is this charger good?

[trw]

Well, its definitly time for a new charger, and time to chunk this crummy SB959 out the window.

My budget is at a $150.00 max, but I'd like to try and save as much as i can, but still get a good charger, that charges real fast (atleast 6.5 amps) and can discharge as well, and DOESNT have heating problems, and can continuously charge batteries without error.

is this charger good? i read all the features they sound promising

The Charger (http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXUF46&P=7)

[YucA]

that charger is good, but i heard it still False peaks, and the Duratrax power supply they come with supposedly is known to fry.

I would recommend a Tekin BC112c. i have one, and love it!!! It has never false peaked on me, can charge up to 10amps, etc... I know they supposedly shipped them out to their dealers already, but i would contact them to see where you can get one and what the price currently is. It should be AROUND your price range if not a little more.

www.teamtekin.com

[lerningdriver]

trw, that's an excellent charger.. but your really don't have to spend that much to get one that has no problems. my intellipeak deluxe pulse charger has been great for 3 years running now... no problems what so ever with it. my batteries have allways been top notch.

but you can even get quality charger for around 50$ and then use the rest of the money to get new batteries.

[dalejrfan8]

I have a Triton charger and it is very nice. It only charges at 4.0 amps but almost everything is adjustable. That is my opinion but buy what you want.

[trw]

well, I'd really like to spend a fair good amount so the charger i get is of high quality. And the SuperBrain 959 (which is a peice of junk) cost me $50.00, i think the saying goes, what you pay for is what you get.

But that charger i recommened, it flase peaks? kinda sounds hard t beleive with its dual cooling fans and all these nice programming features that half of which i dont know what it means lol.

[elecracr]

Have you desoldered the jumper out of your super brain, instructions can be found here (http://misbehavin-rc.com/pit-lane/superbrain-fix/g-superbrain-fix.asp) .
I did that to my super brain and it works flawlessly, i have charged 2 GP3300's at 3.5 amps and 2 sanyo 2400's in a row with good results. Look into integy chargers if you want a good charger.
I have a duratrax one and it is worse than my super brain, for 150 you can get much better chargers.

[insano]

I recently purchased a superbrain 959 and it was a piece of junk right from the get go. I first noticed it false peaked and got REALLY hot even on the first charge even after sitting for several hours. So I cut some of the grill out and put a pc fan on there so it wouldn;t get hot. That kept it from getting hot, but it STILL false peaked Ni-Mh on EVERY charge. I know it wasn't the batteries because I tried them on a lrp pulsar and they peaked correctly. After putting on the fan with no success I searched the web for articles to see I anyone else had the same problem. Of course, a ton of people have had similar problems. Even after removing the jumper as in the above reply it still didn't work for ni-mh batts. It charges Ni-Cd's very well though. Which is good evidence that the algorithm they use to detect a ni-mh peak is not very good, since it does fine on nicd;s. Which is understandable as nicd's are much easier to peak since they drop significantly in voltage. My guess is the charger is just very inefficient in its nimh charging. I would definately not recommend the 959.

However, if you really want a GOOD charger for a good price, get on ebay and search for some integy chargers. The 16x3-16x9 are all excellent chargers. I just got a 16x3 Pro v2.5 off ebay for 40 barely used. They go for 139.99 new!!

[lerningdriver]

But that charger i recommened, it flase peaks? kinda sounds hard t beleive with its dual cooling fans and all these nice programming features that half of which i dont know what it means lol.

no, this charger will be the last one to false peak. it's a great choice really... you'll be happy with it. but some other options are:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXEVC7&P=7
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCJG7

[rcguy2477]

Go for a used pulsar, and pick up a cosco power supply and wire it up. It will be much better than the ones previously listed here.

Also, dont plan on charging at more than 6 amps, unless you want to ruin your batteries very fast.

[lerningdriver]

Go for a used pulsar, and pick up a cosco power supply and wire it up. It will be much better than the ones previously listed here.


so I take it you own each one of those and know from proven experience which one performs better?

