Reviews
| by David |
Date Added: Wednesday 02 May, 2012 |
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Excellent service, very fast delivery, a terrific charger, great value .
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| by John |
Date Added: Monday 30 April, 2012 |
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I am just getting into electric so I needed a charger for lipos. This is great, it is easy to use and lets you know exactly what is going on and what the result is when it's finished. In fact it is so good I use it to charge most of my batteries Nicd, Nimh, lipo's of course and my lead acid glowplug battery & starter battery. I will need another when I get into electric more so I will be back for another soon.
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| by brian |
Date Added: Friday 27 April, 2012 |
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tried this for 1st time today, parallel balanced 2x2s lipo's and they came out spot on balance for cells.
only query i have is booklet says 5amp max charge and front of unit says 6amp max charge.
anybody throw any light on this?
B.C
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| by Chris |
Date Added: Friday 27 April, 2012 |
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I bought one of these a few weeks ago after suspecting my previous Chinese charger of damaging LiPo batteries. It seems to work well, although as others have stated, it is not obvious that you need to connect both the main power leads AND the balance leads. The first time it gave a connection error but after reconnecting the wires it worked. The instruction book would be better with some more diagrams.
This charger managed to 'rejunvenate' some old batteries which had become very unbalanced and very slightly puffed (not really bad but just noticeable). After several 'light' charge/discharge cycles, the cells were again in balance and the pack felt 'hard' again.
In the spirit of a true Engineer I then started taking measurements using a clamp meter and a Fluke DMM. I used a 16v SMPS from a laptop to power the charger. The current into a LiPo battery is measured pretty accurately. The cell balance voltages displayed match those measured by the Fluke DMM to better than 1%.
So it looks like good value for money.
And here are some things I don't recommend you try.....
I had a completely flat LiPo measuring 0v on every cell. I selected the NiMH setting and a LOW constant current, monitoring everything very carefully in an aluminium box. After a few minutes 2 of the cells recovered. The third cell was obviously short circuited. So I converted the 3S to a 2S and it is now back in service.
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| by David |
Date Added: Friday 27 April, 2012 |
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Nice compact unit with lots of charging & balancing options - like the included cables.
As always mega fast delivery from GC - you really do beat ALL the competition on service :)
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| by Daniel |
Date Added: Thursday 19 April, 2012 |
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Very happy with this charger. Have used it loads over last few months. Accuarcy and balancing is very good, much better than my Overlander unit which was 3 times the price.
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| by david |
Date Added: Sunday 15 April, 2012 |
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Reply to Micheal November 2011, I have been a Giant Cod customer since they only did batteries in the early days, their customer service is as good as the best in the trade and better than most. The turn round of retuned items is quick. I have never been refused a replacement or refund. Their service is top notch. I am only a customer an not in any way involved with the company. Play fair with them and they will play fair with you.
Prices are unbeatable.
David Field, long term satisfied customer.
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| by Richard |
Date Added: Thursday 12 April, 2012 |
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Good value for money --- bought 2 while they are still available
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| by Matthew |
Date Added: Saturday 10 March, 2012 |
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Haven't done many charges yet with this (used with NiMH, NiCd and 3S LiPo), but so far it looks good. 3S LiPo was very close to balance after each of the first few charges.
The unit is well built, and comes with a decent selection of adapter cables based on Deans connectors. One weak point is the output 4mm banana plugs - the spring parts mates firmly with the output sockets, but the spring is a bit loose on the plug shaft even when mated.
I opened it up to put some tape over the beeper (it's rather loud and gives a variety of beeps with every button press, so I taped over the beeper hole), and noticed that the innards are very nicely built. The whole thing looks remarkably like the Turnigy Accucel...
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| by Mr |
Date Added: Wednesday 08 February, 2012 |
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bought this charger on the strenth of the feed back ,not disapointed good buy for the money
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| by edward |
Date Added: Thursday 02 February, 2012 |
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very good small bit of kit and good service less than 24 hours at least i know i dont have to wait for things
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| by Allan |
Date Added: Wednesday 25 January, 2012 |
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This is a good charger, easy to use and does the job
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| by Tim |
Date Added: Thursday 12 January, 2012 |
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Dinky thing, perfect for field and home use. Purchased with separate A/C adapter. Nice clear display, beeps can be heard 3 rooms away, fits into a medium LiPo bag for safety during charging.
