Expensive Chargers??

[stuartb]

Is there any need for an expensive LIPO charger? I see lots of chargers sold as Heli chargers that are considerably cheeper (£30) rather than the brand names being £100.

Is there a reason for this, are they as good or is there an issue with them for car racing?

[bob]

it all depends on how many cells you are charging

if you only use 2 or 3 cell lipos then get a cheap lipo charger
but if you are on the big stuff 4 to 6 cell i wouldnt trust a cheapo charger IMO ..

i had a verry cheap ansman lipo peak charger i think it was about 40 quid 2 years ago and used it to charge my 2s 2100mah lipo batterys for a years racing with no problems

then i bought a pro peak inteigent lipo lion nmih ect ect all singing all dancing jobber when i moved up to charging 6 cell lipos for my helli as the batterys are over 150 each

[MattW]

I'm not sure i ever agree with using cheap chargers. At the 1/10th off road national at the weekend, I believe there were quite a few people that failed the voltage check.........

[PDW]

Agree with Matt, the cheap chargers are a recipe for failing the voltage check. I use a Bantam BC-6, and have never failed the check. Steel case, built-in transformer (runs from mains or 12v), all the bells and whistles, worth every penny.

If you're just Club racing then a cheap charger may be OK. If you have a voltage check to do, not your best plan IMHO. Then there's the question of "if it can't cut off at the right voltage, what's the purity of the charge voltage?" Only time will tell... HTH :)

[V8POWER]

i use lrp pulsar 3 on 1s lipo no problem with voltage check