Hitec X plus

[RedOctobyr]

The 208, to me, is a very tough sell. It's very expensive for what it offers. At $140 and 350W, it's only $20 less than the $160 306b, which is 750W.

Plagarizing myself:

Comparing watts/$:
106B+: $90, 250W, so 2.8 W/$
206B: $125, 300W, so 2.4 W/$
208B: $140, 350W, so 2.5 W/$
306B: $160, 750W, so 4.7 W/$

In case the rest of the post (comparing different iCharger options for someone else) is useful, it's here:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...ostcount=14747

If you're going to be charging 6S (my assumption, as this smaller charger would be for the E5), the 106B+ is 10A, 250W for $90.

The 206B will give about 12-13A, based on its 300W total power, for $125.

The 208B would do about 14-15A, based on its 350W total power, for $140.

The 306B, if you wanted a powerful "backup" charger, would do 30A, 750W, for $160.

You'd have to decide if the extra money for the 20xB series is worth it, for the added output they'd provide.

If the chargers are 85-90% efficient (which is typical for the iChargers), then your 350W power supply could power about 300-315W of charger output. Meaning it couldn't power the full output of the 208B, but it would be enough to max out the 106B+ and 206B.

Note that you can run 2 chargers off the same power supply (you'd just need to make/buy an adapter cable). If your PL6 wasn't going to be maxing out your feathermerchant supplies, you could use those to also power any of the iChargers, *EXCEPT* for the 106B+. That one only accepts 18V input, max, so it couldn't take the full 24V output.

[GJacksonF3N]

Guess I will look at the 206b, but thought I found the 208 for only 5 or 10 bucks more. Maybe not. Probably won't order that charger until the hitec sells. I thought the 306 was around 180+, for that price I would get a second pl6. I will look for good sales with the 206

[GJacksonF3N]

Just ordered the 206b, thanks for the advice Red! Now it's time to pack up my hitec charger to ship. I will miss it a great deal.

[RedOctobyr]

Nice. Having a power supply that will let you unlock the PL6's potential will probably help soften the blow.

Sent using Tapatalk.

[GJacksonF3N]

Doing my first run with the new supply, just using one pack now, then I will try 3. I changed the settings to 40a, low supply to 12v. (Feather mechanic supply). While this pack is charger at 3 in the fast charge tab, I am seeing 6a. Is that correct? I'm going to try high power next and see how that works, the manual said it would then be 10a. So is this right number wise for the ridiculous times I have seen people post of charging in 15 minutes?

[GJacksonF3N]

40 minutes to charge a 5000mah battery at 3c? The pack started at 42% something can't be right, expected faster charge times.

[GJacksonF3N]

Think I found the issue. After selecting how many packs (parallel charge option) you then set charge rate. I didn't alter it before. This time I set it to 39.8, but the next option of discharge ratd, I left that alone, so that is correct right?

[RedOctobyr]

Gregor or Slyster can help, I don't have a PowerLab.

But my guess would be that you need to use the High Power preset. Then set your charge current manually. 5A for 1C, etc. The "lesser" presets are apparently quite a bit slower, especially for larger packs.

40 minutes for 3C is definitely not right. When I field charge at 3C, my particular setup takes 13-14 minutes.

[Slyster]

I like to do my own math... so when I had my PL6 I just selected high power charge and told it I had 1 pack on... even if I had 2 or 3 or 6.

[GJacksonF3N]

Before seeing this I adjusted settings in the high power option. It charged 3 6s packs in about 13 minutes. That's what I'm talking about Jack!

[Gregor99]

Sounds like you got it sorted out. I prefer to tell the charger how many packs are in parallel then manually set the charge rate. Don't use the AUTO modes (1c, 2c, 3c). Be sure to increase the input current limit and don't adjust the low supply limit.

For the discharge rate, leave that at the default.

Once you get comfortable with it, you can set the number of packs in parallel and charge rate per pack in the preset. Enable quick start and then all you have to do is press and hold the start button. Far fewer button presses.

More stuff

FAQ - Powerlab Quick Start Guide - Wiring modes, Supply Limits and 1s charging

[GJacksonF3N]

So far I'm loving this, finally unlocking the true abilities of this charger. The icharger will be a nice 2nd charger when it arrives tomorrow or Saturday.