Solo 5 Bay Battery Charger.. Interested?

I signed up for the pre-order. Expensive, yes, but worth it in terms of convenience and aesthetics.
 
I think it's a splendid product. It looks great, functions great, and does exactly what it says it does. BUT, I think the price is too high for a product that charges at the stock 3.3 amp rate, and doesn't change the controller batteries too. For $150 less, you can buy 4 more brand new 3DR solo chargers, put them together with a rubber band and a power strip, and do exactly the same thing. That price gap will only widen as the cost of the 3DR charger goes down, or buying them used on eBay.

So, for $150 extra dollars, you're only getting a cleaner looking solution to doing the same thing. It's not doing it any faster, and it's not charger the controller battery. To me, that's not worth $150+. But, it certainly may be to others, so I hope he's successful with it. I just think if he cranked it up to 5-6 amps, and added a controller battery output, it would sell like crazy.
 
sadly like soo many things solo, they waited too long.
I want to support it, but out of necessity I bought a second charger and then got a third with my second solo.
I have so many things to buy on my DYI that spending 350 on a charger I don't need is tough.

Wish they had bought it sooner, it would have been a no brainer
 
This is Perfectly priced. $350 for a 5 bay charger is about half to a third of what they could get. Just google "5 bay charger". Any enterprise operation will jump at this.
 
I like my 6 bay charger better ;) It's now in a Pelican 1400 case, so it's tough and has a nice handle with a solid lid. Works off of 120/240V as well as direct connection to 12V car battery so no inverter is needed. The power cords detach and fit inside nice and neat for transport/storage, and can also hold 4 spare batteries. It also charges at 5.75A instead of 3.3A and has 2 3A USB charging stations for phones/tablets/gps trackers/etc. I did get rid of the ability to charge the controller though. I have the bigger battery in my controller and literally go 2 months in between charges so it wasn't really worth it. I'll have pics soon. I keep changing things up. It doesn't look as slick as this one, but it's more compact, is tougher, charges faster, has more power source options and was a lot cheaper to build.
 
I like my 6 bay charger better ;) It's now in a Pelican 1400 case, so it's tough and has a nice handle with a solid lid. Works off of 120/240V as well as direct connection to 12V car battery so no inverter is needed. The power cords detach and fit inside nice and neat for transport/storage, and can also hold 4 spare batteries. It also charges at 5.75A instead of 3.3A and has 2 3A USB charging stations for phones/tablets/gps trackers/etc. I did get rid of the ability to charge the controller though. I have the bigger battery in my controller and literally go 2 months in between charges so it wasn't really worth it. I'll have pics soon. I keep changing things up. It doesn't look as slick as this one, but it's more compact, is tougher, charges faster, has more power source options and was a lot cheaper to build.
Sounds awesome Steve. I say hire a couple HS/College kids to assemble and offer them here for us..:D Should get a good response for a decent price. I wasn't as interested in the other one for the same reason as PP, the stock charge rate.
 
Sounds awesome Steve. I say hire a couple HS/College kids to assemble and offer them here for us..:D Should get a good response for a decent price. I wasn't as interested in the other one for the same reason as PP, the stock charge rate.
I'd consider it for sure.
 
I'd though about it off and on, but as others have said the ones who wanted something like this have probably bought/built their own by now, and now there are now several options out there. I think the real key that would have made mine stand out is the smart features like reading the battery data like charge cycles, etc. but that would have made the price pretty high.
 
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I'd though about it off and on, but as others have said the ones who wanted something like this have probably bought/built their own by now, and now there are now several options out there. I think the real key that would have made mine stand out is the smart features like reading the battery data like charge cycles, etc. but that would have made the price pretty high.
You could sell your detailed plans/schematics with parts list?
 
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You could do that, Steve. Just make your instructions a cut above 3DR's.
 
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I like my 6 bay charger better ;) It's now in a Pelican 1400 case, so it's tough and has a nice handle with a solid lid. Works off of 120/240V as well as direct connection to 12V car battery so no inverter is needed. The power cords detach and fit inside nice and neat for transport/storage, and can also hold 4 spare batteries. It also charges at 5.75A instead of 3.3A and has 2 3A USB charging stations for phones/tablets/gps trackers/etc. I did get rid of the ability to charge the controller though. I have the bigger battery in my controller and literally go 2 months in between charges so it wasn't really worth it. I'll have pics soon. I keep changing things up. It doesn't look as slick as this one, but it's more compact, is tougher, charges faster, has more power source options and was a lot cheaper to build.
it's charging inside the foam cut-outs? are you not worried about it catching on fire?
 
Way too much in my opinion,,needs to be $150-$200 before id bite

i have a prototype battery warmer and a prototype 4-bay battery charger sitting in my lab. $10k for me to have 162 chargers manufactured. i've been sitting on these because i don't believe i can make a profit. every time a solo accessory is announced, people bitch about the price even if they have no use for it. you saw that with the hoverfly tether.

if Curtis's charger doesn't sell, what incentive will anyone else have to make other accessories? that being said...i'm in for one.
 
No, the foam inserts are removed lol.[/QU
i have a prototype battery warmer and a prototype 4-bay battery charger sitting in my lab. $10k for me to have 162 chargers manufactured. i've been sitting on these because i don't believe i can make a profit. every time a solo accessory is announced, people bitch about the price even if they have no use for it. you saw that with the hoverfly tether.

if Curtis's charger doesn't sell, what incentive will anyone else have to make other accessories? that being said...i'm in for one.
im all for supporting "local" businesses and innovation, but only to a point... I personally would prefer 5 individual 3dr chargers @$250 than a 5 bank multicharger for $350.....5 separate ones are more versatile and theoretically costs ~30% less?? thats too far apart for me. And if you produce 162 4-bay chargers for $10K and sell them for$150, your profit margin is still more than double $24,300..not bad return , plus everyone will buy one..or 2

just keepin it real
 
im all for supporting "local" businesses and innovation, but only to a point... I personally would prefer 5 individual 3dr chargers @$250 than a 5 bank multicharger for $350.....5 separate ones are more versatile and theoretically costs ~30% less?? thats too far apart for me. And if you produce 162 4-bay chargers for $10K and sell them for$150, your profit margin is still more than double $24,300..not bad return , plus everyone will buy one..or 2

just keepin it real

they cost way more than $150 per unit to manufacture (electronics, injection molding, assembly, packaging, shipping, shrink).
 

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