Charger options for LI-Ion....

[Paul Cataldo]

Guys,
I am looking for a charger for my Fromeco LI ION Relion packs, and would like to know what my options are, aside from the "ION CUBE" by Fromeco?
My older brother is an electrical engineer, and he just received his ION CUBE, and he apparently has all kinds of problems with the way it is built. It works, but he says it's not worth the $$, and he should have bought a Triton.
I am no electrical genius, so I need help here. I know what my brother tells me, but I wanted some more opinions.
WILL the Duralite chargers work with Fromeco batteries? I see the Duralite website says that their charger is designed to "work with Charge Safe Circuitry on the Duralite batteries".
Will this affect anything if I were to use the Duralite charger with Fromecos?

I THINK I saw the Triton chargers are about $130 (cheaper than the ION Cube).
Not sure if this was a used one, or new one though.

WHAT are my options for a LI ION charger? IS there any option that is more affordable than this? I sure wish there was something out there that didn't cost as much, but was decent.
Thanks for the info guys.

[Ken-H]

Paul,

You could use an Accu-Cycle. The down side is that it only charges up to 5000 mAh, as least on mine, and only has two ports. Maybe it's changed since, mine is a couple years old. The Fromeco works good enough for me.

Ken

[MattyMatt]

I use my Super Brain 977 and charge 2 packs at a time.

Just set it to 1.5 amp, 2 cell lipo... works like a charm. AC/DC, and will charge almost anything, NiMH, NiCad, Lead Acid, lipo, lion.

[StickerBiotch]

I use the Ion Cube for Lithium Ion and Polymer packs and have not had any problems out of mine. I think you have to take some comments made here and other sites with a grain of salt as there are people who use other chargers with Fromeco packs and have problems with either the charger or the packs and post comments that X___companies batteries are no good or this charger does not work correctly. It's just like setting up your plane. If you do it right and follow the instructions and use hardware that is recommended for the application you get an awesome flying bird. Bottom line is there are a lot of good products out there for charging. Fromeco has supported the hobby from day one and their service is second to none. I have had great luck with all of their products and using the Ion Cube charger the way it's supposed to be used according to the instructions you should not have any problems charging your Fromeco batteries. Just my thoughts but there are others that I am sure would work. But I'm not sure they will work as well as the ION cube. Fromeco does a ton of testing and setup for their batteries and other items that they sell. The have a lot of time finding what the best charge rate etc. is best for their equipment and products and they stick to those numbers and do not try to exaggerate the "numbers".
As far as a Duralite charger Fromeco does not recommend charging with that charger as it can and eventually will harm the Fromeco battery cells. Warranty would be an issue then.


Bryan

[GooseF22]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Paul Cataldo
	Guys, I am looking for a charger for my Fromeco LI ION Relion packs, and would like to know what my options are, aside from the "ION CUBE" by Fromeco? My older brother is an electrical engineer, and he just received his ION CUBE, and he apparently has all kinds of problems with the way it is built. It works, but he says it's not worth the $$, and he should have bought a Triton. I am no electrical genius, so I need help here. I know what my brother tells me, but I wanted some more opinions. WILL the Duralite chargers work with Fromeco batteries? I see the Duralite website says that their charger is designed to "work with Charge Safe Circuitry on the Duralite batteries". Will this affect anything if I were to use the Duralite charger with Fromecos? I THINK I saw the Triton chargers are about $130 (cheaper than the ION Cube). Not sure if this was a used one, or new one though. WHAT are my options for a LI ION charger? IS there any option that is more affordable than this? I sure wish there was something out there that didn't cost as much, but was decent. Thanks for the info guys.

Paul,
I am also an engineer, pilot, and avionics developer, and with all respect, I take exception to the comment on the ION cube. I think its a very simple design, and it has proven to be the charger that I go to over and over for ION's and for small Lipo's, and now for A123's. I tested this product as best I could and it performed flawlessly. It was designed to charge multiple batteries, up to 5 at the same time. I use it for 3 batteries quite often. nuff said...to each his own. Theory versus reality.

