HobbyKing Online R/C Hobby Store : TURNIGY MEGA 400W Lithium Polymer Battery Charger

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29/07/2010
no name (26%)
Has the problem of popping caps been solved? Is the charger save now? Regards

24/07/2010
corvix (100%)
I am looking for the manual as well, and will really appreciate a pdf file at least
Probably missed some hidden features

16/07/2010
DYLANCHIU (84%)
Where I can get the manual?????????

11/07/2010
pbspike2010 (78%)
1.: Does it have an USB port for SW upgrades and monitoring ? 2.:Where to download Manual ?

DYLANCHIU (84%)
I need manual too.

RobJCook (41%)
I found the manual for Accucel-6 50W useful enough to get the Mega going. Both chargers have very similar menu's. Just take into consideration that the Mega has higher charge/discharge ratings! See Accucel-6 50W Manual at ***********hobbycity****/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idproduct=7028 Rob

20/06/2010
Jonis (31%)
What's that counter on bottom right?? What it's used for? Tks

Jonis (31%)
Nobody know?

T3rry (1%)
if you're talking about the number while you are charging, that's how many MAH it's put in to your pack.

21/05/2010
T3rry (1%)
yested again, i can only charghe at 2a on 3s... does not seem right at all, that's only 25 watt, i have no problem hooking 5 chargers to this power supply all charging 2s at 5a.

hcuellart (89%)
Received mine today and as I tried to charge at 1C a 4S 2200 turnigy lipo the charger would reset. There must be an open circuit somewhere because it makes my power supply to protect itself and turn off... I got a bad one too, it sucks!!!

painkiller (77%)
the problem is not the charger!! i charge 5000ma 6s with my car battery (75amp) in a 14amp constant without any problem also i plug it to my Ofna PS (12v 30amp)at home and it work great!! make sure you PS is capable to give the amps the charger need.

Burnaby (71%)
"Note: Power supply and temperature sensor not included." The temperature sensor was included with mine (first batch), anyone did NOT get the sensor?

san pedro (89%)
ya have mine i never use it

21/05/2010
T3rry (1%)
Low input voltage error while using a 400w PC power supply (36a on 12v rail), trying to charge at 3s 10a (even tried as low as 5a) when i start the charger the voltage of my power supply drops to about 12.10v and then i get low voltage alarm on my charger... anybody else with this issue, will next try with a car battery hooked to a battery charger.

T3rry (1%)
i just tested 2s at 10a and it works fine

PetrCZ (54%)
I have tested the charger with Turnigy 3000mAh 30C at 6A charging and it is working without any problems! Charged 10 packs today with this great charger. I have used the car battery 12V on the field.

san pedro (89%)
this is not a outo you have to set it up for every battery the cell and the amps you want to charge with dont forget to do this each time you charge your battery and if you change say from 2 cell to a 3 cell you will have to change the setting for this its not hard but with the power so big you must do this so you wont blow up yourself its the safty thats built in ....

19/05/2010
probroandy (74%)
there must have been a bad batch of these. mine works flawlessly for me. i've been charging 6S 5000 20C packs at 3C with no issues. yes, i know the pacs say dont go over 2C, but they take it without getting warm. with that said, i have yet to go above 15A charge rate. balance is a non-issue also.

vasy1 (56%)
I thought the same till I took it apart and saw that my positive leg of the capacitor was gone! I did not smell anything and did not push the charger!

15/05/2010
diego (90%)
Those chareger don't work I charge at less then 1c my 6s 5000 and when try to charge at 2c guess what my charger blow something and stop chr or dischr only say connection brake and smeel like burn plastic don't recomend those turnigy charger or gyros are ****

15/05/2010
systemspecialis (63%)
If they are going to be this much trouble, I thing I'll stay with the 250 watt I-Charger. After all how many batteries charge at this rate?
Still very expensive. I have two 25A 14v CCTV power supplies, which I would also have to replace if I bought one of these

san pedro (89%)
all of theme now

14/05/2010
kstmark (70%)
I've seen in the review section that some guys mentioned that their charger have been burned. Is there any issue? Do you have solve this problem? Is there any warranty? and if there is one I suppose that I'll have to pay posting cost to HK?

