A question of counterfeit / fake / cloned IMAX B6 Chargers

[ZaphodB]

Hi Folks

I have just become aware that the very popular iMAX B6 chargers have a large number of counterfeit / fake / cloned chargers for sale on the likes of eBay and Amazon.

 

I have bought a 2nd-hand one off flea-bay and it seems to work fine.  Topped up a LiPo pack (before I was aware of the counterfeit issue) and it seemed to stop at the appropriate point and not overcharge the battery (checed with a separate LiPo battery checker)

Are the only GENUINE iMAX B6 chargers made by SKYRC and have the 'scratch n sniff' holographic sticker on the base?  Or are some versions 'badge engineered versions' of this?

 

If the others are counterfeit / fake / clones then they seem to have gone to inordinate lengths to make them look 'just right' (apart from the large bold white B6 or B6AC lettering which they all apart from the SKYRC models seem to have)

Regarding the (and I'll be gracious here) clones/copies okay or are some better than others?

If some are better than others (as I suspect), how can you get a 'good' clone as opposed to a bad one?? Is there any way to identify these?

 

Do some have worrying characteristics like not balancing cells correctly or over or under-charcing the cells?  If so, how can you tell these apart from the others?

Really wandering around in the dark here. Some B6's appear to be very cheap (= fake / avoid) whereas others seem to be top price.

Expensive doesn't necessarily mean better??

 

Sorry, lots of questions!

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Zaph

Edited December 16, 2022 by ZaphodB

[BigGinge]

I wouldn't be surprised if these all came out of the same factory in china using the exact same design (bar the stickers and screen printing on the case work) and that the Sky RC ones are really no different from all the others. 

 

Worst case I would guess the Sky RC may be the original design that their original producers copied and started shipping to other people out of the back door. In practice this may mean that the clones are not the latest version of the hardware design (because Sky RC should have moved to a new supplier once the clones started appearing; if they have any sort of sense and actually came up with the original design) and that they may not have the latest firmware either. That doesn't mean that they won't work as intended though.

 

End of the day you just have to make a decision on who and what you trust yourself though as it is unlikely you'll ever be able to find out the full picture of what is going on with them without buying several different ones and tearing them apart to look for differences in their build.

[ZaphodB]

Thanks Ginge, you're probably correct.

 

I've opened up the B6 (actually a B6AC) and it all looks very professionally made.

 

No dodgy wiring or poor soldering to be seen.

 

Putting it back together was a right Royal pain - until I figured the bast way was to take off the four shiny silver buttons (they are a press-fit onto the press-switches mounted on the pcb), fit the case together (easy now) then using a blob of blu-tack on the end of each button, poking them vertically through each hole in turn and then pressing firmly on them to 'seat' them on the push-switches.

 

Zaph