What chargers are being used with the orion/peak li-po packs and how does it balance the cells while charging. Please list the name and a link!!

no duratrax ice please!

thanks,Brian

mostly the ICE :) lol.....

If you are really concerned about balancing the pack... I would recomend the FMA Cellpro charger or similar knockoff like from commonsenserc.com that charges each cell individually through the "taps".

You just need to find/make a proper connector to the charger and you will never need to mess with balancers... as each cell is charged separately

I have the Cellpro and it works great. But I think the better choice would be the Scorpion charger (http://www.fmadirect.com/detail.htm?item=1925&section=32). It charges up to 10 amps and is a balancer charger. You can make your own plug to go from the charger to the battery, to save some money.
The Cellpro has a shrink wrap around the charger because the circuit board is exposed in the rear, Cheesy. I made a Plexiglas back for it but it is still open on the sides. The side opnings are about 1/4" high. The pic's on the website make it look way better then it real is. The people there are very freindly and seem like they are very willing to help.
My questine is, if there are taps built into the battery, why wouldn'y you want to balance charge it everytime? It doesn't hurt the pack to do it this way.

The taps are generally not made for the higher currents (8A for 1C charging up to 16A for 2C charging for an 8000mAHr pack) used to charge a large capacity pack through the main leads.

I have the Cellpro and it works great. But I think the better choice would be the Scorpion charger (http://www.fmadirect.com/detail.htm?item=1925&section=32). It charges up to 10 amps and is a balancer charger. You can make your own plug to go from the charger to the battery, to save some money.
The Cellpro has a shrink wrap around the charger because the circuit board is exposed in the rear, Cheesy. I made a Plexiglas back for it but it is still open on the sides. The side opnings are about 1/4" high. The pic's on the website make it look way better then it real is. The people there are very freindly and seem like they are very willing to help.
My questine is, if there are taps built into the battery, why wouldn'y you want to balance charge it everytime? It doesn't hurt the pack to do it this way.

thank you the scorpion was the one I was looking for and couldn't remember the name!

I am alos interested in a charger for Li-po. Has anyone tried the chargers from Integy or Align?

Thanks John Schoenauer

Why no Ice????????????

I am sure the ICE is a good charger but, I am just checking out other options. I was just wondering if these other manufacturers chargers work as well or better or worse then the ICE. How about Orion's charger and batteries?

Thanks John Schoenauer

This weekend My son borrowed a lipo pack from a friend. He gave him 3 packs. He went to charge the 1st one and it was out of balance by more then a .10 of a volt. He charged the 2nd pack and it two was out of balance by the same amount. The 3rd pack was all most new and was fine. My friend didn't know how many times the two packs were charged before he bought them. He was using the FMA BalancePro HD. He had it connected to his laptop.

The Align charges at 1000 ma/ cell. It would take quit a while to charge a 3200 pack. The Integy, I don't know how they would work. I don't like the fact that it doesn't auto-detect the number of cells. Looks like a accident waiting to happen.

...I believe it was also noted, no noticible performace difference between the balanced and unbalanced packs... at least not at the level of this event (But you bet...when you have a field of 50+ and 1st to 15th is seperated by .2 seconds EVERYTHING is a performance advantage...

Ok. So, what is the best one to buy?????????????????

He balanced charged them so they were in balance before he ran them. So were not sure what the performance would have been if he ran them unbalanced. It was out of balance by 500 mah on one cell or 15% of capacity. :) But, after being balanced and ran they were really close. So, it seems that after being balanced, they didn't show any ill affect.

Thanks Joe for the "loaner cells"!!

We used the FMA Balance Pro (http://www.fmadirect.com/detail.htm?item=2044&section=38) this weekend and liked it a lot. It was simple to use and worked great. If you have a lap top you can use an adapter to see the charge info using the free software. The Scorpion is the same charger, but in a 2 cell version. If you were only going to use the 3200 mah Orion/ Peak then I think the Cell Pro is the best. It has a display built in, is small and they now have a 4 amp model.
FMA has been really good about answering questions and the shipping is top notch. You receive conformation email's at every step. Great company!

I have been testing the Competition Electronics GFX LiPo upgrade for the last week and its great way to keep your older charger up to date and be able to charge all types of cells.

How does it work? Is it a balance charger? Max amps for charging? I could send mine in for the upgrade IF it is worth the peice. Depends on features/price. Is there info on the CE web site I haven't been there in a while. Looked on the CE web site and found no info on the update? Thanks

The site has a small note regarding a future upgrade. It is very unlikely that it will do balancing.

Only a few of us have the update for Field testing. It is not far from release I am told. No it will only balance if you charge each cell of a pack separately. Jim did mention they were thinking of releasing a balancer to work with the charger... but its not definite yet.
It also has a lipo discharge program... not much different than the regular discharge/cycle program but it is tweaked for LiPo use.
it will charge up to 12000 mahr at 1 C (12 amps).

IF they came out with a balancer for the Orion/Pek 3800 batteries that look like they will be using in Oval racing then I would probably send mine in for the update, wouldn't be much use if it did not balance the batts I was using. Don't know that a discharge cycle for anything except sifting through batteries to look for that "edge". I will NEVER be good enough at set up and driving for that "edge" to do ME any good. Luckily for most of the Oval suppliers, most of us racers never figure that out.

