Just bought my first Arrma, 6S Typhon, need suggestions on a decent 8S charger and 6S lipos...go

[Sledgy]

Just bought my first Arrma, a 6S Typhon, and need suggestions on a decent 8S charger and 6S lipos...go!

 

[GraniteFox]

Not sure about 8s but I use the HOTA D6+ for 6s and it does a great job.

 

[fozzy71]

Ha, following along as my Typhon just landed and I am still using my old Traxxas charger and 3s bats in series with adapters. I actually have some new EC5 bats and a 6s charger in my cart at Amazon that I was planning to order next week after my current Amazon credit card statement ends/cycles.

 

[palmryde]

That is a nice charger, You may want to consider starting out with 4S batteries. Then when you feel the need for more speed you can move up to 6S. You will break less in the beginning. Just from my experience. Enjoy, very fun car.

 

[RedOctobyr]

Cool, enjoy the Typhon! I haven't used this one, but I'm happy with my 2 (older) iChargers. This X8 is 8S, up to 30A, and 1100W: https://www.progressiverc.com/collections/lipo-chargers/products/icharger-x8

Can I ask why you are looking for 8S, just for understanding? It seems like 6S is a common max pack size. 8S machines often seem to use a pair of 4S packs in series? You could charge those 4S packs in parallel, if their starting voltages were close.

That could maybe let you look at 6S chargers, where you'd have more choices. Admittedly, sticking to siblings within the same brand, the X6 is only $20 less, so the 8S version isn't a big price penalty: https://www.progressiverc.com/collections/lipo-chargers/products/icharger-x6

They do also sell 2-channel versions, the DX6 and DX8. I have an older 2-channel iCharger 308Duo, which I've been very happy with. 1300W, 30A per channel, 50A combined, up to 8S. That model is still available, as well.

That is a nice charger, You may want to consider starting out with 4S batteries. Then when you feel the need for more speed you can move up to 6S. You will break less in the beginning. Just from my experience. Enjoy, very fun car.

This makes sense, though if you're buying 4S packs that you don't otherwise need/use, that could eat up some cost savings

Can you accomplish something similar by reducing your throttle endpoints, to limit your 6S setup to 70% throttle, for instance? Trying to limit it to more like 4S power?

 

[Sledgy]

I just know that sooner or later I'll buy something that needs 8S or go ape poop with my Sledge and make it 8S. I'm just future-proofing. Yes, many 8S RCs use 2x 4S packs, but that's twice the connections to come loose, twice the connector resistance, etc. I guess if I get an XRT I have to run 2 4S packs if I run them in the saddle configuration. I thought it might be cleaner to run 6S. My Sledge runs 2X 3S and every time I launch it high some connector comes loose. You could say don't thrash in skate parks and you won't break poop...but it would be a waste of breath...

 

[djrahbee]

8s Lipo

https://www.rcjuice.com/catalogsearch/result/?cat=0&q=8s+lipo

 

[Sledgy]

It seems like most of the higher-end chargers require DC input...While I understand the increase in speed, it doesn't travel as well.

 

[RedOctobyr]

Oh, like travel in the sense of packing for a trip? I suppose. At first I thought you meant travel like take the charger to the park where you're playing. And at least then you can clip it to your car battery, and charge with the engine idling.

As I'm sure you've seen, there are now chargers with integrated AC->DC supplies for outputs up to a few hundred watts. Then still allowing DC input, for higher wattage. When I got out of RC 5+ years ago, there were basically no chargers with integrated AC supplies (well, not over maybe 50W), so I'm still impressed to even have that as an option

Some people build charging cases, to at least keep the DC supply, and charger, arranged and tidy, in a protected box.

Are you presumably using the Traxxas connectors? I've heard mediocre things about them, and am planning on changing mine over to the anti-spark style of XT-90, the XT-90S. Trying assembling some together, they seem pretty tight/solid to me. You get spark-prevention (reducing pitting damage to the connectors), maybe a more secure connection, and a higher current capacity (less resistance) than the Traxxas connectors. EC5 would be another good choice, and is compatible with the IC5 on Arrmas.

From what I've seen (I was only shopping for 6S vehicles), I get the impression that 8S, with 2 packs in different locations, is not uncommon, anyways. 2x4S can be joined for 8S. But an 8S cannot become 2x4S My current packs are 6S, but if I had to replace them, I'd need to consider buying 2x3S, since then the packs could also power a smaller 3S vehicle.

 

[Sledgy]

I have 2 Traxxas cars, the connectors seem beefy and strongly keyed enough that my 11-year-old can't plug it in wrong but she has trouble pushing them on. I'm sure some purchases down the road will need 8S or a Sledge upgrade. I have the top-of-the-line Traxxas charger, it can charge 2 4S batteries at a time fairly quickly.

Regarding changing connectors I like the QS8-S series, anti-sparking (unlike Traxxas), low contact resistance, and high current rating.

I guess I can run with my Traxxas charger and get 2 3S lipos and some adapters for charging. I'm not sure if the Typhon comes with a Y-cable for 2 packs or not. That would be the cheapest way to get up and running. January has been bloody expensive and I just started this hobby. I bought 5 different RCs this month between me and my daughter.

 

[RC-Dude]

Get a 30 Amp power adapter. Then use 15- 24Volt Chargers like ISDT Q8 or P20. This way you can charge a lot faster and you are more flexible in adding chargers. Most chargers with build in power adapter have a low wattage resulting in long charging times. Noting worse than having 50-80 watt chargers and realizing they take waaaaay to long to charge.

6s is 25,2 Volt.
25 Volt x 3 Amp is 75 Watt. A pretty empty 6s 6000mAh Lipo will take nearly 2 hours to charge.

