Duratrax Intellipeak Ice DC charger
 

hey guys,

looking to get one of these and wanted to know if it was a good value. i'd be using it to charge 2s lipo cells, two of them for my 1/8 scale buggy and just wanted to know if any of you guys have had experience with the charger or know anything about it.

Thanks
-Jim

Personally speaking I would be looking at a modern LiPo balance charger.

The Ice was a great charger for NiMH when it first came out, and it does charge LiPo.

However it doesn't have an inbuilt balancer like a lot of newer LiPo chargers do, and as far as I know it doesn't have a store mode or any of the other LiPo-specific features. I also don't know how fast it charges - some of the older chargers take a while to charge LiPos because of the way they ramp the current.

I have the Hyperion EOS 0606i which is a solid LiPo charger for the money (my only niggles being that you need to unplug the balance plug between charges if you use the Orion-style charge lead, and that the discharge rate is quite slow if you choose to use Store mode) - Hyperion also do DUO chargers that can charge two packs at a time for your 1/8th.

I use an Intellipeak ICE with a Trakpower balancer - never had any problems. Also use it for charging 4 cell NiMh's for my oval racing.

Really easy to use and to switch between one profile and another. Discharge function and motor run-in too (handy for the old silver can motors).

May not be the newest charger on the market - but certainly a good one in my opinion.

ok cool cuz i was looking into getting an external balancer b/c i know it doesn't balance while it charges...

@Hog how do you run your charging... for lipos walk me exactly how you charge them (what you hook up how you hook it up and why if there's any reason) i'd really appreciate it cuz i'm not trying to blow up my lipos :(

Cheers,
-Jim

Providing you know how to set the charger up to charge at 1C, all you have to do is press and hold the button on the TP balancer until the 2 >>'s light up, then set the charger to start charging. Just make sure all the relevant leads are in the right place on the LiPo - red to red, black to black, and the balance port is plugged in too (depending on what LiPo you have you may need to get a different balance lead with the correct socket).

If you're totally unsure PM me and I'll give you my number and give you a "walk-through" while you're on the phone.

It's pretty easy - must be if I can manage it!!!

ok thats great thanks hog... i'll wait till my stuff gets here and then try it out and see if i have any problems... shouldn't though as that's a pretty solid walkthrough and sounds pretty brain dead... thanks

-Jim

Not really a walkthrough - it really is easy though. Once you're used to the rotary / push button dial on the ICE charger you'll be fine.

Just give me a shout if you're unsure on anything - don't want you blowing it up eh?

I had an ICE for while, loved it really, great for NiMH's, but lipo charging with the trackpower balancer was pretty slow...never managed to get close to a full charge in between heats racing at my local club, and needed a separate 12v supply to run it.

Now using an Etronix powerpal AC/DC charger...basically a Bantom BC6 clone...built in balancer, built in 240AC when your indoors, 12v DC input when your outdoors. Now easily doing a full charge between heats at my club.

The ICE had a much nicer interface, powerpal is a bit clunky in comparison, but ok.

ICE is BIG in size when compared to the Powerpal, I was trying to cut down the amount of stuff I carry from the car at the time as well.

ICE is an older design, and only sold in the US...I imported mine about 2 yrs ago, and I'm not sure if they still make it even, so support for it is not great. There are more newer designed options now that lipo has become more of the norm rather than the exception.

ICE does feels better quality all round to be honest, but the lipo charging speed and built in mains supply on the Powerpal makes it my preference right now.

Surely if you're charging at 1C, it doesn't matter what charger you're using? 1C is 1C. How can the time taken vary?

Not really sure...but I guess the chargers have different software/charging curves/balancing routines/ramp rates/or somethings in them...the ICE/trackpower combo was definately a lot slower though.