My 3 year old yuasa AGM battery gave up with no warning. I was a little ticked as it wasnt cheap when I got it and it never gave any warning. SOOO, i decided to spend 50 bucks more than what I payed for that yuasa and try a shorai. I knew that I would likely need a charger from them as well, but I thought id wait a bit. I mentioned to my son that I was going to need a special balance charger and he said "I have one you can use". Turns out there are generic lithium chargers that do the same functions and more than the shorai charger at 1/2 the cost. I have the Imax b6, like this https://www.amazon.ca/Premium-Balan...hild=1&keywords=imax+b6&qid=1595729173&sr=8-7. I had to make a balance cable, since the battery plug AND the charger plug are male. I bought a 3 pack of 4-cell charger extension cables and cut the female ends off of 2 of them and soldered them together to make a cable with 2 male ends. Today I hooked up the charger and balance charged my new battery... worked like a charm. this charger can do different types of batteries, besides LiFe. It has a storage mode as well. It can handle 2,3,4,5 and 6 cell lithium batteries. This charger ranges in price from 30 CAD to the 70 CAD like the one I posted. There are a few iterations. Some have AC and some use a power supply that plugs into the wall. Thing is, they are much cheaper than the shorai charger for the same functions. I just wanted to point out that there are cheaper options for lithium owners than the factory chargers.
Please note that some will say that basic "dumb" chargers will work but are not optimal, but this is an actual "smart" balance charger like the shorai charger, just cheaper. Hope this helps some that are unsure if they want to go lithium for the cost reason
Please note that some will say that basic "dumb" chargers will work but are not optimal, but this is an actual "smart" balance charger like the shorai charger, just cheaper. Hope this helps some that are unsure if they want to go lithium for the cost reason