In the market for a new charger.... Needs to do over 10 amps over lipos... 10-20amps discharge... and be able to charge LIFE packs as well as lipo/nimhs of course...

Any ideas?

Doubt you'll get anywhere near 10 - 20 amps discharge without spending a fortune

What is your budget and what size (mah and cell count) packs do you plan to charge ?

Cheers

CE GFX, cycle pack liek you run them i know it will do at least 30amp discharge. the only thing you lack is a balance port.

FMA PowerLab8



Maximum charge power capacity : 1344W (@ input voltage > 24V, 500W @ 12V)
Charge current range : 0.01–40.0A
Discharge current range : 0.01–40.0A

Input voltage range : 10–32V DC
Maximum discharge power capacity : 100W
Maximum regenerative disharge : 1344W
Current drain for balancing : 1000mA
Balance accuracy : 8mV
LiPo/LiIo/LiFe : 1 – 8 series
NiCd/NiMH battery cell count : 1–21 series
Pb battery cell count : 3–12 series (6–24V)
Battery setup memories : 25 user, 50 preset
Intelligent temperature control : Yes
PC Connect : USB port (optional for use with free software)
Weight : TBA g
Dimensions (LxWxD) : 148x166x91 mm

Your discharge expectations are going to be a problem - even the high powered Powerlab 8 spec'ed above will only discharge 100watts. Typically discharge now days is specified just like output power - in watts. So to discharge say a 4S at 20amps, you'd be starting at ove 300watts.


You could get the TeamCheckpoint 1030 charger - it allows a 30amp discharge but doesn't have a LiFe charge mode (also requires a separate balancer). The high powered iChargers (306b 3010b) only have 80watts ordinary type discharge capability, but they feature something called regenerative discharge that allows disch up to 1000watts - this requires discharging into a large battery, typically a deep cycle marine used for charging in the field.

The rest of what you want is nothing special, pretty much any modern charger that will charge lipo will charge LiFe, NiMh and NiCds. You need to detail what cell counts and capacities for lipo and whether you want to charge at higher than 1C or not - this sets the required power output for the charger. You wouldn't want a 50watt charger for use if you were running 4S lipos that you wanted to charge at 3C for example.

Just curious, but why do you nee to disch at 10-20amps?

To be competitive where I live.. People from the Snowbirds were charging their 1cell 12th Lipos at 12 amps... and dumping them at 10-12 amps to get the voltage up on the lipos.

I might have to settle for a 10amp charge with a 10 amp discharge...

http://www.progressiverc.com/index.p...emart&Itemid=1

I went from a Powerlab 8 to an iCharger 3010B I think it may suit your needs. One of the best chargers on the market if not the best IMO.

I suspect they're doing this to raise internal lipo temps - thats the only way to make a lipo perform better is elevate the internal temps to 110-115F.