PetrCZ (54%)
I have ordered the charger from the first batch. I have charged 10 packs today at 6A from the car battery and everything is working as excepted... I cannot confirm any problems with the charger at all. Maybe I was just lucky, who knows :)

3/05/2010
Chris (46%)
How about this for the spec of the "optimum" charger? Are you listening Messrs Turnigy!

Input: 10.5 to 28 Volts* ie can use 2 x 12 volt lead acid batteries ib series.

Output at 12v input = 450 watts
Output at 24v input = 900 watts (6C charging of a 6S 6000 mAh pack - the largest allowable under the latest laws).

Max number of cells - 6S (packs larger than this will have to be made up in series anyway with the latest laws on air transport).

Auto charge/discharge to store voltage using constant current algorithm for maximum speed. Slight under or overshoot is not an issue when trying to achieve an approx 70% charge condition.

1 button push to complete charge to 100% after running storage charge.

Discharge rating 100 watts minimum (after all that energy can be used to drive a big fan!).

Max balance current to be 500 mA minimum.

Calculation and storage of apparent battery capacity and internal resistance plus start voltage / charge capacity for each charge EVERY TIME.

Ability to read actual battery s/no via barcode.

Just come thought starters!

diego (90%)
Have waranty but you need to pay shipping and if you live in US COST AROUND $43.00 dollars bealiveme or just go to usps site and check the shipping calculator I have the same probl and now have a 80.00 dollars useless piece of metal and circuit layting around and don't charge almost 1 lipo imagine this and I contact HK and rply me I need to read the warant policy and guesswhat is my problem to cover the ship hahaha I don't goin to trhow a dime more here

3/05/2010
Straight Up (80%)
Just remember to use a 400 W power supply if you want to charge at 400W. I see the odd bozo say things like "my 6A power supply cuts out at 3A when I'm charging 6S". A 6A 12V power supply is good for 72W. 400W * 12V draws 33A at the power supply, even if you are charging at the max 6A on this charger.

Burnaby (71%)
"odd boze" name calling in not needed.
The charger draws the required A from the PS, not 33A at max 6A as you stated. This charger can NOT achieve 400w at 12v, read the specs. Just curious, what school did you learn your electronics and Physics?

vasy1 (56%)
probably the discount course from eBay.

Straight Up (80%)
It's not my calcs that are out. 400W at 12V input really does require 33A. I see in the specs it says 400W with at input voltage > 15V, so that makes me a bozo. Still, at 15V input the charger will draw nearly 27A from the POWER SUPPLY to achieve 400W. You disagree that P=VI?

Burnaby (71%)
We went through the numbers in the first post WAY down below. Finding a cheap, quality 15v/27A PS won't be easy given it's not a common commodity like PC PS.
Cautious about using a 400w PS if that PS is for a PC where the total watt are all the rails combined (+3.3, +5, 12, -12). ie my Antec 500w PC PS's +12v is only 22 amps = 264w.
vasy1 mentioned using a 750w PC PS for that needed Amp.

This customer was awarded a credit for their answer.

Straight Up (80%)
That's a better reply, sir - credit point awarded. I saw the numbers further down, too. Sounds like we're on the same page. I just don't want to see HK discontinue their 12V 6A charger based on ill-informed negative reports.

2/05/2010
jyrry (60%)
Is somewhere a manual download?

san pedro (89%)
10 bucks a copy do you want it

1/05/2010
Tarmo (88%)
What about some info on voltage accuracy or resolution?

Eric1180 (-53%)
Even if it gave it would you believe the spec...? You would buy this for it 400W charge rate not for it's accuracy. I am not downing the charger i am just making a point.

