I just converted my 1/8 buggy to electric and running 4s bats. I currently have an I-Max B6 and would like to charge more than 1 at a time. Is there a way to do that with this charger, if not any recomendations on what to buy. From what i've read it sounds like I need to go dc with a power supply. I don't have a lot of $ to spend as I have spent most of it on the conversion but I don't want to buy junk either. Are any of the cheaper ones of decent quality or should I wait and spend a little more. Since there are so many different ones available I have no idea where to start.

Thanks,

That charger is a 50watt charger. It will charge your 4S lipos, but prob at a reduced charge rate to stay under its 50watt output power limit. This will extend charging time from a little to a lot depending on capacity of the lipo. You could set the charger up to parallel charge 2 at once, but it would now take twice as long as it would with a single and that's extended charge time to start with due to the 50watt power limit of the charger.

You need a charger with 85-100 watts of output power to charge a 4S with capacity of 5000 to 6000mah.

There are a couple of true dual chargers that have 200watts of power and up to 10amp in each port. The Hitec X2 and Mains Prodigy chargers are made by the same company, and just look a little diff. AMains is a little cheaper and you'll need a power supply to go with it as well. There are no AC/DC powered duals on the market that I'm aware of.

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...S-10A-200W-x-2

great info. thanks for your help.

You can use a series charging / balancing harness which will charge / balance a 5000 4S pack on your B6 in about 45 minutes. You can make them easily from about $5 of connectors / cable.

Heres a diagram that shows how to wire one up.



I have a B6 and charge my 2S packs like this and it works a treat.

If you don't get the wiring exactly as shown, you short the two lipos together thru the balance wires. This is the reason parallel charging is generally recommended over series charging.


This is the charger OP is talking about -

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...idproduct=5548


50watts of charger output power and 5amp max charge rate charger is not going to charge 2 series connected, discharged 5000mah 2S lipos in 45 min.

Yes, its important to connect them exactly as shown, it is a good idea to zip tie the balance wires to appropriate connector (as shown) so that it is easy to pair up.

Sorry for the confusion, I should have mentioned that is how long it takes mine after a 10 min qualifier. Which puts back about 3800 - 4000mah. I have a 50W B6 and i've been charging 2 x 2S packs like this for over a year. With a $10 5A computer style PS from HK.

I'd been using a 50w charger for my 1/10th scale 2s batteries as well, and made the switch to 1/8th scale.

The 50w charger charged at 3.8amps I believe. I found this charger http://www.hobbypartz.com/73p-ac680-accharger.html, its an 80w unit, built in power supply, fan etc. Works great for $60 shipped

'Electrically challenged' folks would be better of buying a purpose built series charging harness for charging a pair of 2S. These are available in a few diff places.

With the advent of the Paraboard type accessory as long as your lipos are the same cell count, its prob easier to charge in parallel.

Imax b6 is 6 cells maximum anyway so yes, parallel charging would be better. You can parallel charge on that charger but it will double charge time - your charger is not quite powerful enough to charge a 4s 5000mah in one hour as it is.

i've got the same charger as you under a different badge and i really like it - i run my DC-only off an old laptop power supply so it's no hassle, compact, etc.

bigger chargers are so much more expensive than the *VERY* cheap *6 chargers.. and nice to have but if you're on a tight budget have you considered buying another B6 and run 2 at once? Failing that, the 150w Turnigy Accucel 8 150w charger is 3x as powerful, CAN do 8s so could series charge your packs, and is reasonably priced. gets good reviews particularly amongst the electric hyper 7 conversion guys over here in the UK too.

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm leaning towards the prodigy duo for my 4s batts and using the b6 for my kids slash batts. Now just need to find a decent power supply. Any opinions on the g350 from hobby partz. I didnt know if that would be enough powere to run the prodigy charging 2 4s 5000 batts.
Thanks,

As long as you're going to be charging your 4S 5000mah lipos at 1C (5amps), 350watts is plenty of power. At 2C it would take more than the PS can supply.