Bantam PB5 or PB6 Balancers?

[pcar993]

I can connect my lipo and charge at the same time with the Bantam PB5 or PB6 Balancers correct?? How well do they work? Any feedback? Thanks and Happy new year!

[RC Accessory]

I can connect my lipo and charge at the same time with the Bantam PB5 or PB6 Balancers correct?? How well do they work? Any feedback? Thanks and Happy new year!

They work very well! They both have a 500 mah bleed rate which is the highest bled rate of any balancer that I am aware of. The higher the bleed rate the better.

The PB-5 has been out of production for almost a year now, the PB-6 is the only current model. The PB-6 can be expanded to 12S balancing via linking 2 of them together.

RC Accessory, Inc'
Auth US Bantam Importer

[pcar993]

Thanks for the reply. I just bought 2 of the PB5 and 1 of the PB6. The PB5 is less expensive and the only difference i see is PB5 can do 5 cells while the other can do 6 cells. Is this correct???? My lipos are all 3 cells so i figured i dont need the PB6.

[RC Accessory]

Thanks for the reply. I just bought 2 of the PB5 and 1 of the PB6. The PB5 is less expensive and the only difference i see is PB5 can do 5 cells while the other can do 6 cells. Is this correct???? My lipos are all 3 cells so i figured i dont need the PB6.

The PB-6 can also be expanded to 12S and also supports A123's, where the PB-5 does not. Also, does your PB-5 say V2.0 or does it have the large PB-5 labeling like the PB-6 does?

[pcar993]

The PB-6 can also be expanded to 12S and also supports A123's, where the PB-5 does not. Also, does your PB-5 say V2.0 or does it have the large PB-5 labeling like the PB-6 does?


Says V2.0 on mine. What is A123? Thanks!!

[RC Accessory]

A123 is Lithium nanphosphate. Li-fe.

[plane766]

The PB-6 can also be expanded to 12S and also supports A123's, where the PB-5 does not. Also, does your PB-5 say V2.0 or does it have the large PB-5 labeling like the PB-6 does?

What do you mean that the PB-6 can be expanded to 12S? Is that mean I can charge 4x3S batteries
at the same time when expanded to 12S? Do I still need a balancer on the PB-6? Thanks in advance

[RC Accessory]

What do you mean that the PB-6 can be expanded to 12S? Is that mean I can charge 4x3S batteries
at the same time when expanded to 12S? Do I still need a balancer on the PB-6? Thanks in advance

2 PB-6's can be linked together for up to 12S balancing. Yes, to balance 4 3S batteries, you would need 2 of the EAC14x boards listed here (http://www.rcaccessory.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=45&Page=2).

The PB-6 is the balancer.

[plane766]

Thanks for your quick feedback. Do I still need a PB-6 balancer when using BC6 charger?
Can I charge 2x3S at the same time?

[RC Accessory]

Thanks for your quick feedback. Do I still need a PB-6 balancer when using BC6 charger?
Can I charge 2x3S at the same time?

No, the PB-6 balancer is built into the BC-6. Yes, the EAC14x boards will work on both the BC-6 charger and PB-6 balancer.

[plane766]

Is the built-in balancer enough to balance two batteries charging at the same time?

[JEEPWORLD2002]

get a 902 charger and 2 pb6 balancers and u can do series charge and then balance seperately each pack. but u can also charge 4 3s packs. i am not sure how the bc6 works my 902 has a serperate ballancer connection and charges through the deans conn the bc8 and 6 charge through the ballance connector so i dont think you can do 2 at once with out a ballance series adapter ?? not sure

[blueviewlaguna]

If you charge packs that are not within 0.1 volts of each other, the PB6 balancer will get very hot and the 902 will reduce the charge current to both packs as it responds to the signal from the PB6s data port. If they are far enough apart in voltage, the 902 will reduce the current so much (to prevent the PB6 from overheating as its trying to bring down the high pack) that it makes more sense to charge individually. Any time you have a single channel charger such as the 902, you can only charge packs that are very close in voltage. The PB6 is more tolerant of voltage differences since its bleed rate is very high (500ma), but still heats up very quickly with significant voltage differences between packs charged in series. For example, I charged two FP 4900 6S batteries that were 22.2 and 21.9 volts per pack and ended up with one very hot PB6 (of the two) and current limiting to the point where the full charge took 75 minutes compared to the 40 minutes for a single 4900. If you discharge and charge all batteries at the same time, you will be ok but don't expect to run them individually (like in a T-Rex 450) then charge 2 or four at a time, each with different voltages unless they are very close. I have also found that a small fan blowing on the PB6 increases the current capacity and reduces the 902's tendency to current limit.

The above limitations apply to the ThunderPower, Hyperion (even more so actually due to their 220ma and 180ma balancers which are quickly overloaded by large Lipo's) and most other single channel chargers as well.

[plane766]

Great help mate. Thanks