NEW Charger for our LifePo4 - ToolkitRC M8D

[elryko1992]

BM what you say about this charger: https://www.toolkitrc.com/m8d/#specs

[Burgerman]

Might be good. Might be bad. Might be safe. Might not. Might be reliable. Unless I buy one, and examine in detail I have no idea what the phone book full of code that runs it does. So cant know. Buy one and let us know!

[elryko1992]

Might be good. Might be bad. Might be safe. Might not. Might be reliable. Unless I buy one, and examine in detail I have no idea what the phone book full of code that runs it does. So cant know. Buy one and let us know!

[Burgerman]

They are at least updating the firmware several times already to fix bugs. So might be OK. But the devil is in the details. Which nobody knows.

[Burgerman]

Praying wont help with anything. Ever.
Just get one, test it out. Report back!

[martin007]

How much does it cost?

[Burgerman]

No idea. But you need a power supply like the ZXD too. Which you already have... I have 2.

[martin007]

Might be good. Might be bad. Might be safe. Might not. Might be reliable. Unless I buy one, and examine in detail I have no idea what the phone book full of code that runs it does. So cant know. Buy one and let us know!

What do you examine in detail?
You usually have good judgment.

[Burgerman]

Well for e.g...
The PL8 initially looked great but was useless.
It had no way to set the correct termination points for lead or lithium. It had restrictive safety limits that didnt allow more than 50Ah. It had errors when a cell was more than x volts, or less than x volts when initially connected. It refused to charge if the gap pbetween cells was more than 300mV. And it had time limit restrictions that stopped charging well before a large pack could be charged. It had no way to set the point where the balance began and attempted to balance far too early which actually made lifepo4 cells go OUT of balance. And at least a dozen other things... They all work OK ish for hobby sized lipo. Which is all they really get used for. Not huge lead, or lifepo4.

Approx 14 months, and dozens of changes, with beta test firmwares eventually sorted all that out. Another few fixed bugs and errors that needed fixing. Software is complex. And programmers dont understand batteries. And I did the same with the hyperion chargers previously.

[martin007]

Was it necessary to suggest changes to the programmers?

They made the changes on their own initiative.

[emilevirus]

I was going to buy one but then I went with the ISDT P20 because it was a bit cheaper. It had firmware upgrades too. It charged my battery for about 30s then went up in smoke.
I bought a PSU from Shirley and use a BMS just for charging. Now I can charge at 50A without worrying that a crappy Chinese charger will explode anytime.

[Burgerman]

Was it necessary to suggest changes to the programmers?

They made the changes on their own initiative.

They made changes after hundreds of emails back and forwards between us over 14 to 18 months. They listened, partly fixed one thing and messed up something else. Thats how programming goes. Gradually getting things correct with many many alpha and beta firmware versions tested over and over. Very tiring...

[martin007]

OK.

So I see the only way to know if a charger is really good is to use it.

[Burgerman]

Pretty much.

I was going to buy one but then I went with the ISDT P20 because it was a bit cheaper. It had firmware upgrades too. It charged my battery for about 30s then went up in smoke.

Thats more or less what I would have expected. The PL8s were much better built and in a different league to the ISDT stuff as far as electronic protection and reliability. And PC software and control etc too.

The 8S bigger iChargers are quite well built compared to most cheap chineseum hobby grade stuff. but I saw a couple of those die at my hobby club over the years. There are people here using them to charg lithium chairs.

[martin007]

The 8S bigger iChargers are quite well built compared to most cheap chineseum hobby grade stuff. but I saw a couple of those die at my hobby club over the years. There are people here using them to charg lithium chairs.

For example...

[Burgerman]

?

[martin007]

Examples of this 8S bigger iChargers.

[Burgerman]

https://nexusmodels.co.uk/collections/junsi-icharger

Any 8S or more, the more power the better.

[martin007]

At first glance those chargers look like toys...

[Burgerman]

Until you consider that they are reasuringly expensive! And can charge at 70Amps.

But they are toys. Everything in life is!

[emilevirus]

Yeah, I got iCharger X12 and it's been fine. ISDT sent me a replacement for the P20 as well so now I'm stuck with 5 chargers. I already had a HTRC T400 to charge my RC's and a cheapo IMAX B6. I don't like the iCharger because there's no button, only a tiny slider. Trying to sell it but no success so far.

[Burgerman]

I never had an iCharger personally. I dont like the way that you adjust the termination current As a percentage of charge current. But many hobby chargers do that as it is apparently easier to code and works on hobby sized lipos quite well.

Doesent so much on LiFePO4 though... So every time you charge the charge current it makes the termination current incorrect again... Same issue on lead.

But at least they seem reasonably reliable and can be used. I would miss the PC configuration and logging etc as I never use the buttons and stuff myself unless no choice out on a grass field with planes...

[emilevirus]

iCharger has PC logging but no way to control it from PC.

[elryko1992]

Praying wont help with anything. Ever.
Just get one, test it out. Report back!

I have 2 PL8 one V2 one simple 8, 3.36 firmware, and don't need another. This is very good with dual HP psu . Maybe i will buy a ZXD 3.2 display like your.

[Burgerman]

Do it.

[martin007]

I have 2 PL8 one V2 one simple 8, 3.36 firmware, and don't need another. This is very good with dual HP psu . Maybe i will buy a ZXD 3.2 display like your.

It gives me the feeling that many of you are millionaires and I am a dead man.

[elryko1992]

I have 2 PL8 one V2 one simple 8, 3.36 firmware, and don't need another. This is very good with dual HP psu . Maybe i will buy a ZXD 3.2 display like your.

It gives me the feeling that many of you are millionaires and I am a dead man.

i buy it from ebay Kleinanzeigen one for 80euro, i think you live better than me in Spain, in Romania life is more hard, but to have lifepo4 than GEL in our powerchairs is worth a PL8 and to convert a psu hp\dell or for millionaires like you a ZXD2400

[martin007]

Everything you have bought costs a lot of money; even for someone who lives in Spain.

[elryko1992]

Everything you have bought costs a lot of money; even for someone who lives in Spain.

588$ including ship 8x 230ah EVE, 80euro PL8, 30 pounds Zeptobit Fuim3 from Woody, 2x hp psu 50 pounds ebay. Worth than GEL 2x MK wich cost 400-450 pounds and in 2-3 years is dead.

[martin007]

That price seems very cheap to me.