stupid "genuine" imax b8
- Thread starter auraslip
- Start date
TylerDurden
100 GW
You are not having a good run of luck.
Ha, perhaps we should start a 'don't buy this cheap crap from hobbyking' thread.
Add 1 vote for those little $2-$5 cell meter things they sell. If one cell gets out of wack then they are totally off. More HK fodder for the dumpster.
Add 1 vote for those little $2-$5 cell meter things they sell. If one cell gets out of wack then they are totally off. More HK fodder for the dumpster.
auraslip
10 MW
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No, I'm really not, but I DID just got my replacement ping bms in the mail and my new bike is FINALLY up and running so everything is kosher now 
I just thought it was funny how people always say lipo is cheapest, when I got $70 (with shipping) worth of equipment on that table that is basically worthless and would cost more to return than it's worth.
I just thought it was funny how people always say lipo is cheapest, when I got $70 (with shipping) worth of equipment on that table that is basically worthless and would cost more to return than it's worth.
You could have spent $121 on a quality charger ( icharger 1010b+ on hobbyking ) and then added a quality used PSU for $30.
It's cheap, you just needed to spend a bit more on quality charging equipment from a name brand, with a warranty and a reputation that they actually care about.
It's cheap, you just needed to spend a bit more on quality charging equipment from a name brand, with a warranty and a reputation that they actually care about.
liveforphysics
100 TW
I have actually partied with the Max who created the iMax charger line up.
Very cool guy. One of the biggest RC nuts I've ever seen in my life, and a guy who cares about quality.
I'm sorry you had a bad run with his products. It happens sometimes.
Very cool guy. One of the biggest RC nuts I've ever seen in my life, and a guy who cares about quality.
I'm sorry you had a bad run with his products. It happens sometimes.
auraslip
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Apparently it's been happening since 2007 and the issue is simply %10 resistors are being used rather than more expensive %1 resistors. A lot of people on the RC forums have been modding them by replacing the resistors. Pretty simple, but not really worth it IMHO.
Is the imax really named after the creator? That's funny as hell! If I invent something I'm gonna call it the ishelby.
Is the imax really named after the creator? That's funny as hell! If I invent something I'm gonna call it the ishelby.
liveforphysics
100 TW
auraslip said:
Yup.
He is an awesome guy too. Built a giant size RC car track in his engineering/development room for "testing products", aka, constantly playing with RC cars. lol
He must have a hundred high-end beautiful RC planes hanging all over the ceiling of his facility as well. Truly a guy with a passion for RC.
-Luke
dogman dan
1 PW
fwiw, my b6 chargers have worked fine. I've not tried charging lifepo4 with one though.
Ykick
1 GW
Behavior I've noticed with my iChargers is that it becomes unstable and delivers weird readings if the input supply sags and/or you attempt to pull max power through the device. Make sure your input supply is hanging stiff and perhaps try turning down the charge amps a bit to see if things settle down?
Dunno how related this design is to iCharger but the button layout looks identical.
Dunno how related this design is to iCharger but the button layout looks identical.
vanilla ice
1 MW
Are all these differently labeled chargers built in the same factory by the same people?? If not I don't know how it is the layouts are identical..
Ykick said:
Ditto. What i have found and what i have read is that some specs are a tad overrated and you should really stay just a hair below them.
IE mwkeefer ran his 1010b+ at i think 17.5v input, when the max input rating was 18v, and he blew his. O_O
Or if i run mine anywhere near the wattage rating, the fans go bezerko.
Other than that, reliable and nice piece of work. Wish i would have bought the 3010+ instead. 30 amp charging capability? hell yes..
liveforphysics
100 TW
neptronix said:
There would be no problem running close to the limits if you had a perfectly stiff power supply and little short cables.
The problem with running it close isn't that the voltage while running is close, it's the big voltage spikes it gets every time current starts and stops when people are running long wires or crude power supplies or bad connections etc.
liveforphysics said:
AHA...
So there isn't really much in the way of safety margin there.
I've noticed that with Chinese stuff; the specs you see are what you get in a best case scenario. No wiggle room built in.
dogman dan
1 PW
I agree. When I was still running my little b6 chargers from an sla, I learned to turn down the amps even more for better balancing behaviour. They don't like running on 11 v much.
liveforphysics
100 TW
neptronix said:liveforphysics said:
AHA...
