Once I finish a day in the field flying my Vibe 90 SG, I am left with 16-20 packs to charge.

I currently have the BANTAM BC8DX which gives me 2 charged packs at a time.

Any charger you know that can charge more packs at a time?

Powerlab PL6 or iCharger 306b with parallel harness will let you charge six at once.

Team Synergy

PL8
MPA board
Dell 6650 900w ps x 2

Add a generator, always have two packs on the charger and leave the field with all your packs charged but the ones from your last flight.

10 minute charge time on two 6s 5000's.

I used to carry 4 packs per airframe and have a 4 hour charging party when I get home. Now I have one or two packs per airframe and leave the field with most of them charged. No more charging when I get home.

Xxtreme, G770, TDR, G700, 700e, 700n, 6003d, 550e, G500, 450, MCPx BL
Sponsored by my Visa

Yeah with that many packs I would go with the 40amp chargers... iCharger 3010 or the FMA Powerlab 8. With the parallel board you'll want all the amps you can get to finish the packs quicker.

I use an iCharger 306B with parallel board but I only own 6 packs so I can charge them all and keep cycling as I fly.

40 amps with 6 5000mAh packs charging simultaneously would be 1.33C charge rate. Which is exactly what I am pulling on my smaller 6S 3800mAh packs on the iCharger 306b.

Yeah with that many packs I would go with the 40amp chargers... iCharger 3010 or the FMA Powerlab 8

The icharger is only a 30amp charger.

and the blonde said "RECTUM, Hell damn near killed em!!"

Two iChargers allow charge cycles stagger and also allows parallel charging two different cell counts at the same time. Total cost is not much more than a PL8-argueably. This offer the most flexibility and total power, which is why I went this route.

The PL8 is the most powerful and most expensive.

Also, the iChargers are more compact and easier to mount in a portable charging station.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, the iChargers can handle three server power supplies wired in series to 38v!! Mine produce 37.8v at idle and 37.3v while under full load.

Enjoy things that money can buy IF you don't lose the things money can't buy.

The PL8 and PL6, only 10 amp more power, which seriously why would you need 40amps to charge your lipos?

Also, the iChargers are more compact and easier to mount in a portable charging station.

I like the sound of that

Here are some photos of my first rendition of a light weight, compact, and super powerful charging station. I have made some slight changes since shooting these photos. Total weight with Transmitter, three power supplies, two chargers, and balancing board/wires, etc. is still well under 18 lbs, I believe.

Enjoy things that money can buy IF you don't lose the things money can't buy.

Tyler that's the hot setup. I got mine from David with the progressive balance boards, nice quality balance boards, cant believe price for such a nice balamce board.

The PL8 is still a better charger though, the 3010B chargers get very hot and may explode when discharging or charging. I had two of them blow out on me. Pl8 is the Bomb, so to speak.

I'll have to shoot some photos of the newest arrangement.

I must admit, though, that charging multiple packs for a single model is a snap. Things get messy and confusing when charging, Nimh, LiFe, Lipo batteries and a whole variety of cell counts on a single outing. When I take one model and a few packs to the field charging is so much easier. Unfortunately, I fly glow, gassers, electrics in both planks and helis.

Enjoy things that money can buy IF you don't lose the things money can't buy.

When I hear someone has 20 6s 5000 packs, it makes me wonder why. With a generator and a good solid charging setup, you could fly all day on maybe 4 pairs of packs with only a small delay between each flight. The money you spent on packs could fund the genny and it sounds like you already need a fairly stout charging solution. I say look into getting a Honda 2000i generator, a pair of big iCharger or FMA chargers and a server power supply based power supply.

- Chris

Team New Mexico
TJinTech

I agree with TJinGuy 100%. I use to buy packs four at a time. I found that I couldn't keep up with the logistics of organizing them. Also, more packs on hand meant more packs went bad because I didn't storage charge them (concept was not widely known back then). I found that I was constantly chasing my tail on batteries.

Also, the battery technology would advance so quickly that the performance between sets was very noticeable.

Resale on batteries is almost nil, so I was stuck with piles of batteries.

I finally accepted my loses and did the following investments:

Honda 2000
two iCharger 3010b's
Standardize all my battery packs to use one type of balance connector
two balance boards
balance extensions
Standardized all my models and batteries to use Anderson Powerpole connectors
watt meter to monitor between power supplies and chargers
Kill-a-watt meter to monitor between AC power and power supplies

Dedicate old batteries to starters, fuel pumps, bench set up, etc.

Enjoy things that money can buy IF you don't lose the things money can't buy.

fastest way for me :

2x PL8 with 8 packs in parallel each (4x 12s)
2x IOTA 12v 90a ps in series.

Charge all 16 packs in roughly one hour if packs are at 20%.

I use a 20a circuit for each ps.

Flying helis isn't an activity, it's a state of mind.

sweet setup, set you back about $20,000?

Seems like the Icharger or PL6 are the way to go for portability but the PL8 is good for a one charging station. At what point do you NEED two power supplies? With my luck I'll end up at a field with no power and I'll be forced to get a generator

flyride
Key Veteran
Salt Lake City UT
My Posts: All Forum Topic
Yeah with that many packs I would go with the 40amp chargers... iCharger 3010 or the FMA Powerlab 8
The icharger is only a 30amp charger.

Oops thanks for correcting me :P.

Here is my charging station from ProgressiveRC

Charging in parallel

Is it safe to charge in parallel?
You need the packs to be on the same voltage level
And if you are not... You get serious internal high current between unmatched cells.

Parallel charging is safe. It is important to keep packs within a reasonable level of discharge before connecting them together. Also, a few minutes of resting as the packs level out the voltage among themselves is important, too. The higher packs will drain into the lower voltage packs.

The most important thing to remember is that you must always match up packs with the same cell count.

I charge 250mah, 850mah, 2200mah, 2600mah, and 5000mah TWO CELL packs all at the same time in parallel. When the smallest packs are full, the charge simply spills over to the next pack. Think of it as one of those champaign glass pyramids that are filled at large fancy weddings. When the top glass is full the champaign spills out to fill the next layer of glasses below it. This trickle effect eventually fills every glass, but the first glass never holds more than its full capacity.

When flying matched packs for larger electrics I believe parallel charging makes even more sense. The two 5s packs are wired in series, flown in series, and stop flying at the exact same time. When the packs are connected in series for charging the cells will begin to self balance. The charger will maintain that balance throughout the entire charge cycle.

Enjoy things that money can buy IF you don't lose the things money can't buy.

In parallel charge if one of the cells will have a shortage all cells in the same osition might be damaged