Manual isn't the most coherent, but diagrams easy to follow. Does everything I need it to, and it's a tenner cheaper than the one my LHS offered.
Bargain in every way.
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| by Richard |
Date Added: Friday 23 December, 2011 |
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Bought it to charge and balance 2 Gens Ace 4000mah 25C 2S Lipo packs along with the GTA6/IMax/Turnigy 5A Charger Adapter and Lead ( comes with a small UK 3pin plug and not what looks like a 2 pin as in photo) all OK so far.Paid for next day delivery and everything rolled up on time. Will use GC again
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| by richard |
Date Added: Thursday 01 December, 2011 |
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Running on 12v switch mode power supply, brilliant charger, would recommend to anyone.
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| by chris |
Date Added: Wednesday 23 November, 2011 |
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This charger is so good I bought another one (for a friend)... Rememebr though you will need a mains adaptor for it, (found here on Giantcod..)
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| by Stephen |
Date Added: Tuesday 22 November, 2011 |
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Excellent charger and brilliant delivery; next day. One thing surprised me, it only had a DC input so I had to find a spare DC source. Silly really because it does say that in the specs. Well done GC another excellent buy.
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| by Anne |
Date Added: Saturday 05 November, 2011 |
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From ordering to receiving this sturdy little charger took only 5 days to France. I cannot give a comprehensive review of testing as I haven't had it long enough to do so, but so far, it does exactly what it says in the other reviews I read. Giant Cod's service has been second to none since I've been buying products from them, they and their staff have been helpful and obviously deserve appreciation for their speedy and excellent service...Thanks guys! No I am NOT anything to do with Giant Cod, but I personally think we should continue to support this great on line supplier, Great prices, products and service....what more could you ask for! Thanks again Rob and your staff!
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| by Michael |
Date Added: Saturday 05 November, 2011 |
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I was a bit Skeptical about buying this charger at first (or any one of the clones out there) as there is so much discussion in the forums about replacing resistors with 1% tolerance version as the chargers are inaccurate and can damage your batteries...etc, etc.....
Another concern is the apparent lack of interest by Giant Cod to accept any real liability or warrant any of their goods - It seems the rationale is “rack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap”. I suppose if you want customer service, then go somewhere else and buy an identical product for more money. However, there is the sale of goods act in the UK, so whatever Giant Cod decide to put in their T&C’s, they are still bound by UK law in this respect.
So why did I buy one? My thoughts were:
All these clones are made in china anyway
apart from cosmetic differences, they all probably run the same software on the PIC processor chip inside, and might have some small electronic component differences, but apart from that, they all seem to have similar layouts (see the 4 buttons on the chargers - maybe the fan in a different position?!
I am not going to push the charger to it’s (6Amp rating) design limits (I will mainly use this to charge my 3S 800mAh helicopter batteries)
it’s cheap as chips!
So what was it like?
The manual was understandable, and the fan relatively quiet when charging - it didn’t even get warm charging my 800mAh batteries in balanced program mode at 1C charge rate (0.8A) which took around 40 minutes. The charger beeped, and stopped charging automatically.
As I mentioned, I chose the “Balanced Mode” program. When charging, you can select to display the charge time, power charged, overall voltage etc or select to display the individual cell voltages during charging. (you can flick between the two at any time during charging). I did this, and I did notice that one cell was about 0.23 volts below the others. I thought that this was due to the dreaded inaccuracies of the electronic components, but as the charge progresses, two of the cells reached 4.2V, and then the remaining low cell gradually caught up, until it too was at 4.2 volts. After a minute or two, the charger beeped and stopped charging as charging was complete (one of the "stop charging" parameters is set to automatically stop when total voltage reaches 12.6 volts - there are others such as charge time) I checked the individual cells voltages with my Fluke multimeter afterwards - all were 4.2V exactly so I am, confident the charger is accurate!
