Recommendations needed
 

Hi I'm looking to upgrade my single chargers to either 2 x 2 port or a quad charger preferably & get a decent power supply what would you recommend & thank you all in advance for your time & help Dan

ICHARGER 406 Duo. Fantastic charger and very accurate. I use a converted 100A server power supply.

I would like to add most of my charging equipment was purchased 15 years ago so I would like to replace some sooner rather than later as they are starting to play up

I got a quad port charger from HobbyKing about 4-5 years ago and it's been working great for me, it supports 10A per port and no complaints :)

I also converted an IBM 585W power supply I got off eBay for around $15 shipped, it took about 30 min to do the conversion, if you want more info let me know.

has anyone used this charger
G.T. Power XDRIVE-607 Balance Charger Discharger For RC Battery LiPo NiMh #X-DRIVE 607
Is it a good choice or not

Can I get more info on that charger please

This is it here:

+ YouTube Video

***EDIT... I just clicked on the link in the description to the video and the product appears to be discontinued... I'll try to look around for something comparable.

*** EDIT #2

This is probably the next best thing for the price of what is currently available that I can find 320W x 4 port @ $120 = 38¢/W
http://www.hobbypartz.com/73p-t6x4-charger.html

I've got a single port Thunder charger that is almost 7 years old and still going strong, I use it about 1-2 times a month to charge my cordless drills that have been converted from NiCd to LiPo :)

Another one to consider here to get full potential if you use a couple parallel boards to charge 2S on one port and 4S on the other port if you need to mix match classes, etc 400W x 2 port @ $110 = 28¢/W
http://viciousteknology.com/b6duo.html

Next step up is this 600W x 3 port @ $185 = 31¢/W
http://www.smc-racing.net/index.php?...product_id=458

Next step up again is this 1200W x 4 port @ $220 = 18¢/W
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turbo-ch...version-2.html <-- note this one also supports charging LiHV cells too ;)

Plenty of options, but also consider which power supply you need as well... I think a 600W combo is probably the sweet spot for reasonable pricing.

I have a 10-24v 40amp power supply I know that will handle 6+ chargers but trying to reduce the number of chargers if possible

Next step up again is this 1200W x 4 port @ $220 = 18¢/W
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turbo-ch...version-2.html <-- note this one also supports charging LiHV cells too ;)
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I'm liking this one but I'll need to have a better look later & go from there

Keep this in mind, your supply is 24V x 40A = 960W

generally this should be more than enough to meet your needs most of the time, however that charger is capable of loads up to 1200W and the rule of thumb is get a supply that is rated 25% higher to account for charger inefficiency if you plan to max out the load on a charger... so 1200W + 25% = 1500W supply needed

It's still possible to use your 960W supply provided you do the math and set your charger to the appropriate amount of current so you don't overload your supply :)

So... 960W - 25% = 720W of max load you want to set on the charger to play it safe

How much is 720W?

Let's say you're charging 4 packs each with 4S packs roughly at 5000mAh each

That's 4S x 4.2V/cell x 5Ah = 84W/pack @ 1C (or 5A per port)

so 4 packs at 1C = 336W
if you bump up to 10A per port (roughly 2C) then that increases the load to 672W which is approaching the limit for your supply.

Thank you for that as I had forgotten about that I usually charge at 1c so if I work out the mAh of my LiPo's & just watch what I put on it until I get a new power supplyi should be ok

My LiPo's I have are mostly 2s 4000mAh to 6000mAh & 2 x 3s 5200mAh so if I keep to 1c for charging & do the 3s separately I should be OK for now

I have an earlier version of this charger they did 7 A instead of 10 A and I absolutely love it. The features on it are great, the performance is great, my only complaint is the fan is a little bit loud but that's not a big deal considering it's a four port charger. And when I had a problem with my first purchase of it, one of the ports got damaged, and it wasn't bouncing properly, they switched it out for a brand new one at no cost to me. I'd recommend it it's a pretty nice charger ... Specially this new were version with the higher output

https://www.amainhobbies.com/protek-rc-prodigy-610-quad-ac-lihv-lipo-ac-dc-battery-charger-ptk-8517/p488513

That is sounding like a good charger so if my maths is ok it is a 400w charger if I add 50% it needs at least 600w & my power supply is around the 900w I'm set if I go that way

So that 400W charger costs $240 = 60¢/W

Kinda pricey for the rated output...BUT... when you consider that it already includes a built in supply and runs directly off AC in the first place, that makes things a lot easier for folks who might not have a supply yet.

Also keep in mind that charger inefficiency is calculated at 25%, so if it were a DC-only charger then 400W + 25% = 500W supply... however that charger already includes a supply with it :)