Which Charger?

[troelskc]

Re: Help me out, which charger - choice of 3???

I've eliminated all these choices for a charger. There's a good amount potential explosion risk when using lithium-ion, so I'm willing to spend more money for safety. Which leaves a hobby charger or Pila. Another possibility is Xtar WP2 II.

May I ask why you suppose the Pila IBC is not safe? In my oppinion it is one of the best on this subject. You can leave the batts in.

 

[Stephen Wallace]

Re: Help me out, which charger - choice of 3???

I believe that he is actually saying that hobby chargers and the Pila IBC are the ones that he *does* consider safe.

There are some Xtar WP2 II chargers listed on UK Ebay - I ordered one myself, which came from Scotland.. Some listings though do not look like they originate from the UK, even though they state they do.

 

[troelskc]

Re: Help me out, which charger - choice of 3???

Oh I see, must have got that wrong.

Hobby chargers would be the option for those who really likes to play around, the Pila is simply just doing a good job.

 

[snakyjake]

Re: Help me out, which charger - choice of 3???

May I ask why you suppose the Pila IBC is not safe? In my oppinion it is one of the best on this subject. You can leave the batts in.

I eliminated the OP options, not the additional options for Pila or hobby charger, or maybe Xtar WP2 II.

 

[DBCstm]

Re: Help me out, which charger - choice of 3???

I got an UltraFire WF-188 2 Bay charger that will charge up to 32650. JayRob builds lights and it's the one he recommended so I got it and it works fine. It has a switch for 300mA or 650mA and one for 3.7v or 3.2v so it will allow a broader range of cells.

 

[mvyrmnd]

FWIW: I've had a WF-139, two WF-188's and 3 Intellimax i4's.

The 139 only charges CC, and does not fully terminate. Reliable, but wi also reliably kill cells.

Both 188's worked brilliantly at first, but after a few months both stopped terminating properly, causing a cell to vent. Bad news.

All 3 of my i4's charge batteries daily, and I've never had a single issue with any of them. I am in a 240v country, though. If you were to use one with the 12DC input, or get a V2 unit, you'd be fine.

 

[budynabuick]

I did take a break for food and I did sleep for a couple hours, so not exactly round the clock, but I did finally join the forum. I've been reading it every once in a while for years. Reading this forum is a good way to keep up with all the cool, new lights coming out on the market.:thumbsup:

Yea, i just re-discovered flashlights about 6 mo ago and when i found this place i spent a LOT OF TIME LURKING! Now 9 lights, 50+ batts and two chargers later here i set reading about and playing with my lights and batts:sick2::thumbsup:
Keith- This may be alright if i was 12, but i am 60LOL

 

[RAM2]

Would buy the 4sevens charger, but the batteries I bought are unprotected Panasonic 18650 3.6v 3100ma. I figure the batteries are supposed to charge to 4.1 volts and not 4.2? Will the Pila or Xtar charge these well? If the Turnigy wasn't on backorder...confused myself to no end over chargers and batteries, good thing I'm not buying a pack for my homebrew LED headlamp yet.:shakehead

LiIon batteries are designed to be charged at 4.2 V +- 0.05V. The 4.1V setting on hobby chargers was for older LiIon battery packs. Use the 4.2 V ( LiPo setting) for LiIon when using the hobby charger. The 4 sevens is a good charger and easy to use.

 

[Dimitri Stephan]

Good Li-ion charger

Hello,

I have been looking for a decent charger to charge most of my 18650's and CR123's. I have read that hobby chargers are the best for this purpose and I have stumbled upon an IMAX B6AC going for 120 USD locally. First of all, I would like to know if this charger will suit my purposes and how will I be able to charge my cells with this charger. Could I modify my semi-functional WF-188 charger to act as a battery holder and then connect the charging leads to my old charger? There are quite a few other rc shops where I live, so that might mean finding other kinds of hobby chargers for Li-Ion batteries. Could anyone give me their opinion on this?

Thanks!

 

[aimxplode]

Re: Good Li-ion charger

Check out the Pila IBC charger.

 

[380long]

What is a good charger for charging 18650 batteries.

I currently have a 4sevens single bay charger and I like it but charging batteries for the JETBeam RRT-3 can be a bit time consuming. So I am looking for a multiple bay charger that charges 4 at a time but was not sure what's good and if one does exist? Thanks for the help.

 

[finn]

Re: Good Li-ion charger

I'm curious now too, because there's an IMAX B6 on amazon for 35usd.

 

[mvyrmnd]

I've had good results with the Sysmax Intellicharge i4, but some folks here insist that it's trash.

 

[moderator007]

Re: Good Li-ion charger

Check with hobbyking they have some good prices. You do have to wait for oversea's shipping but they do have warehouse's in the usa and other countries that you can order from that will not have to be shipped from oversea's. The turnigy accucel 6 seems to always get high reviews for your basic hobby charger. I have the accucel 8 which will allow you to charge and discharge at a little higher rate. The icharger's are probably the best if you have the cash to spend. Hobby chargers can charge several different battery types and chemistry. They can do so much more than just charge a li-ion battery. Most do have to be powered by a external 12v power supply or car battery. You can use a old computer power supply or buy a 12V laptop type power supply (make sure it has enough watts for the charger) with the correct barrel plug to directly into the hobby charger. Not all hobby chargers have the barrel plug type connection though. The turnigy accucel 6 has a 5.5mm x 2.5mm barrel plug. My accucel 8 only has wires with large alligator clips. Someone else should know what the icharger has.

 

[Norm]

Several threads with the same topic Merged - Norm

 

[Stephen Wallace]

The basic iCharger 106B+ has both a socket for a laptop style power supply, and hard-wired cables with banana plugs to plug in to a high wattage mains powered PSU. You also get supplied large battery clips that the banana plugs push in to.

More powerful iCharger models just have the hard-wired cables, presumably as they consider a laptop power supply to be unsuitable.

There are some models of hobby charger that have four entirely separate channels - pretty much four separate chargers built in to one case - that would charge four cells at once, without having to use balance charging cables.

 

[snakyjake]

I've had good results with the Sysmax Intellicharge i4, but some folks here insist that it's trash.

It's trash on the U.S. 120v.

 

[lolzertank]

A hobby charger is tremendously useful. I think you can get a 12V power supply and a Turnigy Accucel-6 for not much more than a Pila IBC. It's faster and can charge basically any type of cell you can find, as well as discharge them. It's possible to rig it up so that you can charge up to 6 Li-ion at a time through the balancer. If you're safety minded, you can also hook up a temperature sensor in addition to the built-in timer and capacity limits.

 

[Gregozedobe]

I've been very happy with the chargers I got from Cottonpickers, and he is an excellent person to deal with.

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/sh...l-Worlds-smallest-Li-ion-charger-with-display

 

[Dimitri Stephan]

Alright so I purchased an imax b6ac charger and have some questions regarding charging in general. All my Li-ion batteries are AW and protected and consist of 18650's and ICR 123's. What would be the best way to charge say 4 18650's at the same voltage? Should I go with parallel or in series charging? What should be the charging current on a 18650 or a ICR 123?

Thanks!