Recommend me a battery charger

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If I am only using two 6s batteries and a HOTA D6+, is it necessary to have a balance board? Trying to understand the purpose of a balance board.
 
Lbrownjr said:
If I am only using two 6s batteries and a HOTA D6+, is it necessary to have a balance board? Trying to understand the purpose of a balance board.
Click to expand...

I believe, and gents correct me if I am wrong as I am a rook (nOOb?), that a balance board is essentially a "port expander" that allows you to plug in more of like batteries onto the same channel keeping in mind the safety of the charge system. That being said I am doubtful you should plug more than one 6s per port for efficient charging. You should be ok with just plugging a battery into each channel.

Hopefully @jkflow might chime in with his .02.
 
As @Bearcats stated it's a simple 'port expander' but it does makes life a little easier and protects your expensive charger. I bent pin and you are in a world of hurt on the charger, if you bend a pin on these boards it's a simple replacement. I highly suggest to get one.
Also a lot easier to plug in the balance plugs especially if you want to charge 2S or 3S batteries. I always have a 4S and 6S extension plugged into mine for my ease of use. Easy to swap between 4S and 6S charging plus i need the extra length for my charging setup.

If you are ordering from SMC, get the added cables and the balance boards, you can't make them any cheaper yourself. You will thank yourself a couple charges into it. Any other extensions you can get from amazon etc.
20200522_190301.jpg
 
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jkflow said:
As @Bearcats stated it's a simple 'port expander' but it does makes life a little easier and protects your expensive charger. 1 bent pin and you are in a world of hurt on the charger, if you bend a pin on these boards it's a simple replacement. I highly suggest to get one.
Also a lot easier to plug in the balance plugs especially if you want to charge 2S or 3S batteries. I always have a 4S and 6S extension plugged into mine for my ease of use. Easy to swap between 4S and 6S charging plus i need the extra length for my charging setup.

If you are ordering from SMC, get the added cables and the balance boards, you can't make them any cheaper yourself. You will thank yourself a couple chargers into it. Any other extensions you can get from amazon etc.
Click to expand...

I was hoping you would reply. I picked up two nice pieces of info from your reply. Thanks so much! It made my decision for 124 to 134 a piece of cake.
 
Bearcats said:
I read a few pages back that if you are going 6s you would need 111 watts per battery at 5amps. Is there a properly built charger that would do that plugged into the wall? The D6 only goes to 200Watts. This will be my first foray into LiPo and I want something with capacity and safety in mind.
Click to expand...
A 24volt/400watt Power supply makes the D6 shine!!!!
I can charge 2 6500mAh lipos from 3.8v to 4.2v in under 40 min. Each lipo draws 148 watts at 6.5 amps. Only an external PSU(24v) can accomplish that. The D6 charger probably has the best firmware available right now, but needs 24v/ 400w to get the job done. Do it the $correct$ way. Stand alone chargers with built in PS just don't cut it with large capacity lipos. IMHO.
:cool:
 
SrC said:
A 24volt/400watt Power supply makes the D6 shine!!!!
I can charge 2 6500mAh lipos from 3.8v to 4.2v in under 40 min. Each lipo draws 148 watts at 6.5 amps. Only an external PSU(24v) can accomplish that. The D6 charger probably has the best firmware available right now, but needs 24v/ 400w to get the job done. Do it the $correct$ way. Stand alone chargers with built in PS just don't cut it with large capacity lipos. IMHO.
:cool:
Click to expand...
Can confirm. My Power Lab 6 absolutely kicks with a 24V PSU.
 
This has been my upgrade proof setup. Cellpro Powerlab 8x2 charger, FMA bump controller (awesome!), chargery s1200 power supply, fma mpa parallel boards, Liposack. May eventually add a second power supply to get the full potential out of this beastly charger. Pricey setup, but I've been extremely pleased with it.
20200529_062532.jpg
 
Vedak said:
This has been my upgrade proof setup. Cellpro Powerlab 8x2 charger, FMA bump controller (awesome!), chargery s1200 power supply, fma mpa parallel boards, Liposack. May eventually add a second power supply to get the full potential out of this beastly charger. Pricey setup, but I've been extremely pleased with it. View attachment 83123
Click to expand...
That's quite a setup! Got to be near $900+ with 2 PSU's. Around $700+ with just the one.

If your going to do it, do it once and do it right!
2019-1012-ChargeAllTheThings.png
 
olds97_lss said:
That's quite a setup! Got to be near $900+ with 2 PSU's. Around $700+ with just the one.

If your going to do it, do it once and do it right!
Click to expand...
Haha yes, at some point I was using 3-4 chargers at once that totaled maybe $90. They weren't cutting it, and had numerous issues. Including sketchy wiring. My tax return had just come in right at the peak of my frustration. So I figured buy for the last time.

At 1344 watts capable per channel, the new charger should be pretty capable for a while.
 
Yes, tried that app and not worth it imho. Has some good ideas i.e barcode per cell and automatically configure but definitely missing some tlc.
tried to make it work for ~ 30min, got it to work and used it maybe once or twice but easier to do it all by hand.
I like the charger, app not so much but I knew that ahead of time.
 
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I was also fiddling with the app yesterday for the D6+ for a few hours, and didn't have any luck. Shame, the app could make it that much nicer of a deal. Really is an awesome charger in a small form. Charged up my lipos quickly!
 
Have been having problems with my Hitec Powerpeak D7 lately... thought it was my packs being old, but after cycling a brand new set of CNHL 5000mah 3S packs to try, I ended up with cells ranging from 4.09-4.21 within the same pack for a full charge and 3.7-3.9 for "storage"... I was getting similar results single and parallel charging my HRB 5000mah 3S, Hobbystar 6200mah 3S packs and SMC 7400mah 3S packs.

Just to test it, I put the CNHL packs on my 4x100 dynamite charger, fully charged, came out with 4.19-4.20 in the packs, discharged to 3.4V, storage charged and ended with 3.84-3.85. I assume .01v is good enough, but .1-.2V seemed like a lot and I was getting horrible run times because of it.

I just ordered a 24V 70A PSU... kind of knee jerked on that purchase:
http://lipoconnectionsolutions.com/Dell-24v-71A-1740w-Power-Supply-4mm-Bullet-Output-D2417404MM.htm

Figured for now I'll see what my isd6 q6 pro does with it, then skim through this thread to see what a decent dc charger is.

Will probably find out that my SMC 7400mah packs that I thought were old/dying were only getting improperly charged on the D7 as I always charged those on that charger since it was more capable power wise.

Here I thought I was going to be able to get a new truck after selling my savage x... and I end up having to buy stupid chargers. :(
 

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