Gregor99
Elite Veteran
Location: Western Wa
| Another vote for the FMA charger. I also have 3 FMA 1350 packs and they are working well for me. I'll hold off on a full recommendation of the packs until we see how they resolve Tryan's issue. However there's no question the charger is a great value.
If I were in the market today I would seriously consider thier new 10s charger. Its quite a bit more money than the 4s but has the following advantages:
1) It can charge two packs at a time.
2) It can charge up to 10 amps. You wouldn't need this for LiPos. However as soon as A123 cells become more commercially available everyone will replacing thier chargers with high current models.
On the down side here my CON list (I like to give equal air time to both sides of an issue)
1) Requires up to a 25amp DC source to a full current. You'll be hard pressed to find a regulated power supply that can do this. It has a feature were you can set the max input current so the charger will still work with smaller DC source. However it will not charge at full speed, which really isn't going to be an issue until you start charging the A123 cells. My guess is that we will see a lot of automotive batteries coupled with 12v chargers being used to generate this much current.
2) A123 cells don't require near the charging sophistication as LiPos, NiCads, or NiMh. In fact some people are charging them by connected the packs directly to a 12v DC source. I would never do this and feel its not wise. But this goes to show that the cells can be charged and handled in ways we are not used to. My guess is that we will see deticated A123 chargers come out. They will likely be slight less sophisticated chargers with VERY high current capiblities. The Cellpro 10s will turn out to be one of the "early models". As such may be more costly and not as feature rich as the models that well be available at the same time as the A123 cells are being sold in mass. |
