Which charger for Lithium Ion batteries?

LEDBE
if they're standard round cells, the pila IBC has a good reputation.

Although a hobby charger like the one you linked to, is usually a little more versatile.
 
Not to confident about the Pila charger, my Wolf-Eyes relies on the battery protection to terminate the charge, is the Pila the same?
I am after a hobby charger, I have a couple of 40 Amp 13.8 Volt supplies, so no trouble supplying the necessary current.
Norm
 
Norm said:
Not to confident about the Pila charger, my Wolf-Eyes relies on the battery protection to terminate the charge, is the Pila the same?
I am after a hobby charger, I have a couple of 40 Amp 13.8 Volt supplies, so no trouble supplying the necessary current.
Norm
Click to expand...

No! The Pila IBC isn't like the 1st Pila charger. Open terminals voltage is at 4.10V when it's not charging, and at the end of charge, it never goes over 4.20V (checked on mine with a DMM)! Batteries come out of the charger at 4.16V-4.17V. It's a great upgrade from the UltraFire WF-139 that went up to 4.35V during charge... Charge was stopped by the protection circuit of my RCR123A and they were charged very unequally...
 
Yeap, the IBC is completely different from their first one (and Wolf Eyes CH-02 charger). I've been using my IBC for all of my LithIon cells for quite a while - works great!
 
Norm said:
Not to confident about the Pila charger, my Wolf-Eyes relies on the battery protection to terminate the charge, is the Pila the same?
I am after a hobby charger, I have a couple of 40 Amp 13.8 Volt supplies, so no trouble supplying the necessary current.
Norm
Click to expand...

I bought a hobby charger too last week, for it's versatility. If you just want to recharge round cell, without too much hassle, the Pila IBC is said to be one of the better consumer chargers available (and as said above: it's different from its predecessor).

For hobby chargers: I see that Silverfox often recommends a triton2 or a bantam BC-6. I'm not sure how these compare to the charger you linked to. You could wait for someone with more experience than me comments on this :)
 
I think you'll be very happy with it. The control you have with a RC/hobby charger like this is very nice to have. I've received mine today, and I've been "playing" with it for a few hours now. A 5000mAh NiMh C-cell, that I bought in 2004 and has only been used a few times was down to about 500mAh. An hour on the charger on a recycle setting and it's already up to 1400mAh, and still charging. I hope I can regenerate it back to almost full health :)

It says on the website that the one you listed can also balance battery packs, which is very convenient.

I ordered mine with a battery bay, and I'm glad I did. Very convenient for single cells (although it needs some modding for an 18650 cell, but I think it'll fit without too much modification).

Have fun with it :)
 
Thanks for the info Raymond I've been scratching my head about what to do for battery holders I didn't even know anything was commercially available.
Do you have a link to the charger you purchased.
Thanks Norm
 
I believe I saw some battery guru's recently talking about the IMAX B6 being a better charger than the B5 (not sure why except I think it does 6 cells) - it's about $14 more on that web site. Their AC model is almost double but they have a 12 v. 6A supply there for about $15 if you don't already have one. I've been looking at the Imax's also but I'm still using my wf-138 and 139 with good success (knock on wood) and mine don't seem to overcharge.
 
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I just found that it appears the B6 does discharge cycles (break-in and cycling) also whereas the B5 does not.
 
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LuxLuthor said:
Remember that charger needs an additional 12V power source if you don't have one.

Another good choice that some of us used when we did the Voltcraft cradle mod here was the Tenergy/DN 4s charger(has 12V AC power adapter at bottom of page), or the Cellpro 4s.
Click to expand...
Thanks LuxLuthor I'm also a Radio Ham so no shortage of 13.8 V here I have two power supplys both capable of 40 Amps. Thanks for the links about
German made Voltcraft universal 4 slot cradle for NiMH/NiCd cells.
Click to expand...
do you have a link for this? I remember reading your post some time ago but had forgotten, the Volcraft cradle would be the ideal answer to what I'm trying to do.

matrixshaman said:
I just found that it appears the B6 does discharge cycles (break-in and cycling) also whereas the B5 does not.
Click to expand...

I was originally looking at the B5 but I did end up purchasing the B6.
Norm
 
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Norm, those Voltcraft (#512034) cradles are made in Germany, and distributed by Conrad Electronics, who would not sell to Canada, USA, Mexico because of lawsuit concerns. We had some kind Europeans (I think Petrev was one) who bought and shipped some to us, but Conrad may ship to Australia.
 
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