Recommend me a battery charger

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I don't know a whole lot about battery chargers but there is something to consider when buying a charger that I have not seen in this thread . I bought a Venom Produo charger and am happy with it except that after having it a few weeks the backlight stopped working. The charger works fine but it is a pain in dim light because I have to use a flashlight to see the display. I talked to the LHS that I bought it from and told them I didn't really want to try to return it because I had to alter a few of the wires to get the plugs the way I wanted them. They told me that Viper handles all their warranty claims and to contact them but not to worry they are very good to their customers. I was concerned because I don't want to go without a charger if I had to send it in for repair. I contacted Viper and they told me they are very sorry I had a problem and will send a new charger out to me right away and it is up to me to dispose of the old one. Now I'm sure they realize I'm not going to throw out a $100 charger because the LED went out in it. The point is after reading 8 pages of this thread we can determine that it is a very good charger for the price, but the customer service is amazing. This is the difference between a good company and a great one. Venom will continue to get my business when I can and I will recommend them to anyone who asks. This is the kind of thing we should keep in mind when making purchases. Not all companies would have done that.
 
If I was you I would scrounge the forums and Facebook groups to see if anyone has one of those chargers that you could use for parts to get yourself a new screen for the one charger.
 
The screen is fine. It is just the back light that is out. Probably just an LED bulb
The backlight is usually built into the screen. It's almost always easier to replace the entire screen than to try and replace the leds.
 
I don't know a whole lot about battery chargers but there is something to consider when buying a charger that I have not seen in this thread . I bought a Venom Produo charger and am happy with it except that after having it a few weeks the backlight stopped working. The charger works fine but it is a pain in dim light because I have to use a flashlight to see the display. I talked to the LHS that I bought it from and told them I didn't really want to try to return it because I had to alter a few of the wires to get the plugs the way I wanted them. They told me that Viper handles all their warranty claims and to contact them but not to worry they are very good to their customers. I was concerned because I don't want to go without a charger if I had to send it in for repair. I contacted Viper and they told me they are very sorry I had a problem and will send a new charger out to me right away and it is up to me to dispose of the old one. Now I'm sure they realize I'm not going to throw out a $100 charger because the LED went out in it. The point is after reading 8 pages of this thread we can determine that it is a very good charger for the price, but the customer service is amazing. This is the difference between a good company and a great one. Venom will continue to get my business when I can and I will recommend them to anyone who asks. This is the kind of thing we should keep in mind when making purchases. Not all companies would have done that.

Great post, and a great point.

I talk down the PSD charger I had, but Horizon is great to work with. The charger was 18 months old, and they replaced it no questions asked - although I did have to send it in. Having a good company backing you up with good CS is very nice. But - they still need to offer the products we need. I don't want to need to buy a sub-standard spec'ed item just to support a company I like. :confused:
 
I'm loving this new setup.

SMC 12 volt / 900 watt / 75 amp Power Supply
https://www.ebay.com/itm/RC-Power-S...Amp-DC-900w-/172175901238?txnId=1914975302007

ISDT 6Q Plus 300 watt 14 amp smart charger
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ISDT-Q6-Pl...e-LiHv-NIMH-/132237288537?txnId=1512892457003

Venom 6s 5000mah 50c charged from storage to balance charged in 38 minutes @ 1C

Total cost: $126.53 plus misc. soldering/wiring/connectors

View attachment 22737
You know what I just noticed... You don't have an Arrma Forum decals on that power supply! :eek:
 
Found a potential wattage issue this morning with this power supply/charger combo.

I had about 45 minutes to try and get a quick run in before heading off to work, so I threw a Venom 6s 50c 5000mah battery on the Q6 and, for the 1st time with this setup, attempted a 2c charge (10A). I always charge 1C but figured what the heck, the max charge according to Venom is 5C for this battery so 2C will be fine given my time restraints.

Plugged the battery in, set the amperage to 10 and pressed start. The most amperage I got out of the Q6 was 7.2A (189watts from the PS) at a fixed input voltage of 12.3volts. Still charged the battery (fast charge) from 3.80 to 4.19 in about 20 minutes and got my run in, but it got me thinking and doing a little research this morning on why it wouldn't hit the 10A target.