25 Volt x 9 Amp = 225 Watt. Charging time for the same lipo is a lot shorter. In this example at 1,5C. Charging two 6s 6000mAh parallel needs 450 Watt.
A 30 Amp charger rated at 18 Volt allows for 540 Watt.

 

[RedOctobyr]

A friend just bought a used Typhon 6S. I'm sure folks here can confirm, but I'm pretty sure it had the Y, dual-connector setup on the ESC, to allow using a pair of 3S packs.

I've heard a little about the QS8, they sound pretty cool, but are larger than what I plan to use. XT-90S or EC5 should be fine for me, and 6S.

PS- I haven't used one of these. I started with used server power supplies, then got a used 1500W 24V industrial power supply. But Amazon has inexpensive AC->DC power supplies, such as 24V, ranging from ~200W, to >1000W. One example: https://www.amazon.com/DIGISHUO-Transformer-Switching-Converter-Security/dp/B08Y69LXBM

 

[Sledgy]

I will probably need to upgrade chargers soon, but I just bought some EC5 to Traxxas adapters and I'll throw them on my EZ Peal Live Dual for now. Maybe that will be my road setup. My truck has a 400-watt AC plug in the bed so that should work OK for even a field charge. I'll upgrade my bench charging a bit later. I ended up buying some Zeee 120C 3S packs with EC5 connectors that should play nice with my Arrma.

 

[fozzy71]

I will probably need to upgrade chargers soon, but I just bought some EC5 to Traxxas adapters and I'll throw them on my EZ Peal Live Dual for now. Maybe that will be my road setup. My truck has a 400-watt AC plug in the bed so that should work OK for even a field charge. I'll upgrade my bench charging a bit later. I ended up buying some Zeee 120C 3S packs with EC5 connectors that should play nice with my Arrma.

This is the path I took when I got my first Arrma last September. I have a number of EC5 batteries now ( still need more) but I haven't bought a new charger yet so I either have to use adapters on the Traxxxas charger for my EC5 batteries, or I have to use adapters on my Traxxas batteries if I run them in one of my Arrma cars.

 

[Sledgy]

Get a 30 Amp power adapter. Then use 15- 24Volt Chargers like ISDT Q8 or P20. This way you can charge a lot faster and you are more flexible in adding chargers. Most chargers with build in power adapter have a low wattage resulting in long charging times. Noting worse than having 50-80 watt chargers and realizing they take waaaaay to long to charge.

6s is 25,2 Volt.
25 Volt x 3 Amp is 75 Watt. A pretty empty 6s 6000mAh Lipo will take nearly 2 hours to charge.

25 Volt x 9 Amp = 225 Watt. Charging time for the same lipo is a lot shorter. In this example at 1,5C. Charging two 6s 6000mAh parallel needs 450 Watt.
A 30 Amp charger rated at 18 Volt allows for 540 Watt.

my Traxxas charger is 200 watts, which doesn't seem terrible charging 5000mah 3S packs, 2 at a time. I can appreciate faster would be better.

 

[RedOctobyr]

For the connectors coming undone, could you secure the ESC lead to something, so it can't flop around as much during a hard landing?

I have a Velcro Onewrap on the Sledge center chassis support, which secures the balance extension cable going to my LiPo alarm. Maybe something similar could help keep the ESC lead stable in a hit, so it doesn't unplug?

And if the battery tray lid is popping loose, there's also the tip that you can put body clips through the supports, to lock the lid in the closed position.

 

[Sledgy]

This is the path I took when I got my first Arrma last September. I have a number of EC5 batteries now ( still need more) but I haven't bought a new charger yet so I either have to use adapters on the Traxxxas charger for my EC5 batteries, or I have to use adapters on my Traxxas batteries if I run them in one of my Arrma cars.

Have you puffed any Traxxas batteries in Your Arrmas?

 

[chilly81]

I resisted getting an external power supply for a long time because I thought it was just another thing I had to remember to bring everywhere. But I finally got to the point where my hota d6+ Just wasn’t powerful enough at 300 W to charge all my batteries for the day in one cycle. And to get much more powerful than 300 W in an AC charger you really have to spend a lot.

So I just got 1000 W DC power supply that can push 600 W through the same hota d6+, And added a hota p6 which gives me two more separate channels, with a max single channel of 500 W.

Really depends how far along you are in the hobby. If you’re asking about 8s already, regardless of if it’s two 4s or not, it’s a lot of power and you need a big charger.

If I was starting from scratch, I would probably buy 1000 W power supply and a hota f6 charger for $200 or so combined.

 

[RedOctobyr]

my Traxxas charger is 200 watts, which doesn't seem terrible charging 5000mah 3S packs, 2 at a time. I can appreciate faster would be better.

For context, charging a 6S 5000 at 1C, or 5A (or a pair of 3S 5000's at 1C), is 125W. Just as a point of reference, if considering 2 channels for a pair of 6S 5000's at once, etc.

And, with care and proper precautions, you can charge packs in parallel. If they are the same cell count, same capacity, and same pack voltage, like being at 3.75V/cell.

I have a trio of 6S 4100's, I can do all 3 in parallel on 1 channel of my charger, at 12.3A, for 1C, 310W. Charging them at 24.6A, 2C, pulls 620W.

Parallel charging must be done carefully, however, every time. Multi channel chargers, and 1 pack per channel, avoids many of those risks.

 

[fozzy71]

Have you puffed any Traxxas batteries in Your Arrmas?

No but my first 2 Arrma cars were an Infraction and a Vendetta. I only got the FireTeam back in November IIRC so it hasn't been bashed hard yet with Traxxas (or any) packs in it.