Chamelion

iTrader: (9)

12v deep cycle/staring (dual use) battery.

Bubonic-X

iTrader: (4)

I spent at leat 6 months looking for something that is bulletproof. This is the one. Just remember you dont have to charge at a higher rate to get pack charged because you have 2 chargers now. My only issue is that it is a little heavy but thats because the power supply in this charger is beefy. I think that was the reason why they made chargers in the past without a ac/dc option because 1: the power supply would blow and 2: In the past all they used were wound transformers which were like carrying anvils to the track. Now they use switching power supplies which are lighter and give more power handling. I got it for 235.00 on A main but the next month they went to 269.00 still worth it. Im 50 yrs old and I really dont think Ill have to buy another charger in my lifetime.
Its your personal choice but using a PC power supply but I have everything I need in one case. No seperate power supply that weighs down your pit box. has a usb port to charge cell phone.
Besides if you price the power supply and charger seperately it will cost more. Just saying....

Dave H

Wow that sure shouldn’t be the problem. They aren’t bulletproof but to lose 2 is rather unusual I suspect.

Thanks for the reply.

Chamelion

iTrader: (9)

Yeah, it is strange.. My first thought was 'crap, I've mucked up the polarity', but to be certain I left it smoking for an extra 5 seconds to get my wife to turn around, look and confirm with me that I hadn't... I hadn't.

I was testing combinations of holding buttons down to get into the calibration menu (couldn't remember off the top of my head).

Jordan Anderson

iTrader: (6)

Hitec X4 AC/DC is ok for 2S, but maxes out at 50 watts per pack, so it's slow when it comes to charging 4S packs.

The Hitec X4 Eighty (which requires a decent 12V power supply) is better since it'll run 80 watts to each of the 4 packs.

The discharge/storage mode on both the Hitec X4 chargers is almost useless. The discharge rates are extremely limited.

I use my LRP Pulsar Touch charger for Lipo discharge/storage charging.

bigbadbasher

iTrader: (6)

I sure did find out yesterday that the discharge is TERRIBLE!! Im not joking, i had three 2S packs and two 4S packs that i wanted to bring down, no joke, it took over 5 hours.. It was worse than watching paint dry..

Dave H

I don’t have any experience with that power supply, but one possible concern I think worth mentioning is the importance of Power Factor Correction for high power supplies. I don’t see any indication that supply has it.

At high power levels PFC becomes increasingly important. A supply without PFC will require a lot more current to generate the same power. Note Power Factor is different than efficiency, a completely separate issue. The problem is the current being too high for shared power circuits, or generators, that we typically use. Using PFC to keep the current down helps significantly.

Using a couple Mean Wells for an example, the RSP-1000-24 with PFC requires 12A@115VAC, the SE-1000-24 without takes 17.5A to generate nearly the same output power. Some 46% more current required.

Now granted, many surface guys won’t push the big boy kilowatt and up chargers to full power with the relatively small cell count lipos typically used (many fly guys do). We are mostly after he amps, not watts. But if several guys are using them it still adds up quickly for either a shared track circuit or generator.

Generally speaking if a power supply has PFC it will be listed, as it is a very desirable feature. It might also be listed as APFC. Other indications to look for are a high PF, usually 0.9 or higher for PFC/APFC, those without will typically be around 0.7 or so, and less likely to be listed. Or multiply the input amps and voltage together, perhaps 30-40% higher than rated wattage output for a PFC unit, somewhere around double or more for a non PFC deal.

If I’m not mistaken the recycled computer server supplies that some use generally have PFC, as it is a huge issue in large data centers. Many hobby supplies and most PC ATX supplies, other than some high end units, do not as best as I am aware.