive, the GUI and all. Instead of the old style "2 line display" chargers, whatever you do choose.


Question... What kind of Lipo packs will you specifically be charging there???? # of Cells and capacity?
You want to consider future proofing your Charging ability for subsequent larger capacity/higher voltage packs down the road. As you progress in the hobby.
Click to expand...
I'm running a Big Rock 3s completely stock at the moment. Bought 2 Zee 6000mAh batteries through Amazon. They arrived charged. Well, that was according to my dvm. I'm sure the meter didn't have the right load on them to be accurate. But I ran them until the hit lvc. That was a week ago. Now here I sit with no charger. Are the batteries going to be OK resting at that voltage? There are no hobby shops within 100 miles of me. So everything has to be ordered online. I hate shopping blind and hoping I get what I ordered.
 
They most likely would have arrived with a storage charge in them, the proper voltage that a LiPo battery should be left at when not in use. If the truck hit LVC, you would want them put back to storage charge ASAP. I can't say how long they could sit before they risk becoming a hazard, but certainly will start to degrade the longer they sit like that. I'm also pretty picky about how I maintain my batteries. There are also people out there who run them dead and forget about them until who knows when and might not have the issues we all worry about. But sooner rather than later is ideal. Lots of good info and suggestions so far in this thread 👍
But as an add on, if you ran it at storage voltage, you should be in for a pleasant surprise when you run it fully charged. Should have even more jam.
 
Isotropic120 said:
They most likely would have arrived with a storage charge in them, the proper voltage that a LiPo battery should be left at when not in use. If the truck hit LVC, you would want them put back to storage charge ASAP. I can't say how long they could sit before they risk becoming a hazard, but certainly will start to degrade the longer they sit like that. I'm also pretty picky about how I maintain my batteries. There are also people out there who run them dead and forget about them until who knows when and might not have the issues we all worry about. But sooner rather than later is ideal. Lots of good info and suggestions so far in this thread 👍
But as an add on, if you ran it at storage voltage, you should be in for a pleasant surprise when you run it fully charged. Should have even more jam.
Click to expand...
Honestly, it was pretty snappy. Didn't get much time out of them but they must have had more than storage in them. I found that to be odd in itself. If these batteries are so damn sensitive and temperamental then why would the manufacturer ship them at such a high charge(per my meter)?
 
What was it reading? I'm assuming you were running 3S packs, so around 11.4 or so would be storage. But also not every pack does come properly stored, something I've found. 12.6 would be fully charged.
 
They were both right around 12.2v. Again, I don't know enough about these batteries to know if a dvm loads them correctly to get a good reading. When I hit LVC my meter said they were at 11.3. Maybe that is correct. But that wouldn't be loaded.
 
Fair enough. I've checked mine before with a meter and it's matched up with my charger later. So if it shut it down at 11.3 thats not too bad. It may even bounce back a bit depending on how long after you ran it you checked them.
 
I've tried so many chargers.

Isdt, toolkit, hota. These are all very similar to each other.

I don't think you can really go wrong with any of the new chargers available.

My favorite setup is the charger of your choice and a dedicated discharger. With this combo you can't go wrong.

If I were to do it all over, I'd just stick with a dual icharger setup(and a powerful power supply) and an isdt discharger.
 
Av642 said:
I've tried so many chargers.

Isdt, toolkit, hota. These are all very similar to each other.

I don't think you can really go wrong with any of the new chargers available.

My favorite setup is the charger of your choice and a dedicated discharger. With this combo you can't go wrong.

If I were to do it all over, I'd just stick with a dual icharger setup(and a powerful power supply) and an isdt discharger.
Click to expand...

Pic of your current setup?
 
EMF said:
Let's just assume, and it's a safe assumption, that I am completely ignorant regarding lipo batteries and everything needed to use them. Does that unit come with everything? I don't want to have to find another unit to discharge, then one to balance, then another to balance the discharge. It's all a bit overwhelming. I just want to hook my batteries to it and have them ready for use.
Click to expand...
You should really learn everything about Lipo's and charging them before you spend alot of $$ on a charger. The better ones do a lot of other functions besides charge. There is much to learn and other peoples priories may not be your own.
I use the Hota D6 pro and are really happy with it but I bought a few others before I knew what I wanted in a charger.
If you mistreat your Lipo's or charge them wrong you can start a fire, so learning everything about them is necessary and the safe thing to do.
 

Similar threads

MrTitanium
Help with SKYRC D100 V2 charger
Replies
1
Views
84
parcou
parcou
danny1202
Sky rc charger/ app
Replies
6
Views
390
danny1202
danny1202
Mike'sGN-Kraton
Dead ultrapower charger???
Replies
13
Views
869
Custnam
Custnam
parcou
Help putting a 1.5 Mod pinion back on the motor rotor
Replies
4
Views
236
parcou
parcou
ATLbraapster
Help with selecting a lipo charger
Replies
11
Views
2K
Diem Turner
Diem Turner
Back
Top