So there isn't really much in the way of safety margin there.
I've noticed that with Chinese stuff; the specs you see are what you get in a best case scenario. No wiggle room built in.
High current input filtering is $$$. If everyone didn't mind the charger costing $10-15 more, and having a little bulkier product, they could have the protection against spikes and voltage overhead.
As it turns out, most RC people buying low-end model chargers are just buying them because of the cost savings alone, so adding cost shifts you out of being competitive in the market.
Make it so it works for most of the people most of the time, and you've got the market needs for el-cheapo chargers.
Make it so it works all of the time for all of the people, and you end up with chargers that the el-cheapo market simply won't buy.
If you want a high-end charger, there are a number of them, just accept paying about 5x-10x the price.
auraslip
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Wow, I just checked on a pack I'm charging. It charged one of the strings to 4.18v!
Crazyness.... does the charge setting not balance? Do I need to just use the balance setting?
The manual is very vague.
edit: the charge mode doesn't balance - it's weird that the charge mode doesn't shut down when one cell hits the hvc though.
Crazyness.... does the charge setting not balance? Do I need to just use the balance setting?
The manual is very vague.
edit: the charge mode doesn't balance - it's weird that the charge mode doesn't shut down when one cell hits the hvc though.
That sucks, but we already lost faith in this charger, right?
Sounds like you had an unbalanced cell/group to begin with and it just made things worse.
The non-balance charging only works if the cells are OK to begin with.
Apply some load to that cell / cells such as a small 6v bulb or a fan or something to get them in control as i assume your imax b8 does not have a discharge function.
Sounds like you had an unbalanced cell/group to begin with and it just made things worse.
The non-balance charging only works if the cells are OK to begin with.
Apply some load to that cell / cells such as a small 6v bulb or a fan or something to get them in control as i assume your imax b8 does not have a discharge function.
auraslip
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So I cannibalized an old dell for it's power supply. It was fairly easy, but I think it's vastly over rated because it sags down to 11.5v. It's supposed to be capable of 12v14a(168w), and I'm pulling (26.6v*3.3a) 88w.
You can see the psu in the back ground with a floppy and cd-rom attached for load.
You can see the psu in the back ground with a floppy and cd-rom attached for load.
Most likely because the max rated wattage includes the 5v leads and other various bits as well, which you are not using here.
Also if you are only drawing power from 2 sets of wires then you are not taking advantage of the full power capacity, i can't tell from the pic.
Also if you are only drawing power from 2 sets of wires then you are not taking advantage of the full power capacity, i can't tell from the pic.
neoplasticity
10 W
My beef with the imax b8 is that my buttons don't work. Currently, only the start button works and that's intermittent. Luckily that's the only button I need to work to charge my batteries so i just unplug it and then push that button twice to charge but I believe there is some design flaw with the buttons. I wonder if I can repair the buttons but I'm just using it until that last button dies and if it does, im going to open the thing up and see if i can fix the buttons.
anyone else have button issues with this imax chargers?
anyone else have button issues with this imax chargers?
My iCharger 106B+ blew up on a 24V Meanwell turned all the way down to 17.4V... It claims its good for 18V, so I assumed they meant its good for about 20V before damage occurs, and you can operate it at 18V. The Meanwell was powered on at the time I connected it, and I was charging at low power WELL below the rated output current of the supply or iCharger. Not that big of a deal, Junsi let me know how to fix it, I got some free sample parts, and it lives again. From now on I'm using a 12.5V HP server supply on it.
I'm not sure whats to blame here, but when they say 18.0V input limit, they must mean it. I'd de-rate anything 20% if you want it to last.
It's quite possible that charger does not care about the balance tap when its not in balance mode. Which is kinda cool for some more experienced users, who want to monitor but not balance.
I'm not sure whats to blame here, but when they say 18.0V input limit, they must mean it. I'd de-rate anything 20% if you want it to last.
It's quite possible that charger does not care about the balance tap when its not in balance mode. Which is kinda cool for some more experienced users, who want to monitor but not balance.
