I've been reading on this for a while.. gotten many suggestions.. forgotten /lost some of them.. mixed in other threads.. so I figured I'll start one last thread on this subject for my own resources..
When charging Lipos.. is the recommendation to charge at 1C over 1 hour.. or if 3200mah then 3.2amps max charge.. and for better life.. only 75% of this value.. say 2.8amps?
I've been looking at chargers, trying to decide what is the best/ cheapest option.. I see alot that are Lipo only, and also include the balancer.. built in.. but usually their max charge is like 2.0 amps or similar.. to me this may take quite awhile, even though typically I'll be charging these in a security firesafe box (no vents) in my house while supervised (does this security box seem like the usual safe idea?)
Do I want a charger that is ideally at least the 1C rate of my highest mah battery pack? Should I be charging at 75% max value?
Ideally I wanted a charger that also had AC adapter ability, i've seen several that offer this, some that also do Nicad/nimh.
I will still be doing nicads with my older zagi till I convert it.. so I thought maybe having 2 chargers that still did nicad would be good? (IE: cig lighter adapters, 2 at same time, charging two nicads, in the car, is this bad on the battery for several good charges?).. if this idea is not useful, then I would probably go with a lipo only solution.
Charging Lipos in the field: Safe to plug a single charger into the cig. lighter adapter, and put the battery in the security fire safe box outside the car while charging? Or do some people use a different setup.. a seperate Lead acid battery (like an automotive battery?).. outside of the car? I'm not clear on how this is done or what exact battery is used in this type of situation.
Balancers.. I'm assuming if the charger doesnt have a balancer.. I can just buy a balancer and attach it to the charger (usually around $30 online)?
Final area of confusion.. if the charger doesnt have AC adapter ability or a cig lighter adapter which could go in one of those AC to DC converters for in the house.. are most people doing the whole PC power supply idea.. or purchasing a pre-modified psu?
I could attach multiple chargers to one of the PC power supply setups could I not? And charge multiple Lipos at the same time.. IE:
3200mah at 3.2amps x 3 would be roughly 10 amps, so if the PSU is rated 10 amps or higher I should be fine?It would also be nice if they made a charger/cycler that did Nimh,nicad, and Lipo :)
I already have a 300 watt power inverter for in the car, if the charger had AC plugs too.
I've come to the conclusion from what i've read, that i can buy any charger.. i would simply cut the leads and put on the matching connector for whatever battery (or vice versa) that I would need.
Sorry for the mass questions again, I'm just trying to pool my thoughts into one single thread on the same subject..
Here are the chargers/balancers I've found so far:
Thunderpower, has ac pack.. $79
DN charger/balancer:
Team Orion
Astro 109:
Great Planes Triton JR
ProPeak 1-4 Lipo Auto charger (100-6000mah or .1 to 3 amps)
CellPro 4s
PSU idea:
The propeak seems to be cheapest.. but it maxes at 3 amps, so on
3200mah pack, its slightly under its normal speed of charge? But economical?