1/05/2010
Burnaby (71%)
Will there be a 400W 8s or 10s charger? Waiting for HK to come out with a 8s motor, ESC and charger for the 600GT.

1/05/2010
nando (65%)
11-18V input... Why?

More and more chargers are 11-28V So they can be used on 2 12V semi traction battery's in series. This would still be fine if it could be used to it's full potential * 12v, but now you'll need something that delivers >400W * 15-18V witch is quite uncommon.

Whats the max Watt * 12V input?

BAMBAM Cheapsk8 (56%)
exactly what I was thinking.

enzie (83%)
Hallo nando+bambam
12V- approx 300W.
If your car-battery are in a good condition, it
will give you over 13 Volt.-> approx 350 Watt.

BAMBAM Cheapsk8 (56%)
Sounds fine if 300w is all you need. BTW how long do you think you can draw 300w from your car battery?

T3rry (1%)
alternatively for this charger you could use 3 6v batteries in series for 18v.

enzie (83%)
hallo bambam,
its not so easy.
need some species of your car battery:
Volts,Amps,AH,6,12 or 24 volt....all you can read on the sticker on the top

BAMBAM Cheapsk8 (56%)
Thanks for the hot tip.

Jonis (31%)
nando, is perfectly fine to get 400W from your car battery. If your car battery can delivery 33,4A *12V, you'll get exactly 400,8W.
Why the max charge current is 20A since you are daring 33,4? Simples: a lot of energy is lost in components as temperature (hot).
My car has a 80A battery, so i can use full capacity of this charger.
PS: sorry, my english is not so good :(

enzie (83%)
I hope nando have a cellphone in his pocket,because he must call a taxi to come home... I swear: The smallest car battery of the world deliver 33.4 A but NOT 33.4 Ah !

enzie (83%)
forget: even 33.4 Ah battery is to small.

You only can use 20~30% of capicity from car batterys.
Example: 60 Ah 12V car battery
60 Ah X 25% = 15 Ah => 15A * 12V x 1h ->
you can charge a 6S Lipo with 7.5A * 24V X 1h
or a 3S Lipo with 15A * 12V X 1h
importand: programm the input voltage cutoff of the charger over 12 Volt. At 11.9V your engine will not start.

nando (65%)
Enzie, how do you know that the max output of the charger *12v =300W?
Using the calculation where you keep the input A the same is fun, and could in some cases be true, but it's just guesswork if its not tested...

And the condition of the battery is not important, I'm not asking what the max W is on a 6s pb battery, I asked what the max output is at 12V. The source could be anything, endless A just 12v.

Jonis, the specs say that this charger can deliver it 400W at 15V or more, if you're below that it doesn't matter whether or not your source is capable of delivering 33,4A, or 100A for all i care, the spec's say that it'll not with 400W.
And you completely wrong by saying that the difference in ingoing A to the charger and the outgoing A is converted into heat.
The outgoing Voltage is higher, 400W out means that at 100% efficiency there will be 400W going in. 20A out (at 20V) and 26,67A in (at 15V) would mean a 100% efficient charger, with no heat (and no display, no fan, etc)
If your going to charge at 400W you'd better have at least a 450W capable source (preferably more).

All of u using 'Car battery's', I wouldn't recommend it. They're not designed to deliver 0,5-1C for a long time, but only short burst of 1-2C (<20 sec).
Even if you don't fully discharge them, they just wont last.
As I said before, Semi traction battery's, they are designed a constant current, and you can discharge them further.

Tony (72%)
Car batteries work fine if you have your car on and idling... then most of the load is taken to your power inverter(hence when you load it, it seems like your inverter is loaded).

If you truly want to run off a battery, the only ones that can supply high amps and have HUGE capacity are Marine Deep Cycle batteries.

As far as the charger goes, I have my eyes on it, but so far the failure/DOA rate has been 100%...

1/05/2010
T3rry (1%)
Power supplies are a totally different animal, what i personally do is get a good PC power supply on sale with high amps output on the 12v rail (30+ is pretty good)(usually around $50) and convert it to a bench supply, which will power this (and other) chargers.

