Dual Charge Recommendations

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AggyMi

AggyMi

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Anyone have any recommendations for a reasonably priced dual output charger. Been looking at something like the SkyRC T100 , anyone have experience with it or other recommendations
 
I have a Hota s6 sexy specs and compact size for a 400w ac dual charger think I got it for £130 last year or bit cheaper is the Hota d6 pro 200w ac, I have them both they are cracking chargers and if you got an external power supply that can power them these will do 650w dc.
 
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had this going on two years now, been a good little charger and works well on 12vdc from the camping batt in my truck when im out and about.
 
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I have the skyrc t100 it does the job but it’s useless if you need to discharge a battery it takes hrs. I’d 2nd the hota as a good call I’ve been looking at the f6 it’s a quad channel charger, but the s6 good too if want a dual charger. Not all hota have a mains supply plug be careful which you choose if go for one.
 
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Nelson.81 said:
I have the skyrc t100 it does the job but it’s useless if you need to discharge a battery it takes hrs. I’d 2nd the hota as a good call I’ve been looking at the f6 it’s a quad channel charger, but the s6 good too if want a dual charger. Not all hota have a mains supply plug be careful which you choose if go for one.
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Glad you mentioned discharge, because that's definitely something my SkyRC e680 is weak on
 
Thanks for all the input guys, I'll be taking a look at all of those today.

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I have the Hota D6 pro and its great. The S6 should be as well with more a/c power I believe
 
Nelson.81 said:
The gens-ace imars is another good dual charger if want another option to confuse matters more lol
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I have two imars d300 and can’t recommend them enough. Great well thought and easy to use chargers.
 
Nelson.81 said:
I can’t remember the discharge rate on it but its low like 0.5 or 1amp max I think
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If this is important, external loads controlled by the charger are a good option. The imars d300 has an external discharge port for this and I imagine others do as well.
 
Shouldn't we always recommend what we bought ourselves?
In which case the ToolkitRC M6D is pretty good for a dual channel charger. Like most others, all of the voltages can be calibrated so the cell voltages are accurate. Use a big old laptop power supply (CATIA laptops are great 👍) when you're charging at home and a big lipo for smaller stuff outside.
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Jeffwazz said:
Shouldn't we always recommend what we bought ourselves?
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No. I've made lots of purchases that were not ideal in retrospect. The Traxxas charger in their "starter kit" is an on topic example of something I would not recommend for the vast majority of people.
 
Jeffwazz said:
Shouldn't we always recommend what we bought ourselves?
In which case the ToolkitRC M6D is pretty good for a dual channel charger. Like most others, all of the voltages can be calibrated so the cell voltages are accurate. Use a big old laptop power supply (CATIA laptops are great 👍) when you're charging at home and a big lipo for smaller stuff outside.
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The form factor seems so small it almost seems to good to be true, how are the balancing and discharge speeds 🤔
 
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I had a rebranded Skyrc dual and later on a quad charger.
Changed to an ISDT K4 and never looked back. Much, much faster especially in the balancing ‘department’. And with bluetooth app function, which I use more than I thought I would.
The ‘new’ IMARS D1000 seems to be even more powerful.
 
Thanks for further input, I'm whittling down my choices as we speak, looking at specs now , Balance current is what I'm focused on at the moment .
 
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AggyMi said:
Thanks for further input, I'm whittling down my choices as we speak, looking at specs now , Balance current is what I'm focused on at the moment .
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Balance current was my main criteria as well. The imars D300 is 1.2A per cell. So what I learned is that once a pack is FUBOR, balance current above 1A per cell is basically not needed. It will never reach the voltage of the other cells. If you want a perceived "faster" balance charge then chose a charger that "gives up" faster on trying to balance a pack. My D300 will try to balance a pack for 1 hour at 1C charge rate when a good pack will charge to balance in 30 mins. It cycles through trying to balance the pack a number of times until it gives up and says it is charged. If you look at the data the charger presents you, you can see that a cell or two are just FUBOR and you can unplug the pack and let it eat. Its already damaged, just send it.

IMO, you want about 1A balance per cell for 10 Amp Hour cells. So if you run 10,000mAh packs, 1A balance current is a good target.

I hope this all makes sense. There are a LOT of great chargers on the market now, so don't stress to much. IMO you want ease of use, Internal Resistance measurements, and 1A per cell of balance power. Extra credit for external discharge load connection. But to be honest, having a backup car to run the power down in the packs is like, probably cheaper and more fun?
 
AggyMi said:
Glad you mentioned discharge, because that's definitely something my SkyRC e680 is weak on.

Same with the D200 neo; it takes an eternity to discharge. That being said, I don't think any low-cost dual chargers have a decent discharge rate.
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