iCharger or clone?

I have been looking around for a charger with a PC logging function. I was looking at several clones on AliExpress etc. I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts. They seem considerably cheaper than the iCharger.

I notice on some that it specifies not to connect the battery before powering up the charger. This is a bother to me, because this would be an easy mistake to make.

I already own an imax b6 clone, which I am very happy with.

I have watched several YouTube reviews on the Antimatter chargers and other clones, and haven't any reason not to consider them.

So it basically boils down to twoquestions,

Should I consider a clone - and which one?

Do any of these have a problem if you connect the battery before turning on the charger?

edit:

After doing some research I see 3 possibility's -

1. The iCharger - the most expensive.

2. The Turnigy Reaktor - apparently more or less identical to the iCharger, but the price difference is almost negligible.

3. The Charsoon Antimatter - half the price of the iCharger. I can't really verify if it supports LogView or not. It doesn't help that the brand sounds a little to 'fire' related.

Are there any other options that I have missed?

hi,
imhave a B6 clone which is ok, especially for the price. it has several limits in terms of power and functionality.

then i have the icharger 208b which i bought on occation and luckily does everything what you need in terms of diy powerwall. i charge and discharge a 150Ah pack in reasonable time and can set every important parameter.

next occasion came up, last friday i bought a used robbe power peak (duo) 1000w and it is horrrrrrible. it does nothing what one would need and user interface is the worst ive ever worked with... It is purely for RC guys and has some features which you dont need for powerwall stuff.

Higly frustrated about the robbe, I decided to buy another 1000W charger and finally I ordered the turnigy 1000w (single) charger. It should have same functionality with the icharger, because it is its clone and it is from a visual point of view the same as the carsoon antimatter 1000w.

I have paid eur 105,- on hobbyking + 18,- shipping and it is supposed to arrive within 3-10 days, shipped from the uk in my case.

All the other chargers I have found on aliexpress are lacking in cycle modes for lithium, which is generally not needed for other purposes but to identify capacity of a large pack, it is very helpful. Also very helpful is the setting of upper and lower cuttoff voltage which is easy with the icharger and hopefully the turnigy.

Icharger as well as turnigy can cope with external load and burn reasonable amperage during capacity testting.

I really look forward to receiving the turnigy.

Does someone need a Robbe Power Peak 1000W? ;-)

I dont like clones of that but it depends on your goal. The B6 clones are the worst

The turnigy and others they actually bought and got to use some parts and is pretty good. with that said they do have more issues than an icharger have

iCharger seemed expensive to me until I bought one and started using it none of my other clones or cheap chargers like the Turnigy Accucell 6 could do what the iCharger could.

Personally I think its well worth the added expense if you are serious about batteries, want something you can grow into and learn with, and plan to use some of its more advanced features as you go along. It more than just a charger; its really more like a battery workstation.

Features I didnt have before on my Turnigy Accucell 6 that I love having now are:
Internal Resistance Measurements
LogView support
External discharge
Regenerative discharge
Way more power handling for a similar sized unit
Higher input voltage support
Way more advanced and customizable menu items
More granular control for example if I want to terminate a charge at 4.18 volts, no problem. (My Accucell 6 was wither 4.10 or 4.20)

There is more to it too but just using it you find it does certain things better. Even charging an under voltage cell Accucell 6 would have said low voltage and terminated charge, iCharger would actually throw a low current and test the cell and then go into a regular charge cycle.

Its really up to you to determine if its worth it, but for me it was. It fell into the you get what you pay for category for me. I like good tools, and I spend for good tools accordingly.

I cant speak for all the other chargers out there, but I havent had a reason to look for anything else. If anything I am planning on buying another iCharger because I need 10s capability.

In general, the turnigy 1000w has same functionality than the icharger and i will give a report once i have it.

And yes crimp daddy, The icharger is a battery workstation and i do miss nothing!

Best
Karl

It looks like the Turnigy Reaktor and Accucell are very different... I haven't used the Reaktor series yet, looking forward to hearing about it.

daromer said:

I dont like clones of that but it depends on your goal. The B6 clones are the worst

The turnigy and others they actually bought and got to use some parts and is pretty good. with that said they do have more issues than an icharger have

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I need to know about. What sort of issues do you have with theTurnigy?

I was going to get the Turnigy. However, as I stated, the price difference is negligible.

If the price difference is negligible, why would you not get the iCharger?

CrimpDaddy said:

If the price difference is negligible, why would you not get the iCharger?

Click to expand...

That is what I suggested I would do. Many reviews suggest that the Turingy is identical to the iCharger. So if I can save a few dollars it is worth it.

However it appears that they are not. I was strongly considering the Charsoon Antimatter, however, I have had some very hit and miss luck with clones. My el-cheapo B6 clone (AliExpress seller stated that it was)is an excellent charger, but its balance function is dodgy. I got bitten by a seller and paid full price for a 'genuine' B6 (it sure was not), its a fire hazard, it over charges batteries, freezes.

But at this price point I really don't want to take a gamble with a clone, unless I can verify that it is a decent unit.

