HobbyKing Quattro 4x6 ( iMax Quattro B6 )

[remotebandit]

Hey all , seeing these days most of the truggies , cars run multiple lipos , its obvious 1 lipo charger just isnt enough anymore so i found this on the Hobbyking website and thought that for only $170AU delivered i havnt really got much to lose .

I ordered it from Hobbyking on Wednesday and to qualify for the free postage i had to but something else so i just got a few tiny lipos for an Eflyte and paid the measly EMS postage for 700grams and this came in the same pack in under 5 days .

Packaging is great , its a fairly large box , width and length of about a shoe box but half the height .

[remotebandit]

Looking at whats written on the box i got a bit excited as i noticed PC monitoring on it but no it doesnt have it so dont know why its on there and the other draw back is that it mentiones tempreture sensor but doesnt come with it

[remotebandit]

Packaging is great , very well protected and presented when opening .

1 thing that got me instantly was the size of it , its very big but when you pull it out , its actually got a nice chunky heatsink on the rear and 2 cooling fans a bit bigger than the ones on the hobbywing escs .

Its large but very very well set out with no clutter and once again , its just so bloody solid in a full metal case .

Buttons are all perfect , no need to find sweet spots in them for them to click . their not small so you dont need kiddy fingers to find your way around the controls .. lol .

[remotebandit]

Adaptors it comes with are pictured .

NO FRIKKIN DEANS CHARGING LEAD .... NOT HAPPY but it comes with a blank so you can just solder 1 onto it ( remember you need 4 if you want to get the most out of the charger )

Comes with 2 balance leads and adaptors , 1 for the standard lipo JST / XH plugs and the other 1 is a TP/FP adaptor im assuming for the hyperion type plugs .

[remotebandit]

Ok , now for the powering up part .

I hooked it up to my Jaycar 20amp power supply and when she fired up it looked totally sick ( awesome for you old folk reading this ) .

It seems all chargers on the market use the same software so on face value the menus and and use are identical to the imax b6 , swallows , hyperions , nothings new nothings different but it does look great when youve got 4 running at once .

[remotebandit]

Now for the charging .

1 thing thats been in the back of my mind since i ordered it was the issue / rumour that this only charges 5amps over the whole 4 modules ( eg charge 2 packs the max is 2.5amps each , charge 4 packs the max is 1.25amps ) .

Im wrapped to tell you all that it charges each module at 5amps ( 20amps total )

I charged 4 x 2S 4700mah packs at 4700 each and it ran EASY , warmed up a touch but thats all , warm , no where near hot , in fact it was the Jaycar power supply that was doing the hard work as the fan on it was doing some serious spinning ... lol .

[remotebandit]

Balancing :

As it only came with 1 balance lead that i could use for my lipos , i worked out that i could actually plug the battery balance lead directly into the charger without needing 1 of the balance adaptor boards ( next step is to but extensions so they will let me charge it in the lipo sack ) . Its clearly marked with a " negative , 1 , 2 , 3 ... " on the side of the charger so you cant mess the balance plug off the battery up .

[remotebandit]

Accuracy

Ive done some voltage and current tests and if we are to be 100% accurate , shes off VERY VERY SLIGHTLY .

Voltage is exact , tells me battery is at 8.4V and it is .1V out but this could be the internal resistance of the multimeter leads so im going to call it accurate .

The current measurements are also about 50ma out . I didnt know if i should put that down to my clamp meter but i then got a multimeter in series with it and can confirm this but it was a hard call as the charger only gives 100mah resolutions and its only when it goes between the steps that you can try to figure it out .

[remotebandit]

Conclusion .

I reckon this things awesome , i love it and it does exactly what i need it to do .

At the moment that most lipos are under 5000mah it will do and when the bigger ones come out it will just be a matter of taking a bit longer to charge them .

1 thing to remember when ordering this charger is that it comes with 1 set of leads so if you want to order it and use it straight away , order another 3 balance adaptors and 3 Deans leads .

