Is the charger REALLY so important?

[Djioul]

A friend of mine told me than when he plugged a pack charged with a standard charger on a Victor one, he founded that the pack was charged at only 75% of his max capacity.

Do you think it can be true?

Without having to spend 300 dollars, would you have some nice charger to recommend, mine is 4 years old and was not the top of the top at this time.

PS : If I change, I'll take one which can do LiPo, you never know... :D

[N3wGuy]

Duratrax ICE will do lipo
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHDJ1&P=ML
The link above is for the Duratrax ICE

[Djioul]

Duratrax ICE will do lipo
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHDJ1&P=ML
The link above is for the Duratrax ICE
Thanks for the link.

Have you heard about any pack being only 75% charged with poor charger?

What are the benefits to use high tech charger compare to a cheap delta peak one, except maybe the time requested for a full charge?

[Cain]

What kind of batteries are you trying to charge? If its NIMH or Nicads, drop me a message and I may be able to help you out with a race quality charger that won't cost you no where near what you posted.

[Demon-TC3]

if its a time charger then yea sounds about right, if its a peak charger then sounds like its False peaking or your cells are a littl off...

[crazy4wdracer]

the LRP Pulsar 2 is a nice charger, but i am not sue if it can do lipo, it also costs a little more than the duratrax ice
the orion advantage is also a good charger, it can do lipo, it costs about the same as the Pulsar 2

[Djioul]

What kind of batteries are you trying to charge? If its NIMH or Nicads, drop me a message and I may be able to help you out with a race quality charger that won't cost you no where near what you posted.
NiMh for the moment, but if I go for a new one, I prefer to get one that do LiPo ! ;)

My actual one is not a time charger, it's a delta peak, and with a proper pack, I was just wondering how you could result with only 75% charge as my frien said?

I'll have a look to the charger you said anyway, but I'm not sure I will decide myself before I buy my first LiPo pack ! :D

[CarbonMadness]

... if its a peak charger then sounds like its False peaking or your cells are a littl off...
To an extent as some low end chargers won't charger as good as they can. Yes it will charge to its peak, but beware that they don't have as good of a system for peak detection.


Djioul don't for get the power supply with a high end charger. ;)

[awnelson]

Also check out the new MRC if you're going to buy new anyway. It comes with a power supply, temp probe and "set it and forget it" programming.

[Cain]

How are you packs assembled? If they are in stick configuration, I can see them not taking a full charge. You should make sure that you properly equalize your cells so you get the most out of them.

[guver]

If the batt was only 75% full then the charger made an error or was simply stopped too early? Putting the batt back on the "bad" charger probably would've resulted in finishing the charge the same as the "good" charger.

Batt is like a bucket of water, it can be filled many ways at many different speeds, but when it's full it's full.

[Djioul]

How are you packs assembled? If they are in stick configuration, I can see them not taking a full charge. You should make sure that you properly equalize your cells so you get the most out of them.
That will be one of my next upgrades : reassemble them SxS and potentially use a decharge device cell by cell ! ;)

Is that true that NiMh should be stocked fully charged, whereas NiCd should be stocked fully discharged?

Sorry for stupid questions, I'm back in RC since a few weeks after several years out.

[MrCrash]

I like the Great Planes ElectriFly Triton Jr. It does everything I need it to, and the price was not bad. I converted an old PC power supply into a 12v supply, and I had a working set-up for under $100 :D

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXMAH9&P=0

[savage100]

I run the super brain, the purple one. It is so cool. Full charge in like 30 mins.

[Lost]

I have the SuperBrain 959 as well. It takes about 10-15 minutes to charge my 6-cell 1100mah battery pack at the fastest setting. Plus it doesn't costs all that much - about $50

[Djioul]

I converted an old PC power supply into a 12v supply
Does that work?

What kind of power do you need to feed a battery charger?

I've got an old one as well which should be about 300W I believe...

[MrCrash]

It's very simple to convert a power supply over to use with a charger. Any power supply that has at least 10 amps on the +12v line should work. It you plan on running a lot of things from it at once, you might want a higher rating.

To start, you just need to open up the case (be careful. The capacitors pack enough of a punch to kill you), and start trimming wires you don't need from the main bundle. Every wire but the green one, and a black one can be cut down and capped with some electrical tape. The green and black one will be connected to a switch (any switch will work, as long as it is not a momentary switch). For the rest of the wires coming out, they will be separated, and trimmed. When looking at a molex, the red wire and the black wire right next to it are +5v and -5v. Separate those from the yellow wire and the black wire next to it (+12v and -12v). Trim down the 5v wires, and solder a 10 ohm, 10+ watt resistor between the two (red at one end, black at the other). Depending on the power supply, you might need a bigger resistor. This creates a load on that part of the power supply, allowing you to get roughly 12v from the 12v lines. It will just take some testing, but 10-15 watts seems to work well. Take the yellow and black wires, and trim them to length to reach the connectors of your choice. Personally, I used some connectors I found that were big enough around for battery clips to fit on them, and had an opening at the top for banana plugs to fit.

Modding the case to make it more personalized is always fun. I brushed the finish on mine, installed a new fan grill, and put in a blue LED fan with some animated LEDs on the hub.

[Djioul]

It's very simple to convert a power supply over to use with a charger. Any power supply that has at least 10 amps on the +12v line should work. It you plan on running a lot of things from it at once, you might want a higher rating.

To start, you just need to open up the case (be careful. The capacitors pack enough of a punch to kill you), and start trimming wires you don't need from the main bundle. Every wire but the green one, and a black one can be cut down and capped with some electrical tape. The green and black one will be connected to a switch (any switch will work, as long as it is not a momentary switch). For the rest of the wires coming out, they will be separated, and trimmed. When looking at a molex, the red wire and the black wire right next to it are +5v and -5v. Separate those from the yellow wire and the black wire next to it (+12v and -12v). Trim down the 5v wires, and solder a 10 ohm, 10+ watt resistor between the two (red at one end, black at the other). Depending on the power supply, you might need a bigger resistor. This creates a load on that part of the power supply, allowing you to get roughly 12v from the 12v lines. It will just take some testing, but 10-15 watts seems to work well. Take the yellow and black wires, and trim them to length to reach the connectors of your choice. Personally, I used some connectors I found that were big enough around for battery clips to fit on them, and had an opening at the top for banana plugs to fit.

Modding the case to make it more personalized is always fun. I brushed the finish on mine, installed a new fan grill, and put in a blue LED fan with some animated LEDs on the hub.
Doesn't seem hard and remember me my electronic courses !
Will probably try when i'll change muy charger, thanks for the tips ! ;)