Quote:
Originally Posted by slowbird
What is it about the Team Tenergy/Echo1 chargers that make it a poor choice for a LiPo Charger? Is it the fact that it may malfunction and overcharge a battery?
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Moreso it's because you don't know the quality of the internals. In order to get a cheap product you have to cut corners.
ie. If circuit design specs call for a resistor that is +/-0.5% they might cut corners and use a +/-10% resistor because it's slightly cheaper (lets say you save 5 cents (USD) per widget, repeat over 10,000 widgets and you've saved $500 which is pure profit for the factory manager, convert that to local currency say its RMB and you've got ~3050 RMB which is a pretty good haul (plus what the "white man" is paying you to make their widgets) considering that the minimum wage is ~1500 RMB/mo)
Same reason why if you're a company who makes some widget and outsources manufacturing to Asia you need someone at the outsourced factory to ensure they're doing everything properly and not cutting corners to get a bigger profit margin because they're manufacturing your product for $x/widget and anything extra is money in their pockets if they can cut corners and use cheaper materials. ie. if spec sheet says you need some expensive lubricant you need to make sure they don't skimp out and use a cheaper lubricant that does more or less the same but wears out significantly faster way before the widgets EoL.
Not saying that you need to buy expensive stuff (because they could just as easily cut corners there and still charge the higher price) but just be wary. Dollar store widgets aren't always the same as brand name widgets, some are worth the money (hell I go to the dollar store all the time) but others it's better to buy the brand name version (or at least store version, ie, Presidents Choice, Kirkland, etc.).
The charger you're using right now will do the trick but I'd just be wary of it possibly malfunctioning (if you're into power tools think of it like a Hilti charger vs a Ryobi charger, both do the same thing but one will last longer than the other).