Hi again Timbo

I made the usual mistake of forgetting to insert the attachment.

Now I have to apologise again as I do not seem to have mastered the art of copying and pasting images into this forum.

My charger is a GWS from Grand Wing Servo-tech.  It has a 4 to 6 cell and 6 to 12 cell switch and a pot meter to control the fast charge (the meter reads up to 6 amps).   on the front it says GWS-MC2002.  It also says NI-CD & HI-MH DC U-CON CHARGER.

I hope that helps, although you could probably tell me what it is from half that information!!

Hi Timbo,

Very impressive review, very informative.

You mentioned the input voltage range of between 11 and 18vdc in the review but did not mention the max current. I would like one of these chargers and knocking up a power supply for it would not be too much of a problem providing I knew what rating of transformer to look for.

Thanks in advance.

You can get  good cheap power supply by using one from a pc.

Output voltage is usually 3.3v, 5v and 12v 

Just looked at a brand new 550W one for £18

I run all my chargers off any of 3 PSUs in my workshop -all ex PC and cost nothing - see here for one of them - this one is hooked up to my Astro Flight 10, but the others are all prettty much the same.

My local PC shop is always chucking out duff cases, and the PSU is often fine. You usually need to tie down a 5V line somewhere in order to get the 12V output working, but the whole job is a half an hours work and a few pence worth of resistors. Here's a link to one of several "how to do its"

free home made PSU

It really is simple and you dont need to be a electronics guru - honest!

Heres the one thats hooked up to the IMAX B6 - I also use this one for charging my on board glow NMH cells ( 3v output at 250 m/a )

The IMAX charger is capable of up to 5A output, and the specs say max charge power is 50 Watts.

Most of the PSUs are good for at least 8A constant on the 12 V line, and even an older 200Watt unit will be fine for what we need

I seem to remember they sold the chargers as "motorcycle accessories" as they are switcheable for 6v or 12v

Timbo 

Superb review,as always highly informative and easy to understand.

Timbo

Is the GT Power V5 on the Tendani site the same thing, if it the postage is more manageable.

Tendani

Erfolg

Yep - looks the same. Note that the specs say 1- 8 LiPo cells, but in fact it is 1 - 6 ( as is the IMAX )

If you look carefully at the actual picture you will see the writing says 1- 6 too.

Tim

Great stuff, I've popped a link her from the front page. The charger looks similiar if not identical to several other units on the UK market at the moment - have you come across these? 

David 

HiTimbo,

I bought one of the "clones" that looks identical to the one you rewiewed but it doesn't seem to have a discharge program.

I tried to charge one of my 3700mah 5 cell MiMh packs and set the charger to stop at 3700. Charge rate was 1A. After about 177 minutes the unit beeped and indicated the battery was "FULL" but I noticed the capacity was only about 2900. Is this ok?

Well the "safety timer" calculation comes out at 310 minutes for this job. If your timer was set for 177 minutes, then thats possibly why it did not fill em up - if the peak detect was set wrong, thats another reason. Providing that the pack is not old and duff, then you should be putting back in around 3500 minimum, ASSUMING the pack was empty to begin with !

Thanks for the reply,

The second pack I tried went all the way to 3700ma after about 280 minutes, but this time the message on the display said "Capacity" instead of "Full".

I've gone through the Set-up menu and can not find any reference to "peak detect" or a "discharge" program. Have I gone a bought a less advanced charger?

Hi Timbo,

The small print on the front of the case reads:

• Lipo 1 - 5 cells
• NiMh 1 - 14 cells
• NiCd 1 - 14 cells
• Gel 2V, 6V, 12V
• o.1A - 5A

Very little in the way of instructions

I have found the manual for this version online, and I am not impressed.

( to make matters worse, you also paid more than I did for the "proper one " )

This earlier version is only 5 lipo cell maximum capable, and ONLY does LiPo not Ion or the the new LiFe types. Furthermore it is very linited as to other features which are on the IMAX. EG:

There is no discharge facility.

No cycling feature.

User cannot tweak peak detect voltage sensititvity.

NO storage mode for Lithium....and many more

I dont want this thread to turn into a legal debate, but seriously...... I dont know how they can describe it as - and I quote......

"Lipro-Plus 5, not just a charger but also a complete charging and maintenance centre for batteries!
We are proud to introduce our new compact, stylish and fully featured professional solution to charging and maintaining all types of batteries."

Personally I would return it as unfit for purpose based on that description.

To be a professional solution to charging and maintaining all types of batteries " requires that they can be cycled or at least discharged to an empty state in order to establish the complete charge put back in. Cycling of Nicads is particularly recommended, and even this feature is non existent.

I am afraid you have bought a bit of a lemon IMO.

In case you havent got this manual