Do cheap chargers kill batteries faster?

[Jeremy Green]

I have a few blueshape VM and a Anton Bauer CINE 150 VM Battery. I've been using "cheap" D tap chargers from V mounts that I use for my litepannels (kayo maxtar) and I was wondering if these cheaper chargers are going to kill the batteries sooner? Is there an advantage to buying the fancy anton bauer chargers besides safety and charge speed?

 

[Tom Bostick]

Someone will probably be an expert on this, but the areas I could see causing a problem would be:

No charging cutoff, if the charger doesn't stop supplying voltage once the battery is full.

Charging too quickly, if the charger puts in more amps/voltage than the battery is rated to charge at.

 

[Brian D. Goff]

You're playing with fire here. LiPo's need to be properly charged otherwise......

 

[Sidney L. Plaut]

Im sorry to say this, because it is expensive, but you need Blue shape chargers for blue shape batteries... - they are quite picky. and with such expensive batteries you dont want to potentially shorten their
lifespan by using 3rd party chargers...

I tried PAG and no brands... etc - I would get charging errors etc... since I changed to Blueshape chargers for my blueshape batteries... no problems. (except when its cold, the batteries seem to need to be around 5 degrees celciums to charge).

 

[Scott Balkum]

I own 3 different brands of V-mounts, 13 batteries in total, Blueshape, Switronix, and Dracast. I have 2 dual chargers from 2 different manufacturers. I have charged these batteries for several years. I have never had a single problem charging them with these 2 chargers. They always charge to about 99%. Yes, I understand just because I have gotten away with it doesn't mean it won't fail... Same logic with a new car. Sure, its new, it can still fail. There have been no indications of any issues at all with these batteries or chargers.

 

[ericyoung]

I own 3 different brands of V-mounts, 13 batteries in total, Blueshape, Switronix, and Dracast. I have 2 dual chargers from 2 different manufacturers. I have charged these batteries for several years. I have never had a single problem charging them with these 2 chargers. They always charge to about 99%. Yes, I understand just because I have gotten away with it doesn't mean it won't fail... Same logic with a new car. Sure, its new, it can still fail. There have been no indications of any issues at all with these batteries or chargers.

Would help if you specified models of batteries and make & models of your chargers. Mixing & matching different manufacturer batteries & chargers is basically a gamble.

 

[Alex Kiritz]

You're playing with fire here. LiPo's need to be properly charged otherwise......

Which v-lock batteries actually contain lipos? I've never heard of any that do.

 

[Scott Balkum]

Would help if you specified models of batteries and make & models of your chargers. Mixing & matching different manufacturer batteries & chargers is basically a gamble.

Batteries
Blueshape BV225, BV180
Dracast DS-90S
Switronix "Core" - HC-7R Hypercore Slim Red

Chargers
Dyna - D-2S
Dracast - D-2S

 

[Phil Holland]

The real question is it a straight charger or a smart charger to some degree. For instance the Anton Bauer charges do all sorts of things to help make your batteries last longer and will even detect which are your most used.

 

[Jeremy Green]

Interesting. Appreciate the responses, while not a 'fun' purchase it seems necessary, very cool about the Anton Bauer chargers, I'm sold.

 

[ericyoung]

Batteries
Blueshape BV225, BV180
Dracast DS-90S
Switronix "Core" - HC-7R Hypercore Slim Red

Chargers
Dyna - D-2S
Dracast - D-2S

Thanks for sharing Scott :smile: