a123system batt and charger

[MetalMan]

The AF109 is a CC charger (in phases 1 and 2), and then it goes into a pulse mode in phase 3. What it does is it pulses the full charge current and monitors the voltage, attempting to keep the voltage at 4.2v/cell. It decreases the occurrence of these pulses as the battery gets more full. This is why some balancers will say they aren't compatible with the 109, since the voltage briefly spikes up, and then drops.

So, the 109 can still do a 100% charge, it just does it differently than normal LiPo chargers. With the hack I'll be doing (adding a couple of resistors), the 109 will see a voltage higher than what is really there (it will display 4.2v when a cell is at 3.6v).

The reason why I got the 109 is because it costs $110 and it can do 170watts. For reference, the Hyperion 1210i costs ~$180 and does 180watts, the ICE can do 120watts for ~$125, and I think the TME Xtrema can do 170watts for ~$200.