January 2, 2019

Hobby Chargers for Li-Ion batteries

These are often sold independently of a DC power supply, so pay attention. A 12 volt, 2 amp "wall-wart" may be all the DC supply you need. These are used by RC plane/boat/care hobby people and offer the ability to charge multi-cell packs properly, as well as allowing parameter adjustment.

What I am particularly interested in is using these to test and characterize cells in terms of their internal resistance and capacity.

The ICharger 1010, 206B and 208B are cadillac units, and cost about $130 each.

IMAX B6 and IMAX B8

This sells for under $20 from China (without power supply). Search AliExpress. You may be getting an original or you may be getting a clone. How to tell and whether it matters are uncertain to me at this point. I purchased an IMAX B6 mini back in November of 2017. I had a big heavy 12 volt 1.5 amp "wall wart" laying around, which works fine to power it. I had to obtain the proper barrel connector and replace the plug my power supply had. So far I have only used the suppled cables with alligator clips to charge single cells.

Accucel 6

This is an alternative to the IMAX, and may be a better unit. I see it for sale for under $30 from domestic sources.

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's electronics pages / [email protected]