Which Lipo Charger? Turnigy or Hobby King

GiantEV

GiantEV

100 W
Joined
Sep 21, 2008
Messages
195
Location
Albuquerque, NM, USA
you have to buy the power supply too. seems like it would be better and cheaper to buy a 12S BMS and use a regular 400W 50V bulk charger.

then you would have protection for the battery and it would charge about 8X as fast. for less money.
 
999zip999 said:
How about a thunder 12S charger.
Click to expand...

With this charger I would have to run the 4 packs in pairs in parallel when I charge, correct?

Since I am planning on charging daily I was planning on building a wire harness that goes into one connector that I could use for both charging and for monitoring all of the cells while I'm riding.
 
I've got a Hyperion 1420i 14s charger. If I were buying today, I'd get this one.
http://www.hobbypartz.com/75p-1220-charger.html?gclid=CNa3z9_N57ICFayPPAod10MAPw
It will balance charge up to a 12s pack, which is what you will have.
 
I don't know about the 400w model, but the 200w quad charged had a horrible reputation.

I'd much rather have 4 separate 100w chargers, than a quad.

The thunder 12 charger is sounding good, if you are running 12s.

If you really want to charge easy, get a lifepo4 pack with a bms.
 
For 12S the Thunder is cheaper than the Hyperion and much less "fussy" to set up.
otherDoc
 
i had one QUATTRO charger some time ago. sold them to a friend, who is quite happy with it. i didn't like taking the pack apart all the time. all this fizzling with plugs leads to problems, especially when you do it once or twice a day. plugs get loose over time, and with routine comes lazyness. i suggest getting a 12s charger and permanently parallel 2x of the packs. so all you need to do is attach 2x balance plugs and main port, and you are set. nothing to do wrong, fast and convinient.
or get a bms and a bulk charger. but i like the 12s charger idea better. a bms adds more complexity.
 
Some people are enjoying the B168 charger that charges thru the Sense wires (Balance leads).

Mine is on the way! I'm looking forward to it. Here is a great topic:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=41107&hilit=bc168


Tommy L sends.....
mosh.gif
 
it just seems like the risk of having to handle, unplug, replug, and unplug, and replug the balance harnesses into the parallel series harnesses all the time would lead to the leads breaking off on a regular basis.

plus this is charging at .1C with this little charger but if you had a regular bulk charger you could be charging at 1-2C with less cost for the charger and if you got one of these BMSs from bestekpower that agnius found then you would have protection for the battery from accidentally shorting the output or from accidentally leaving the pack connected to the load and over discharging.

the lipo stay so well balanced they don't need the long time balancing like the lifepo4 and if you had a BMS on the pack then you could put a switch in the circuit current to turn off the pack when you are handling it, or plugging it into the controller so you would not have the spark problem when connecting to the controller.

i wish there was someone who could do the data com hack on this one and do a thread on it showing how the LCD display could be used to monitor the health of the battery. it has a self discharge rate monitor which seems like it would be an ideal indicator of battery problems and it has a thermal breaker to stop charging when the pack overheats and it also has a thermistor to monitor pack temperature during use. i think you can order it with the 15S and maybe even add some shunt resistors to increase the current capacity and then hack the output mosfets with something larger but it would be 15S lipo so the 62V would work with the regular 36-48V controllers and you could charge with a regular 48V lifepo4 charger adjust up a little to the 62V: http://www.bestekpower.com/fuelgasgauge/BMS-D141.html

or this one for 24S lipo which is rated 80A which seems conservative: http://www.bestekpower.com/888v24spcmbmspcbforli-ionli-polymerbatterypack/PCM-D131.html

sacko just bot one delivered for $73 so i thought it was a deal too. cheaper than the signalab from ping or from BMS battery.
 
dnmun said:
it just seems like the risk of having to handle, unplug, replug, and unplug, and replug the balance harnesses into the parallel series harnesses all the time would lead to the leads breaking off on a regular basis.

