Budget hobby charger needed asap

Hi all,

I have 4 chargers, all Ultrafire, WF-139, and 3x WF-138, and only one of them is working properly. Only one of the WF-138 is working properly, and all the rest will not properly charge anymore - they'll stop charging at 4.08V, and seem to charge REALLY slowly. (Only go from 3.92V to 3.94V in half an hour)

Given all this, I don't really want to buy anymore Ultrafire chargers, so I'm thinking of getting a hobby charger. Unfortunately, I need one ASAP since I hardly have any ability to charge at the moment (esp 18500/18650 cells).

I was looking at the Turnigy Accucel-6 50W charger which seems to have gotten pretty good comments, but it's out of stock right now. I can't seem to find it anywhere else.

Are there any other options? How would say, the DX Mystery charger, compare? (Even though it's expensive, relatively speaking)

Ideally, I'd like to keep it within $50, and have something which won't fail like my 4 Ultrafires. And most importantly, I'll need it in the next few weeks. Charging high capacity cells on 250mA is a PAIN.... I have to spend about 8hrs a day charging [and babysitting] my batteries right now, esp as I run hotwires which consume huge amounts of power.

the Accucel 6 always shows as out of stock
but I order one anyway
Waited 3 weeks before getting shipping notice
So if you don't mind waiting, go ahead and order one

I have the mystery systems charger and it is great. You can charge anything with it, it has some great features including selectable cut off current and discharge curves. At 45 buck on ebay, it's a deal. You have to provide your own power supply - I use a power supply from a laptop, modified the cable.

Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA

Thanks for the comments so far.

Has anyone used both the accucel-6 as well as the mystery? I'm interested in how they compare, given that the accucel is half the price.

Anyway, I have the accucel on backorder, since I can cancel it in the next few days if I find anything else of interest. But I'd have to see some real increase of performance to get me to go for the mystery instead.

(Fyi, I'll be mostly charging 3xIMR26500s and 3xIMR18500s on this charge, as well as some smaller cells)

I don't have the turnigy charger, but use the Battman B6-80w which is a clone of the turnigy charger which is in turn a clone of the Bantam BC6. I use it to charge my 18650 and 14500 cells and so far so good.

Okhobby also have the Battman B6-50w for 24.99, add the power supply and shipping, the final damage is slightly over $50. My order usually arrives in 2-3 weeks from them.

If you don't want to wait that long, you can get another clone, the imax b6 at http://www.valuehobby.com/ for around $50 with the power supply and shipping. Shipping time is probably 3-5 days if you're in the US (vendor is in the US).

I have this one and it works great, Very easy to use.

Brian

They have the Accucel-6 in stock, I just ordered one yesterday

http://montorc.com/turnigyaccucel-6.aspx

the thunder 6 might be an interesting alternative to the other one, connects to the computer for graphing.
many of these things have the same specs , and seem to even use the same base controller. by any other name the 50w china ones are often just branded clones , and similar in many respects.

but lets go back, what you indicated about your chargers, and what you provided clues to was the batteries themselves might be to far aged, or dead or ruined. so i point that out. hotwires can be crewl to batteries in general and might not help in maintaing the state of the battery, so that also adds to the concideration that the batteries themselves might be bad.

charging: hard hitting a li-ion cell that will not "reach voltage" wont "fix" it, if the crappy chargers dont work, a hobby charger can actually be set to pop the battery. if the cells are bad, be more carefull especially at any higher rates of charging.

g0ldfing3r said:

They have the Accucel-6 in stock, I just ordered one yesterday

http://montorc.com/turnigyaccucel-6.aspx

Click to expand...

Hmm.. I think they don't ship international (I'm not currently in the USA although I will be in a couple months) and is it twice the price?

VidPro said:

the thunder 6 might be an interesting alternative to the other one, connects to the computer for graphing.
many of these things have the same specs , and seem to even use the same base controller. by any other name the 50w china ones are often just branded clones , and similar in many respects.

but lets go back, what you indicated about your chargers, and what you provided clues to was the batteries themselves might be to far aged, or dead or ruined. so i point that out. hotwires can be crewl to batteries in general and might not help in maintaing the state of the battery, so that also adds to the concideration that the batteries themselves might be bad.

charging: hard hitting a li-ion cell that will not "reach voltage" wont "fix" it, if the crappy chargers dont work, a hobby charger can actually be set to pop the battery. if the cells are bad, be more carefull especially at any higher rates of charging.

Click to expand...

Actually, 2 of my chargers were already half dead when I got them - so it has nothing to do with the cells I use. All my cells charge up to 4.19V in my working charger and hold their charge, so I think they're doing fine... So in essence, only one of my chargers failed recently, and unfortunately it's the one with the highest charging current (The WF139 which I've had for a year). (And this problem happens with all the cells I use)

Also my cells are IMRs at 3C discharge, which I feel is pretty easy on them, as they're rated to ~10C.

You mean the Thunder AC6? Looks interesting.. a bit beyond my budget, but I'll consider it. Gotta look around a bit more first.

Hmmm, I just haven't seem to come across anything else as cheap as the accucel - all the other recommendations seem more expensive. I just hope the accucel is good - I'm not sure how it matches up to these more expensive ones. I think I can wait until hobbyking restocks.. I've just lessened my hotwire use for now until I get a charger.

I have no complaints with my mystery charger. Although I only use it to charge single 18650 cells or cells in parallel. I never use the discharger. So I don't use any of its more complex features. I also use it to charge the SLA cells in my spotlights.

just got a thunder ac-6 a few weeks ago. love the fact that it is dual power so it has its own built in supply. with the turnigy you would have to source an external power supply.