Starting to come across other brands with customers other than the Shorai I use and recommend.
Got a good supplier for a charger for such batteries? Sponsors dont appear to have any listed.
Found one local. Tecmate Optimate charger for Lithium Iron batteries.
Our local racers are out at the track this weekend so I can't 100% confirm, but I'm pretty sure this is the one they've got:
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/imax-b6ac-v2-professional-balance-charger-discharger.html?___store=en_us
Very impressive unit.
I have to agree on your choice of optimate battery charger, it does everything and more to charge a lithium battery.
I have a first batch shorai battery charger, like the first batch battery I owned, it has been problematic. Shorai replaced my defective battery but they won't touch the charger. When it finally goes out I'll be replacing it with a optimate charger.
It arrived today. Quite compact and simple. Has a long cord which is handy.
I used it on four different Lithium batteries tonight. Two Shorai LFX18, one Shorai LFX14 and one Battery Tender brand (looks roughly equivalent to an LFX14).
It's fully automatic and goes through it's procedure of testing, saving (if necessary), charging, retesting and then storing/maintaining.
One thing of note is that I would like a charger that lets you manually set up max voltage and pulse charging intervals, both for charge duration and down time. I have a mate who could build exactly what I want. I've noticed that Lithium batteries appear to respond well to periodic strong voltage pulses in order to get them back to full capacity. A steady high charge just under the max allowable voltage seems to positively stretch their capacity, but if they are stuck at a lower max capacity then the periodic deep pulsing brings them back up from overdischarging. Just my observation. This Optimate is good but I could use a custom device to be honest.
The device that Speeddog linked to says it has adjustable voltage and has a USB connection for computer control. Not sure if it would do everything you want though.
I've been happy with about half a dozen NOCO products. I've been using 3 of the 3500 daily, for work, with no problems.
https://no.co/g3500
Cheers. Another impressive unit.
Spoke with my mate who is a master in electrickery . He can build me a fully adjustable, manually operated charger. The unit will charge at intervals to a set max voltage rate for deep cycle charging with adjustable charge rates, adjustable charging time, adjustable rest/pause off charge, and overall time while displaying voltage, etc in each stage. Cool.
Update when it's done.
Resurrect Ye olde thread!
Can anyone confirm the charger below would work with a Shorai battery? Or does anyone know the connector/cable spec the shorai uses for the balance charger? The only description on their site is "6 pin charging cable". I'd rather get a good general purpose balancing charger, than a dedicated shorai unit.
Quote from: Speeddog on June 17, 2017, 09:03:30 AM
Our local racers are out at the track this weekend so I can't 100% confirm, but I'm pretty sure this is the one they've got:
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/imax-b6ac-v2-professional-balance-charger-discharger.html?___store=en_us
Nevermind everyone, I found this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc8YIFobqCg&feature=youtu.be
Back to sleep ye olde thread! [thumbsup]
Quote from: Auslander on June 29, 2017, 09:22:26 PM
I've been happy with about half a dozen NOCO products. I've been using 3 of the 3500 daily, for work, with no problems.
https://no.co/g3500
Looks good at a good price.
Quote from: chipripper on July 19, 2018, 02:48:16 PM
Nevermind everyone, I found this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc8YIFobqCg&feature=youtu.be
Back to sleep ye olde thread! [thumbsup]
[thumbsup]
A versatile unit.
I'll be wiring it up tonight. The only "downside" is it charges through the main terminals, and discharges individual cells through the balance cable. So I will need to wire up the old style battery pigtail and the balance cable to do balance charging with the tank down. Not really a big deal for me.