Cheap LiPo Charging…

I remember when a good, computerized charger cost hundreds of dollars. New hobbyist now has a mired of options. Here’s a inexpensive one from Hobby King that many people already know. It’s based on the Imax B6 design, which there are many clones of.

I’ve used to to charge Lead Acid battery, NiCad and NiMH packs. LiION for my camera and LiPo packs for my RC stuff. It’s pretty verstile.

I was delighted to find that you can get a TTL-serial USB adapter and hook it up to the computer to log a battery’s discharge curve like I was able to in this post.

With a parallel charging leads, you can charge many 1s cells, like the ones used with the Xieda 9958, mSR, v911, Solo Pro, v929, etc…

Anyways, this is what you need to buy:

• Accucel-6 Charger
• AC Adapter (You can use an old laptop AC adapter. I am currently using a IBM T20 power adapter)
• Charging Leads:
  • If you have a v929, Blade mQX, Blade 120SR, etc… They use JST connectors and here’s the parallel charging harness: JST Parallel Charging Harness
    
  • For Eflite/Parkzone type such as mSR, Xieda 9958, mCX/mCX2, etc… The UM pico plug parallel charging harness is what you need: Pico Plug Set
    
  • The mCPX uses this charging harness: Ultra Micro Charging Harness
    

There’s debates on the safety of charging cells in parallel. Hyperion is a reputable LiPo manufacturer and they have a 1S Parallel Adapter for sale. You can purchase this for charging 6 Eflite style 1s in parallel instead of the Hobby King harness above: Hyperion Micro 1S Battery Parallel Adapter (HP-LGUM6PADAP)

Another charger that caught my eye is the Gens Ace iMars.

I think it function similar to the Accucel-6, but it has a nicer updated casing IMHO. Plus, it can do internal resistance reading. Some newer model Accucel-6 with a IR sticker on the box has this ability too…but getting it is a hit an miss currently. Remember, there are tons of other chargers out there.

More reading on parallel charging:
About parallel charging of Lixx/PB packs

And since I am playing with the WL Toys v929 Quad most of the time nowadays…here’s the battery I have tried for it so far.

I like the stock v929 battery for it’s weight, size and relative performance. But at roughly $5-$6, I rather buy the Turnigy Nanotech 600mAH @$2.58. It actually works really well. I got a bunch more in so I’ll take a closer look, but for the price, I think it’s a good solution for the v929, mQX, Solo Pro 328, Blade 120SR.