plus this is charging at .1C with this little charger but if you had a regular bulk charger you could be charging at 1-2C with less cost for the charger and if you got one of these BMSs from bestekpower that agnius found then you would have protection for the battery from accidentally shorting the output or from accidentally leaving the pack connected to the load and over discharging.

the lipo stay so well balanced they don't need the long time balancing like the lifepo4 and if you had a BMS on the pack then you could put a switch in the circuit current to turn off the pack when you are handling it, or plugging it into the controller so you would not have the spark problem when connecting to the controller.

i wish there was someone who could do the data com hack on this one and do a thread on it showing how the LCD display could be used to monitor the health of the battery. it has a self discharge rate monitor which seems like it would be an ideal indicator of battery problems and it has a thermal breaker to stop charging when the pack overheats and it also has a thermistor to monitor pack temperature during use. i think you can order it with the 15S and maybe even add some shunt resistors to increase the current capacity and then hack the output mosfets with something larger but it would be 15S lipo so the 62V would work with the regular 36-48V controllers and you could charge with a regular 48V lifepo4 charger adjust up a little to the 62V: http://www.bestekpower.com/fuelgasgauge/BMS-D141.html

or this one for 24S lipo which is rated 80A which seems conservative: http://www.bestekpower.com/888v24spcmbmspcbforli-ionli-polymerbatterypack/PCM-D131.html

sacko just bot one delivered for $73 so i thought it was a deal too. che.aper than the signalab from ping or the same from BMS battery
Click to expand...

Hi dnmun!

I should try one. I bulk charge without one, but I have to watch if a cell group tops up faster than another. If so, and charge current is too high, then my Battery Medics can't bleed off enough current. So I stop charging and then I let the medics bring the topped off cells down, then I go back to bulk charge again. Yes, it's a pain! So I must try a BMS.
David has a thread here. He is developing yet another BMS :)
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=48961

The B168 is 8amp capable per channel. I can bulk charge, then when I see a cell climb up to 3.6v and the others are behind, I can slam on the B168 charger and finish up :)
Many ways to skin the cat. I also have individual supper mini bms that have two power resistors, IC, and transistor that kick in a 3.7v and bleed off the rest. I use them in my motorcycle start battery that is 4S2P Headways 16ah @ 12.8v nom.
Keeps the cells from over charging. If I use these on a bigger pack like 12S, I'd have to make sure the charge voltage is correct because the 3.7v upper limit of the tiny bms's would have the bulk charger shut down too soon.
4402268.jpg
 
i figured that if you set the charger to 100V then the 24S would balance at 4.15V and if there was one cell that got to the 4.2V level early then the BMS would shut off and force that cell down until the others can catch up. the 80mA balncing current is not much, but the lipo does seem to be able to stay in balance better than the lifepo4 so i figured it would easy to deal with.

but i have now ruined two batteries by accidentally over discharging them and i am the guy always harping on and on about it too. so i figure it will happen to someone else too so to me that would be the best part of using a hi current BMS like this. and it is so f..king cheap. $73 delivered! for 24S!!!
 
I second bc168 charger. I got one in the mail to arrived ins week or two. :lol:

I have a justanothercharger right now and it seems to be low quality, works yes for a while... Solder - inside the charger acdc because it sparked... Then the other input for acdc current melted so it works but is painful to use. Even the b6s must be same board layout and perhaps same problems...hmmm
 
leffex said:
I second bc168 charger. I got one in the mail to arrived ins week or two. :lol:

I have a justanothercharger right now and it seems to be low quality, works yes for a while... Solder - inside the charger acdc because it sparked... Then the other input for acdc current melted so it works but is painful to use. Even the b6s must be same board layout and perhaps same problems...hmmm
Click to expand...


I just received my B168 Charger yesterday! Only took 7 business days to get here. I preformed a quick test last night.
Works great! :)
upto 8amps per channel :)

Tommy L sends.....
mosh.gif
 
izeman said:
yep. get two of them and you'll be happy :) just take a power supply strong enough. i would recommend 500w+
Click to expand...

