iCharger X6 - First Impressions

Remember those bulky chargers we all used to have a few years back? Well, thanks to the advent of quad racing, people wanted to be able to charge their 1300 mAh batteries at the field, quickly and safely.

The iCharger X6, in all its tiny size

ISDT first came out with their Q6 line, and I quickly got the Q6 plus model which is quite an awesome little charger. It can be powered with a big battery and brought to the field to be able to charge smaller batteries without the need of a power supply.

The ISDT Q6 plus, one of the first portable, but powerful chargers

Even if I have never had any problems with the Q6+, one can never have too many chargers, right? So I went ahead and purchased the new iCharger X6, which at about $120 is quite a bit more expensive than the Q6+, but not only it can charge at 800W and 30A, but it offers many interesting options.

What is in the box

The box the iCharger X6 comes in

First of all, the box is really small, for a charger this powerful. Inside you will find a nice soft padding, which holds the charger itself, a cd with the digital instruction manual, and two XT60 pigtails to solder your adapters.

The content of the iCharger X6 box

I do not have a cd reader on any of my computers, so I had to look for a pdf version, which you can download here.

How to power the iCharger X6

I imagine that, at first, you did just like me: 800W means I can charge up FAST! Well yes, but to take advantage of the full potential of the charger, you need to have a pretty powerful power supply!
All these chargers need at least 24V DC to reach their limits, and to do that you will not be able to use a small 12V PSU.

Let's do the math: the iCharger X6 is sold as a 800W, 30A charger, and because the formula is:


This tiny charger can charge up to 6S batteries (for the 8S version you can get the iChager X8), at 800W, and it offers five different tasks:

• Charge - to charge up and balance the batteries
• Storage - It charges or discharges the batteries to 3,80 V
• Discharge - Brings the voltage down to 3,80 V
• Cycle - Charges and discharges the batteries to 3,80 V
• Balance Only - Leaves the voltage where it is, but balances the cells within the batteries 

The iCharger X6 while balancing 2 6S 5000 mAh packs, previously charged with a cheap charger. You can see cells 5 and 6 being quite off!

REGENERATIVE and NON-REGENERATIVE.

While in non-regenerative mode, which we could call standard mode, you connect the power supply to the charger, and it takes power from the batteries transforming it into heat to be dissipated. This mode is quite slow and demanding on the charger. This is why you will see the fans going full speed.
Regenerative mode is very interesting, because it allows to transfer the current in your unused batteries into another, bigger, battery (LiPo, PB, LiFe, ...). The speed is incredible, up to 30A, if your dump battery allows it, and (almost) no energy gets wasted.

The iCharger X6 asks if you are sure that your receiving end is a battery, because if you try to dump energy back to your power supply...it will blow up!

Conclusions

When powered up, the iCharger X6 welcomes you with a check-up screen with all the info. You can memorise multiple input sources with different characteristics and scroll through them on start up.

I am still experimenting with this new charger, but I was able to throw four 6S 5000 mAh packs at it and it charged them without breaking a sweat, and they came out balanced to 0,01V.
All in all iCharger made another great product in the mid/high range, while making it very portable and very powerful.
I could not be happier.

Happy landings!