aloksatoor

iTrader: (43)

I have had my PL6 for close to a year now. At our track there are 3 other ppl with the PL6/8. So yeah its not that common since its mostly popular among heli guys but its a hell of a charger for the price.

Mr RCTech

iTrader: (2)

YES!

I guess racers look more at price then at the chargers specs.

I personally look at three things.

(1) High discharge rate 20+ amps - to put heat into the pack if I need too.

(2) 20 or more amp charging rate for fast charging.

(3) Real time IR reading (not a 110 sec reading at the beginning of discharging).

jbrow1

iTrader: (28)

I haven't needed to read about batteries in years.. wow! 10, 20, 40 amps! That's nuts. Never would've dreamed that could be possible. I'm only searching about batts now to get info on the li-ion's that came with my lights for mountain bike riding at night. I'm blown away to find li-po's can do this five years since I stopped racing.

Microtome

iTrader: (13)

A "Good" charger is my next major Hobby purchase. Which chargers meet this criteria?

PL6 or PL8?

icharger Duo? 308 4010?

Something else? GFX 35?

Mr RCTech

iTrader: (2)

The Icharger 308 Duo would be my first pick, PL6/8 are good too.

The GFX doesn't show real time IR and it doesn't balance charges.

.

MC112b

iTrader: (64)

I love my PL8. The only boner I have to complain about is that the charger lays flat on the bench. So when your sitting and servicing your car you can't see the lcd screen unless you have it propped up. The way the wires come out of the front it's hard to get it just right.

The hardware/software is incredible and second to none. It sucks something like that bugs me, but it's the little details that make the difference.

The smaller 308 duo would be next on my list to try, but I hope to keep the PL.

Microtome

iTrader: (13)

I had been holding out for the DPL8 but at some point it was obvious that it was a want, not a need. I like the smaller size of the 308 duo, but thought I would need more discharge Wattage. Which of course goes opposite of getting a charger with a smaller size. A dual charger for me is a must, I just didn't want to make room for two PL8s or GFXs. Anyone know if the 308 Duo's 80w is enough to warm a 2-cell TC battery? 80w/8.4~~9.5amps.

Thanks

MC112b

iTrader: (64)

To get a higher amp discharge you can plug a classic Deans light bulb discharger into the second charge port and do a "regenerative discharge." Pretty slick actually.

Microtome

iTrader: (13)

You're talking about the old school string of auto lights soldered together we used to use to finish draining NICads? I've seen people talk about resistor banks they were buying from ebay or pulling out of scrap machines at work. Is there a setting specifically for this? Do you set the Amps for Regen? Or do bulbs just pull what they can use and you determine Amps with the number of bulbs?

Thanks again

Mr RCTech

iTrader: (2)

General rule of thumb is:
2 amps per auto bulb for 2 cell, one cell 1 amp per bulb.

Or just get one of these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/iNTEGY-INDI-...item1e7a2be20c

MC112b

iTrader: (64)

To be more specific, scroll down to page 20 in the manual....
http://www.progressiverc.com/media/i...o%20Manual.pdf

A Deans tray is 12v @ about 20A. When plug my deans tray into my watt analyzer and a power supply I make, it actually checks around 25 amps / 310 watts.

I messed around with voltage regulators and heat sinks but have had mixed results. I'm a machinist by trade, I pretend a little at this electrical stuff. Light bulbs are cheap and can be packages many different ways. I haven't tried the integy thing rctech linked to, but if it worked that would be pretty awesome. Small and easy to pack.

All this talk is making want to trade the PL8 in on a 308.

Mr RCTech

iTrader: (2)

LOL! I know what you mean..

I just modified the Integy and hooked up a volt meter back when my charger only discharged at 5 amps.

Dave H

Come on back, those little ones are big enough to come to the track now!

Sean B.

iTrader: (13)

Does this work with the 308D! I've been thinking of making something exactly like that, but haven't gotten around to figuring out the details. One detail I haven't been able to find yet is if you are using regenerative discharge, does the charger draw power (around 10.7A for a 2 cell) as well as dumping power to the load? Or does it dump all power to the load?

Mr RCTech

iTrader: (2)

It dumps all the power to the load.
I hooked up the input line straight to the load and hookup a volt meter.
Works great.

If you want to add more load just solder .47 ohm resistors inside.

I used it for a one cell - Integy 30 amps.
For two cell I would use the Integy 20 amp.