Actually bought 3. lol but one is for a friend :(
So 2 is still good! lol :)

I purchased 3 HP Server 575 Watt Power Supplies to run them. I hear they work great :wink:

Tommy L sends......
mosh.gif
 
OP, if you are only running 12S/2P, the Thunder 1220 is all you need.
They go on sale every now and then, I got mind for $89 shipped.
For a power supply, a sever power supply off the net for about $20 shipped. Since it's only one power supply, the isolation mods aren't necessary. Just wrap it in foam and duct tape(it's housing is hot!).
I like the battery medics for the ocassional balance, get the blue ones the do .05 volt increments, EP buddy or the net.
Every thing for around $150
I have a Hyperion 1420i too, but I prefer this system for it's ease of use.

Here's a some threads with a little more detail of how I wire my Lipo 12S/2P..3P...etc and my charger set-up.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=44765&p=651825&hilit=+thunder#p651825

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=48309&p=712282&hilit=+thunder#p712282

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=42370&p=619522&hilit=+thunder#p619522
 
dnmun said:
... a hi current BMS like this. and it is so f..king cheap. $73 delivered! for 24S!!!
Click to expand...

Where do you order the BMS from? These are the bestek right? I did not see any way order. Thanks.
 
My B168 Charger died on me, wow only 2 months old! and sucks! The 1st cell and 2nd cell LCD act weird like 1.7v, 3.4, rest another cell LCD showed perfect 4.17v. I ran measure the LiPo battery each cells are all fine 4.17v. Must be defective charger. Oh well!

China sucks why? I can't replacement the warranty and they don't have warranty. I prefer stick with excellent reputation like Epbuddy or Cell_Man (Paul at ev2em.com) or Ilia (ebikessf) even Grin Technology (Justin).

I am going buy best charger called iCharger 4010 Duo 2000W 40A 10S Dual Port Charger and I also have iCharger 3010B 1000 watt charger has been very reliable.
 
Thanks everyone. I ordered 4 6S 8Ah packs from HK (USA Warehouse) that should be here next week (I'm in Albuquerque, so not too far from the west coast).

The B168 charger was starting to look good, but not if people are already starting to have issues after only 2 months. I still really like the idea of charging using only the balance port.

I have a genuine (I believe) iMAX B6AC charger that I will be using for now (assuming I don't have issues with the charger like many people have). I added a HK watt meter to my order, so I can balance on there as well as on the B6AC.

I realize that if I don't bulk charge this will get old, real fast, so I'm very interested in getting a BMS. I'm going through that website but there are a bunch of options it seems. I'm interested to hear from people who are using a BMS currently. I usually ride my bike almost every day (to get to work during the week, then for fun/exercise on the weekends), so I will be charging daily most likely.
 
GiantEV said:
Thanks everyone. I ordered 4 6S 8Ah packs from HK (USA Warehouse) that should be here next week (I'm in Albuquerque, so not too far from the west coast).
Click to expand...


You have ordered RC LiCo. I have not used them yet, but Methods has made LVC/HVC boards that people
who use them appreciate them. Well worth the investment and read the posts :)
http://www.methtek.com/2011/11/12/lvchvcparallel-boards-10/

I've only used the BC168 2 times now. I like it! I hope it will last.

My 76.8v nominal pack I built has two 36v taps. I bulk charge at those two points using isolated chargers. But to be extra
safe, I only charge one Tap at a time. :) Now, after I bulk charge I can use the B168 to balance them out to near perfection.
(as long as it works! lol)

I will be trying the BMS for charging only. I prefer no bms while I ride. Just alarms to let me know if a cell has issues :)

Tommy L sends.....
mosh.gif
 
I am still interested in a BMS or at least HVC/LVC boards, but in the meantime I bought a Thunder 1220 from Hobbypartz and parallel board from ProgressiveRC. Now I just need a good power supply. Looked on eBay but didn't see any great deals for server power supplies.
 
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