iCharger 4010 Duo 2000W 40A 10S Dual Port Charger

[Graham Lawrie]

He is a really nice helpful guy:)

[KevG]

+1 on what Graham said, will talk to and help anyone

[murankar]

Go to his YouTube account. Watch some of the builds he did. You'll fall in love since most are with the 4010 dual.

[Derek]

I just did a search on Youtube for "Coolice" and I only found a guy that has 4 OLD videos.

What's the link to his channel?

[murankar]

I its under ian. I have a video of his in that thread coolice is at it again. Or search for coolice charger case.

[murankar]

http://www.rc-hangout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=346

[Graham Lawrie]

Coolice Meter Display Controller:)

[Derek]

Without a doubt, I need a better charger. I did speak with Ian, via email, and he assured me that he'd have no troubles building me a power supply and shipping it to me for $250US. In comparison to other large power supplies that I've seen, Ian's price is not far off.

I've done some looking around and I found this:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wt ... WA128&P=ML

It's the Polaron EX Dual Output Charger Combo from Tower Hobbies. I'm sure that the 4010 Duo, with Ian's power supply, would do much more and much better than the Polaron Combo but the Polaron Combo would cost me about $225 less than the iCharger and Ian's PS. Now, I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to the specs on chargers and such. I know that my TP610c charger has a max wattage of 50. I see that the Polaron Combo has 400 watts on both outputs....quite a bit more than my TP610c, lol. The 4010 specs say 1400watts per channel....OMG!!!

WOW...i am really at a loss of thought right now. Not real sure what I should be asking here. The Polaron Combo would cost me $430 with free shipping. I'd have to pay Ian $250 for his PS and then I see that BuddyRC has the 4010 Duo for $350, totaling $600. Of course I'd still need to get the boards for parallel charging my 3 and 6S packs, but that's another story.

Let me ask you this....would the Polaron Combo keep me happy for years or should I spend the extra cash and get the 4010 Duo and Ian's PS?

[Derek]

Here is a concern that just hit me...I have no idea if I have a plug that I could plug the charger and power supply into without tripping my house breaker.

[pvolcko]

That polaron charger by itself is $320 for a dual 400W output. That's a lot of money per watt compared to icharger or FMA. You're paying a lot of money for the Graupner branding and the interesting interface.

I think you can do much better bang for the buck going with either iCharger or FMA. iCharger DUO chargers also have a pretty good interface with the color LCD displays. FMA is a more rudimentary interface and really benefits from programming pre-sets for your batteries via laptop computer. iCharger is entirely usable standalone.

Personally, I think you'd never use all the capability of a 4010 DUO. You could get a 308DUO and never use it all. As such, the only reason to go with a 4010 DUO over a 308 DUO is if you need the extra cell count for balancing. 308 DUO will do 8 cell lipo balancing. 4010 DUO will do 10 cell.

And that said, do you really need the dual channel capability? You're still going to have the old charger. You can use it at the same time as you use a new iCharger 306 or 3010 and save yourself a pile of money, and still have more output power (1000W on the 306) than the combined power of the Polaron at 2x400W.

The 4010 is a beast of a charger. It is basically made to para-charge two sets of different cell count batteries at the same time, or perform 3-5C quick charges on two different cell count high capacity (4000-5000mah) packs at the same time. Is that something you need to do or foresee yourself needing to do? Needing to do it to the tune of $600+ vs $400 (for a 1000Wish power supply and a 306 or 3010)?

I'm all about spending the moolah. But this is an area where you can get carried away with little to no practical value for the extra money spent.

As for the outlet concern. You won't trip the house breaker, but you may well trip a branch breaker, especially if you plug into a branch with any other high current draw stuff on it (microwave, fridge, vacuum cleaner, sump pump, desktop computer, etc.) and that stuff is running. It is only a concern if/when you are doing a high power charge (3-5C on a 4-5Ah pack, or paracharging 4-6 such packs at 1C). If you're doing a charge that's only using 500-750 W then you really aren't going to cause much issue.

If you were to get a 4010DUO and be cranking out both channels, you're tlaking 2400W of input power to the power supply. That you would want to make sure you are on a 12ga wire house circuit with nothing else on it, hopefully one with an outlet close to the breaker box (I'd wire up a deidcated circuit in the basement, if I were going to be doing that kind of charging with any kind of regularity).

[cml001]

Just get the 306, 308, or 310.. I've got the 306 w my homemade power supply of 1150w and don't reach the potential of all its functionality.. Love the 306.. In hind sight I may should have got the 308 or 310 just for the "if" I go with a larger cell count.. But for what I do.. 30 amps is more than enough... 6 3s 2250mah packs kooked in 20-25 minutes via a 2c charge rate... 3 6s 5500mah packes kooked in the same manner.. Freak'n awesome I tell ya! I'm very very pleased with icharger and would grab another if in the market.

[Derek]

Thanks for that, guys! Definitely "food for thought".

[Graham Lawrie]

If you are spending that much look at Lee,s charger or get a Coolice set up:) If i had not built my own i would have bought Ians:)

[cml001]

Check out Cleveland Power Supply Systems.. He does the same stuff as Ian.. But he is on our side of the pond.. He does fantastic work and is a really nice guy. Check him out on facebook for specific info.

[cml001]

U ever get a rig together?

[Derek]

No, I haven't yet. I"ve been real busy working 60+ hours a week. Since the weather has been crap, I've been working to get a few things paid off as well as replenish the "RC Fund". I did speak with the semi pro at my local hobby shop about his charging station. I really like how he has his set up and is capable of charging anything that I would request from it. I did order two PCU's for the build. Now, I'm just trying to get some "green" together for the two chargers that I've selected for my needs (http://www.buddyrc.com/icharger-306b.html). This will be one of my "winter projects" and I hope to be able to unveil it to you guys by the end of January.

[Graham Lawrie]

The 306 is the one i have Derek:) i have more than enough capacity for my batteries with that:)

[Derek]

I was talking to the semi pro at my LHS about the 3010B charger but it's just more than what I need. The 306 will handle my charging needs very well. I'm even going to install a dedicated breaker in my garage just for the charging station. I don't want to be tripping any breakers while charging, lol. My charging station is going to be incorporated into my new workbench that I want to build during late Winter/early Spring. I am taking measurements and drafting up a diagram for item placement....but that's another thread.

[cml001]

Yes! That's what I want to do soon.. A new bench... This little computer desk is a total pain! Low, small... Definitely!

[Derek]

Yeah, I know what you mean!

The work bench that I have now is the same bench that was here when I moved in (5 years ago). It's just not worthy anymore of RC maintenance, lol....and it seriously lacks any sense of organization. I'm trying to draw up diagrams of what it could look like with "organization" in mind.