Good luck boys and just do it

[SNPY]

Have you hooked it up to the PC yet RB? .. looks the business .. may have to grab one myself .. nice write-up as well boss

[revsinc]

I wonder if you can do this
charge a battery at 10 amps
buy using two outlets to the same battery
Can you try this and report back ..

[remotebandit]

will do in 6 minutes and 37 seconds , brb

[remotebandit]

Very interesting .

Please keep in mind i tested this on a 5000mah lipo so didnt want to leave it go for more than 30 seconds but i hooked up 2 charge leads in parallel and the battery balance leads in 1 port to keep an eye on it , started the first test at 1 amp each charge slot and was getting 2 amps draw over the battery , then stepped up to 2 then 3 then 3.5 and YES , it was working fine charging at double .

I dont know how it would go on the full charge , i dont know how it would go on peak detection with 1 charge slot cutting out before the other but this does charge .

Im not game to try it any further than 7 amps on this lipo as i dont want to damage it but it does look positive

[remotebandit]

i will give it a go much later tonight at 2.5 + 2.5 amps and see how the peak detection goes on this 5amp lipo

If it does work , you can charge 2 packs at 10 amps each which is a massive bonus

[obzELiTe]

got this back from rcmart who are selling the imax version of this.

"You can connect the charger with a USB cable. However please note the kits doesn't come with the cable and software. IMAX has released an optional kit which is used for connecting the charger to computer."

although from the pics i dont see a usb port anywhere on the charger.

[eichkay]

Maybe it connects via one of the bind ports I've got some handheld UHFs that have a headphone Jack to USB setup ... This could be done the same way possibly

[SNPY]

On the pdf obz it says you connect it to your PC via the temp. sensor port

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uploads/QUATTRO%204X6%281%29.pdf

[remotebandit]

yep , temp sensor port , its actually marked there .

Sorry blokes ive gone stale on this thread , just havnt had time to drain lipos of late

[BIG PETE]

i know where you can plug it in

[eichkay]

After seeing the 5amp per circuit for 2s I went and ordered this charger myself hopfully eliminating my 4 chargers in a case setup currently

[Nissanmania]

Looks the biz. Might take the clutter out of my charge setup as have 4 separate chargers!

[upagain]

Hi guys, very interested in this charger. I have a few questions regarding usage of this charger.

1) so if I wanted to balance charge more than 1 pack, do I need 3 of these

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10360 (although they are out of stock ATM)

or if I only intend on balance charging 2cells, what balance connector can be used that goes into the 6pin quattro balance port?


2) and do I need 3 more charge lead plugs, on top of the 3 connectors(deans) ?

3) can anyone find charge plug leads on their site, cos I cannot?

[remotebandit]

Hey bloke , to your answers :

1: yes you need 3 more BUT ..... ive worked out that you can plug the balance wires coming out of the lipo directly into this charger so if you want to risk charging the lipo without a lipo sack you dont need the balance board or if you want to charge it in a lipo sack and have extensions you dont need that balance board ( i will tell you which side of the balance port it plugs to as you only need to plug it to certain pins ) . End of story you dont need either of the parts you listed in that link .

2. Yes , you do need 3 more leads ... just order a pack of 5 deans plugs off ebay or get them from the shop as cheap as you can and make them up . You can buy the cable and banana plugs from Jaycar to save SHIT LOADS on the noodle wire ( once again i will give you cable cat number and plugs from Jaycar so you know exactly which wire to buy ) 1 meter of black and red is about $3 which will be more than enough to even make 4 leads .

3. go back to point 2 .

Hope it helps ya mate and please ask more qs if you need more help

[upagain]

Hey bloke , to your answers :

1: yes you need 3 more BUT ..... ive worked out that you can plug the balance wires coming out of the lipo directly into this charger so if you want to risk charging the lipo without a lipo sack you dont need the balance board or if you want to charge it in a lipo sack and have extensions you dont need that balance board ( i will tell you which side of the balance port it plugs to as you only need to plug it to certain pins ) . End of story you dont need either of the parts you listed in that link .