You guys throw in your 2 cents on this if I'm off, but it looks like the power supply delivering just over 12 volts to the charger keeps the Q6 from being able to show its full power potential. The iSDT Q6 Plus requires Input Voltage between 7-32V DC and I'm betting that the 300w 14amp output voltage for maximum power requires a power supply capable of 24v output, to max the charger out at 300w and 14A charging capability.

For me the 12 volt output on this power supply is not an issue, as I always (other than today) charge at 1C and do a full balance charge, but this could be an issue for someone else looking for 2C+ capabilities with big mah 6s batteries.
 
Hey buddy let me help you with that..

Every power supply has an efficiency rating which is normally 80% (10A comes in to send out 8A)
And then the Charger itself will have an efficiency loss of probably the same 20% loss. (receives 10A and a loss of 20%~ nets 8A)

So it seems you have a loss of about 26% efficiency loss from the charger. you have about 74% efficiency

you will need to set it to put out more watts to get your desired of output due to efficiency loss, Your PSU is working just fine, but you did not account for this loss so it is putting out what its supposed to your just losing it.

Now these measurements are normally done of the totally wattage but I am explaining it in Amps just to make it easy

I would turn up the voltage and Amps to see what you get

You can tell how much loss there is because chargers get so hot, that is the efficiency loss heating up the equipment for the conversion. if there wasn't so much loss the charger would not get so hot.

The Charger IS a power supply, it just has more features. So your feeding a power supply with another power supply.

A power supply converts and provides power, which both devices do that
 
Last edited:
Found a potential wattage issue this morning with this power supply/charger combo.
I had about 45 minutes to try and get a quick run in before heading off to work, so I threw a Venom 6s 50c 5000mah battery on the Q6 and, for the 1st time with this setup, attempted a 2c charge (10A). I always charge 1C but figured what the heck, the max charge according to Venom is 5C for this battery so 2C will be fine given my time restraints.
Plugged the battery in, set the amperage to 10 and pressed start. The most amperage I got out of the Q6 was 7.2A (189watts from the PS) at a fixed input voltage of 12.3volts. Still charged the battery (fast charge) from 3.80 to 4.19 in about 20 minutes and got my run in, but it got me thinking and doing a little research this morning on why it wouldn't hit the 10A target.
You guys throw in your 2 cents on this if I'm off, but it looks like the power supply delivering just over 12 volts to the charger keeps the Q6 from being able to show its full power potential. The iSDT Q6 Plus requires Input Voltage between 7-32V DC and I'm betting that the 300w 14amp output voltage for maximum power requires a power supply capable of 24v output, to max the charger out at 300w and 14A charging capability.
For me the 12 volt output on this power supply is not an issue, as I always (other than today) charge at 1C and do a full balance charge, but this could be an issue for someone else looking for 2C+ capabilities with big mah 6s batteries.
I'm wondering if the charger isn't limited to 200 watts when being supplied with less than 18 volts. That is very common with DC chargers to require more than 18 volts to get the full power of the charger. I looked through the manual for your charger and it didn't say anything about it, but I know that it is very common.
 
I'm wondering if the charger isn't limited to 200 watts when being supplied with less than 18 volts. That is very common with DC chargers to require more than 18 volts to get the full power of the charger. I looked through the manual for your charger and it didn't say anything about it, but I know that it is very common.
I noticed that as well when I was looking at higher wattage chargers. Without an 18V+ PSU, your throttled regardless what the charger is capable of.
 
I noticed that as well when I was looking at higher wattage chargers. Without an 18V+ PSU, your throttled regardless what the charger is capable of.
Yeah I noticed that too. The only one that I found that I could get the full power at 12 volts was the Hitec X2 700, so that is the one that I went with. I can get the full 700 watts out of each channel with a 12 volt power supply.
 
Ya'll are gonna make me go test my Reaktor... Now I gotta see if the Reaktor is also limited by the 12v. LOL...

I often charge at 10a-12a, but on 4s that is still only about 175w, I think. Next time I que up one of my SMC's, I'll hit it with 20a (charger max) and see what happens... :) That should start at about 275w and tail up north of the chargers 300w max before they are done.
 