Overall: 5 stars - I am happy with it and will most likely order another one for my son to charge his 3000mAh RC car batteries. It comes with a good set of leads to fit most batteries too, so that’s great.
I hope it remains reliable, as I said, I’m not going to push it to it’s design limits and my advice is that if you want to charge your £100 5000mAh batteries in 20 minutes, then don’t expect a £25 charger to do it!!! My mantra is allow at least 25% constant current capability headroom (i.e. if your charger is rate at 5Amps, then don’t expect it to last forever charging at 5Amps!)
Anyway - I hope this honest review helps others make a decision - but I am pleased with my purchase.
Happy flying
Mike
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| by David |
Date Added: Friday 04 November, 2011 |
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Very good product. However, it would be good if the instructions pointed out that, when charging Lipos, that you have to connect the main terminals as well as the balance plug. As a newcomer to Lipo charging this was not obvious to me and was only discovered after considerable web trawling, during which i considered sending it back. GC please take note.
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| by James |
Date Added: Wednesday 26 October, 2011 |
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This is a brilliant piece of kit,unbeatable value for money.HIGHLY RECOMENDED.And G/Cs delivery is superb service.
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| by chris |
Date Added: Monday 24 October, 2011 |
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I Got this charger off the back of all Cods customers reviews.
It doesn't disappoint, it’s an excellent little charger does exactly what it’s supposed.
The only other comment I would make it that it does not come with a mains adaptor, so add one to your list when you buy one..
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| by Chas |
Date Added: Saturday 15 October, 2011 |
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Brilliant charger that has excellent capacity and many usful features. Brilliant value. This is not a matter of 'you get what you pay for' this is a brilliant item at a very cheap price.
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| by B |
Date Added: Friday 14 October, 2011 |
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I'm back in the hobby after a 30 year gap (Old Acoms user). Following excellent tech advise from Giantcod have used this charger forn a week now & dispite my lack of up to date tech knowledge have managed to use for a variety of batterys. Nice size & good quality, even the leads are good. Thanks again.
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| by Maxwell |
Date Added: Monday 12 September, 2011 |
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Nicely finished piece of kit. It must use the same software as my other charger, which was much more expensive, because the instruction book seems to be identically worded. Thus I do not need to learn anything new for the using, a good thing. Works as expected on the little use it has had this last weekend. Very pleased with it.
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| by Malcolm |
Date Added: Sunday 28 August, 2011 |
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Excellent value. It is better than another charger I have which cost more than twice as much. Well done GC
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| by Robert |
Date Added: Wednesday 24 August, 2011 |
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This is a great buy and a lot of kit for the money, quick delivery too a few of the chaps at my boat club are now interested in one.
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| by John |
Date Added: Wednesday 10 August, 2011 |
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Arrived within 48 hours. Dead easy to programme and use. Seems like very good value for the money.
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| by Seamus |
Date Added: Monday 08 August, 2011 |
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Works very well, great value for money, best of these chargers I have seen for charging NiMh bateries as many others false peak or over charge.
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| by Philip |
Date Added: Wednesday 03 August, 2011 |
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Great charger you will not get better for the price
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| by Mike |
Date Added: Saturday 30 July, 2011 |
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Ordered yesterday (Friday) arrived today in morning.
Excellent service.
It does exactly what it says on the tin.
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| by andy |
Date Added: Wednesday 13 July, 2011 |
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My first charger easy to use loads of features don't even need a manual for it, it is so easy and intuative to use.
As usual fast delivery and well packed
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| by Stephen |
Date Added: Tuesday 12 July, 2011 |
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Excellent charger with loads of features and easy to use. Fantastic service and speedy delivery from GiantCod. Will definitely use again.
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| by Richard |
Date Added: Tuesday 12 July, 2011 |
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Great bit of well made kit. It's great to have all the information it gives, but I can see it becoming bewildering to non technical users... especially given that the manual is not as brilliant as the product!!!
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