2. Yes , you do need 3 more leads ... just order a pack of 5 deans plugs off ebay or get them from the shop as cheap as you can and make them up . You can buy the cable and banana plugs from Jaycar to save SHIT LOADS on the noodle wire ( once again i will give you cable cat number and plugs from Jaycar so you know exactly which wire to buy ) 1 meter of black and red is about $3 which will be more than enough to even make 4 leads .

3. go back to point 2 .

Hope it helps ya mate and please ask more qs if you need more help

1. thanks for the replies, I think I saw one of your post earlier about not needing extra balance wires, will look that up soon. I will have a better idea also if/when I get the charger, but so far there is no other charger like that.

2. actually I have those plugs at home.....somewhere, but I know which ones they are at jaycar. I might run cables straight with 4mm bullet plugs as the majority of my packs are corally plugs.

[upagain]

Balancing :

As it only came with 1 balance lead that i could use for my lipos , i worked out that i could actually plug the battery balance lead directly into the charger without needing 1 of the balance adaptor boards ( next step is to but extensions so they will let me charge it in the lipo sack ) . Its clearly marked with a " negative , 1 , 2 , 3 ... " on the side of the charger so you cant mess the balance plug off the battery up .
here we go, found the post about direct balancing without the balance adapter.

edit, just found a pic with the quattro balance port, and has 7 pins with negative being the far right. Seems bit irish with the pin number arrangement :confused:


So do I take the 2s lipo balance connector, use the 3 far right pins?
so
black to -
blue to #1
red to #2 ?


I'm going to order one now with some balance extensions.

[upagain]

Also do you know if there is a jack port for the power supply?

So I can charge the batteries on the go in my car, with a cigarette lighter adapter for charger.

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=8819

[remotebandit]

nah , no jack point but would be easy to make some type of adaptor ... be carefull the amperage your charging at though , i think most cigaret lighter slots are rated at max 5 amps? older cars 3amps

[eichkay]

My quattro turn up today christmas eve ... rather neat bit of gear, the input cables are very nice silicon 12awg cable, super flexible like deans wet noodle..

[remotebandit]

looks tuff doesnt it Eitch .

Definately built for punishment

[eichkay]

looks tuff doesnt it Eitch .

Definately built for punishment

rather impressed , everything about it seems very and well built.. and they also shipped quick aswell, i just went with the basic freight method and only paid $2.50 postage on thurdays last week.. simply amazing.. 1 week later its on my door, i to think i thought about the ems but changed my mind as i didn't need it in a hurry.

[blade954]

I will be very interested in one of these if you guys are happy with them, ill be able to use 1 charger instead of the chaos i have now....

[upagain]

here we go, found the post about direct balancing without the balance adapter.

edit, just found a pic with the quattro balance port, and has 7 pins with negative being the far right. Seems bit irish with the pin number arrangement :confused:


So do I take the 2s lipo balance connector, use the 3 far right pins?
so
black to -
blue to #1
red to #2 ?


I'm going to order one now with some balance extensions.

just got the charger today.

and bump as I didnt get the above answered before, and didnt bother until charger showed up.

also, mine didnt come with a manual, not that I think I will need it, although I found a pdf that someone here supplied on this thread:)

[32r]

Hey remotebandit have a few questions if you dont mind

1.How hot does the charger get continually charging 4 lipos and what is the most amount of time you have had it charging for?

2.Would you recommend it over other chargers you've used?

Thankyou

[obzELiTe]

read on another forum that ppl have been fine using all four charging as the same time.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10327&aff=178186

software is here

http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/rc-connection-imax-sksw00p100-software-p-30739.html

its for the imax version, but id presume its just renamed.

