racinggear

I just want to find out is it "cell" dependency. So I put the most good condition cell to test it.... but... EXPLOSIVE....

The most to me is... there is no reply from Spintec......

I have waiting for two weeks already

mooony

I send an email to Erik last week and next day he got back to me. Try to send the email directly to Erik.

Ronald

racinggear

thank!
what is Erik's email?
Do u have same problem?

mooony

His email is e.j.jonk at spintec.nl.

No, I had a problem with my batman V2.

Ronald

EZY

External port warning:
Don't ever bother using the external port. (Ever, it is crap, no it’s even worse)

As I found, if the top left of the unit (not the heat sink) gets hot the output goes uncontrolled. (Full power supply voltage and current) Yes that’s right, until it cools it’s a fire hazard for your batteries. I was lucky and it only split the cell heat shrink on a 3300 stick pack, and didn’t burn my house down! (That’s no joke, this charger will!) So I looked a bit harder at what the Spintec charger was now doing.

The story:
Firmware V1.06C Hardware V1.2
Charged a 3300 stick at 5A, it completed fine, battery just warm.
Plugged next one in and charged the 3300 stick at 5A (same as before), it beeped twice and told me it was finished. (I finished reading a page in a book, and by now could smell something hot.) Battery hot, very hot. Disconnected it put it aside to cool. (Note for self batteries get hotter as the internal temp warms the outside. Soon the battery was untouchably hot, and splitting its heat shrink.)

What’s up:
Room temp about 25C
Top left of unit hot, heat sink not.
I plugged in another 3300 stick.
Charger would not charge, charger told me low power supply volts. (It’s the first time I ever had that message with my PS.)
It would not even charge at minimum setting. (Still low ps volts.)
Checked Spintec option 4(system settings) option 3(system info) yes the volts were below 12V but the next two told me something was wrong 9.5A and 104W.
So I disconnected battery and power. I waited 30secs. Plugged power back in. Waited for the Spintec to be ready and at the main menu. I plugged in a battery. Yes, same result 9.5A. Repeat whole process. Still the same.
Plugged in a "Watt's Up" gauge between the Spintec and Battery. Confirmed 9.4A to battery.
Disconnect everything. Reflect that the other person in our club with one had blown the external port running in a motor, it had gone from running his motor in at low volts, to full power supply. Yes, he had to send it back.
Waited for the only bit on the Spintec that was warm to cool, crossed my fingers and plugged it back in. Attached battery to external. Whew all, ok. Perhaps a larger power supply would have blown it totally. Started a charge to confirm the unit now ok, yes it was. Disconnected the battery and will never use the external again. (BTW: If you want to know how long it takes the Spintec to get the to 5A on the external it’s around 2 minutes.)

I will never use the external point again... ever!


Any manufacturer that builds a charge unit which when it thermals(at a reasonable room temp) and protects its self by running full power supply to the output totally uncontrolled and with no error messages is looking down litigation when someone house burns down. And if what I have found above to be a design flaw that the manufacture knows about, then all hardware versions 1.2 should be recalled. At the minimum the Firmware needs to be changed to alert the user.


BTW: I have found the internal charger to be the best in the industry. (I hope the internal charger does not have the problem above.)

rcnewb2004

Interesting... but i think the external port is a bit fishy... i only try to charge transmitter batteries on it... the peak detection is not the greatest ... and i think it is basically junk... but it does run in a motor ok.... just have to be careful of it blowing up.

Asides from that, I agree with EZY that the ICC part of the ICC charger is the best in the industry. Cannot wait for them to spiff up the problems with the external ports and one day... maybe one day, forefill their promise that it can charge LiPos

racinggear

Really get lost on ICC

Seem that it is a "temperture" peak charger only, not using delta peak.

I found that the charging only stopped when temperture reach the setting.

rcnewb2004

Do u have the latest update? v1.06c ?

EZY

Let the pack cool and then charge it again. (as the cells are geting too hot during charge.)

That is one thing missing in the charge complete display, is to tell you if a cell has peeked or just temp'ed. You have to remember what temp you set the temp to (as once completed you can not see this setting) and then look at the temp screen to see which cells stoped because of high temp. Sadly you have to start a charge cycle on the whole pack to fill cells which have over temp'ed. (ie no individual topping up option. eg: to be able to just charge say cells 3 and 5.)

rcnewb2004

I have had the same problem too, no matter what delta peak i set it at, it just seems to peak with temperature. But i never tried it w/ an updated version.

Rob (i think spintec representitive)... has said that the peak detection does that... but i think only a few who have used the spintec icc has managed to get cells to stop chargin through peak detection, at least that's teh feeling i get on here.

Stevenkoiter

What settings are you guys using? I always use temp. max at 55C and peak settings at 1,6mv. I almost never reach temp. max with my cells.

wyd

iTrader: (51)

Been reading this thread alot and is it just me or does this charger have some issues? Seems like they brought it out and don't seem to work as advertised and especially for the money. The Spintec dischargers worked great but this charger seems far from being as reliable as one of the standards in are hobby the CE Turbo 30/35 line of chargers.

Sluggo

iTrader: (12)

Well this has been a long time coming.... I finally got my charger back. It was sent back in the beging of Dec. and got it back about 2 weeks ago. Just a word of advice.....send it right to Spintec. Mine was sent to Horizon and they said they sent it back but after seeing the charger it looks like it was just replaced with a new one. Hopefully it will be ok, if not back to the trusty GXF!

olhipster1

iTrader: (102)

i don't think the charger is bad at all.
it's doing right by my batteries...
the current software upgrades have worked great and have made it a better charger.
The temp monitoring is a bit quirky..but once i got the integy double fan (20 bucks..if I remember right) the temps have been right on mark, plus or minus 2 degrees.

The screen is great..i don't have trouble reading it...and the dial makes everything very easy to setup.

I will say i don't break in motors on it...since i solely run brushless now. So don't know how that functions holds up.

Wish list is:
Lipo charging...that way i can get rid of my integy 16X8
Clamp style hold system....kinda of like a zero 30 discharger...
Double fan system in the bottom...currently only has one fan.
On the fly changing of temp level cutoff.
Maybe a coffe maker option...so I can have it make my morning java.

So far I'm pretty happy with it.

kiwirevo

I'm happy with my Spintec ICC also, I've come across a few problems, Like when i'm running in a motor and a pack in the tray finishes charging the screen will cut to the charge complete screen and then when you go back into the motor runin screen it delivers full power to the motor until you cancel the runin and when you restart it it's fine, but I still like it, especially for stock racing get as much juice as possible into the NiCds which are the legal max for the class in New Zealand.

I think if you're going to get this charger you have to accept that it's got it's faults and just work around them.

PS My batteries always peak V not temp. I ask Eric to put in a screen that tells you how each cell has peaked in the next upgrade and he said it will be done. There's only one other company in RC I know of that you can ask for something and get it without having to buy a new product (Castle Creations)