Found a potential wattage issue this morning with this power supply/charger combo.

I had about 45 minutes to try and get a quick run in before heading off to work, so I threw a Venom 6s 50c 5000mah battery on the Q6 and, for the 1st time with this setup, attempted a 2c charge (10A). I always charge 1C but figured what the heck, the max charge according to Venom is 5C for this battery so 2C will be fine given my time restraints.

Plugged the battery in, set the amperage to 10 and pressed start. The most amperage I got out of the Q6 was 7.2A (189watts from the PS) at a fixed input voltage of 12.3volts. Still charged the battery (fast charge) from 3.80 to 4.19 in about 20 minutes and got my run in, but it got me thinking and doing a little research this morning on why it wouldn't hit the 10A target.

You guys throw in your 2 cents on this if I'm off, but it looks like the power supply delivering just over 12 volts to the charger keeps the Q6 from being able to show its full power potential. The iSDT Q6 Plus requires Input Voltage between 7-32V DC and I'm betting that the 300w 14amp output voltage for maximum power requires a power supply capable of 24v output, to max the charger out at 300w and 14A charging capability.

For me the 12 volt output on this power supply is not an issue, as I always (other than today) charge at 1C and do a full balance charge, but this could be an issue for someone else looking for 2C+ capabilities with big mah 6s batteries.
I wonder if a possible solution would be going with something like this 24v 920 watt power supply setup.
 
Ya'll are gonna make me go test my Reaktor... Now I gotta see if the Reaktor is also limited by the 12v. LOL...

I often charge at 10a-12a, but on 4s that is still only about 175w, I think. Next time I que up one of my SMC's, I'll hit it with 20a (charger max) and see what happens... :) That should start at about 275w and tail up north of the chargers 300w max before they are done.
Do it! Let us know what you find out.
 
Ya'll are gonna make me go test my Reaktor... Now I gotta see if the Reaktor is also limited by the 12v. LOL...

I often charge at 10a-12a, but on 4s that is still only about 175w, I think. Next time I que up one of my SMC's, I'll hit it with 20a (charger max) and see what happens... :) That should start at about 275w and tail up north of the chargers 300w max before they are done.
Pretty sure it is limited at 12V. Can't recall what, but I was looking at the reaktor 4x300 as my next step up and came across that. Then I wasn't sure what PSU you could use to run it at capacity. 18V+ 1200W/80A minimum I'm guessing.
 
Found a potential wattage issue this morning with this power supply/charger combo.

I had about 45 minutes to try and get a quick run in before heading off to work, so I threw a Venom 6s 50c 5000mah battery on the Q6 and, for the 1st time with this setup, attempted a 2c charge (10A). I always charge 1C but figured what the heck, the max charge according to Venom is 5C for this battery so 2C will be fine given my time restraints.

Plugged the battery in, set the amperage to 10 and pressed start. The most amperage I got out of the Q6 was 7.2A (189watts from the PS) at a fixed input voltage of 12.3volts. Still charged the battery (fast charge) from 3.80 to 4.19 in about 20 minutes and got my run in, but it got me thinking and doing a little research this morning on why it wouldn't hit the 10A target.

You guys throw in your 2 cents on this if I'm off, but it looks like the power supply delivering just over 12 volts to the charger keeps the Q6 from being able to show its full power potential. The iSDT Q6 Plus requires Input Voltage between 7-32V DC and I'm betting that the 300w 14amp output voltage for maximum power requires a power supply capable of 24v output, to max the charger out at 300w and 14A charging capability.

For me the 12 volt output on this power supply is not an issue, as I always (other than today) charge at 1C and do a full balance charge, but this could be an issue for someone else looking for 2C+ capabilities with big mah 6s batteries.

Could be a bad/faulty psu causing this issue.

With my 900w 75a 12v psu I have had my Hitec X2 400 with both channels at 15a(372w) plus my Thunder AC680 charging at 6a(50w) and both held steady at their respective amperage.
 
Last edited:
I can do that with my psu, and both chargers.
The stickers are too big for the chargers, at least not without covering up the labels anyway. But it fit nicely on my PSU.
PnY2agUh.jpg
 
Back
Top