That said, I also use the Orbit chargers, and I also have an ICE charger, which is really close to a triton. The Triton has some good features, and provides alot of info, but I keep going back to the Orbit for charging larger cells or larger S counts and the Cube for 2S and 3S packs. its more automatic, and it does my A123 power packs which are 4-6S packs.

Alot of guys like the little 4S FMA charger, its pretty good design, and cheap.

[Paul Cataldo]

Yeah guys,
Well my brother the engineer just pointed out numerous things that are badly designed on the Ion Cube. Not that this is written in stone though.
Anyhow, I know the charger WORKS, and will work for a long time I'm sure. I guess that's all that matters.
I always did like my Duralite charger, but as mentioned already, it will not work for the Fromecos.
Apparently, the Duralite setup consists of a "smart" battery and a "dumb" charger.
The Fromeco system consists of a Dumb Battery and a Smart Charger....
This is what some people "in the know" said to me (an electrical novice) today...

Anyhow, I DEFINITELY need at least a 3 output charger, so I can charge all 3 packs on my gas planes at the same time. This is only doable with the Duralite charger (and Duralite batteries of course), and the Fromeco Ion Cube/Relion Battery combo I assume???

[excelpoint]

Ion Cube all the way for me. I can charge 5 faomey packs at a time or charge all my flight and ignition packs on my IMAC stuff at the same time. Never had any prob charging Ions or Lipo's with it. Well worth the money in my book. just curious. What were the problems your brother found with it?

[Steve]

I believe charging voltage is the problem with the Duralite chargers. Some have charge ports putting out more than 8.4vdc to the battery. I checked mine and the voltage ranged from 8.43 to 8.49vdc on the reciever ports. there are pots inside the charger that can be adjusted, "by qualified personel", to bring the voltage into tollerance. No more than 8.40. I adjusted all mine to output 8.35vdc to be on the safe side.

[adrian]

well i have a super brain . accu-cycle and a triton all work great!!!

[cochesalido]

Ion cube all the way here! I have had lots of chargers, the one I had liked the most before the ion cube was the accu cycle, but I had to send it 2 times last year to hobbyservices! the first time the replaced with a new one as it burn! the sedond time one channel burned with out reason!
I still have the accu cycle but it is sitting around! the fromeco does all the work for me! awsome product! easy to use and you can use up to 5 charging chanels!
best

[GmanBill]

Ion Cube with all 5 slots full, Duralite 4 port and Triton 2's are what I keep in my inventory, I have my trailer set up where the planes charge wile I am rolling down the highway.

[JAX FLYING REBEL]

My cube worked for all three batteries until last night for some reason. Works ok for one batt. I'm using jr leads and a banana clip lead to the Pyramid power supply. I'm going to cut off the alligator clips and re-terminate the power lead with ring terminals so I can get a stronger connection to the Pyramid. Other than that I'm not sure what else to do. Any suggestions would be helpful.

[GooseF22]

The power leads usually are the problem or the power supply.

If you are putting plenty power into it, 3 amps per channel..... then take the cover off pull the cards and clean the tabs with a pencil eraser, and reseat.

As a general term, use 3 amps per charging channel for the cube. If the supply cannot handle the amperage without depressing the voltage, problems occur.

Most often, when guys have problems, its the supply depressing voltage when the cube demands current. If it charges one battery and each channel works one at at time, but not two or three at a time, your supply/wires are definitely the problem.

g

[r.c.rob]

Make shure you plug the ion cube in the right sequince. First the power supply then one charge channel at a time. Any other way and it will give you trouble. once i figured this out mine has worked perfect on imac (ion) and foamy setups.
Rob

[whaturi]

I hear you can use the ICE charger, but you should set it to "LIPO" instead of ION. My friend told me this, as it runs the lipo at 7.4 volts, which you want for both, but the ION at 7.2, which is for some reason undesirable. Anyone else use the ICE for ION batteries? I just got my first ION setup in a 40% and was going to just do them one at a time with my ICE until I feel like springing for the FROMECO unit. Sound OK?