Help Choosing New Charger

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Lazy Bushman

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Brisbane - Australia
Arrma RC's
  1. Kraton 6s
  2. Typhon 3s
Hey guys, I'm hoping that some of you who know more about chargers can help me. I like the SkyRC range and have a couple of the iMAX B6AC V2 chargers and have been quite happy until now as I had been only changing NiMH batteries and 2s but they are only 50w chargers and take so long trying to do storage charges etc that they sometimes time out and take a couple of hours per battery.....so time for something a little more serious.

They two I am looking at are below. Strangely they are about the same price as I expected the 1400w unit to be a fair bit more expensive so it has me wondering about the differences between the two as I'm not really picking any up other than one is 400w and the other 1400w. I am however leaning toward the D400 simply because it is more readily available here in Australia than the other.

https://www.skyrc.com/Charger/D400_Charger

https://www.skyrc.com/Charger/SKYRC_1400W_CHARGER

Any thoughts and comments appreciated.
 
You need a separate dc power supply with the 1400w charger. So the total cost would be higher. I own the D400 and it’s awesome. I use it on regular ac power but it has the option of adding a dc power supply if I wanted.
 
@Lazy Bushman there are a few major differences between the two chargers you mentioned above. The SkyRC D400 charger is an AC/DC charger, meaning it has a built in power supply. Also note that 400watts is across both channels. Channel 1 can charge up to the full 400 watts (without anything in Channel 2) or split envyingly between the two, or 300w in Channel 1 and 1oow in Channel 2. Note that Channel 2 can only charge up to 200watts no matter what.

The SkyRC 1400 charger doesn't include a power supply so you'll still need to purchase a power supply to even get started and one that can crank out 1400+ watts if you even plan on using the full capacity of the charger.
 
In my earlier days when I couldn’t afford the hobby, I would just take an old PC hard drive, open it up and take out the PS. A little bit of cutting, soldering and fiddling around, and presto...... a PS for my iCharger. Works pretty good if you are looking to save a buck.
 

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I also have that D400 dual charger.
It’s worked great so far. One thing to be aware of, the fans do always come on so it’s not the quietest.
 
In my earlier days when I couldn’t afford the hobby, I would just take an old PC hard drive, open it up and take out the PS. A little bit of cutting, soldering and fiddling around, and presto...... a PS for my iCharger. Works pretty good if you are looking to save a buck.

that's pretty clever...more clever than me
 
Thanks guys for the feedback and the suggestions on other chargers. I had seen the iCharger somewhere and it looks good also. I think I will go with the D400 as HobbyKing have a good special on it atm.....I now need to find a way to sneak it past the wife. Financially I can but getting it past her when delivered to home is the challenge I have :ROFLMAO:
 
Thanks guys for the feedback and the suggestions on other chargers. I had seen the iCharger somewhere and it looks good also. I think I will go with the D400 as HobbyKing have a good special on it atm.....I now need to find a way to sneak it past the wife. Financially I can but getting it past her when delivered to home is the challenge I have :ROFLMAO:
Sorry Babe, I'm "working from home today".
 
Thanks guys for the feedback and the suggestions on other chargers. I had seen the iCharger somewhere and it looks good also. I think I will go with the D400 as HobbyKing have a good special on it atm.....I now need to find a way to sneak it past the wife. Financially I can but getting it past her when delivered to home is the challenge I have :ROFLMAO:

She’s going to hear it when when you’re charging! :eek:
 
I got a notification that another package was arriving today which I thought was great timing as she is off to the Gold Coast today, then I got another message saying it will be delivered tomorrow....that is bad news for me. As much as I am enjoying the world of RC I didn't expect to be tipping in money to the hobby as much as I am so early on.....it's kinda like having another boat!
 
Yeah, if you have nothing, the buy in for electric or nitro is pretty high. All things being equal, the buy in for electric is higher and honestly, with the cost of lipo's, I'm not sure any more cost effective even in the long run. Sure is easier, quieter and way way easier to have big torque on tap.
 
