What Lipo Charger to use?
 

What kind of charger are you guys using to charge your Lipo packs. I've seen a lot of charger but I'm mainly looking for charger that can safely charge your lipo packs and balance/matched it at the same time and cost less.

Can you guys list some charger and their prices.

Much More Cellmaster

Team Orion Advantage

probably not cheap either of them.... :(

If you think the Much more Cell master or the Orion Advantage is expensive, you can get Duratrax's ICE charger. Just as good for charging LiPo...

Take a look at the Pro-trak charger-

I bought mine 7 years ago, I have just updated for the 2nd time (for a nominal sum) to now handle Li-Pos. How many other chargers can you say that about. It will do everthing you require and more with the accessories available.

Second hand units sometimes become available - but are snapped up like gold dust - and go for a good price (something to think about if you want to sell it later).

Try them at: http://www.pro-trak.co.uk/

Phil, who is Pro-Trak has been making chargers for many years, and what he doesnt know about batteries/charging isn't worth knowing as you'll see on his site.

Meeting your requirements are the

FMA Cell Pro
http://www.fmadirect.com/detail.htm?...116&section=45
$60

DN Power
http://www.xushobby.com/servlet/Detail?no=168
$80

as of now perfectly happy with my Orion avionics advandced... $100 well spent, also charges NiMH at 5A... tiny, robust package. Treats my 4800mAh very well so far.

I have the duratrax ICE and the Multiplex LN-5014. You can find both of them on Tower. The orion avionics is "exactly" ;) the same as the multiplex or the ripmax and so on...

The Multiplex and Ripmax are made by a different manufacturers then ours.

Our Avionics Flight Charger is made by the same supplier that makes our Advantage Advanced Charger which took the past two IFMAR World TC Champs to victory.

I personally ( but I am biased) thing the Advantage Flight Charger:
http://www.teamorion-avionics.com/Ad...Flight+Charger
Is the best all around charger out there and can be found for about $60-70 if you look around.

Features:
• Capable of charging and Discharging:
- NiCD/Ni-MH 1-14 cells
- Li-Io or Li-Po 1-5 cells
- lead acid (Pb) batteries 1-6 [2V per cell]
• Adjustable charge current (0.1A-5.0A)
• Adjustable discharge current (0.1A-1.0A)
• “Zero Delta V” peak detection for NiCd and Ni-MH batteries
• “Constant current/discharge voltage” charge method for lithium-Ion/Po and Pb batteries.
• Compact & portable size
• Cycling (Charge to Discharge / Discharge to Charge)
• 2 line, 16 character blue backlit LCD Screen
• Button control - “Surface panel type”
• Warning sytems prevents improper voltage
• Super durable aluminum case

i believe the cellmaster's "lipo profile" current is not high enough to charge most lipos?

I was wondering can older integy chargers be sent in for an update ? say a 6x7v5 ?

That's correct... the Cell Master has a 1 amp lipo charge limit. It's okay to charge lipo tx/rx packs or some micro packs, but that's about it. Couple that with how loud they are (not a performance issue.. just annoying) and it's a pretty poor lipo charger but is great for nimh packs. We've been using the Orion Avionics Advanced Flight Charger mentioned above with good results. I haven't used it with nimh packs so I can't comment on how capable it is in those regards, but it's been great with the lipo's. The only drawback with that specific Orion charger is that it has a five amp charge limit. If you stick with recommended charge ratings it's good for most lipo packs out there... if you're ever in a hurry to charge a pack or are one of the people that charge over the 1C limit for packs like the Orion 4800's you'll be SOL. It's small, quiet, does most things you'll need a lipo charger to do, and the price is right. Doesn't have the balancing feature mentioned in the original post, however. Also doesn't have charge profiles, but it's not difficult to change the charge rate manually and for the price it's still a good value.

Thanks guys for all the info....

that's why I said "exactly" ;) :rolleyes: but thank you for clarifying my doubt. Nevertheless, the menus look pretty much the same.... :confused:

I have the FMA Cell Pro and I am really happy with it.
Just an FYI, they also have this charger: Scorpion 2s Charger