I am currently using an Orbit Pocket Ladder charger with the addition of a Hobbyking battery medic - AKA a power pilot ballancer / discharger. The Power supply is from an old external hard-drive, and is only 3 watts at 12 volts (so it says) and yes, when I run the charger at 1 amp starting rate, the power supply does "squeel" a bit. The orbit charger cuts down the charge rate as the battery reaches full charge, so it actually charges the lipo quite nicely. Unfortunately since I forgot to disconnect my transmitter from its wall charger I stuffed that charger a few months ago when I ripped the plug out...! I've been getting better charging performance out of the orbit charger anyway... so now I have the problem that I have too many batteries that need charging and only one charger that will do the job. The solution is obviously to get a multi circuit charger, or simply get a second one... with the later in mind I have been looking at this one...
http://www.rcworld.co.nz/dynam-supermate-dc6-double-power-ac-dc-balance-charger-xidp259628.htmlI like the fact that unlike most of the others on the market, it also has the functionality to plug it straight into a wall socket. Anyone used one of these Dynam chargers, any comments etc.
most of these units must use either the same or very similar charge circuit chips, just all put into a different case with a slightly different screen...
The Orbit is cool in the fact that its firmware can actually be re-flashed in order to add new types of battery chemistry - when i bought it, the LiFe chemistry wasn't available - now after the latest update it has been added to the chargers options... the down side is that the charger does not have a built in ballancer... there are some you can get which plug-in to the firmware port and provide feedback to the charger - but the current bat-medic system works great.
Not sure if a review thread is really needed for chargers since most of them operate in much the same way, but I wonder if it would be good to at least have a comparison chart to compare features and price / supplier - perhaps some with a user rating as well. I have heard of some of the cheaper Chinese (turnigy?) ones having less than accurate voltage output readings which could be damaging to lipo batteries and therefore dangerous. I'd be happy to compile a list in Excel which users could input details of the chargers under the category headings, fill in and email back to me - and i'll compile them which will then update on a regular basis giving a "score" system for chargers (popularity, rating out of 10 for features etc...) What do you guys think?