Now that i got my Senton 3s to go along with the Kraton I'm wanting to pick up a quad charger and a couple more 3s batteries... trying to decide between the Hitech x4 AC Pro and the Prophet Sport Quad 4x100w chargers. The Hitec only has 50w per port and a 1 year warranty and the Prophet Quad has a full 100w per port and a 5 year warranty.

I'm currently using the Prophet Sport Duo and it works fine so far so i'm kind of torn here going back and forth between the two.

Any input/advice?

Thanks!
 
I bought the skyrc D400. I won’t confess to being an expert but you want more than 50 watts imo. My current chargers have 80 I think and I reckon to give longevity should you get bigger batteries in the future, then go for something with at least 150w on the channel (min 100imo). Get as many watts per channel as you can afford.

In terms of brand, I don’t know them but I have heard others say good things about them, so I doubt you will go wrong with those brands at least
 
Now that i got my Senton 3s to go along with the Kraton I'm wanting to pick up a quad charger and a couple more 3s batteries... trying to decide between the Hitech x4 AC Pro and the Prophet Sport Quad 4x100w chargers. The Hitec only has 50w per port and a 1 year warranty and the Prophet Quad has a full 100w per port and a 5 year warranty.

I'm currently using the Prophet Sport Duo and it works fine so far so i'm kind of torn here going back and forth between the two.

Any input/advice?

Thanks!
I'd go with more watts.

I know the math involved in figuring out the watts needed, but what I'm not 100% sure is whether you use the nominal voltage or the full charge voltage. To me, nominal makes sense due to the charger dropping current output as the pack fills anyway to avoid overcharging.

So, using nominal voltage (3.7V per cell), with a 10A/100W charger you can charge a 3S 9000mah pack at 1C (9Amps/99.9Watts). So, if you go with typical 5000-5400 sized 3S packs and run them in pairs, your way within the margin of capability for a 10A/100W per port charger.

If you wanted to go with single 6S packs, then you would likely want to go with something more powerful. A 10A/100W charger will charge a 6S 4500mah pack at 1C (4.5Amps/99.9Watts), but nothing larger. That will be maxing it out on watts even though it's only at 4.5Amps.

I have the Dynamite PSQ 4x100w/4x10A charger. Have had it about a year. I've been charging 4 x 2S 7200-9000mah packs on it pretty much every other weekend, sometimes more times. My first charger was the traxxas dual ID which only put out 4 or 5A per port I think. Took 2+ hours to charge up my 9000mah SMC 2S packs, and I had to unplug/replug them in in the middle. Was annoying.

2018-1027-ChargerRack01.jpg


Then I started running 3S in my smaller trucks and it bugged me to have to wait through 2 charging cycles to charge up 4 packs for my big trucks that I run 2x2S in and then wait again for my 2 3S packs to charge for my smaller truck. I pretty much always take a big truck and a small truck when I go bashing. Since lipo's don't like sitting at full voltage for extended periods of time, I make it a point to charge early in the morning I'm going to go bash. So, being able to charge 6 packs at the same time means I can sleep in another 45 minutes on bash days. LOL! Anyway, I was trying to find a good charger in case I ever went full 3S or if I wanted to try parallel charging at some point and found the hitec D7 which does 200W/20A per port on AC. It's pricey, but I'd bid on them on ebay and I eventually won one for $130 shipped.

I also got a HTRC H150AC/DC 12A/150W dual charger off amazon to keep in my car so I can charge while I'm out bashing. Originally, I was charging up/taking 8+ packs with me. Then if I broke something, I'd end up draining that many more packs on my charger when I got home. Now I just charge 6 total, enough to run each truck twice and if I make it through one truck twice and I feel like running more, I'll charge a pair of packs while I run the other truck.

A thing to note on the dynamite quad charger, I ran across some posts on other forums regarding the power switch being cheap/chintzy and breaking. I've never shut mine off as I have both chargers (and my old NiMH charger for nitro and small 25W charger for micros) on all the time and I have them plugged into a power strip which I turn on/off when I need to charge. If the switch in the power strip dies, it's $12 for a new power strip and no wear/tear on the devices themselves. Also, it doesn't tell you the internal resistance of the pack. You can get other device just for that purpose, just letting you know.
 
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