Rockthecatbox21

iTrader: (19)

I know exactly what you mean. My friend's dad runs an sc10 4x4 and his son (my friend) was forced to get the same truck. He said they ran great their last race weekend, but I doubt it. He added weight to the truck but that is the least of his problems. Every time he goes out on the track, there is something wrong with his truck. The associated is a total mess unless you have a super tight indoor track. Do yourself a favor and get the scte. You will not regret it.

z50king

iTrader: (14)

Just get a duratrax charger if you want something cheap. You don't need that 30 amp power supply for charging 1 battery. Wth

Rockthecatbox21

iTrader: (19)

The duratrax 235 is a great charger and will handle almost anything.

fq06

iTrader: (12)

Unless you want to take advantage of the high charge capability of the nano tech's that he was talking about. I personally don't charge at 1c, kills me to wait 30 to 45 min+.

You've probably heard my charger at Westcoast, sounds like a nuclear reactor... but I'm charged in 15 to 20 minutes depending how much amperage I used during my run

Rockthecatbox21

iTrader: (19)

Doesn't that shorten your lipo battery life if you charge at high rates like that? I admit i've charged at more than the 1C rate when i'm in a hurry. Looking to get a charger that can go to those high rates better than my dynamite passport ultra. Have any of you guys seen the Hitec x2 400W ac charger that's about to come out? just google "hitec x2 400"

fq06

iTrader: (12)

Checked it out, not bad for $90. What I didn't see though is how many Watts it puts out.
Do you see an 8 amp charge on 2 cell? Or not enough Watts to push 8 amp to a 2 cell?

Anyway, thats still barely more than a 1c charge on my 6500 & 6600 lipos.

fq06

iTrader: (12)

I charge my nano's at 20 amps and my reedy at its max 13 amp. No issues for the past 6 months, they still have the same power that they did 6 months ago when I got them.
The nano's that I have had are the 5600's and I just got the 6600's so they will allow even more. That said, my chager cant max either of them out even at 20A.

Not all lipos can be charged like the nano's though, stay within manufacturers max charge rating.

tc5 man

I say take a look at the Skycharger 6200 model 200w charges up to 10A up to 6s lipos $50.00 i have one works great .
Its from Hobbypartz.com

You will need a power supply though.

Get a charger with a least 100W especially if your want to charge 4S Lipos.

Rockthecatbox21

iTrader: (19)

The hitec x2 400 watt charger i was talking about is going to be $190 when it comes out. It charges 2 batteries at once and each port is rated for 200 watts, hence the name x2 400. Don't know if this would be good for higher cell batteries? Any thoughts?

fq06

iTrader: (12)

Theres some math behind it that I dont know, maybe someone can chime in.

I know that the more cells you are charging, the more Watts are needed. At 200 wats you may be able to charge at 10 amps on a 2 cell lipo, but not a 4 or 6 cell. I am not referring to any specific charger mentioned in this thread... but just because it can charge up to 10 amps... doesn't mean it can charge at 10 amps on any cell battery.
Lets say the math came out to needing 185 Watts to charge a 2 cell lipo at ten amps (for illustration purposes)... then you would not be able to charge at 10 amps on a 4 cell battery.
Its misleading when they say that it can charge at 10amps up to 6 cell when it would only charge at 6 amps on a 6 cell because you are limited to 200 Watts max.

Once again, not sure about the math... but thats kinda how it goes.

Rockthecatbox21

iTrader: (19)

I understand what you are talking about higher cell counts needing more wattage to supply them. I noticed this when trying to discharge my 3s battery at 5 amps and my passport ultra charger would not go past 3.27 amps. I would think that 200 watts is a very good charger and would be sufficient for higher cell counts and be exceptional at 2s batteries.

fq06

iTrader: (12)

Now I think about it, if mine puts oit 400 Watts and chages a 2 cell at 20... a 200 watt output would charge at 10 amps just fine if all things are equal.

I am going to look for a online calculator or the formula to figure it out. Curiosity and also a friend is brand new to rc and I'm putting a scte together for him. He doesn't want to break the bank so I need to find him charger that will do what he needs but staying on the cheap, motor... all the electronics on the cheap.

fq06

iTrader: (12)

Found it.
According to this, for a 2 cell battery (7.4v) to charge at 20 amps, I would need 148 Watts (178 with 20% loss)... probably more to not tax the charger but that is the requirement.
A 4 cell (14.8v) at 20 amps would need 296. Or a 4 cell at 10 would need 148.

Quote:
Watts are calculated by multiplying the voltage by the amps. So our 2200 mAh 3S LiPo battery when it is near a full charge voltage of 12.6 volts will be drawing about 27 watts of power (12.6 volts x 2.2 amps). If it is charged at a 2C rate that wattage number would increase to around 55 Watts (12.6 x 4.4) and so on.

This doesn’t take into account any efficiency losses in the charger or the input voltage to the charger which also both play a roll. However, for ease of explanation, let’s just say if that’s the largest battery you will ever charge at nothing higher than a 2C charge rate, you need to get a charger rated not only at a 5 amp charge rate, but also a 55 watt or higher power rating.

If the charger is only rated at 45 watts for example, but boasts a 10 amp charge rate, it would still be able to only deliver about 3.6 amps when a 3 cell lipo is nearing it’s full charge voltage of 12.6 volts (45W divided by 12.6 volts = 3.57 amps).

As you can see, even though the charger is rated at a maximum 10 amp charge rate, it would only be able to deliver 3 amps at 12.6 volts and that is not taking into account any efficiency losses that are usually in the 10 to 20 percent range reducing the charge current even more.

So why can the charger manufacturer in this example claim a maximum charge rate of 10 amps?

Well, depending on the voltage of the battery you are charging, a 10 amp charge rate is possible. If you were charging a single cell lipo pack for example (4.2 volts fully charged) on this 45 watt charger, at that voltage it will be able to deliver about 10 amps (45W divided by 4.2 volts = 10.71 amps). The manufacturer is certainly not lying about the maximum charge rate, but if they also don’t include the wattage rating of the charger, you are not getting the “full story”...

http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-battery-chargers.html

z50king

iTrader: (14)

I did not know the nanotechs were rated to charge at that high of amperage. I think I have the duratrax 230 and it charges up to 7 amps. I use it as my third charger for friends batteries, my tx battery, or a third battery that I need to charge

I may want to try those nanotechs. I have been looking into 2s2p and finding good things about them, and finding out why they are so cheap

RC*PHREAK

iTrader: (146)

There was nothing wrong with or "bad" about the esc (it didn't fail). the wrong one accidentally got sent. it was a shipping mistake.

as far as "must have" upgrades right out of the box, i can't agree with $50+ for turnbuckles. i haven't heard of anyone bending a turnbuckle. not saying it can't happen, but at most, i think it's pretty rare. i agree with HD outdrives, and i would pick up the GMK hardened diff shims to put in when you rebuild the diffs and put fluid in them. carbon shock towers are pretty close to must have, but in reality they can wait. if you bend a stocker, just bend it back. if you plan on having the truck for a while i would consider the TLR tuning kit. has some nice stuff in there that you would probably want to do long term so you could save some money up front.

as for the tenshock motors, yes, they are terrific. the toro pro 120a esc run them fine.