Is iCharger best value for money for over 20A per channel?
- Thread starter atti
- Start date
hankcurt
Solar Enthusiast
What is your intended use of the iCharger?
Do you want to simply charge the battery, or are you looking for something to cycle the battery through a charge and discharge for capacity testing?
Do you want to simply charge the battery, or are you looking for something to cycle the battery through a charge and discharge for capacity testing?
At the moment I am looking to do top balancing, and I have 48 cells to go through. Will have more in the future.
hankcurt
Solar Enthusiast
I'm not sure which iCharger model you have looked at. I own the iCharger X8.
I can't give you any good comparison with other equipment. However, I did shop around and chose the iCharger because it is sort-of a Swiss army knife of buck / boost charging. It has profiles for many different chemistries. It can charge or discharge a battery while measuring amp hours. It can bring a battery up to a preset voltage and then stop charging. The constant voltage phase of the charge cycle has an adjustable current cut-off setpoint.
You mention that the one you looked at has 20A per channel. I'm not sure what that means. When it comes to balancing, mine is limited to 2A balance current, but it does some resistance compensation to help make the balancing accurate. However, there are BMS and dedicated active balancers that also do 2A balancing as long as the voltage difference is high enough.
As far as total charge current, the iCharger X8 is limited to 30A or 1100W, which ever you hit first.
So far I have only balanced cells for a 12V LiFePo4 pack with it. I did so by setting the iCharger to 3.6v maximum and a 3.0 amp end current. Then I used a cheap 40v 10A max power supply to power the iCharger. The iCharger then converted that power to 3.6v at 30A. This let me top balance the pack with the cells wired in parallel much faster than turning the 10A power supply down to 3.6v and using it directly.
I've also used the iCharger X8 to test individual cells. If you use a battery as the power source, you can charge the cell using power from the battery and then discharge it from the cell back into the battery, both happening at 30A. If you don't use a battery, then the iCharger can only use its internal resistors to discharge the cell, and it is much, much slower. Anyway, during the test, the iCharger can log the data to an SD card if you want to see the charge/discharge curve, and after it is done, it reports the total amp hours on the screen.
Anyway, all I can tell you is that I'm pleased with mine. Hopefully someone with different equipment can provide more information for you.
I can't give you any good comparison with other equipment. However, I did shop around and chose the iCharger because it is sort-of a Swiss army knife of buck / boost charging. It has profiles for many different chemistries. It can charge or discharge a battery while measuring amp hours. It can bring a battery up to a preset voltage and then stop charging. The constant voltage phase of the charge cycle has an adjustable current cut-off setpoint.
You mention that the one you looked at has 20A per channel. I'm not sure what that means. When it comes to balancing, mine is limited to 2A balance current, but it does some resistance compensation to help make the balancing accurate. However, there are BMS and dedicated active balancers that also do 2A balancing as long as the voltage difference is high enough.
As far as total charge current, the iCharger X8 is limited to 30A or 1100W, which ever you hit first.
So far I have only balanced cells for a 12V LiFePo4 pack with it. I did so by setting the iCharger to 3.6v maximum and a 3.0 amp end current. Then I used a cheap 40v 10A max power supply to power the iCharger. The iCharger then converted that power to 3.6v at 30A. This let me top balance the pack with the cells wired in parallel much faster than turning the 10A power supply down to 3.6v and using it directly.
I've also used the iCharger X8 to test individual cells. If you use a battery as the power source, you can charge the cell using power from the battery and then discharge it from the cell back into the battery, both happening at 30A. If you don't use a battery, then the iCharger can only use its internal resistors to discharge the cell, and it is much, much slower. Anyway, during the test, the iCharger can log the data to an SD card if you want to see the charge/discharge curve, and after it is done, it reports the total amp hours on the screen.
Anyway, all I can tell you is that I'm pleased with mine. Hopefully someone with different equipment can provide more information for you.
Thanks hankcurt for detailed feedback on this equipment, much appreciated.
matt2006
DIY Solar since 2016
I need something for capacity tests to replace my icharger 3010b; it requires external screen to test 8S 24v that shuts off internally from BMS; then their screen wipes. I keep having problems with the usb after a few months of use.
matt2006
DIY Solar since 2016
I use a solar battery bank 24V to feed; so that when i test it usees regenerative discharge back to the source.
I test 100+ K2B24V10EB a month
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