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Post by admiralev on Oct 13, 2008 23:34:14 GMT 1
i just ordered this last week from hobbycity...it got here a last saturday (only 3 days from hong kong!) www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idproduct=70286 cell balancing lipo, lilo, life, nimh, nicd, pb, and A123. everything is very simple to use. the charger has many useful features like a storage function and programmable memory. every connector cable you could ever possibly need is included and all connecors come pre-soldered with deans. you cant beat these prices! i also purchased 2 2200 mah zippy lipo packs (also with deans!) everything arrived in good order www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idproduct=6306i hooked up the charger today to my tractor battery and charged up the lipos from 50%. everything balanced out perfectly (4.19, 4.19, 4.20) and the charger was simple to use. you have to print your own manual off the net. the broken english only took a few minutes to decipher. i really like the quality for the price. only $40 for the turnigy and $20 each for the zippys. hopefully all remains well. if it doesnt, i will surely update this thread, but if you have been debating hobbycity, give them a try! admiral |
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Post by duck9191 on Oct 14, 2008 5:16:10 GMT 1
some of the guys i fly with have been beating up some of the 2200mah 20c's now for awhile with great results. the rhino zippys are great too for the price. i have some of the 2150mah and are working great.
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Post by admiralev on Oct 14, 2008 21:24:34 GMT 1
i cant wait to get these things in the plane. im running to my LHS tonight to pick up a brand new fuse for all of my gear
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Post by madeuce36 on Jan 4, 2009 19:08:17 GMT 1
Admiral,
Can you post an update on how your Turnigy and batteries have been working? I have made up my mind to move to Lipo just want to see if there are any alternatives to the FMA 4s.
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Post by admiralev on Jan 4, 2009 22:19:43 GMT 1
its still running strong after at least 75 charges. i havent flown in 2 months as it's just to cold for me. my new vow is to never go out if its under 30 and it has been in the 10s and 20s for the past couple months and i cant get a break in the winds. ive never had a problem with it. ive only tried lipos on it but it will do lead acid and nimh/nicd. ive used the lipo balance function and discharge function only. it balances perfectly and gives a readout of each individual cell so you can monitor the results.
ive never used the cellpro after all of my shinanigans and then never purchasing it so i cant say how they compare, but it charges my lipos safely and well so i cant complain. the cellpro may be more appealing to some now becuase the refurbished ones they are offering are the same price as the turnigys.
if you are going to buy from these guys make sure you pony up the $25 for EMS express. you will get your stuff very quickly that way. ive heard of many people losing packages in international air mail
admiral
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Post by flydiver on Jan 4, 2009 23:01:04 GMT 1
You may want to read this thread:Discussion - Cellpro 4s vs. Turnigy Accucel-6 www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10793737&highlight=Turnigy+Accucel+6+vs+cellpro#post10793737Something to think about---the less YOU know, the more you will like the Cellpro. It is SAFE and it's easy to operate. That does not make it a 'simplistic' charger, rather one that the engineering has taken most of the guess work out of. You can almost plug-n-play it but I stongly recommend you actually read the instructions on ANY charger you plan to buy BEFORE you buy it. It's not nearly as much fun to be stuck with it after the fact. Folks get caught up in the HC 'cheap'. A good charger is the backbone of your electrical system and a critical safety component with lipos. I'm as much for a bargain as the next guy but not at the expense of safety. Remember that shipping from HC will drive up the cost ~20% AND (really important) for all intents you have no viable warranty there AT ALL. The one you 'supposedly' get is only 30 days anyway. The shipping and hassle makes it worthless. If you search around you'll find a number of folks unhappy with performance or a just plain dead HC charger of some flavor and realizing they are going to eat it. |
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Post by madeuce36 on Jan 5, 2009 0:18:27 GMT 1
Admiral,
Thanks for the feedback.
