Which discharge board???
 

Can any of you guys tell me what dicharge board is the better, Trinity or the Novak system or the rayspeed?? if you can give the pro's and con's that would go along way to helping me decide

thanks guys

J-P:sneaky:

Pro-match Smart tray (preferably the 2x4 sweet!)...

thanks,

come on guys you must have more opinions than just this guy(buy the way shrub, thanks:D )let me know the pro's and con's

thanks

J-P:sneaky:

The main issue is to decide between the safe route with 0,9 volts cut off or the very discussed dead shorting route.

With the Rayspeed / Integy / Eagle solution you have the option to choose between both methods for a reasonably price. You have the same option with the Novak, but personally, I havent heard / read about better track performance, which could justify the higher price.

There are cheaper choises, where you cant select the cut off voltage. So if you for example know for sure you wont dead short, you can choose a cheaper board with a fixed 0,9 volt cut off.

Whatever you choose, remember to be consistent in your battery treatment.

i just went all out and got the novak discharger that allows you to CHOOSE the discharge level and monitors each cell individually.

pricey but, you know....i wanted one!:lol:

what do you guys think of the "Much more" equalizing tray?

It's just another resistor based equalizer with no auto-cut-off. So you either have to baby watch it or take the dead shorting route.

Personally I dont like the look, but the finish seems to be better than with the Octane2 / Realtime2, yet at an better price.

A good thing about it, is there's a control light for each cell, which make it much easier to ensure that ALL cells are equalized - if you miss one, oooops, that cell will probably die early... :cry:

Re: Which discharge board???
 

J-P,
There are 2 kinds of trays: discharge trays and equalizing trays. I currently use both trays. For a dischage tray, I use the Integy unit. It is the only tray that I am aware that discharges at 20 amps. It also will discharge your batteries to 0 volts. As soon as the lights on the discharger go out, the pack has reached 5.4 volts. If you leave the pack on there past that, it will continue to discharge the pack until you take it off.
I also use the Novak dischage (before this tray came out I used an Integy equalizer tray) tray which I see as more of an equalizing tray since it discharges the batteries at such low amps. This tray is perfect to equalize your cells. You can set the until to stop discharging at which ever voltage you wish.
When I am done running a pack, I take it out of my car and place it on the Novak tray and let it discharge the batteries to 5.4 volts. This is a great voltage to store 3300 packs to help keep them in top performance and ready for their next charge.
Before I charge the pack I place it on the Integy discharge tray for about 5-10 minutes past when the bulbs go out. This will bring their voltage down very low and they will take a great charge. This provides tons of puch and run time. In treating my batteries like this, it seens they never loose their power and they seem "brand new" for a long time.

You know, I almost bought the Novak Tray the other day, but I talked to the fastest elestric guy I have seen around these parts and I couldn't believe what he said. He has never used one. He has been racing for years and years, wins races left and right, etc. He doesn't see the need. I decided to hold off. I am not completely convinced yet, but his thing was aren't there better things I need that I could spend $90 on?

Go Orange!
 

I don't think the point of a discharge / equalizer is to make you faster/better/smarter/stronger. Practice and experience has obviously made this person 'the fastest electric guy'

What a discharge tray (high amp) generally gets you is more punchy packs. R/C Batteries (no matter NiCd or NiMh) usually like to be charged/discharged consistently. A 20Amp discharge is not uncommon when racing. After a run it is generally best to 'drain' a pack at a similar rate as to how it was raced.

Equalizer trays (low amp) help keep matched packs matched. Over time, matched battery packs will be come 'unmatched' if not maintained. This is where the equalizer comes into the picture.

Cells in a pack generally do not discharge 100% equally. The cells in a good matched pack will discharge 'very near equally', but to maintain this equality an equalizer is necessary. Because (most) chargers charge the entire pack, it is important to have the cells as close to equal 'emptiness' as possible before charging. Say one cell is at 20% capacity while the other 5 are at 10% ... the cell at 20% will most likely get overcharged which will eventually lead to a matched pack becoming very unmatched.

So, after a high amp discharge, the equalizer can safely bring each cell down to the desired voltage (0.0 up to 0.9 volts per cell). With 'old school' analog equalizers you have to watch the little bulb/light next to each cell until it goes out. This is approx. 0.9 volt per cell. I have found this to work OK ... but it isn't very accurate and is a pain to keep an eye on.

On to the point of this post...

I recently got the Novak digital equalizing tray. I will never buy an analog tray again! This tray is AWESOME to say the least. Basically you can 'set it and forget it' (sounds like an info-mercial :lol: ). I saw positive results with the first pack I used on the tray. The pack took a better charge than it has in over 6 months ([geek]I know for sure because I log my battery charge/discharge info. [/geek]) When I raced this pack, it also 'felt' better than it has in many months. More punch and a sudden dump (the sign of a well matched pack). I'm thinking I will get a second (or third) one as soon as I can unload my analog trays.

I would highly recommend the Novak tray. Sure it is (relatively) expensive but it is cutting edge and well worth the money, in my opinion.

'nuff said,
MX4

thanks guys

i think i will go for the novak system:nod: , i know someone who has one and he rates it, so im now sold on that thanks to your input

thanks again

J-P:sneaky:

Anyone here own the Rayspeed unit and love it? I know Novak users love their units but the Rayspeed is 20$ cheaper and I don't know anyone that has used any other cutoff than 0.9V... so it seems teh Novak is just 20$ more for some feature I'll never use...

Comments appreciated.

I've used the RS tray since it came out and it works great. It discharges at either 1 or 5 amps and the cutoff is adjustable from either .9 or .1 volt per cell and you don't need to hook it up to an external powersupply like the novak one. You won't go wrong with either but the RS is smaller and cheaper.

Can novak discharger can discharge to zero V?

Ray-speed
 

Who makes/where can I get the rayspeed. I would like to read about it.

Nevmind....duh..I found it.