[trw]

:confused:

[JamminJay]

TRW, I got an almost new DuraTrax IntelliPeak AC/DC Digital Pulse Charger I'll sell you. It's hardly used and no problems. the only thing is I dont have the box or manual. I dont really need it, since my GF bought me a superbrain 969. If you want the duratrax I'll sell it to you for $50 plus shipping. my email is JBsRcRacingTeam@aol.com if your interested.

[trw]

well, if the Superbrain 969 is worth keeping over a Duratrax Intellipeak, then no ill shoot for another charger, but thanks for the offer.

man this is one of the hardest descisions ive had to make in my RC life. What about the team Orion D48 charger? one of my friends uses that at the track, works really well, but cant find a place to buy it.

IIEEe im going out of my mind lol

[JamminJay]

if it was up to me and I bought the 969, i would sell it to u... hell i like the duratrax better cuz its smaller and more convenient in my pit box... but since my girl bought me the 969, I should prolly keep it and just appreciate it.

[trw]

hmm could u do a test charge for me? see if it gives the battery a nice full proper hot charge, tell me how fast it charges at lets say 5.5 amps, and if im not correct this does discharge right?

[JamminJay]

yes it discharges... I only run nitro as well so i dont have any packs.. but it has served me flawlessly.

[gizmoguy303]

The Duratrax Intellipeak is still a budget charger. If you want to go semi-all-out, which I believe is what you want to do, go for a Pulsar Competition, Novak Millennium Pro, or the Reedy Quasar Pro. The Cosel power supplies on eBay are only $25 shipped and work fine, or you can pick up a used Novak PS for around $40-$50. One thing that I really don't like about the Intellipeak chargers is that they discharge to 2.70v - thats a little low for a 6 cell pack.

[Hachi_Roku]

If you want to get a charger for less than $150 I would recommend you get a pitbull or a Pulsar Competition. The Pitbull does not have the discharge function but it is a very good charger and it has never false peaked on any of my packs. It also produces very punchy packs which is good for racing. The Pulsar may be a little over you budget, depending on where you buy it. However, it is a very good charger as well and can also discharge up to 10 amps. It also has the motor run-in feature which is especially handy when I need to use my comm lathe. From my experience, I would stay away from the Reedy Quasar Pro as it has false peaked many times and never really did a good charge. The fans are also very annoying as they are very loud. So I would recommend that you get either a pitbull or a pulsar as both of them are very good chargers and should be able to last you a long time. :)

[rcguy2477]

Personally, i have not used the pulsar, or the cosco power supply, but i do have MANY friends that use them. None of them have had problems with it at all. Many of my friends also have the ce gfx(along with a quasar), to give you an example of how experienced many of them are. The most useful feature many times is the motor run-in. You can hook up motors to break them in, find out how many amps they are pulling, or to run lathes or possibly tire truers.

I personally have the quasar. While it is a good charger, it does not have the motor run-in feature. I was possibly even thinking of getting a pulsar just for the run in feature.

[trw]

well i went to the track today and saw the Duratrax Intelliepeak in action, immediantly it was something i wanted to get.

and no i dont want to go full out, i wanted a charger that is good but low budget, but not horrible like the piranha or Superbrain, i just went ahead and bought the Intellipeak AC/DC charger, charges at the speed i like, has discharge, no known problems, and it will cycle, and with it u can select different ways ot view its charging (Milliamps, volts or Amps) discharges up to 10 amps

i mean whats so bad about it? i see more in this charger then others, only thing i see that inst in this charger that i would like is that motor tuner thingy on the Pulsar, but i can live without that.

[highroller]

Another good charger is the Integy 16x 4 to 16x9 chargers some models in DC others in AC with the 16x5, 16x7 with discharger capacity up to 20amps, charger rates .05 to 7amps but still slightly more the $150 price range.

[monyet fangkeh]

i have the digital intelipeak. i love it...it never false peak. but what i dont like is the discharge rate is not constant. it falls down as the batts voltage decrease and the cut off is too low. mine is about 2.60v i dunno it will hurt the batt or not. but i do know that people dont discharge batt till that low voltage.

[trw]

well isnt there like a manual cut off for the discharging?

[lerningdriver]

yes there is, but on mine, I cycle the batteries instead of just discharging them with no problems so far.