Lipo charger recomendations for noobs ?

[Alan B]

I didn't see a reply to the question about using the generator battery charging output, so I'll add a comment on that.

The battery charging outputs of the generators I have looked at was very ugly DC. Just an alternator with diodes, not filtered at all. Plus the voltage was pretty high.

It is designed for charging lead acid batteries, use it for that, but not running electronics.

 

[dogman dan]

To update what I did, I bought two of the Imax b6 chargers, and still power them with a 100 AH lead acid deep cycle battery. The lead battery can be kept from completely discharging by hooking it to a 6 amp dumb charger, or a generator. Either the generator or the dumb charger need the battery to buffer the power for the chargers to us it.

The b6 chargers take about 1.5 hours to completely charge a 5 ah 5s pack. You can paralell 4 packs and charge all at once, but it would take 6 hours.

I also recently bought two Turnigy Accucel 8150 chargers. At 150 watts, they are twice as fast. The lead battery cannot keep up with both of them, unless you put a charger on it.

I went the hard way, using the lead battery as power supply because I wanted to be capable of charging in the sticks, without a generator. But it turns out to use a fast charger the lead can't keep from sagging too much.

Veloman. How fast a charge are you looking for? The Imax B6 charger does have a version with built in power supply. Another option provided you are keeping an eagle eye on things, 14s lipo is nearly the same voltage as 48v chargers. So as long as you never fully charged, you might be able to use a 48v charger to pump a few watts in along the way. Fairly small, light, and 5 amps. You'd have to be sure not to let any cells get overcharged though.

 

[Alan B]

RV Converters are good power supplies for this type of application. They will charge the RV battery and run the chargers at the same time. They are often available at good prices on ebay. I have several from 45 to 60A. They are designed to both power equipment and charge RV batteries at the same time, and can handle AC power interruptions and low RV batteries without failing. I think the last one I bought was about $50 for 45 amps, but prices do vary.