LIPO CHARGERS W/ ADJUSTABLE VOLTAGE CUTOFF
 

Can users advise please on which lipo chargers have user adjustable cutoff voltage for the charging cycle? For the more serious races where the battery voltage is checked as a part of the tech inspection, it is important to have a charger that allows the racer to set the desired full charge voltage and cut-off point for the charging cycle. It would be helpful if guys would post info on the brand of charger that they are currently using, whether or not that model of charger has a user adjustable cutoff voltage setting, its maximium charging rate, and its maximum discharge rate.

The answer to all the questions is "yes."

http://www.progressiverc.com/icharger-4010duo.html

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Thunder Power 820CD
Adjustable Cutoff up to 4.24 per cell
Charge - 20A per side
Discharge - max of 10A/50W

Even though your main point if about adjustable cutoff - know that what the charger thinks is 4.20 may be different as to what the meter used by tech thinks 4.20 is. Two identical chargers may be different as well.

I set my TP at 4.22 and it comes out at 4.20 per cell. So there is a little experimentation that goes on.

While looking for a charger .. adjustable cutoff is a Must for big events, however my next want is a user calibration feature. This would allow me to adjust the charger to something baseline or would allow me to calibrate to the meter being used by tech.

That is one feature missing in the TP, but Syndrome's iCharger I believe has that feature. I've seen his in person and it is pretty cool (smaller than what you might think).

Yep, it supports user calibration. We've had to bump the end voltage slightly to get the chargers closer to 4.2/cell. I think I've got mine set to 4.21 now and the packs come off around 8.39.

I read once that it's hard for chargers to be extremely accurate without external leads (like the GFX.) I don't know if that's true or not, but the GFX is definitely the most accurate charger I've used. It would be nice if the rumors about CE releasing something new were true.

My ichargers 106b, 208b and 4010duo. All do calibration and on the fly adjustment, i have had to calibrate the 106 and the 208b , but the 4010 was dead on. At bigger races where we get teched i can bring it up to the officials meter's reading.

The lrp touch and the powerlab 6 also do the same thing. I dont have experience with any others.

Powerlab 6 or 8 kick ass too. They will peak to almost anything you set them at. You use the balance connection similar to the GFX or Turbo 35s voltage sensing leads. Very accurate and 40A charge available.

I'm not knocking any of the chargers mentioned ..

IMO, if your paying near or over $200 for a new charger, it better have dual ports, and each of those ports should be capable of charging at the max.

The GFX is the only exception to this becasue it can straight up discharge at 35A, without any tricks (external battery, etc.)

I've seen some dual chargers capable of 20A on one side and like 6A on the other, not a fan of that.

Are you talking about calibration for peak voltage or actual adjustable cut-off? Most of the inexpensive chargers have a type of calibration available (including my HiTec X4), but finding the method involved a web search. It was fairly straight forward but there wasn't a lot of adjustment available.

Now if you want to adjust when the charger stops charging and adjust what the peak value is, Hyperion chargers will do that. I can set the level to whatever I want for the intermediate (forgot the actual term) and the final level. I can then set whether to continue or stop at the lower level. It makes it nice because I can charge to below full prior to going to the track and top off there.

GT Power X6 LiPo Pro Charger 7amp Variable cutoff voltage + Graph £40 and has really out performed its price. Only downside is the 5watt limit on the discharge.

Charger
 

Looks dialed!:nod:

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://w..._nL9VI3P770fuQ

With updated GFX charger still bringing $250+, I don't understand why they haven't re-released the GFX or created a new model. $400+ would be a narrow market, if they could get into the 2-250 range I think they would continue dominate.

Calibration Feature - the reading the charger gives for a packs voltage as compared to what a meter will say and the ability to eliminate the descrepency between the two.

Example - Assuming a meter is professionally calibrated. I set the TP to charge at 4.20 per cell .. at full charge on a meter it registers 4.38. My charger is off obviously by 0.02 - I'd like to calibrate it so when I say 4.20 it cuts off at 4.20.

Other wise, I have to go to the next level of 4.21 as a cutoff and see if that comes off at 4.20, if not .. repeat the process untill I find some value of the cutoff works for the target voltage.

After trial and error, for my charger, 4.22 cutoff means 4.20.

$350 chargers sell just fine. CE should target all markets, especially the flight crowd, they take their chargers very seriously. We're small time compared to the power they sling around.