Hints and Tips Discussion Tips about the RC Battery Charger

Many of the features to look for in a good computerized RC battery charger I already covered on the LiPo Battery page, but here is a recap plus other important features:


Quality & Price.

Warranty/repair/replacement policy.

The charger will support all rechargeable battery types.

Powerful enough for your charging needs (now and down the road).

Supports the highest cell count of pack you intend on using (now and down the road).

Has built in balance circuitry and comes with a good balance board or has built in balance ports.

Balance voltage accuracy in the 10 - 20 mili-volt range (0.01 – 0.02 volts).

Limits the majority of balance discharge load on the cells to the last part of the charge cycle (the constant voltage stage of charging) to increase LiPo life – some very high end chargers will actually allow you to disable balancing during the constant current (CC) phase where it is useless, wasteful, and potentially reduces overall LiPo life since all LiPo packs only have so many charge/discharge cycles in them.


Shows all cell voltages when balancing.

Can measure the Internal Resistance of each cell & the entire pack.

Back-Lit LCD display is nice and easy to read.

Data logging and PC download/firmware update ability is a nice feature, but not absolutely necessary for most people.

Safety features such as over/under voltage protection, time out feature, temperature probe for over heat protection, cell count confirmation/protection.

Useful Lithium battery charging programs such as balance and storage charge.

Useful NiCad/NiMH charging programs such as cycle charge/discharge, auto charge, programmable delta peak voltage settings, & forming charge.

Battery memory programming of battery profiles so you don’t have to always set charge current and cell counts for your main batteries that you are charging.