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Best Budget priced Battery Chargers

Best Budget priced Battery Chargers

Old 12-12-2013, 09:50 AM
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Default Best Budget priced Battery Chargers

I'm starting to get back into the RC hobby after 10-15 year hiatus. I know that I'm going to need a charger and some LIPO battery packs.

What are some of the better quality, and performing battery chargers for entry level. I feel this is a piece of equipment that I can always upgrade if I get really serious into this hobby.

I'm looking for a charger and at least 2 battery packs for $100 or less. What are your suggestions. I am planning on building a VTA spec car from a TA TC4.

Thanks
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Old 12-12-2013, 10:55 AM
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Originally Posted by DJayhawk
I'm starting to get back into the RC hobby after 10-15 year hiatus. I know that I'm going to need a charger and some LIPO battery packs.

What are some of the better quality, and performing battery chargers for entry level. I feel this is a piece of equipment that I can always upgrade if I get really serious into this hobby.

I'm looking for a charger and at least 2 battery packs for $100 or less. What are your suggestions. I am planning on building a VTA spec car from a TA TC4.

Thanks
I can say that so far my new foray into SMC brand lipo batteries has been good. I have also heard that Promatch Lipo is a good bargain. Gens Ace and Turnigy also have a loyal following for value lipos.

With Chargers, you can find a lot of choices for about $50, but they only just barely do 1C and can take forever to charge a battery. You will be OK with one, but will be better off with something that can do at least 10Amp... You can dial a high power charger down, but you can not put the others into any kind of warp speed.
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Old 12-12-2013, 05:48 PM
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Originally Posted by DJayhawk
I'm starting to get back into the RC hobby after 10-15 year hiatus. I know that I'm going to need a charger and some LIPO battery packs.

What are some of the better quality, and performing battery chargers for entry level. I feel this is a piece of equipment that I can always upgrade if I get really serious into this hobby.

I'm looking for a charger and at least 2 battery packs for $100 or less. What are your suggestions. I am planning on building a VTA spec car from a TA TC4.

Thanks
Get the duratrax onyx 245 its capable of charging two packs at once and is right under $100 and comes with all the connectors necessary.
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Old 12-12-2013, 07:15 PM
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SMC is a great battery for a great price. Hobbyking stuff is cheap but takes forever to come.

dual chargers that charge at more then 5 amp are going to need a power supply I think
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Old 12-12-2013, 07:55 PM
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I had that thunder charger, but I had the fancy ac680 one. Never had problems, and it was built very well. I might pick up another, since I will need a cheap charger for charging up some packs on the go.
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Old 12-13-2013, 06:13 AM
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I am gonna tell you from first hand experience don't cheap out on the charger, you will be buying again if you are driving a lot. I currently have a 10a duo charger and 12v power supply, I bought is used in the classifieds for around $100.00. As far a batteries go there is a difference I recently bought SMC batteries and like them, they are value priced and work well. I have bought 1 very expensive name brand battery and it takes forever to charge and never has balanced properly.
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Old 12-13-2013, 11:42 AM
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Originally Posted by RcChef
Get the duratrax onyx 245
Awesome dual charger. I have one, but I have one dislike. It does not have a storage mode for LiPo's.
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Old 12-13-2013, 02:13 PM
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I use this charger.


http://traxxas.com/products/parts/ch...hargerplus6amp

It available for about 100 bucks. It works very well. Easy to use. Compact. Has a storage and balance mode. Can bring nimh batteries back to life with the cycle feature. I've used it and it does work. Has a built in power supply. Is ac/dc which is a big plus to me. You can get an adapter to charge two batteries at a time. I think this is a very good charger for the money with lots of options.
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Old 12-13-2013, 02:17 PM
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Originally Posted by KFXGUY
I use this charger.


http://traxxas.com/products/parts/ch...hargerplus6amp

It available for about 100 bucks. It works very well. Easy to use. Compact. Has a storage and balance mode. Can bring nimh batteries back to life with the cycle feature. I've used it and it does work. Has a built in power supply. Is ac/dc which is a big plus to me. You can get an adapter to charge two batteries at a time. I think this is a very good charger for the money with lots of options.

…and everybody knows it is just a hitec x1, with a different case, and a jacked up drive...
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Old 12-13-2013, 04:53 PM
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Originally Posted by ThePanda
…and everybody knows it is just a hitec x1, with a different case, and a jacked up drive...
It's not a Hitec. It's a SkyRC/chinese made charger.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s..._DC_w_PSU.html
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Old 12-13-2013, 05:52 PM
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Originally Posted by Kuba
It's not a Hitec. It's a SkyRC/chinese made charger.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s..._DC_w_PSU.html
and that…is just a clone of the hitec x1.
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Old 12-13-2013, 06:06 PM
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SkyRC is OEM for Hitec, Traxxas, HobbyKing and others. You pay extra for label.
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Old 12-13-2013, 06:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Kuba
SkyRC is OEM for Hitec, Traxxas, HobbyKing and others. You pay extra for label.
you are right.

i would look into the duratrax onyx 240 ac/dc charger too, it does to batteries at once.
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Old 12-13-2013, 09:27 PM
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Well it works and has a lifetime warranty and from what I hear, traxxas has good customer service. So now what?
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Old 12-14-2013, 04:05 AM
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So which chargers are genuine with it's own R&D?
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