Fly,
As usual you make a couple of good points. I will probably wind up going with the cell pro anyway but wanted to see what else was available at a reasonable price that someone has actually used and could give honest feed back. As you say, this is a foundational item and it's important to make the right decision. The refurb Cell pro appears to be gone as when I click the link all I get is a blank page. Anyway it was a great day out today for me. Clear skies, no wind and 78 degrees! ;D
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Post by admiralev on Jan 5, 2009 0:28:53 GMT 1
ive never stumbled across that thread before fly. there's some good info there
i wouldve never gotten the charger by itself and had it shipped here if i hadnt been buying some batteries too. at the time i had a coupon for $60 on the cellpro which is still less than the turnigy with the shipping, but the batts made it worth it. the warranty was never an issue to me and i figured if it lasted a year i would be happy. at that point i still wasnt sure if i would stay with the hobby so i just wanted to get my feet wet. reading through the manual isnt all that difficult and if it wasnt in broken english it would be very easy to understand. with the turnigy you could plug in your battery and the menu is intuitive enough to guide you through easily.
overall i still believe it was a good purchase, and like i said earlier it has delivered great results so far unless my monitoring screen is lying to me. when you can balance out cells within .01 of each other i think you have yourself a charger thats getting the job done
admiral
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Post by madeuce36 on Jan 5, 2009 0:44:20 GMT 1
To be honest, that is sort of what I was thinking about as well. (Yes I know there I go again swinging back and forth). Their prices on batteries are awesome. I thought I might get the accucel with a couple zippy's. I don't know. I will take a look at the manual and see, no big rush.
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Post by patmatgal on Jan 5, 2009 18:40:35 GMT 1
After reading all that I can hardly wait for my Cellpro to arrive...
madeuce36 Clear skies, no wind and 78 degrees in Jan, where do I have to move to get that kind of weather? Started raining a tad earlier this AM and it's supposed to turn into a freezing rain later, but I did fly 2 packs before it all started. A yellow Super Cub in a green fir tree, now that was a sight. Sling shot, lead weight, kite string and I was flying again...
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Post by flydiver on Jan 5, 2009 19:50:28 GMT 1
overall i still believe it was a good purchase, and like i said earlier it has delivered great results so far unless my monitoring screen is lying to me. when you can balance out cells within .01 of each other i think you have yourself a charger thats getting the job done admiral Before the Trunigy came along the cheap HC charger folks were getting was the IMAX B6. It's a Bantam clone which is a very expensive and nice charger. Trouble was the read out screen lied. An electrical engineer did a very complete analysis of it and the balancing could be off considerably, including overcharging individual cells. www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=746574I have not heard of this complaint with the current Turnigy charger. What I do know is for something to be that much less expensive something has got to give. Of course there is cheaper labor-that's what we are all exploiting here, like it or not. But the soldering can be REALLY sloppy (I have read of folks fixing bad solder joints on electrical components), and the electrical components used can be very low end (the trouble with the B6). |
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Post by admiralev on Jan 5, 2009 22:40:25 GMT 1
i never heard of that. i will keep an eye on the threads and see if anything comes up. i dont want any problems like that for sure
admiral
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Post by madeuce36 on Jan 6, 2009 1:48:29 GMT 1
patmatgal- You would have to move to Florida for the weather. Come on down we'd love to have you! Understand though that there is a trade off. The weather has a tendency to turn quite unfavorable around the mid part of the year. Also, we have issues with sinkholes. ;D
With respect to the cell pro. Has anyone been disappointed with compatibility with different batteries? If so, in these cases, is this more an issue with the connector on the battery rather than the brand? Could the connector on the battery be changed to make it compatible? I understand the cell pro has an accessory to allow it to mate with different battery brands but the brands they list are not the only ones out there.
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Post by flydiver on Jan 6, 2009 3:14:21 GMT 1
ALL chargers, every d**n one of them (not just Cellpro) has an issue with balance taps. WE, the fliers are subject to the g**d**n whims of the industry that puts proprietary balance taps on to try to force you to use their product (charger). There is NO, none, neyet, huh ugh, reason for this other than loathsome marketing BS. It sucks, confuses people and is a black smudge on the industry. Here is an extensive list of almost every single tap out there. www.rcaccessory.com/pdf/BatteryTapConfigurationGuide.pdf. The vast majority fall into 2 categories easily covered by the 2 taps FMA has. If they don't have it, you don't want the battery. DO NOT BUY BATTERIES IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHICH TAP IS ON THEM!!!! Why does everyone seem to think this is a Cellpro problem? It's everyone's problem. |
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Post by madeuce36 on Jan 6, 2009 3:32:17 GMT 1
Thanks for the info.
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