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The V3 2S/3S LiPo/LiFe Charger is probably the most inexpensive balance charger on the market. However, you get what you paid for, because it can only balance charge two and three cell batteries. In this article, we review this affordable charger and see how it performs.
The V3 2S/3S LiPo/LiFe Charger comes in an attractive cardboard box (see photo below). Its design is not only pleasing, it is quite functional.
The photo below shows the content of the box. The balance charger is on the left, the AC power cable is in the middle, and the instruction sheet is on the right. Note that the label on the charger actually says "V3+ 2S/3S LiPo/LiFe Charger".
You'll find an LiPo/LiFe switch on the bottom of the charger (see photo below). If you will be using this charger with both LiPo and LiFe batteries, you'll need to remember to change this switch. This switch really should be on top or in front of the charger to constant remind you of its settings. Note that you should not change this switch while the battery is plugged in.
I used LiFe batteries exclusively up until recently, when I got a 7.4V LiPo battery. After plugging the LiPo battery into this charger, the status light on top blinked on and off. It took me a day to figure out that I had forgotten to switch it over to LiPo mode.
The charging ports is in front of the unit. There are two ports (see photo below). The three pin port is for two cell batteries (two positive connector plus a ground connector). The four pin port is for three cell batteries (three positive connector plus a ground connector).
We tried out this balance charger with a three cell LiFe battery stick (see photo below). Each LiFe cell is 3.3 volts. Therefore, three of them makes 9.9 volts.
The photo below shows the 9.9v LiFe battery stick with a mini-Tamiya connector and a charging/monitoring connector. This second connector will be used by the balance charger to charge the battery. A non-balance charger can charge the battery via the mini-Tamiya connector.
There are two LED's on the top of the charger. The left LED is labeled "Power". The right LED is labeled "Status". After plugging the balance charger into the AC outlet, the "Power" LED lights up. When we plug the battery into the balance charging port, the "Status" indicator turns bright red (see photo below).
A few hours later, the "Status" indicator turned green to show that the battery had been fully charged.
The V3 2S/3S LiPo/LiFe Charger is as simple as it can be for a balance charger. We only wish that it could charge less and more cells.
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