Recommend me a battery charger

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ho lee chit said:
Say I wanted to charge a car battery, would that work on the pb setting or nimh?

Just curious
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If your 1:1 car has a 'regular' lead-acid battery, then yeah use the PB setting. Can't say that I have ever seen a NiMh battery in a 1:1 car.
 
Jerry-rigged said:
If your 1:1 car has a 'regular' lead-acid battery, then yeah use the PB setting. Can't say that I have ever seen a NiMh battery in a 1:1 car.
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More and more 1:1 cars come with AGM/gel batteries do you know if there is a setting that can be used for that?

My 1:1 car battery charger has two settings, normal and gel
 
ho lee chit said:
More and more 1:1 cars come with AGM/gel batteries do you know if there is a setting that can be used for that?

My 1:1 car battery charger has two settings, normal and gel
Click to expand...
AGM batteries don't like to be fast charged like normal lead batteries. So all you need to do is reduce the charge rate. Pay attention to the charger and when the charge finishes and goes to trickle mode, stop the charge.
 
jkflow said:
@northeastflyer On power supplies, careful when you re-purpose PC supplies. They are typically referenced to GND (chassis) and you simply can't put 2 in series as it will short out the first. There are mods you can make but supplies are sometimes unique and takes a little knowledge to get that right.
I use LED supplies (link) but you might need some tinkering to put them into a case or safe enclosure.
They now add shipping but that will probably go away in a couple month. I have his one and works well up to spec.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0786LMNR2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Pending your charger, you want to go as high in voltage as the charger will accept, keeping the current down.
I placed mine in a case, added a fan and meter and it's been running at full load for several hours without issues. At $30 that is hard to beat, with case etc ~ $60.
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thanks for the heads up!!
 
ho lee chit said:
Say I wanted to charge a car battery, would that work on the pb setting or nimh?

Just curious
Click to expand...
Yes you can.(y)
Pb/lead acid charge setting charges fine. I used it to charge my Nitro starter box PB battery. It slow charging like most small PB batteries should be charged. I even charged an automotive car battery with it. (but even slower to charge).:cool:
vpr5793 said:
AGM batteries don't like to be fast charged like normal lead batteries. So all you need to do is reduce the charge rate. Pay attention to the charger and when the charge finishes and goes to trickle mode, stop the charge.
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Regarding AGM, that is not true. But that's not your fault. There is much misinformation on Absorbed Glass Mat batteries. The only difference is that peak voltage tends to be notch higher than sealed lead. So is its resting voltage. And at trickle the voltage setting should be lower. AGM's don't need/like to be saturated with higher peak voltage. But IN a car, AGM will operate just like a sealed lead battery. A car's charging system doesn't know what type of battery it is charging. AGM mfr. know this and AGM batteries must conform to standard sealed lead(PB) chge characteristics. In general all lead type (including AGM which is Lead based) should be Slow charged. (<2. amps)
Have much experience with AGM in the fleet industry. I have several high end Automotive chargers here that even charge Airplane type FAA spec. batteries. I still like sealed lead overall. AGM's are more costly. Advantages don't outweigh the price at all. They don't last any longer like the industry would have you believe. IMHO.
 
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ho lee chit said:
More and more 1:1 cars come with AGM/gel batteries do you know if there is a setting that can be used for that?

My 1:1 car battery charger has two settings, normal and gel
Click to expand...
Gel and AGM are two different animals. They get charged differently. AGM charge closer to regular SLA PB batteries. Gel is never seen in 1:1 automotive use. Gel cells are considered obsolete these days. Had them years ago for my Nitro Starter box. They were smaller than an equivelent SLA. But failed easily. And were expensive.
 
SrC said:
Gel and AGM are two different animals. They get charged differently. AGM charge closer to regular SLA PB batteries. Gel is never seen in 1:1 automotive use. Gel cells are considered obsolete these days. Had them years ago for my Nitro Starter box. They were smaller than an equivelent SLA. But failed easily. And were expensive.
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Gel cells were used in places where sloshing SLA cells were not wanted, like aircraft and other high motion vehicles. Once AGM cells became prominent, gel cells pretty much fell out of favor, since AGMs hold the electrolyte in suspension, it give a similar effect. AGMs have higher discharge rates too. They can push more amps than other PB based cells of the same size.

I don’t know everything about batteries, but I used to work for an AGM brand of batteries that were marketed towards the car audio industry. I’ve probably forgotten most of what I used to know by now since the company was closed during the 2008 recession and sold off.
 
At my job, I was the fleet manager and acquisition officer. I purchased a slew of AGM's and several different high end chargers. Many Mfr's were bidding for the contract. I had Excides and a few of the yellow and red tops.(Audio guys liked them.) AGM's don't last longer for the price, Performance gain is minimal compared to SLA IMHO. AGMs are more sensitive to deep discharges opposing their claim to fame.
 
SrC said:
At my job, I was the fleet manager and acquisition officer. I purchased a slew of AGM's and several different high end chargers. Many Mfr's were bidding for the contract. I had Excides and a few of the yellow and red tops.(Audio guys liked them.) AGM's don't last longer for the price, Performance gain is minimal compared to SLA IMHO. AGMs are more sensitive to deep discharges opposing their claim to fame.
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Yep a deep cycle will create sulfate deposits on the plates which need high amp charge bursts to break up and restore the cells. A lot of our customers only ever trickle charges their cells which will never break up these deposits on the plates. We had some bad ass chargers that would blast the plates clean and restore them. It was kind of dangerous to do it though.

But the worst thing I saw was the guys putting the sticker labels on the batteries were not the sharpest tools. They had a wood top work bench that they laid the batteries on to put the stickers on and slid them down to the next guy who flipped them and put the back sticker on. These idiots would slam them down the line and occasionally let the terminals touch. Of course if it happened just right, the terminals would arc weld together and a fireball would ensue. This happened a few times.
 
I use a Battery Minder, Desulfates (conditions) as it works. It doesn't really trickle charge. It gives a resting storage float charge. Self testing on its own. Has a temp sensor to self adjust voltage based on temps. Freezing temps gets more voltage than temps close to 100F. Leave the battery connected to it for months on end. Basic trickling is not the best for long term storage. This charger has brought back very bad sulfated batteries. I received a few demos to keep from my job. I have 6v and 24v models. These are FAA aircraft certified for Odyssey/PLT. I could never afford these at full price.
20200504_184353.jpg
 
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The TenergyB6 charger ($~60) on amazon takes about an hour to charge a 6s 5200 lipo. Gets hot. Feels wicked cheap.

I have a passport p2 from dynamite that I will try next and report back.
 
So this thread is 31 pages and this might have been asked already - BUT:

Whats the best 2xPort 200W+ charger? I really like my Hitec Pro, it's storage mode is better than my others, but looking to have a 2x version instead of buying another one.
 
mikeshandssay said:
So this thread is 31 pages and this might have been asked already - BUT:

Whats the best 2xPort 200W+ charger? I really like my Hitec Pro, it's storage mode is better than my others, but looking to have a 2x version instead of buying another one.
Click to expand...
Hitec D7 isn't bad. That's one I have. 20A/200W x 2, AC-DC. The only thing I wish it had was to be able to use it as a PSU.
 

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