lipo charger?

[jvd]

Between the cellpro 4s, superbrain 977 or triton jr, which one would be the best charger to have? I like 977 because of charging two batteries at a time. Does anyone know at what rate the 977 will charge a 2200 lipo at? Thanks

[kgfly]

For what fleet of helis or mix of batteries ?
Do you want NiCd/NiMH as well as LiPo ?
Do you want A123/LiFe ?

For 450-helis the CellPro4s is a world-beater in terms of being fast, safe, informative, simple and remarkably cheap. It is limited to 2s-4s/50W output. That means 4A max for 3s and 3A max for 4s. That's fine for the packs used in 450-class helis but a bit low if you are looking to larger helis. The CellPro has the possibly unique advantage of being able to safely charge almost any current technology lipo at 1.4C even hot of the heli, which is a nice time saver if you are in a hurry.

An excellent alternative if you want multichemsitry coverage and the convenience of an integrated ac/dc power supply is the eStation BC6. 2s-6s/50W output with all the chemistries you will need, excellent features and safe and simple to use. There is nothing else currently on the market with the same combination of quality, features and convenience (ac/dc power supply, multichemistry and balancer all integrated into one compact package).

Next step up would be an eStation BC8. 2s-8s/150W(7A max). This is a fully featured multichemistry integrated balance charger.

For a similar price to the BC8 you could get a Hyperion 1210i-A plus LBA10 balancer. Also a fully featured charger, this is 2s-12s (2s-6s with one LBA10, 2s-12 with two LBA10s) 180W(10A max) charger. A little less convenient due to the external balancer(s) than the BC8, but excellent value for money.

The SB977 is NOT a balance charger and after reading the manual I would not consider it for charging LiPo batteries. It just seems as if the LiPo mode is a tack on feature. If you do use it, make sure you get a charge-through balancer like the FP VBalancer which will monitor the individual cells and terminate the charge if any one cell goes over 4.2V. In additional, the manual does not provide any technical specifications about the DC input, saying only that it should not be connected to a car while the engine is running. That suggests that it needs 12V regulated (cars run at ~14.5V when the engine is going) which is a little restrictive.

The TritonJr looks a lot better to me than the SB977. Far superior user manual, 11-15V inpuot, 63W output, a good feature set. Still not an integrated balance charger so you will need an external balancer, again the VBalancer would probably be a good choice.

If you only need to charge lipos and want to be able to do two at once, I would prefer two CellPro4s over either of the others you mention. Faster, easier, simpler, safer. If you want multichemistry than I would get the BC6. With a BC6 you can charge two 3s packs as a 6s pack if they are identical packs that are discharged to much the same level. Otherwise a neat feature of the BC6 is that when it is running off AC the DC input cable is live and you can power a second charger from it! Hence a BC6 and a CellPro4s make a very nice pair.

[jvd]

kgfly, thanks for the info. Does the cellpro show the input voltage as well as the mah being put into the battery?

[kgfly]

I suggest you download the user manual for any charger you are considering, it is a great way to get an idea of the features and the usability.

No, I don't think the Cellpro does tell you the input DC voltage on the LCD although it does show an error for either under- or over-voltage on the input. I think that the input voltage is included in the data you can log and view via the optional PC-interface cable. The LCD does show you the individial cell voltages, the charge voltage, the charge current and the total mAh into the pack.

[beeflyer]

+1 for Cellpro 4S.

[CompuFoil]

kgfly, thanks for the info. Does the cellpro show the input voltage as well as the mah being put into the battery?
The Cellpro shows the current voltage, per cell voltage, charge current, total current used for full charge, as well as a "fuel gage". The Cellpro is a great charger. It has a battery saver mode that tickles the battery back to over 2 volts of it gets below that, as well as a storage mode to bring it to a safe storage voltage.
I have two of them, as well as the BC8. The downside to the cellpro is it won't do Nicad/NiMh, etc, and the display is a bit hard to read.
Eric

[kgfly]

and the display is a bit hard to read.
The new ones have a new display that is much better :)

[kamtsa]

+2 for the Cellpro 4S (I have two of them ;-))

Very safe (charges through the balancing connector and thus KNOWS how many cells it charges), easy to use and very reasonable price (which includes the built in balancer). I set it once to 1C charge rate and use it with 3S 2100mah and 2S 800mah without changing the setting.

Down sides:

Cheap enclosure and low contrast display with no backlight.

Kam

[CompuFoil]

The new ones have a new display that is much better :)
They sure are! I have both the old and the new. The old one practically needs a dedicated flashlight next to it to read.
The BC8 is backlit, which makes it easy to read. Even the new Cellpro has to be at the correct angle with enough light to be clearly read.
Eric

[kamtsa]

Even the new Cellpro has to be at the correct angle with enough light to be clearly read.

How do I tell if I have the new or the old ones?

Got mine 3-5 months ago.

Have no problem reading them in sunlight but the light need to be in the right angle.

Anybody here did the OLED mod?

Kam