When my packs need balancing (not often) I just charge each cell seperatly... easy to do with Orion packs just takes longer. It should never have to be done at the track... I just check the voltage of each cell during the week and if they have drifted apart (not very often) I balance them.

What about the new Team Checkpoint charger? Is that any good?

RC

so how much would the upgrade be on a GFX ??

The Ce people will only upgrade the GFX(they did not say- give them a call). Since I've got a Turbo 35BL I'm out of luck. So I ordered an ICE. The Team Checkpoint is and upgraded Ice and has a couple of more motor features. Unfortately its features for the brushed motors and NOT brushless.Again I've gone brushless so there is no need for the red case version of the Ice.

What about the new Team Checkpoint charger? Is that any good?

RC
Ray - It's basically a Duratrax Ice with a backlight, so it should be just as good. It can charge up to 10 amps (Ice is max. 8 amps) and has a couple of higher amp pulsed discharge options (which you probably won't need after switching to LiPo). The backlight would be nice, but is it worth an extra $50?

I've been using a Triton Jr. from Electrifly (a.k.a. Great Planes/Tower) that works well and has a bright backlight. Like the Ice, it'll charge almost any type battery known to man (except maybe the A123 Li-Ion cells) up to 5 amps for around $79. The only thing it doesn't have is separate setup memories for different battery types (the ICE has 10 memories).

I don't think you can beat the Triton Jr. for the money. I have 2 and love them.

so how much would the upgrade be on a GFX ??

$50 read your local forum! lol

now be kind to your brother. lol

I just got the Multiplex 92531 Multicharger it will charge Nicad, Mimh,Gel Cell, Li-Po and Li-Ion. It has a 5 amp Nicad / Nimh charge rate. It charges Li-Po at 1 C. I ran a Racers Edge 5000 pack at our last offroad race I ran about 20 minutes (3 qualifiers and at 2 or 3 laps before each qualifiers) before recharging. It 63 minutes to recharge and took about 4400 mah. I am happy with both the charger and battery after one race day.
Thanks John Schoenauer

When my packs need balancing (not often) I just charge each cell seperatly... easy to do with Orion packs just takes longer. It should never have to be done at the track... I just check the voltage of each cell during the week and if they have drifted apart (not very often) I balance them.

How do you charge just one cell at a time? Also does the ce charge in the cc/cv mode?

Heres the link to that Lipo upgrade for the Competitions Electronics GFX 35

http://www.competitionelectronics.com/pages/turbo35gfx_update.html

Thanks Flash. I went and read the update to the manual. So it is a cc/cv charger.

Still looking at how to charge each cell seperately.

"To balance your 3200 or 4800 use the following. I copied it from Team-Orion (http://www.team-orion.com/toptalk/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB1&Number=21104&Searchpage=1&Main=21004&Words=balance&topic=&Search=true#Post21104)


Rick Hohwart said:
To chaerge each individual cell you must use a charger than can charge a 1-cell LiPo pack (the Advantage can't).

So you set the charger to 1-cell, 4800mAh capacity, and 3.7V. You hook the charger positive to the positive on the battery and the charger negative to the balancing port, then charge.

When that one is charged. You hook up the charger negative to the negative battery and the charger positive to the balancing port, then charge.

Once you have done both cells, the pack is balanced. You should only do this every 50 cycles or so."

I personally would only balance when it needed it. Be it 50 cycles or 200 cycles. I've been running the Peak 3200 Carbon batteries with a lot of luck. I always have a multi meter in the tool box. After a few cycles I check each cells voltage. Mine have stayed dead nuts even. If you deep cycle or run them down to the cut off regularly you may have trouble. I will balance mine when the cells get .03 volts different. Until then....

Ben

anybody ever use one of those RCpower 601bc chargers they sell on ebay? They look like a great charger with balancing and multicharging capability, but its not made by a repituable company.

That 601bc charger is pretty interesting looking. Anyone know a website it has been reviewed on? What about the manual? Is it available online?

Here's a big thread at RC Universe about the 601bc charger. Not very good reviews. Basically a ripoff of a Bantam charger with poor quality control and buggy software.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5414724/tm.htm

Anyone try the LRP Competion Pulsar3 for charging Li-Po's yet???

Brian, Donnie used it all day on Sat. charging the 3200. He said it worked great.

When you boys comming back down, we started running 17.5 lipo this past week.

We have a couple more weeks at LAil's plus the DR Mem. race on the 22nd then we are on the rug till April so prob next year for us to get back over. Try to make it up to Greeneville for some carpet racing if you can!

Thanks for the feedback on the LRP!

I plan on comming up couple of times to race, would love to get up to Lail some weekend, but I might have to wait till next year

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=LOSB9607

I recently heard about this and was wondering if anyone used it???

Thanks!!!

...hey, as long as it works it will be great for those who already have 2 or 3 chargers...

at least this can let them try LIPO out w/o having to invest in a big dollar charger...and if they stay with the LIPO deal..then they can jump up the charging equipment later.