Recommend me a battery charger

[Notorious J]

Mmm.. If you buy a pair of RDX1 PRO's you pay 20$ more, but you get the 200W with much less cables and it is way simpler than an X2 with a power supply...

Uh oh, now I have no good reply. Wait, there's still the bluetooth connectivity. Monitoring and controlling from a smartphone. Ok, that's probably not covering the difference. Only problem is, I already ordered the X2. I'm in Canada, so returning to a US seller is gonna be expensive. I'll contact them and see what the damage might be if I want to return to exchange. You fight a good fight. Wish you had chimed in sooner.

 

[Yonic]

Yeah sorry, i missed that part that you already ordered..

 

[Notorious J]

I contacted Amain to see what they have to say about a return. Your points were all very well taken. Worst case scenario is I end up with a decent charger, that still meets some of my expectations, and more lessons learned.

 

[razorrc]

The RDX1 Pro looks pretty dang sweet, 100W is more than enough for $70. Might have to pick one of these up for 3S.

 

[Notorious J]

Yeah sorry, I missed that part that you already ordered..

Well, I was able to cancel the order because it hadn't shipped yet. Was actually $30 more, but that's just splitting hairs. Snagged a set of RPM rear a arms, and got to use the $15 off code for the order. Thanks for the keen advice @Yonic, I'll let you know how they work when they arrive.

 

[Splattered23]

Not sure where to put this... but I had my LHS convert my two Onyx XT90 Lipo batteries and my Kraton to EC5 so I can swap around w/ my Senton 3s and a boat i'm getting this year. And. Looks a bit sloppy to me. And he didn't shrink tube over the soldering which i'm not sure is necessary or not? He said it should be fine but if I have issues with it to bring it back and he can redo it. But, if I have issues with it do I just hope those issues don't involve my batteries exploding and burning up my trucks? haha

 

[Jerry-rigged]

Not sure where to put this... but I had my LHS convert my two Onyx XT90 Lipo batteries and my Kraton to EC5 so I can swap around w/ my Senton 3s and a boat i'm getting this year. And. Looks a bit sloppy to me. And he didn't shrink tube over the soldering which i'm not sure is necessary or not? He said it should be fine but if I have issues with it to bring it back and he can redo it. But, if I have issues with it do I just hope those issues don't involve my batteries exploding and burning up my trucks? haha

If the EC plugs are soldered right, they don't need heat shrink. Pics?

 

[Splattered23]

Here is what the kraton looks like

And then the batteries... one looks ok (cant see the solder, the wire goes right into the connector pretty clean/snug, but one looks a little funky

 

[Dutch213]

that looks rough brother... I would cut that off and put on a new connector.....

 

[Dutch213]

Based on those pics, it looks like the plugs were cheap ebay plugs and they are extremely difficult to set in the plastic plug. That is why the plastic is all chewed up.... The soldering is easy if you just heat the connector up and melt a sh!t load of solder in it and just dip the wire right in..... after you flux and prime wire with solder also....

 

[Lazy Bushman]

I used XT90’s......love the rubber boosts as they save me having to heat shrink and no one ever gets to know how badly I solder?

 

[Splattered23]

I wanted to switch to EC5 so all my stuff shared the same connectors. Now I'm wishing I had just left them XT90. I haven't soldered anything in well over 10 years and don't know that I'd do any better than my LHS Haha... any harm in running these as they are at least for awhile until i figure something out?

 

[olds97_lss]

I wanted to switch to EC5 so all my stuff shared the same connectors. Now I'm wishing I had just left them XT90. I haven't soldered anything in well over 10 years and don't know that I'd do any better than my LHS Haha... any harm in running these as they are at least for awhile until i figure something out?

I'd maybe try to find some heat shrink that fits over the connector to at least cover the exposed wire. Then if they make contact with a wrench or something, your not risking a dead short.

 

[Splattered23]

I can buy one inch shrink tubing on Amazon (or locally maybe) .. do I just slide it over the connector and the two cables and shrink with a lighter? There would still be a big gap between the two cables?

 

[Jeremy in WI]

If it was me I'd just put some Super 33+ electrical tape on it, or some of that liquid electrical tape, or even some plastidip. Anything to cover the exposed conductors.

 

[Lazy Bushman]

If it was me I'd just put some Super 33+ electrical tape on it, or some of that liquid electrical tape, or even some plastidip. Anything to cover the exposed conductors.

Didn't know that there was such as thing as liquid electrical tape.....might need to get me some "just in case"

 

[olds97_lss]

I can buy one inch shrink tubing on Amazon (or locally maybe) .. do I just slide it over the connector and the two cables and shrink with a lighter? There would still be a big gap between the two cables?

Just slide it over the back half of the connector and leave half an inch dangling off the back. Then when you heat it with a lighter, it will shrink down some and stay in place. It's not ideal, but it will cover the exposed wires unless you poke something up in there.

 

[HeavyBag]

HTRC C150 AC/DC 150W 10A RC Balance Charger...one link HERE.

If I was starting out in the hobby, and on a low budget, I'd give HTRC a good hard look.

I started my LiPo charging duties with three iMax B6AC 60w/80w copies that I won with low winning bids on eBay. They were okay for what they were. Once you get into 3S packs and above, and possibly want to do more than 1C charge rates, a person needs a more powerful charger. I would have loved to started with a couple 150 watt chargers back in 2010.

Always buy more charging power than what you think you might need. Once the addiction hits you, you'll need it.

 

[Splattered23]

I guess i'll try electrical tape and see how it fares. Never heard of liquid electrical tape but sounds neat haha

***just went and looked at the liquid electrical tape, that looks awesome but i'd be worried about getting it off the wires/connector in the future? Maybe I should just try wrapping with regular electrical tape first?

 

[Jeremy in WI]

I have electrical tape on one of my connectors - I forgot to put shrink tube on 1 of the wires. It's more precautionary.