$250-$300 equates to a price of between £188 and £225 for people in the UK. Will probably end up being £199.

Using Aurorra's Cellpro 10S 0.75 $-£ price conversion as a rough estimate.

Originally Posted by Tim Marks

UNLEASH THE POWER!

• Multiple product cases can be interlocked
• Future provisions for master/slave mode whereby one PowerLab 8 master can control one or more slaves, send over preset information, control all aspects of charging and balancing. This feature is perfect for charging multiple packs of same chemistry and capacity using multiple devices such as split packs connected in series during operation all at unbelievable rates.

So using several modules in the same configuration will be possible.
Love it.

Originally Posted by marc1

Food for thought ...

iCharger 208B $180
Resistors for discharging 3s @ 10A $20
Resistors for discharging 4s @ 10A $20
Resistors for discharging 6s @ 8A $20
Total: $240

So for about $10 more I can get a lot more charger, a lot more features, a lot less complexity ... sounds good to me.

I agree that the PL8 looks like a very impressive device and at "$250 to $300" is good value, but IMO you are far from comparing apples to apples. The internal discharge limit of the PL8 is 100W. So yes you can do 3S @ 10A (about 108W), but the other combinations far exceed 100W and so require an external power sink in the form of a partially discharged Pb capable of accepting the energy. That is probably not hard to find, but it will cost something. However, even if the PL8 plus an Pb costs $350 it will still be good value and offer a number advantages over the iC208B that for many will justify the cost differential.

Apples to apples what?

I have a iCharger 208B and it is a very nice charger. It will do 8S at up to 350watts with 17volts and 25amps. input. With 12V @25amps. it will do 255 watts. At $180 that is a good value at approx. 50 cents per watt or approx. double the cost per watt for the PL8.

PL8 12V 50amps. 500 watt. 24V 50A / 1000 watts.

Discharging icharger with external resistors what around 300watts max and not very adjustable.

PL8 with a single deep cycle up to 500 watts and extremely adjustable.

FYI I have used both the Power Lab 8 and the iCharger 208B at close to 1,000 watts discharges with complete flexibility but neither provides this on thier own. Where thereis a will there is a way. If one has the time,money,desire,resources.

I own both and really do not want to start a this one does this and that one does not.

I own Tritons,Balance Pro HDs,Cell Pros,Thunder Powers,iChargers,Hyperions. I beta test chargers , I test batteries, I use a charger more in a week than many will in a whole flying season. My honest opinion is if you want to go head to head with the Power Lab 8 with any other currently available off the shelf charger the PL8 will be the winner.

The CCS interface and programing ease flexibility ,monitoring,graphing,analyzing abilities it provides just increases the Power Lab 8 's value.

Have a friend with a Power Lab 8 that has supper great Presets that you wish your had. Simple he does a Save user's presets you load them and both are the same.

Anyone else out there that really hates the thought of updating their charger's firmware due to all the associated issues? Guess what with the Cell Pro chargers there are no issues. Worst thing that can happen is for computer or charger to lose power / shut down during the update and that merely requires a re boot of the firmware preinstalled in the charger.

Charles

Originally Posted by ukpaul

"Price range for the Cellpro PowerLab 8 will start between $250 and $300.

Um, wow. I may be an FMA customer again if this thing ends up being as amazing as it looks here!

My big concern would be how usable is it without a computer?

Originally Posted by biskit

Um, wow. I may be an FMA customer again if this thing ends up being as amazing as it looks here!

My big concern would be how usable is it without a computer?

Good question. One of the Beta Team Members reported that he rarely uses the compute to control the PL8. I do because I love to do it and am a very visual person and like those graphs that are updated every few seconds.

However, I have also found that the PL8 is extremely easy to use from the unit itself. There are 4 buttons and very intuitive menus. When initiating a charge, you can choose the preset you need (or leave it where it is) and the unit takes you through the steps needed to define the task. During charging, a lot of information about the cells and the charger is available using the left buttons.

The computer is needed to update the firmware, of course, and the computer can make it easy to create or share your own presets, but this charger is really easy to use at the field, given an appropriate power supply.

In that regard, I see big power supplies coming down in price. That is good news.

Thanks for the good questions, everyone.

This new PL8 is very interesting. I have 2x IOTA 12v 55 amps power supplies. Could I wire them to get 24v to maximize power ?

Check with IOTA as I got into a disagreement over this in another thread. My understaning is that as long as the IOTA DLS units do not have the Smart Charge module built in they can be connected in series or parallel. It clearly states so at the bottom of the IOTA Website.

http://www.iotaengineering.com/dls.htm
Charles

Thanks Charles, mine do not have the Smart Charge module. I could also use my DSL 90 amps unit instead.

This is looking good...

I use 7s 4200 batteries in 7s1p, 14s1p, 14s2p and 14s3p configs. My largest plane is a 3DHS 126" Slick with 14s3p 12.4Ah. That is 6 x 7s 4200 packs powering a Plettenaberg Predator 37 @ 18kW WOT.

Right now I use 6 x EOS0720 and 3 x 588W PS to charge one set of batteries in 30 minutes with 2C.

I guess I could theoretically charge these packs with 4C using 3 x PL8 and 3 x 1200W PS.

I really hope FMA can find a compatible 24-32V 1200W PS to market along with this charger.

I hope this will all be availlable soon in time for this years season.

Erling

Originally Posted by everydayflyer

Check with IOTA as I got into a disagreement over this in another thread. My understaning is that as long as the IOTA DLS units do not have the Smart Charge module built in they can be connected in series or parallel. It clearly states so at the bottom of the IOTA Website.

http://www.iotaengineering.com/dls.htm
Charles

Since you're likely referring to my thread, it would be appreciated if you had your facts correct. I never said the Iota DLS series w/o IQ4 could not be connected in series or parallel. What I specifically said was the information on the Iota website and an email from an Iota employee answering a question and posted on another website seemed to contradict each other. Obviously, the Iota website indicates that the DLS Series w/o the IQ4 can be connected in either series or parallel. Thus, when using an Iota DLS Series for a power supply it's best to purchase one w/o the internal IQ4 charge controller. If you wish to use your Iota DLS Series as a battery charger in the future an external IQ4 can be purchased. The external IQ4 runs ~$25.

I shouldn't even respond but I get annoyed when someone tries to play lawyer with me.

Those who are interested read this post and decide for
yourself.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...postcount=1888

As usual I was answering questions not asking them and was supplying accurate data to the best of my ability.


Pete and I have a long history of disagreements over power supplies here on RC Groups but this is not a Thread that it needs to be continued in.

Charles

Are the power input lead hardwired into the clamps? Or is there a banana plug as with the Cellpro 4s and 10s?

Here you go.

Charles

The PL8 does come with assembled clamps, or at least ours were. That PDF is just a guide to how how to remove the clamps and reinstall them if needed.