2s Lipo Charger Recommendations Needed

[thequick]

Hello. I'm looking for recommendations for 2s lipo chargers. I've been using 1s lipos with my eggtimer for dual deploy. I bought my tiny 1s chargers from Sparkfun for cheap (>$10 each) and have been adjusting the charge current by swapping out resistors. The 1s chargers are basic and pretty simple to understand. I even got one that is small enough that I mounted it right on the av-bay sled. It is a slick set up.

Now I'm adding the eggfinder to my rockets. The eggfinder needs a higher voltage so I'm considering using 2s lipos. It doesn't look like I can take the same cheap and simple approach with 2s chargers. I've been looking at offerings from Hobby King but can't really figure out the best approach. I can't seen to figure out the best choice to support ~300mAh size. All the 2s chargers seem to be made for charging large batteries quickly. It seems the complexity of going from 1s to 2s has increased by an order of magnitude! What are others using for 2s charging? Any recommendations about how I should approach 2s charging? Help...

 

[ttabbal]

Do your batteries have balance leads? What kind of charge current are you looking for? If you are planning to use pretty small batteries, something like this should work fine.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-12v-2-3s-basic-balance-charger.html

 

[FMarvinS]

I use & am happy with the Turnigy P606 AC/DC Lipo charger. It can charge three 2s Lipos or six 1s Lipos simultaneously. It can also handle two 3s lipos simultaneously if needed. It is also available from Hobby King.

Good luck.
Fred
L2, KG4YGP

 

[Banzai88]

Any B6 charger will get you done nicely.

 

[Winston]

Hello. I'm looking for recommendations for 2s lipo chargers. I've been using 1s lipos with my eggtimer for dual deploy. I bought my tiny 1s chargers from Sparkfun for cheap (>$10 each) and have been adjusting the charge current by swapping out resistors. The 1s chargers are basic and pretty simple to understand. I even got one that is small enough that I mounted it right on the av-bay sled. It is a slick set up.

Now I'm adding the eggfinder to my rockets. The eggfinder needs a higher voltage so I'm considering using 2s lipos. It doesn't look like I can take the same cheap and simple approach with 2s chargers. I've been looking at offerings from Hobby King but can't really figure out the best approach. I can't seen to figure out the best choice to support ~300mAh size. All the 2s chargers seem to be made for charging large batteries quickly. It seems the complexity of going from 1s to 2s has increased by an order of magnitude! What are others using for 2s charging? Any recommendations about how I should approach 2s charging? Help...

What do you want to spend? Considering the specialized use, I suspect not much. Here's a well reviewed one (by users) for small mAh packs that's cheap ($8.50 shipped) if your 2S packs have balance plugs (which they should, but some don't).

Eachine Racer 250 RC Drone Spare Part B3AC Balance Charger Supports 2-3S Lipo Battery

https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Ra...ger-Supports-2-3S-Lipo-Battery-p-1007679.html

A more expensive ($30), but excellent one I own:

Turnigy Accucel-6 80W 10A Balancer/Charger LiHV Capable

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-accucel-6-80w-10a-balancer-charger-lihv-capable.html

 

[byoungblood]

I'd go with the B6 over the B3AC charger listed above. I can't say why it did it, but one of the B3AC clones I got from a local hobby shop somehow let a cell voltage drop too low. Fortunately I was able to easily recover the battery with a B6 (battery was brand new!) and it works fine now. B6 chargers cost more, but can charge a wider range of batteries and have better options for charge rates, monitoring cell voltage & resistance, etc...

 

[watermelonman]

I have been through several generic chargers branded as "B6", "IMAX", or similar. They are all the same, blue LCD with four buttons, tacky firmware from southeast asia. They work well enough but do not last.

 

[Winston]

I'd go with the B6 over the B3AC charger listed above. I can't say why it did it, but one of the B3AC clones I got from a local hobby shop somehow let a cell voltage drop too low. Fortunately I was able to easily recover the battery with a B6 (battery was brand new!) and it works fine now. B6 chargers cost more, but can charge a wider range of batteries and have better options for charge rates, monitoring cell voltage & resistance, etc...

One thing to note about the B6 chargers - unlike the B3AC example, they require an external 12VDC source, a high(ish) current one if one wants to charge larger lipos at high currents, whereas the B3AC is stand-alone as it can use a 110VAC source. For my Turnigy, I use an old PC power supply converted into a stand-alone high current source with banana plugs for the voltages it supplies (3.3V, 5V, 12V, -12V).

 

[byoungblood]

I have a 12v/25A switching power source on my workbench so it wasn't a big deal for me either.

B6 chargers can be run off of car batteries or jump packs too, so another thing going for them if you need to top off a battery in the field.

 

[Zebedee]

Eggfinder works fine with the sparkfun 1s lipos.

 

[DavyRocket]

Can you please clarify/confirm for me...
I have seen conflicting info on the B6 style chargers. I have a small 2S battery pack with just the 3-wire balance connector. One instruction manual indicated that you had to plug both the 2-lead battery output and the balancing connector into the charger for it to work. So if I don't have a 2-lead main battery output lead, can I still use a B6 charger? I really like the idea of the 'storage' feature of these chargers.

Update/Answer: There are adapter cables available that provide output and balance connectors for batteries with just a balance connector.

Thanks!

 

[cerving]

I use & am happy with the Turnigy P606 AC/DC Lipo charger. It can charge three 2s Lipos or six 1s Lipos simultaneously. It can also handle two 3s lipos simultaneously if needed. It is also available from Hobby King.

Good luck.
Fred
L2, KG4YGP

+1. I have the same one, and love it. As long as the batteries can take the same charge current, you can charge any combination of LiPo's up to 6S simultaneously. That makes it really easy to charge all the 2S batteries for your rocket at the same time. I think it was about $30 from HK... money well spent.