Standby charging

On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:41:42 +0200, Robert Roland wrote in :

Go to Red's RC Battery Clinic:

The link to the articleyou want is on the left hand side. "Keep your batteries in the ready state without damaging overcharge."

Marty

I use this charger:

It charges 6 batteries at a time so I am always ready to go! It will charge for 15 hours then automaticly switch to trickle charge. I have had planes and my transmitter charge all winter and were ready to go at a moments notice. Never any problems. I have had it for about 4 years.

| I am terrible at planning when to go fly, and the weather these days | make it even more difficult to top up the batteries at the right time. | Leaving them on constant current charging all the time does not feel | right.

As it shouldn't [feel right]!

Using a timer to charge one our per day as suggested by Red's page is a good idea. Using a trickle charger for six months straight as suggested by another poster doesn't seem so great, however -- even if the charge rate is really slow. It would be OK for a week or two if it's slow enough, however.

But my personal suggestion? Just buy a peak charger, and charge at 1C right before you fly. If the battery isn't fully discharged when you start (likely) it'll take a good deal less than an hour to complete. You do have three batteries to charge, but the TX battery may not need charging each time you fly if it's big enough, and if you didn't use one of your RX batteries last time it will take almost no time to charge.

Dare I suggest Global Warming and CO2 levels should come into this.

Leaving a charger on trickle permanantly just on the chance you may go flying seems a bit OTT

Buy the little LED voltmeters for the planes, and charge the batteries up after you fly. Buy a decent field charger, NICAD & NiMH lose a little each month(10-15%) but it beats leaving x chargers (ie how many planes you may have) on all the time wasting power on the off chance you might go flying. When you do go flying there should be more than enough charge in them for a flight, and the volt meter lets you check that easily, if not put it on the field charger for 30 minutes or so whist you either drive to the field or when you get there

I second that.. I love my Digipulse.

I picked up a Digipulse but it has no power supply. Could you look at yours and tell me what it is. I think it is just a 24 volt transformer, but I would like to verify it.

Ace is no help at all.

Red S. Red's R/C Battery Clinic

us out for "revolting" information.

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:05:02 -0400, "Red Scholefield" wrote in :

24V AC?

It seems to be carried by Radical RC:

Maybe they would open up a box and tell you what's inside?

Looks like a reasonably priced and useful unit.

Marty

They are carrying the Super Digipulse, mine is the older model. I expect the power supply is the same, but would like to verify. 24 V AC transformers are not that hard to find. I just need to know the rating, should be 2 amps or more I'm guessing. Someone must have one of these still working that they could look at and tell me what is on the transformer label.

Red S.

Mine is the Super Digipulse. The sticker on the transformer says the output is 24 VAC at 1.8A.

Right on - thanks. I calculated 2 Amps based on the power need to charge 6

8 cell packs at 150 mA.

I guess if I can't buy a direct replacement from ACE I'll just get an off the shelf 24 V transformer and put on my own adapter cable.

Red S. Red's R/C Battery Clinic

us out for "revolting" information.

I thought that someone would surely suggest the Ace R/C - Super Smart Charger. This peak-charging unit does exactly what you asked about. It will replace the charge used up at the flying field, no more than needed, switch to trickle with a pulse charging current that is actually good for your battery. I have three units going. They do need a 12 volt power supply.