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Kong Power LiPo/NiMH battery charger (w/balancer)

  • 13-05-2010 12:32pm
    #1
    Lemming
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,149 ✭✭✭✭


    I've just picked up a Kong Power battery charger capable of charging a variety of battery types - most notably LiPo and NiMH - and running off either a DC or 12v power source.

    Specs are as follows (according to Kong Power)
    • DC input: 11-18Volt,
    • AC support:110/240 volts, 5A. (AC input: 100-240Volt)
    • Battery type : LiPo, LiIo and LiFe / NiCd, NiMH batteries
    • Charging current : max. 5.0A
    • Number of cell count : 1 to 3S for Lithium batteries / 1 to 8 cells for NiCd and NiMH batteries
    • Balancer : built-in balancer for Li-xx
    • Circuit power : 50 Watts

    Charger was bought from Fire-Support for £67


    Since I'm typing this during my lunchbreak in work, I obviously haven't had a chance to test this beastie out. But from first impressions, the box it arrived in was a non-descript white generic box, which contained the product box (shown below) along with a DC British/Irish power plug (since this is what Fire-Support were selling as part of the package I assume). The box contains the charger, an dual-adapter wire-set for Tamiya connectors in both large and small sizes, and a rather well written manual that is not only informative but also devoid of poor grammar translation. The charger itself is compact (when one puts it next to some of the monsters I've seen people own), configurable, and clearly labelled.

    KongPower-1-box.jpg
    1. Packaging

    KongPower-2-contents.jpg
    2. Box contents (minus manual)


    Charger operation

    Battery charging isn't quite as simple as just plug in a battery and walk away. But it isn't rocket-science either. Four-steps are required (or better put; recommended if you don't want to knacker your batteries and/or start a fire) before you start charging but the benefit is that you also have to learn a little about your batteries resulting in better performance and prolongued life.

    The steps (all configured from the LED screen, and well described in the manual) are;
    1. Select battery type (LiPo, LiFe, Li, NiMh, NiCD are all catered for)
    2. Select cell size (1-3 for Lithium battery types, 1-8 for more regular Ni types)
    3. Select current. A simple math formula is provided showing clearly how to calculate the maximum current for a battery, along with a list of maximum current charges for different battery types (even if by mathematical formula they can take higher amounts). The purpose of this is for cell balancing. The slower the charge fed, the better balancing, but there is an upper limit on fast charging (i.e. higher current)
    4. Press Start; at which point the charger will beep and the LED reset and then display a charging status. When complete, you'll see a "Full" message displayed.


    KongPower-3-LipoCharge1.jpg
    Step 4 - Charging with a LiPo plugged into the balancer

    I'll post pictures of the above steps for charger in operation along with how it seems to be performing with battery charging on different types & sizes later. I haven't had a chance to run a battery to completion yet but will do over the weekend.


Comments

  • #2
    Lemming
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,149 ✭✭✭✭Lemming


    Battery: Intellect LiPo battery (7.4v 2S 4000 maH 25C).

    According to the maths formula provided, the maximum fast charge for this battery should be a current of 4 amps (4000 / 1000). I set the amperage at half that again to err onthe side of caution in using this charger for the first time, and pressed start. The charger beeped, cleared the LED and then set it to count up to the current set for charging.

    Now, at this point I should mention that the charger has a nice little feature that isn't mentioned in the manual. The charge current will count down as charging progresses. An initial display of 2.0A counted down gradually until the charger beeped continuously to alert me that the battery was ready. The LED also changed to "Ful" to correspond with this fact.

    Charge time was swift (under 20 minutes) to put it mildly, but I will add the caveat that I'm pretty sure the battery had a reasonably decent amount of charge in it already.

    Next up will be either an 8.4v 3700 maH NiMh or a 9.6v beastie, depending on whichever I find first tomorrow admist the boxes that need unpacked. I will run the NiMh down with my TM discharger before commencing charge to get a better idea of how well the charger performs with a near-flat battery.


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