What charger to get?
 

So have owned several chargers. All of which I sold and regretted it. I am selling my icharger 4010, because it is just way over kill. All i really need is a reliable charge that can do 8-10amp charges.

The ones I have had in the past and really liked are

1) TP610 - simple small and issue free
2) 0720 inet AD - AC/DC will do 10amp internal or 20amps external. great pc software, checks IR, but I had a few minor issues. One was a broken balance cable from the charger to the board. why does that mater? Well replacement cables are hell to find.
3)iCharger 106b. Small, Checks IR, 10amp charge, accurate, but the main button would become a problem after a while. several of these seem to have this happen. some guys clean the area under the buttons and the issue does away, but it requires a disasembly.


My leading thought, is the 730int DC charger. same as the 0720i, but will do 550 watt charge and its only $99 new. For the price its pretty much unbeatable. But i have a feeling hyperion is getting out of the charger game. Hardly any in stock anywhere

I have the Tp820 now and sold my buddy my Tp610. My old 610 must be going on 5 years old now and still going strong. If i were you Id get another 610. Great little charger.

I think you're making a serious downgrade IMHO.

Oh I know I am. I am try to shrink down how much stuff I lug around. A 0720i ac/dc would give me the most with the smallest foot print. I qm not fast enough to really n3ed a 300 charger. All I need is a small foot print 10 amp setup that is of good quality. I was planning to get into ebuggy and that is why I got the 4010. But that is not going to happen. I think the biggest bang for the buck is the 730i. It offers the most in the price range and hyperions are very good chargers and feature packed.

im looking for a charger to but do not need anything huge or pain to carry around. Id like to have a AC/DC charger that is super small. Im assuming the 0720i ac/dc is the smallest?

so what is it about the 4010 that I would need over the 106b+ for club race charging? I run 1 class and my kid runs novice. So I only need to charge 2 packs per hour. The 106b+ is known to be one of the most accurate chargers for balancing. It does IR, 10amps and its extremely easy to get new balance leads if needed. The ONLY downside to the 106b+ is the button that eventually starts being stubborn. The most trouble free charger I have owned is the tp610. It does not do IR, but charges and balances just as fast as the 106b and i have verified that its balances very accurately. I know guys that use the 4010 to the most of its abilities, but I am not willing to do the 40amp charge discharge stuff anymore. It was killing packs. I disliked getting my packs to 118 deg and watching the swell. And puffed packs dont fit in my b5 very good at all with a CF battery strap. I know I am down grading. And if I ever need the features of the 4010 again, I will probably just get a 406 since its smaller.

small? the 0720i AC/DC is NOT super small. But its the best ac/dc 10+ amp charger in its price range. Most of the AC/DC chargers are crap. If you just want do 5amps and are on a budget. The iMax b6 "GENUINE" chargers are pretty decent. There are clones out there, so you need to be careful. But if you want a 10amp 2S 150 watt AC/DC charger, the 0720inet 3 AD is very good.

What makes the 4010 better? A couple of reasons:

1. Only dual charger that can do high amperage on both channels (assuming you get a powerful enough power supply)
2. Updates. The charger is continuously refined/updated. Check RCgroups.com forum for the latest.
3. Batteries are not going down in overall Mah. You won't have to keep buying chargers as batteries expand to 10,000mah+ (someday, hopefully (?) in the future)
4. Running more than one class is much easier to do with two channels.

I don't even know why you attempted such high charging rates, a 2-3c charge rates are sufficient for most racing. Others may disagree, but that's been my experience. You might as well run mod if you're looking for that extra punch.

I'm not sure how long you have been in RC, but I look at the 4010/PL8 as being like the old Competition Electronics Turbo 35 series chargers. You certainly don't need the power, but isn't it nice to have when you need it? Kind of like having a 4wd truck, you may not need 4wd all the time, but the one time your on the trail and you need it....

For those reasons, I think your doing yourself a disservice by buying a less powerful charger. That's IMHO, nothing more.

But do what you want man, it's a free country. :)

FWIW, If you ever want to discharge any Lipo, just buy the RMS Dumper. I have been testing it over the last few months, and it is very good for what it does. I hope to have a review on it in the near future.

I can tell you what not to buy.. But you already know that..

But I am excited about my upgrade!

yeah, I would not buy what you had. I saw way too many issues with those.

yeah, I had a PL6 also, but I really didnt like it. It was toooooo safe. Sometimes it refused to charge my packs sometimes. I liked the iCharger 4010. I dont really have a bad thing to say about it. And I get what your saying. But, hyperion has also kept their software up to date and the 106b is also USB and kept up to date with fixes. The TP610, cant do that. IMO hyperion, PL and iChargers are tops. I just dont wanna lug it around :)


That dumper is nice....and expensive.

ok, after flip flopping about 100 times...I am going to go with the 730i. The 550watts, IR checking, 80watt discharging and PC software, make this the best charger for $99 IMO.

:lol:

I personally would have gone for a 308 or 406, myself. :) I believe the ichargers charge faster and are more accurate in their IR numbers. I agree with budda though, it seems like you are just wasting more money buying another charger when you already had something that suited your current needs and maybe future needs. Good luck!

waste money? That is the hobby I am in, lol. I waste money weekly on this hobby, lol.

Maybe you should stop worrying about things like chargers and and improve other things. Like driving or motor tuning, perhaps. ;)