Since the release of the X200 DC charger a few years back the people over at iMax have released a series of successful color, touch-screen balance chargers that seemingly one-up one another. The X200 was followed up by the X350, then the X400 dual output charger then finally an AC/DC charger, the X100. Now, iMax has decided to revisit the original X200, with a few changes including making it AC/DC.
VITAL STATS
MANUFACTURER: iMax
PRODUCT: X200 AC/DC Touch Screen Charger
SCREEN SIZE: 4.3”, 480 x 272
COMPATIABLE CELL TYPES: LiPo/LiIon/LiFe 1-6 cells, NiCd/MiMH 1-16 cells, Pb 1-10S
CHARGE RATE: .1 – 10.0A
DISCHARGE RATE: .1 – 3.0A
CHARGE MODES: Fast charging, balance charging, charge, discharge, circulating charge/discharge
BALANCE CURRENT DRAIN: 300mAh per cell
SAFTEY TIMER: Programmable from 10 – 200 minutes
USER MEMORY: 6 profiles
USB PORT: 5V/2.1A
THE GOODS
The X200 from iMax has the capability to charge just about everything on the market. Feel free to hook up LiPo, LiFe, LiIon (1-6S), NiMH, NiCD (1-16 cells) and even Pb/lead acid batteries (1-10S) to it. It can charge them all.
So, what specific features does the X200 have that you need to know about? Well, it can charge in various modes at up to 10.0 amps, making it perfect for charging high capacity battery packs that are slowly becoming the norm. For Lithium based packs the X200 can charge, fast charge, balance charge (the most common method used) and discharge. As for NiMH and NiCd batteries the X200 can charge, discharge and cycle charge packs.
Ok, it’s time to talk about the sweet user interface. Everything needed to operate the X200 is right at your fingertips, literally! The home screen has eight options ranging from type, cells, mode, current, load, save, set and start.
Touching Type will open a new screen where the six battery options, LiPo, NiMh, LiIon, NiCd, LiFe and Pb can be chosen from. Once you choose your desired battery type the charger returns to the main screen.
Touching the Cells area will open up a screen where you can pick from the desired cell count. Once picked, simply touch On and the charger returns to the main screen.
Touching Mode will open a screen that allows the user to pick the charging mode. While the options here vary depending on the battery type, some options include charge, fast charge, balance charge, fast charge, discharge and more.
Touching Current open up a screen where the number of amps a pack can be charged or discharged at can be adjusted. Once the desired rate is set pressing ok will return the X200 to the main screen.
Touching Load will open up the six saved user profiles. Selecting one of these will return the X200 back to the main screen.
Touching Save will save all of your current settings.
Touching Uset will open up a screen than as a multitude of preset options than can be adjusted. Some include cut-off capacity, cut-off timer, cycle timers, waste time, backlight level, language, buzzer, and more. Pressing each one will open another screen for added fine tuning.
Touching Start will begin charging the battery attached to the output.
TESTING
For my testing I plugged a TrakPower 2S, 6000mAh LiPo pack into the X200. The screen that opens up once Start is pressed shows a real-time graph of the charge rate, pack voltage, number of mAh the pack has taken and the pack temperature. Additionally, toward the bottom of the screen, six small battery icons will appear. Depending on the number of cells in the pack (when charging a lithium based pack) they will light up in green to show the individual cell voltage as the pack charges. The left-hand side of the screen also displays the charging time. Charging the pack at 6.0 amps, my TrakPower battery was done and the buzzer alerted me that the pack was ready to go. I took the pack and ran it in my Losi TEN Rally X to see how it felt. The result was impressive as the pack had plenty of rip and after eight-plus minutes of testing there was minimal fade so I could tell the pack was indeed fully charged.
CONCLUSION
There are a plethora of chargers on the market and many of them are similar to one another. The X200 from iMax, as well as the other “X” chargers in this series are truly something different and easily stands out from the crowd. It is designed to be so easy to use that even the newest and youngest enthusiasts can figure it out yet has all the bells and whistles that hardcore racers and bashers desire. If you are in the market for a new, top-notch, fully loaded charger, the X200 might be perfect for you.
WHAT WE LIKED:
- Fantastic, easy-to-use touch screen interface
- Can charge LiPo packs up to 6S in size
- Can charge just about anything
- It graphs the progress of the battery as it charges
- USB charging port
- Stylus is included for people with sausage-link-type fingers
WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED:
- What happened to the all-in-one adapter from the previous version?
- Would like to have a storage place on the charger for the stylus
- Would like the charge and balance leads to be longer
LINKS
iMax, www.imaxrc.com