Geek: The 2 turnigy that i have had and also several friends have broken down after some years of abuse. Same behaviour and looks the same inside as a B6 clone in terms of quality.
With that said I have many other RC friends just using them fine.

The Antimatter is in same league as the Turnigy and yes they are pretty darn close to the cheaper iCharger.
Personally for me the the DUO series of the iCharger is what I would choose from Totally different.

End result: You would most likely be happy with what ever you choose for some simple testing and charging.

daromer said:

Geek: The 2 turnigy that i have had and also several friends have broken down after some years of abuse. Same behaviour and looks the same inside as a B6 clone in terms of quality.
With that said I have many other RC friends just using them fine.

The Antimatter is in same league as the Turnigy and yes they are pretty darn close to the cheaper iCharger.
Personally for me the the DUO series of the iCharger is what I would choose from Totally different.

End result: You would most likely be happy with what ever you choose for some simple testing and charging.

Click to expand...

I was looking at the Turnigy Reaktor. I was looking to get a device with logview support. My chargers do get a hell of a workout, as I charge everything.

The DUO is miles out of my price range. The price difference between the iCharger 106, 206 and 208 compared to the equivalent Reaktor is not enough to warrant the cheaper device.

Although Charsoon Antimatter is almost half the price. It is difficult to look past it.

All said, my chargers do get quite a bit of abuse. I really think it may be worth spending the extra in the first place.

The 3010b is double the price (eur220,-) of the 1000w turnigy and charsoon (eur 105), which is from my point of view not negligible.

They seem to be the same with different label only. Or do i see something wrong?

In my experience I can't recommend clones. My b6ac just stopped working some days ago after very little use.

Charly144 said:

The 3010b is double the price (eur220,-) of the 1000w turnigy and charsoon (eur 105), which is from my point of view not negligible.

They seem to be the same with different label only. Or do i see something wrong?

Click to expand...

Not necessarily, clones can range from poorly reverse engineered copies, to almost identical. Indeed sometimes even superior products.

Also your prices are from local warehouses. Australianwarehouse stock costs more. Or postage from China is prohibitively expensive.

The Charsoon is literally half the price. However, if it proved to be to inferior then I am $75 AUD down the drain.

Yep, obviously depends on where you live. Spending 75 aud more does make sense and I know that the original usually makes sense...

In my case it developed with the disappointment over the roobe thing and I didnt wanna spend much more...

Its never a fault to go for the original and my original 208b is perfect!!!

Geek for normal use i would have gone with Turnigy or the antimatter for normal day to day. Especially if the money is the factor.

Im what they call us here where I live "Snl Smlnning" (Google it)

Translated to English its "Stingy Smlnning" where Smlnning is the word for people living in Smland that is an area in Sweden Its not a myth either. Its true that we are cheap ass people in real life.

Turnigy has so many different series of products I think its important to list which one. I have the Accucell and its basically a $20 US charger that is probably no different than the B6 clone.

I have never owned the Reaktor series, but have done plenty of reading on it. At one point it appeared to either be an OEM or a clone/copy of the 206B series of iCharger. I saw some threads where some people were even installing iCharger firmware on it but the later reviews show that is no longer the case. Not sure what the history of that product is, but I would be aware of it before jumping into one. I would love to see a side by side comparison though the menus with actual testing.

The DUO series of iCharger is their flagship product that itself is a full blown battery workstation. The smaller iCharger units share a lot of things with it from a feature standpoint, but the current handling and display of the DUO is something else.

FMA Powerlab is also another premier product to consider.

I learned from my own experience: just because something looks similar, doesn't mean that it is. There is a world of difference between an Accucell 6 and a 206B, but there is also a massive difference in price. I think even charger are not immune to the "you get what you pay for" tagline. That said, both charge cellsjust fine, it's only when you really dig into the settings, specs, and features you see the separation. If money is tight, just get what you can afford.

So, I promised feedback on the turnigy reaktor 1000w. Long story short, Im sending it back.

Why: it does not support cycle mode nor does it support some kind of capacity testing for lipo/liion. According to the user manual on hobbyking homepage it should have a cycle functionality and when i look for it it is not there. I had a chat with support and they confirmed, that manual is based on an older version (firmware) which is not available anymore and new version does not have cycle mode, because usually you dont need it...

I did some googling and i found out, that charsoon antimatter do have a different firmware (same functionality as icharger) and there cycle mode is available.

What did I do, I ordered a charsoon antimatter 300w on aliexpress which does 20A, same as my icharger 208b. The 1000w version was not available on aliexpress and all other platforms are way more expensive...

If you go for a clone, charsoon seems to be a good choice.

Ill keep you posted when the antimatter arives... in 3-5 weeks time ;-)

Best
Karl

So, I ended up with the 300w Antimatter. First impression is good. Features I really like include being able to turn off the key beeps and completion beeps.

I have yet to retrieve a log and examine it with logview. However I do have a few saved.

It does not seem to perform a constant current discharge. The current tapers off as the cell voltage drops off.