[remotebandit]

Hey upagain and 32 , sorry blokes been on hollidays for the last week or so and back now

I'll post some pix MUCH later on tonight on the balance plugs so you can see ( will do a 2s 3s 5s ans 6s so you can see

32, I've done 4x 2s 4700 lipos all at once for about an hour from just over 3v per cell and the charger was warm but never hot and definately nothing I'd call risky , in fact when you do all packs at once it's your power supply you need to keep an eye on as the jaycar 20amper was strugling

I've own a swallow acdc eq , hyperion eos0606i and an IMAX mystery charger and to be totally honest with you they are all the same kettle of fish . The software seems to be exactly the same on all with no display difference. If you are looking at getting massively hardcore and 100000% critical for 1mv then the Hyperion was the most accurate but as I said only a computer printout would spot the difference as it's absolutely not worth mentioning otherwise.

Hope that helps ya but at the end of the day to have 4 seperate charges in 1 is the best thing I've ever invested in

just remembered something important the swallow and Hyperion have over this charger , they also charge at 6 amps but on this quattro there are ways around it that you can safely charge 2 packs at 10 amps :)

[upagain]

Hey upagain and 32 , sorry blokes been on hollidays for the last week or so and back now

I'll post some pix MUCH later on tonight on the balance plugs so you can see ( will do a 2s 3s 5s ans 6s so you can see

32, I've done 4x 2s 4700 lipos all at once for about an hour from just over 3v per cell and the charger was warm but never hot and definately nothing I'd call risky , in fact when you do all packs at once it's your power supply you need to keep an eye on as the jaycar 20amper was strugling

I've own a swallow acdc eq , hyperion eos0606i and an IMAX mystery charger and to be totally honest with you they are all the same kettle of fish . The software seems to be exactly the same on all with no display difference. If you are looking at getting massively hardcore and 100000% critical for 1mv then the Hyperion was the most accurate but as I said only a computer printout would spot the difference as it's absolutely not worth mentioning otherwise.

Hope that helps ya but at the end of the day to have 4 seperate charges in 1 is the best thing I've ever invested in

just remembered something important the swallow and Hyperion have over this charger , they also charge at 6 amps but on this quattro there are ways around it that you can safely charge 2 packs at 10 amps :)
thats fine mate, I figured it out today. Just as I had thought, use the far right pins.

[blade954]

Mine arrived today and only ordered it Sunday and rocked up today was very impressed. I purchased the extra balance leads and all so im set now. Like the above statements now i think my power supply will have to be beefed up....

[upagain]

im only using a 10amp power supply and have no problems charging with all 4 outlets on 5amp charge rate each

[waggaclint]

These look the goods, i reakon hobbyking have some great stuff and great prices too, ill be putting one of these chargers on the too buy list...

[blade954]

im only using a 10amp power supply and have no problems charging with all 4 outlets on 5amp charge rate each

Ok mine is 10amp as well will give it a shot and see....

[eichkay]

10amps at 12v is equivalent to 14amps at 8.4v so if your not starting all 4 batteries at the same time the 5amps per circuit is most likely doable pending your power supply tho...

[obzELiTe]

forgot to mention this, mainly to make sure they still had one when i went in :)
out of stock atm, but he has an order on the way in.

http://www.discounthobbies.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28_56&products_id=9158

http://www.discounthobbies.com.au/catalog/images/prodimg/img9158.jpg

$159

used mine in bunbury and its a great charger.

if you go buy one tell them TA sent you.

[remotebandit]

Funny uoi should metion that obz , their starting to appear in the locals down here .

I saw 1 today but they had them at $259 ... massive mark up me reckons

[obzELiTe]

yeah, guy in the shop says hes sent some to queensland. some shop up there has them for 300 so the guy who bought it googled the name of the charger and got discount hobbies.

[remotebandit]

Wow guys , Turnigy just let this 1 loose yesterday i think .

Pre order only at this stage :

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=11170

Im assuming the same display menu but charges up to 6Amp per slot

[obzELiTe]

bloody hell, 100 bucks.

guess its going to be the same internals in a different box.

[z00m]

I see these are in stock now. Very tempting!!!