Anyone familiar with this charger?

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I saw on a DJI thread this charger that was highly rated by a few people. The price is outrageous but the reviews say it will help get up to 6 minutes more per flight and increase the life of batteries substantially. I have a hard time thinking about spending half the cost of my P3A on just a charger but if it does what is claimed it may be worth it. Any ideas?


SmartPowerCharge.com Site Product Detail Page
 
There is no way it can increase flight time; that is a property of the battery, not charger. However, it may well keep your batteries is top-notch condition. Try to find reviews on other, more impartial sites, not one that sells it.
 
Yikes! That is expensive. Definitely for the enthusiast. If DJI never changed their batteries from one model to the next, then this unit would be a nice investment.

I think the extra power that you mentioned comes from the charger's ability to commence a deep cycle at an 8% loss, so you get a touch more charge. What I mean is if you place your battery in your Phantom, turn the Phantom on for 10 minutes but don't start the engines, the battery drains. However, if you put that same battery on a DJI charger, it won't charge... it will think the battery is still fully charged. So this unit has the ability to deep cycle the battery even when a little bit of charge has been taken away and bring your battery up to full charge.
 
There is no way it can increase flight time; that is a property of the battery, not charger. However, it may well keep your batteries is top-notch condition. Try to find reviews on other, more impartial sites, not one that sells it.

Actually it might, no, probably will increase flight time with "deep cycle" and a fully "saturated charge" by how much, that depends on the percent of full charge the OEM charger is charging the OEM Li-Po's to now - but at what cost!

As is, all OEM Li-Po batteries using an OEM Li-Po battery charger never charge to 100% capacity and for good reason (life of the Li-Po can be reduced when charge saturation brings it to 100% charge). Despite the DJI Li-Po showing full green after charging it is not a 100% charge and for the reason stated previously.

So is this unit a good choice? Maybe and probably as DD states "keep your batteries in top notch condition" while in service - but overall life is likely decreased with the saturation charging time added.

It will give you a proper discharge down to 8% prior to kicking into the charging process and that is a good thing for extended overall life expectancy (I know very contradictory when a 100% charge reduces life but the discharging (when used) to 8% prior to charging will extend life).

So IMO it's a trade off between overall life and extra flight time from a 100% charge. This charging unit does offer plenty of convenience and time saving for charging everything at once and multiple batteries - so that's another plus for it. Considering all that it offers it is worth the $$, but only if you are a serious flyer, as in daily multiple flights for commercial use.
 
I could buy 3 battery's for the price of that thing.
 
Actually it might, no, probably will increase flight time with "deep cycle" and a fully "saturated charge" by how much, that depends on the percent of full charge the OEM charger is charging the OEM Li-Po's to now - but at what cost!
[COMMENT]
As is, all OEM Li-Po batteries using an OEM Li-Po battery charger never charge to 100% capacity and for good reason (life of the Li-Po can be reduced when charge saturation brings it to 100% charge). Despite the DJI Li-Po showing full green after charging it is not a 100% charge and for the reason stated previously.

So is this unit a good choice? Maybe and probably as DD states "keep your batteries in top notch condition" while in service - but overall life is likely decreased with the saturation charging time added.

It will give you a proper discharge down to 8% prior to kicking into the charging process and that is a good thing for extended overall life expectancy (I know very contradictory when a 100% charge reduces life but the discharging (when used) to 8% prior to charging will extend life).

So IMO it's a trade off between overall life and extra flight time from a 100% charge. This charging unit does offer plenty of convenience and time saving for charging everything at once and multiple batteries - so that's another plus for it. Considering all that it offers it is worth the $$, but only if you are a serious flyer, as in daily multiple flights for commercial use.
[/COMMENT]
Well-put.
I could buy 3 battery's for the price of that thing.
True, that's probably what I would do instead - 3 batteries (actually maybe 4 for the current BH price), a few 100W Pro chargers, and a surge protector.
 
Deep cycle and LIPO aint a great idea. 20% is about as low as you want to go. What you want to avoid is topping off a lipo consistently (discharge down to 20% and then charge is better). Its voodoo to say a charger can increase battery capacity. Since charging is controlled by the battery - it determines when to shut off the charge. I use the stock and a imax b6ac charger (using a traxxas) adapter. I use the b6ac to occasionally (once out of 8 flights or so) to discharge down to battery shut off (15-20% it seems based upon capacity). Been using lipos for years and this type of cycling seems to make all lipos last the longest. For those wondering how to charge on the b6ac - set to lead battery, 18V, plug in, turn battery on, turn charger one and charge at max amps. it only runs at 60-70 watts, so it charges at less than an amp. charges as fast as stock charger.
 
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The charger appears to control charging in a very precise way by controlling charging currents, charging voltage and also probably power ( voltage *current) for temperature control. No doubt this is healthy charging but can't say if it would result into increased flying time. No doubt battery will live its full life.

These days prices of electronic components has dropped drastically, so it is highly priced for me as I will be moving to other copters as they appear on market.
 
The charger appears to control charging in a very precise way by controlling charging currents, charging voltage and also probably power ( voltage *current) for temperature control. No doubt this is healthy charging but can't say if it would result into increased flying time. No doubt battery will live its full life.
if the P3 had a standard LIPO, you have a point. However the smart board on the battery controls the current and shut off charge. A p3 charger is nothing more than a power supply. I would imagine you could be able to use that $500 charger as a power supply, but that would be one expensive PS. Assuming current limited charging (which the stock does as its only 50watts or so, battery life for ours is more due to discharge duty and charging habits (i.e. top off v discarge before you charge)

Anyway, since none of us are silly enough to buy a $500 power supply, I guess we will never have data to evaluate.
 

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