There is no denying that LiPo battery packs are no longer just the future of RC, but are very much the present also. New battery technology has brought with it new charging technology. The massive range and variation of these new chargers can perplex some, but a good charger is essential for prolonging the life of you LiPo and of course ensuring your safety and the safety of those around you.
Bantam may seem like a new name to some of those on the racing scene, but they have been around since 2002. Bantam is a Korean company who are best known for their e-Station line of chargers that have built up a reputation of quality and value. Over the past 6 years their market has been mainly RC aircraft, however the chargers are imported by FlightPower UK who are responsible for TrakPower. So along with the massively popular TrakPower cells, racing model shops are stocking Bantam chargers.
One of the coolest things about the BC6 is that it can accept both AC input from a mains socket, and also 12 volt DC for when you are trackside. This is great when you consider the price of power supplies. Its charging ability is very vast. 1-15 cells NiCad or NiMH and 1-6 cells LiPo, LiFe or LiIo and up to 20V lead batteries.
Perhaps the most important feature of the BC6 is its balance charging ability. Over time the cells within a LiPo pack can become unbalanced, especially under high load. This not only takes away useful performance, but can lead to the battery to failure (or worse...). It is possible to use separate stand-alone balancers for existing chargers, but the BC6 has the ability to monitor and charge each cell in the pack individually. This way you balance your pack on every charge, and it takes no longer to achieve.
With FlightPower importing the Bantam chargers, it is unsurprising that there is lead available that will connect the TrakPower cells right into the BC6 balancing port without any adapters or hassle. A huge fan of FlightPower cells (having used them in my model aircraft) I got a TrakPower 4900mAh pack and the aforementioned charged balancing leads for the BC6. This makes the TrackPower a great partner with this charger. That said, it is certainly not difficult to balance other cells. If your LiPo pack has a JST-XH balancing lead you can purchase a balancing board that plugs into the BC6, and they are relatively inexpensive.
The menu system on the BC6 is fantastic, simple and effective. It is so good in fact that a lot of sub-standard Chinese chargers have cloned this menu system exactly. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? There is even an auto function where it will guess charge settings for you, but I think it’s perhaps best to manually setup the charger (it’s easy enough) to the settings suggested by the manufacturer of your cells.
The BC6 has 50 watts of charging power. This is really plenty for racing packs, most racing packs (certainly all BRCA/ROAR legal) are 2 cell LiPo, which is 7.4 volts. This means the charger is capable of charging these cells up to 6.8 amperes in theory, which is more than enough. BRCA legal packs are capped to 5000mAh, and really you should not exceed 1C charging, so 5 amperes is the highest you should be going. Which is actually where Bantam have limited the charger at, 5 amperes is the quickest you can charge 2s LiPo or 6 cell NiMH/NiCad. The only gripe here is if you have aircraft cells, as I do. 3 Cell packs can still charge at a very reasonable 4.5 amperes, but anything larger you might see charging at less than 1C.
Discharge? Oh. The BC6 is a very versatile charger, but you can tell it is aimed mainly at the LiPo market with a discharge of 5 watts. This sees the discharging of a 7.2v NiMH / 7.4 volt LiPo racing pack at around 1 ampere. With LiPo you shouldn’t really be discharging, hence it’s no real issue there. But if you want to cycle some NiMH before a race meeting, make sure you don’t get rid of any existing dischargers.
After mentioning discharge, I feel I have to mention LiPo storage. LiPo’s should never be run flat, they don’t improve by being cycled (so why bother?) and should always be stored with charge. It’s the universal feeling that it’s best to store LiPo’s at about 70% charge, or anywhere between the nominal voltage of the cells and their maximum voltage. The BC6 has this well covered, with its “Storage Mode”. Just plug in your cells, select storage, it will determine whether your cells need to be discharged or charged and it will do it for you. This is something useful for keeping cells in tip-top condition, I feel.
Beware! There are many Chinese copies about; I personally suffered at the hands of an “Imax” charger. Some of these Chinese knock-offs have been known to overcharge, short circuit or just fail like mine. The consequence of these failures can range from annoyance to serious danger. Lithium technology is very safe when treated with care, and part of that care is a sound charger.
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The Bantam e-STATION BC6 is a high quality charger that is ideally suited to all charging in RC. From glow starts to top of the range LiPo packs the BC6 has it covered. Its balanced charging and storage mode make the BC6 the ideal charger for lithium technology. I highly recommend it.