Who has a Turnigy Accucel-6 or 8 charger?

[InHisName]

In another posting about C & D LSD batts, Linger said he wanted :

"I decided on the Turnigy Accucel-6 50W 5A Balancer/Charger a few months ago, and will order one soon. "

This is a pretty nifty charger/discharger. I just might like it as much as my C9000.

Who here HAS one now ? I have a few questions about using it and possible features that I missed noticing.

Questions concerning charging AA NiMH.
1. Says it will handle up to 15 cells. Would that be independently charging ? I really like this independence with my C9000.
2. Will I be able to charge HIGH (per C9000) anyway with this one ?
3. ref #2 is it worth the bother ?
4. What really great things can this do that the C9000 cannot ?
5. What size power supply are you using ? The 5A or 14A.
6. Would you discourage me from one of those power supplies ?
Note for above: I plan in near future to be charging 5 NiMH LSD 10,000MAH+, so I really might be using the whole 5A this year sometime. Just waiting for job to reverse the cash flow problem.

 

[45/70]

Quickly,

1. Hobby chargers like the Accucel only have one channel. They charge 15 NiMH (or NiCd) cells by charging them in series. So no, they do not have 15 independent channels, just one. Keep in mind, hobby chargers are primarily meant for charging "packs", not individual cells.

2. Most likely, yes.

3. Probably not.

4. It can balance charge LiCo, LiMn, LiFe cells in series, or charge them in parallel with appropriate cradle. You can also charge Pb batteries.

5. 30A linear.

6. Not necessarily, but I have no experience with those supply's. I'm not into the wall wart type in general though. My thoughts are "bigger is better".

Some 10A "D" size NiMH cells have a recommended max charge rate of 0.3C, or in the case of 10A cells, a maximum recommended charge rate of 3A (3000mA).

The main reason I bought a hobby charger, was to properly charge large Li-Ion cells. It is also handy for charging NiMH/NiCd battery packs. The charger I have is a Dynam Supermate DC6, which is a Bantam clone, as is the Accucel.

Dave

 

[csshih]

I have one now. The fan stopped working, but it's still working fine as I'm not doing any discharging.

Dave has the answers pretty much covered.

 

[45/70]

I have one now. The fan stopped working, but it's still working fine as I'm not doing any discharging.

Heh, I had considered one of the Accucel's, but that's why I went with a "fanless" version. Having some experience with really small fans, unless you buy a $20 one, they don't last very long.

The other thing that I came across from the R/C guys, is that the power transistors (MOSFET?) are frequently not heatsinked very well in these cheap "knock off" chargers. Sure enough my Supermate had one poorly heatsinked, and one really not at all. After fixing that up though, I'm pretty confident that it'll work out well. The only other thing I thought about doing, was relocating the transistors to the "finned" portion of the case, rather than the bottom plate. Seems like a waste of those groovy fins.

Dave

 

[T0RN4D0]

I ordered the accu-6 last year, should be arriving soon. The obvious difference is that the Maha is an AA/AAA charger and a good one at that, while hobby chargers such as the Turnigy will charge more or less anything you manage to attach to it.

For only charging AAs you won't gain much. Well unless you need to charge alot of them, but you have to charge them in series with hobby chargers.

Another difference is that hobby chargers usually take a bit of DIY spirit in you, and will take more space. The turnigy 6 needs an external poewr source, the unit itself, and you need charging bays or some type of connectors (think magnets) if you plan on charging seperate cells. On the other hand, one setup can handle all sizes and chemistries, so it can replace a bunch of chargers.


And with turnigy-6 the price is of course in its favour, big time. For 35$ with all the things it can do, thats is gonna be a hard one to beat.


Oh and for #5, i plan on using on a modified AT computer PS. I think it has some 8A on 12V line, and possibly car battery when camping, which is the positive side of having a charger that needs 10-18v input.

 

[Black Rose]

I have one now. The fan stopped working, but it's still working fine as I'm not doing any discharging.

Is it fairly easy to replace the fans in either of these chargers?

I've seen comments on the HobbyKing site about the fans, but I think that was noise related.

 

[sunsoar]

Very easy - take case apart which is held together by a couple of phillips screws, fan is easy accessible. Might want to lube the fan bearing right away as it will run way quieter that way- remove the piece of tape that covers the bearing, then put a drop of oil on the bearing. Fan is standard rc type used to cool motors etc.

:twothumbs

 

[csshih]

Is it fairly easy to replace the fans in either of these chargers?

on my unit, it would appear the entire fan circuit somehow broke. the fan would work when connected to a desperate power supply. IIRC. the fan itself should be relatively easy to replace.

also, the MOSFETs on my a6 had heatsinking paste on them, and were touching the case.

 

[InHisName]

Today, I bumped into this project. How does this compare to the Turnigy ? Does each have features that the other lacks ? I am not sure I want to jump into making my own PC board. If I do one, its almost as easy to do 20 at once and sell off the other 19. (assuming there are 19 others interested enough to pay $$, then do their own parts scavenging and assembly)

Sorry my brain started to wander off into fantasy land. The fear of doing a group buy, then the group dissolving usually ends my fantasies.