lipo charger. do or don't ?

I use lipo batteries for my 1/10 scale RC cars.
Is it wise/possible to use to the lipo charger for the 18650 lion batteries?

I own two of these chargers:
Hyperion EOS 0606i Li/NiMH/A123 AC/DC Balancing Charger (6S/6A/50W ..
Input voltage range 11.0-15.0V DC OR 100~240V AC at 50~60 Hz
Only ONE source may be connected at a time!
1-14 NiCd – Nickel-Cadmium cells
1-14 NiMH – Nickel-Metal Hydride cells
1-6 LiPo – Lithium Polymer cells, 100~20,000mAh (3.7V/cell type only)
1-6 LiFe – Lithium Iron (3.3V/cell types, inc. A123 brand cells / LiFePO4 cells)
Appropriate battery types and
range of series-connected cells
1-6 Lead-Acid cells (2V per cell nominal)
Charge current 0.1A ~ 6.0A MAX, by 100mA steps (50W limit)
Discharge current 0.1A ~ 1.0A MAX, by 10mA steps (5W limit)
Trickle charge current (NiCd, NiMH) 0 ~ 200mA
"Delta V" peak detection for NiCd/NiMH Charge termination "CV/CC" for Lithium and Lead-Acid Batteries
Cycling Modes (NiCd, NiMH) Charge>Discharge or Discharge>Charge
Display type 2-line, 16 character Yellow backlit LCD

wrcpino said:

Is it wise/possible to use to the lipo charger for the 18650 lion batteries?

Click to expand...

Yes, but they are rather clumsy to use for that.

Buy a dedicated charger is my advice, saving a few pennies is not always the answer.

Yes, I have seen it done a few times. By the time you build a proper holder for the cells, you could have bought a Nitecore or Xstar and been done with that. And...get better safer results.

Another way of looking at it, would you rig up and charge you Lipos on a regular AA wall charger??

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the input guys.

I already own a cheap nitecore UM10.
Im looking at the Xtar VP2, VC2 PLUS or the VC4.
Don't know yet which one is the best.

Of course, but I advise you'd better use 6s changer to charge 6s battery, 3s changer to charge 3s battery.

wrcpino said:

Thanks for the input guys.

I already own a cheap nitecore UM10.
Im looking at the Xtar VP2, VC2 PLUS or the VC4.
Don't know yet which one is the best.

Click to expand...

I have the VP2 and the VC4.

If you like fiddling with hobby chargers, you might look at the Opus BT-3100/3400 (basically the same charger) analyzing chargers. You can do a bit more with either, than you can with the above models.

If you want a basic, but very flexible non-analyzing charger, of those listed, the VP2 is a good, fast charger, that will charge up most consumer li-ion cells.

Chris

I use my RC charger exclusively for all my flashlight batteries. Magnets on end of wire works fine.

So do I. I don't own a regular charger after my car wp2 negative posts snapped off. I use magnets or a clamp I made or a cheap 4x18650 cradle I picked up for a buck on the bay. It has 4 negative wires and 4 positive wires coming off it. I twisted both sets togetherand I put my alligator clamps on them. I can do 4 cells at a time in parallel and it works great. I just set the current to 4 or 5 amps. Each cell gets an amp and every cell ends at full voltage. Kind of funny seeing over 10000mah at the end on four drained cells. I even made spacers so I can do 35 and 50mm cells

Hobby charger can deliver higher current, and charge batteries faster, than ANY dedicated charger. Of course, not all batteries support rapid charging, but all modern 18650s do.

Clamp cells parallel together can be dangerous if they have different voltages

you got a balance charger use it that way, cells in series and each cell except the last gets a balance wire

that way you also get the job done but safe

I put a Dean's plug on a gutted MC1 charger to use the nice adjustable battery bay, but it's not needed much anymore now that I have chargers for the different voltages; and I've decided I have no need for the non-standard voltages for the most part. I have a couple sets of K2 I still use. Still if I need to do a custom program it's handy to just plug it in to the charger and set all the parameters. For 98% of the time though just dropping the batteries into a cylindrical charger is the way to go. Now I have 2A capability for 26650 from the SV2 the use of the hobby charger is reduced again. Reducing complexity increases safety which is why complicated charges need good UIs. So does waiting until after breakfast or at least your first cup of coffee.

Lexel said:

Clamp cells parallel together can be dangerous if they have different voltages

you got a balance charger use it that way, cells in series and each cell except the last gets a balance wire

that way you also get the job done but safe

Click to expand...

I agree but the cells I out together parallel are never more than .5V difference and it's never been a problem. I don't have a series adapter for my charger so I can't balance them. Even if I did have that adapter I have no soldering tools or skills so I can't make a cradle that supports that or solder magnets. Parallel charging has always worked fine for me. Plus I only use one type cells so a bit of current transfer while they self balance is a problem

I want to bump this. I also have the Hyperion 0606i charger and was wondering if I can rig it up to charge the flashlight batteries? Not finding any solid info and how to do it. One cell at a time? Or can multiples be done at same time?

Google 4x18650 battery holder. Find one that has 4 red and 4 black wires coming out of it and uses tabs instead of springs. Buy that. Twist all four black wires together. Twist all four red wires together. Clamp alligator charging leads to appropriate colour. Install 1 to 4 18650s. Charge. It really is that simple. For other sizes I don't know of an off the shelf holder

Just my opinion, but anything that you have to "rig up" for Li Ion batteries is inherently dangerous, especially using magnets. Just using magnets in test setups I don't find they hold very well when you have the weight of wire attached to them. This presents a a scenario where magnets could slip loose and cause a short.

Just spend the $20-$30 and get a reliable 18650 charger that can do 2 or 4 cells at a time. The proper tool for the proper job creates a safe environment and I feel that is more important than convenience or saving a few bucks. You'll also be able to charge multiple size batteries with most of these chargers and many of them can also double as Ni-MH chargers too.

I just set this up. Gutted a cheap wall charger, installed leads and wala!

^^^ That's not bad, but you don't have any balancing using that method unless you are parallel charging - which is not recommended. Also - I would use a black wire for (-) and a red one for (+). Using two red wires you might accidentally plug things in reverse polarity.

Parallel charging is just about the best way to charge. It's just as good as individual circuits. Just don't have hugely diffent charge levels and it's just great. I've parallel charged an 18650 and 14500 together. No problem at all even long term. The 18650 being lower IR will take the majority of the current and they charge together.
No offense soucd but I dislike it when people come on here and give out false info like it's gospel. If you've parallel charged cells and you've had a problem with the charging please enlighten us

Yea, its a little parallel rig. The plugs are color coded so no confusion. So far so good! I'm just testing, sitting here monitoring..