DI driver 54 Posted January 5, 2019 Hi all, I have an old pro peak charger. I've no idea if this is suitable for my new and unused 4500 and 5000 nimh batteries but I've read mixed reports. There's every chance I'll upgrade to lipo eventually so perhaps now is the time to update my charger. There's a lot of choice!! Could somebody recommend something? Only for fun not racing and budget flexible. Many thanks, Huw. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bromley 681 Posted January 5, 2019 Radient Duplex 2. Built in mains power supply a 12v input lead is included. Two distinct charging circuits, so you can charge two different pack types at the same time. It will do Nimh, lipo, Lead acid and has a single USB output too. Had mine for a year or so now. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wooders28 4723 Posted January 6, 2019 11 hours ago, DI driver said: I have an old pro peak charger. I've still got some of those! ....somewhere The kind of cheap, tried and tested charger is the, Imax B6ac (I got the b6, that needs a 12v supply, the ac runs of the mains), you can get them for about £30, but there are knock offs flooding the market (hobbyking sell them as copies!). Now, what are you looking for out of the charger? The Imax is 5 Amp, so will charge any battery upto 5000mah (well it will charge higher, but will take longer), so if you're thinking of going 7000mah etc, I'd start looking for higher amps (think I've a 5300, and it's fine). If you're going to lipo, storage charge is one thing that bugged me. My b6 charger will only storage charge @1amp, (I believe the b6ac is 2amp?) So if i broke my car early in a run, and have to storage charge the 5300mah battery, from essentially fully charged, it would take 5hrs! (Charger cuts out after 2hrs, so I'd have to unplug and set going again twice!!). I've since bought an LRP charger with a 5amp discharge/ storage charge , but over twice the price..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nobbi1977 1793 Posted January 6, 2019 7 hours ago, Wooders28 said: I've still got some of those! ....somewhere The kind of cheap, tried and tested charger is the, Imax B6ac (I got the b6, that needs a 12v supply, the ac runs of the mains), you can get them for about £30, but there are knock offs flooding the market (hobbyking sell them as copies!). Now, what are you looking for out of the charger? The Imax is 5 Amp, so will charge any battery upto 5000mah (well it will charge higher, but will take longer), so if you're thinking of going 7000mah etc, I'd start looking for higher amps (think I've a 5300, and it's fine). If you're going to lipo, storage charge is one thing that bugged me. My b6 charger will only storage charge @1amp, (I believe the b6ac is 2amp?) So if i broke my car early in a run, and have to storage charge the 5300mah battery, from essentially fully charged, it would take 5hrs! (Charger cuts out after 2hrs, so I'd have to unplug and set going again twice!!). I've since bought an LRP charger with a 5amp discharge/ storage charge , but over twice the price..... The AC is still only 1amp but you can set the timeout limit to a lot higher in the settings. I let mine discharge over night because I always take an extra full pack out with me 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wooders28 4723 Posted January 6, 2019 29 minutes ago, Nobbi1977 said: The AC is still only 1amp I did wonder, as some blurb is stating 1A, the same as the b6 I've got, and others are stating 2A (this is the V2, is this a new, Version 2?) https://www.skyrc.com/iMAX_B6AC_V2_Charger (EDIT - Just noticed it's a 6A charge rate too, newer version is a good bit better 👍) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wooders28 4723 Posted January 6, 2019 Still listed as 1A discharge on the hobbyking website? https://hobbyking.com/en_us/imax-b6ac-v2-professional-balance-charger-discharger-uk-plug.html 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nobbi1977 1793 Posted January 6, 2019 Looks like the PC link is new on v2. None of my packs are 6k so no upgrade yet but you almost had me :-p 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DI driver 54 Posted January 6, 2019 Thanks all, I like the look of both of those. I guess I can figure out connectors afterwards. My batteries currently have tamiya connectors but I've got a bunch of deans to swap them for. I've broken a number of tamiya connectors in the past. Is a deans connector also called a t-plug? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wooders28 4723 Posted January 6, 2019 45 minutes ago, DI driver said: I've broken a number of tamiya connectors I don't think I've actually broken any, melted, oh yes, broken, no! 45 minutes ago, DI driver said: Is a deans connector also called a t-plug? Yeah, I think ,Deans, are the original kind of trade name and, T plugs are a rip off. I quite like these, hides questionable soldering 😏 https://hobbyking.com/en_us/t-style-connector-male-female-with-insulating-caps-10-pairs.html 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DI driver 54 Posted January 7, 2019 Went with the imax v2 and some fancy connectors . It'll do more than I need for now and will charge the new 4.35v cells should I ever get around to that. Thanks for the help. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wooders28 4723 Posted January 7, 2019 9 hours ago, DI driver said: Went with the imax v2 and some fancy connectors . It'll do more than I need for now and will charge the new 4.35v cells should I ever get around to that. Thanks for the help. Don't think you can go wrong with the B6 charger, until you find out what you actually need (if you need a quad charger to charge out in the field etc). Just remember to put the cap onto the T plug wires first! Wouldn't be the first, and defo wouldn't be the last to have to unsolder the wires again 😂 Glad we could help 👍 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Juggular 4964 Posted January 7, 2019 10 hours ago, Wooders28 said: Don't think you can go wrong with the B6 charger Yep, I'm very happy with my IMAX B6. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kamikuza 48 Posted January 8, 2019 On 1/7/2019 at 5:45 AM, Wooders28 said: I don't think I've actually broken any, melted, oh yes, broken, no! Yeah, I think ,Deans, are the original kind of trade name and, T plugs are a rip off. I quite like these, hides questionable soldering 😏 https://hobbyking.com/en_us/t-style-connector-male-female-with-insulating-caps-10-pairs.html The pins in my batteries with Tamiya (Molex) connectors aren't "tight" and need a little jiggling to line up and connect. Can't believe anybody ever used Molex for anything, and I hate them in PC boxes too I'm going to get around to replacing them with the XT60 plugs ... my Proper Charger (SkyRC S60 -- happy with it so far ) only came with an XT60 lead, so there's that too. I did get adapters, but...meh. Don't like T-plugs because they require too much force I'm prone to breaking and over-tightening things...to destruction. Hmm, would a classic Clod with MSC run on LiPO? 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wooders28 4723 Posted January 8, 2019 8 hours ago, Kamikuza said: Hmm, would a classic Clod with MSC run on LiPO? I don't see any reason why not, maybe voltage to the receiver. You'd need a low voltage alarm though, you can get them cheap enough off ebay and plug into the balance lead. Although, the hobbywing 860 esc is a dual brushed esc, and can run 4s lipo, with voltage cut outs built in. https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbywing-quicrun-wp-860-dual-brushed-60a-esc.html 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Juggular 4964 Posted January 8, 2019 28 minutes ago, Wooders28 said: Although, the hobbywing 860 esc is a dual brushed esc, and can run 4s lipo, with voltage cut outs built in. https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbywing-quicrun-wp-860-dual-brushed-60a-esc.html Yep, I'm happy with my Hobbywing 860 (for Wild Dagger). 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kamikuza 48 Posted January 9, 2019 17 hours ago, Wooders28 said: I don't see any reason why not, maybe voltage to the receiver. You'd need a low voltage alarm though, you can get them cheap enough off ebay and plug into the balance lead. Although, the hobbywing 860 esc is a dual brushed esc, and can run 4s lipo, with voltage cut outs built in. https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbywing-quicrun-wp-860-dual-brushed-60a-esc.html Forgot about the low voltage thing... I don't want to give up the ability to go from rev to fwd instantly Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wooders28 4723 Posted January 9, 2019 4 hours ago, Kamikuza said: I don't want to give up the ability to go from rev to fwd instantly You won't!! The 860 (like the 1060 esc) has jumper plug option for for/brake/rev , for/brake or, the one you want, for/rev ,(actually has drag brake as neutral, so this is my preferred setting 👍) 😀 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kamikuza 48 Posted January 10, 2019 10 hours ago, Wooders28 said: You won't!! The 860 (like the 1060 esc) has jumper plug option for for/brake/rev , for/brake or, the one you want, for/rev ,(actually has drag brake as neutral, so this is my preferred setting 👍) 😀 Oh that's awesome. Project when we get back them 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DI driver 54 Posted January 10, 2019 Is it sad that this excites me?: 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Juggular 4964 Posted January 10, 2019 8 hours ago, DI driver said: Is it sad that this excites me?: If that was sad, I'm much sadder for vicariously being happy. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DI driver 54 Posted January 10, 2019 8 minutes ago, Juggular said: If that was sad, I'm much sadder for vicariously being happy. That's really tickled me!!! Just spent an hour soldering on connectors really badly and figuring out how to use the charger. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DI driver 54 Posted January 21, 2019 Just to add feedback... I've used the new charger a few times. Easy to set up and operate. I bought the optional temperature sensor for my NIMH packs - this seems to be under read compared to my IR thermometer ie: it says 20 degrees when the actual temperature is 25 degrees. I've only used trickle charge so far (0.1C) and I just set the charger to stop when the temperature reaches 20 degrees (really 25 degrees) in my cold workshop (messy dining room). This means it cuts out before reaching the delta peak threshold but i'm happy knowing the pack is warm and therefore, so I understand, fully charged. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kamikuza 48 Posted January 22, 2019 Oh is the temp sensor only for NiMH batteries? That'll explain why it does nothing and there's no setting in the LiPo menus Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DI driver 54 Posted January 22, 2019 4 hours ago, Kamikuza said: Oh is the temp sensor only for NiMH batteries? That'll explain why it does nothing and there's no setting in the LiPo menus The temp sensor appears in general settings not nimh menu I think. Will check later. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jonathon Gillham 4606 Posted January 22, 2019 18 hours ago, DI driver said: Just to add feedback... I've used the new charger a few times. Easy to set up and operate. I bought the optional temperature sensor for my NIMH packs - this seems to be under read compared to my IR thermometer ie: it says 20 degrees when the actual temperature is 25 degrees. I've only used trickle charge so far (0.1C) and I just set the charger to stop when the temperature reaches 20 degrees (really 25 degrees) in my cold workshop (messy dining room). This means it cuts out before reaching the delta peak threshold but i'm happy knowing the pack is warm and therefore, so I understand, fully charged. Why do you use trickle charge and temperatures? I set mine to 1C and wait til the charger beeps. NiMH are very forgiving, I've abused mine for a couple of years now and they're still going strong. That includes forgetting they were charging on trickle chargers and leaving them for 24hours. Now I have 2 proper chargers so am better at it! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