30/04/2010
moller123456 (59%)
I want one:D Time to get a new charger:)

moller123456 (59%)
Now we just need some good power supplies on hobbycity:D

vinay2070 (18%)
Seriously, Why dosent turnigy come out with good and cheap power supplies?

This customer was awarded a credit for their answer.

moller123456 (59%)
Yeah. thats annoying... there is some, but bad reviews and high price

Burnaby (71%)
Get a PC PS. Nothing beats it in clean, cheap power. These thing weight a ton so even an excellent HK price will kill you in shipping. Google on used server PS, $40 should get you a 40A solid performer.

Tarmo (88%)
Meanwell PS-s are good. I got one 350W from ebay for 40$shipped. If HC could stock some of these it would be great.

Burnaby (71%)
Meanwell single v o/p do look better suited than PC PS. See they come in 15v but didn't find any in fleaBay. 1.1kg makes shipping a killer.
Tarmo> what v did you get, cheapest today was $50 shipped.

MrHmmm (40%)
Hmmmm this looks VERY much like a rebranded hyperion charger....

Olaf (40%)
Why would you want a 350W PSU for a 400W charger? The PSU should have at least 500W.
-Olaf

SeaComms (78%)
It is disspointing to see a charger with this much power only has 200ma balance discharging. Most in this range are at least 350ma.

vasy1 (56%)
So it is rated at 400watts at 15V and ??? watts at 12V. Too bad they don't specify it.
All computer power supplies can provide is 12V, so looks like converting one is out of the question for max rated output power.

Burnaby (71%)
400w= 15v x 26.6A, using same A at 12v = 320w.
For 6s 320w/(6s*4.2)=12.7A or 2.54C for 5A battery.
Can parallel chrg two 6s 5A at 1.27C (47mins) using PC PS with 27A 12+ rail. NOT BAD assuming my numbers are correct.

vasy1 (56%)
Well, I ordered mine, will see how well it works in real life. Gonna hook it up to 750 watt computer PS.
I see some 550watt 15V power supplies on ebay for $40 + $40 shipping (Can funds) our of Australia, must be available closer.

Burnaby (71%)
I order one too. Start off with 500w PC PS with 12v 22A rail = 264W so for 6s = 10.4A, 2C for one 6S 5A or 2 in parallel charge in one hour.

vasy1 (56%)
Too bad they can't get shipping down to 1kg, only 39grams, maybe remove one wire $1 wire and save $10 on shipping.

Burnaby (71%)
What better excuse to get another 960g of toys for only 10 buck shipping. The new 600 motor is 430g, that's almost half way. Also just noticed all the blue & yellow shrink tubes, loaded up on every size.

Chris (46%)
How about this for the spec of the "optimum" charger? Are you listening Messrs Turnigy?!

Input: 10.5 to 28 Volts* ie can use 2 x 12 volt lead acid batteries in series.

Output at 12v input = 450 watts
Output at 24v input = 900 watts (6C charging of a 6S 6000 mAh pack - the largest allowable under the latest laws).

Max number of cells - 6S (packs larger than this will have to be made up in series anyway with the latest laws on air transport).

Auto charge/discharge to store voltage using constant current algorithm for maximum speed. Slight under or overshoot is not an issue when trying to achieve an approx 70% charge condition.

1 button push to complete charge to 100% after running storage charge.

Discharge rating 100 watts minimum (after all that energy can be used to drive a big fan!).

Max balance current to be 500 mA minimum.

Calculation and storage of apparent battery capacity and internal resistance plus start voltage / charge capacity for each charge EVERY TIME.

Ability to read actual battery s/no via barcode.

Just come thought starters!

systemspecialis (63%)
NO I dont think they bother to do that. Its a question of selling what you have!

Humboldt,Ca (74%)
What about to 10s flightmax pack they sell? how do they get past the air transport law for that?

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