LiPo Charger thoughts
 

Since I got into crawlers, I am making the switch to LiPo batteries and will have to upgrade to a new balancing charger to charge my LiPo's in the near future so I'm looking for some advice. I have a LHS guy who really jocks the Hyperion chargers for LiPo's. I can dig what he's saying, they seem to have sweet features, but it seems that all of their chargers are DC only (I believe the only one that can even use the 'in home' AC power requires a 220volt circuit!). I'm getting sick of the old external power supply routine and I'd like to find a really good charger that has the ability to run on 110 AC as well as 12v DC. Does this exist? Any recommendations?

The Thunder AC6 is a great charger that runs on both AC and DC.

http://www.hobbypartz.com/thac6smbachw.html

Also check out hobbypartz for lipo batteries, their line of gens ace are very good.

My son & I each use a Venom Pro Charger (yes, we have 2 of them), not the cheapest out there, but we're happy.
They have a hardwired 12VDC input as well as a small 110VAC external supply that we leave at home when out comping.
You get pretty much everything you need to charge all sorts of packs, connectors, etc, even a balance port. So the larger upfront cost is covered by not having to buy anything else."thumbsup"

One link... http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...w-Power-Supply under $100 with everything.

As to batteries, I pretty much only buy from CheapBatteryPacks.com 8)

i have the hyperion eoso606i. ac/dc balance charger. works great. runs on regular 110v outlet in house, or off car battery for out on the trail. will charge basically any battery you want.

Great charger experience here
 

My 2 cents: was turned on to ONYX 245. They have a full line. This charger is ac or dc with balancing feature. It can chagre two batteries at once. Gives the progress and charge rate along the way. Good audible alarm when done then reverts to a trickle charge. BE SURE TO USE A FIRE PROOF BAG! The best feature and one to look for is this charger came with all kinds of adapters to fit most kinds of batteries. It charges lipo, Nimh and many others. A R/C store owner said it's his choice so I jumped.
Happy here. Good luck to you!

I just made the switch to Lipo as well and had basically the same questions as you.
I ended up going with the Hyperion EOS0606i AC/DC Balance Charger. It'll plug into your regular house outlet or your cigarette lighter. It has all the features your looking for. It was just about $105 at CKRCcrawlers.com
Thats the best price I saw when I was looking.

http://www.ckrccrawlers.com/hyperion...6a-p-2580.html

I really dont get the expensive chargers...Yea they have lots of features, problem is my cheap Turnigy charger does everything I need it to.

I bought 2 Turnigy chargers (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbycity/s...cessories.html) and some batteries for less than the cost of a hyperion.

Truth is, I actually have a hyperion that I dont use. Got it in a lot with a bunch of other stuff when a guy was getting out of the hobby...Havent looked at it since.

I don't know how I missed this one! I didn't see it at all on their site, I will look again. Thanks Hog!"thumbsup"

Does the display show voltage and data of each individual cell?

I appreciate it Die! I have heard many folks, from hobby store owners to regular joe drivers swear up and down on how good the Hyperion stuff is. I didn't initially see this charger on their lineup but I will look into it for sure. That may be exactly what I'm looking for! Thanks very much!"thumbsup"

AC680. Best budget charger, hands down. From the specs it appears to be the same charger as the Hyperion...at half the price and faster discharge rate.

http://www.hobbypartz.com/73p-ac680-accharger.html

i`ve got a hyperion 606i 6A, and a iCharger 206B 20A with a power supply..

The hyperion is allmost NEVER used.

I paralell charge lipo`s on the icharger, and it`s faast :)
My 10c capable 5s 5000mah batteries (for my 1/8 car) gets 20A single, or 4 batteries charges on 1c at the same time.. genious!
I even charge 3x 3s 1050mah at 5c maximum at the same time, when i`m in a hurry to go crawling ;) But normally 1-3C.

I would buy another one if i needed a new..

get one from hobbypartz. a lot of the name brand chargers are just rebranded chargers from the same factory as hobbypartz "thumbsup"

i have the thunder AC6 and it works flawlessly, and it is AC and DC so you can use the wall outlet, hook it up to a power supply, or your 1:1's battery. i also have a skycharger 6200, but i got a defective one so i can't really speak on it, but i've heard nothing but good things about it and it's a great all around charger, but it's DC only. i got it to charge my 1/8 race batteries since the AC6 is only 50w it can't even charge my big packs at 1c. the skycharger 6200 is a 10A 200w charger so it can charge just about anything at 10A

I saw on another thread where someone mentioned the "Sky RC iMax B6 Ultimate balance charger" Sounded pretty good, even had 10 battery memory. It's close to the same price as the Thunder AC680 (about 10 bucks more). Anyone know of this one or have used it? Thoughts? Here's the link:
http://www.towerhobbies.com/products.../sytm1001.html

i got the ac680, it kicks all your chargers in the nuts for half the price.

it's a cheap whore.
"thumbsup"

"As I stated many times before, if there are 20 choices, you will get 20 replies."

i have this accusel 6 also and love it. it is very easy to use and cheap!

Came to post this, leaving satified. But the ac680 is nice too with the 2.0 discharge (not that I ever discharge, lolzzz)

another vote for The Thunder AC6. i love mine and its easy to use and great price. you can connect it to the regular outlet at your house and also your car's battery.

AC in: 100v-240v DC: 11 - 18V
charge/discharge power: max.50/5 watts
nicd/nimh : 1 - 15 cells
lilo/lipo/life: 1/6series
pb batteries: 2-20V
charge current: 0.1 - 5.0A
Discharge current: 0.1 - 1.0A
No. of cycle: 1 to 5 times
Battery data memory: up to 5

"thumbsup"

Re: LiPo Charger thoughts
 

But I sure have gotten a lot of replies about the Thunder AC6 and AC680. Looks like one of the most popular "bangs for the buck" apparently.