AC/DC Charger
 

I'm looking for a good/decent charger that has the capibility to charge on AC and DC. NiCAD is what i'm mainly using, but LiPo could be in my future. I've seen the ICE but i'm really wanting something that will be able to work on AC. My price range is about 100-150 (preferably cheeper:lol:) I've also looked in to the Oynx chargers, and the Venom charger. But I'm mainly a nitro guy and not too familiar with electrics. I'm wondering if there is a charger that can charge a 12v gel cell as that is what i have in my starter box. ANY help would be very appreciated. I'd like to know someother peoples thoughts to different chargers. THANKS

http://www.rctech.net/forum/rookie-z...-chargers.html

i asked this myself...

As above, this is one I'd recommend for an AC/DC charger, especially if you're going to run lipo - has a builtin balancer.

http://www.allerc.com/product_info.p...oducts_id=3367

Have you guys tried these and how do they work for you? simple to use or pain in the a?

I started with a AC/DC charger, but before lipo was generally available. It did a fine job for what I needed to do at that time. My charging needs have grown and I use a pair of chargers. I have an Ice and a Hyperion 0610iNet run by a 25amp power supply. I charge up to 10S a123s and pretty much everything down from that, all chemistries, a real mix. I need a charger with more than 50wattt output which is what the 0606i is rated for. I know the Hyperion will do a great job, they are solid chargers. I find them simple to use - lipo has to have the right connectors, but they are available and its pretty much plug and play.

Your budget is limiting factor. AC/DC is also limiting your choices. Generally more oprions, more power, more flexibility is available with DC only chargers, but they need a separate power supply which adds to the cost.

I know that a DC will be a better charger BUT I'm not to familiar with power supplies. Also the two tracks i race at have AC outlets for everyone to use. The only reason I'm looking to keep the price bellow 150 (but i am willing to pay more) is the fact that I mainly Nitro race and that the batteries that I will be chargering are basically for "playing around" and receiver packs for my nitros. I have 3 electric cars and 4 nitros. But with the playing around comment I'm still looking for a high(er) quality charger because I may end up going electric indoor racing later (gota do SOMETHING in the winter:lol::D:lol:). Can the Hyperion 0610iNet be run on AC or is it only DC? a link to them would be nice thanks again.

The 0610iNet is a DC charger. I guess nitro racers use the provided AC outlets to run AC/DC chargers, but they can be used to run a power supply and dc charger like the elect guys do as well. There's not that much to know about a power supply, they are rated for continuous amps and max amps. Get a contin rated PS that will supply about 10-15% more power than charger is rated for to handle the conversion inefficiency. Most PSs these days are switching types which converts AC using electronics to produce the dc waveform. The older type were transformer/rectifier based, heavier, more expensive and ran hotter.

Anyway here's link to 0610i - these guys have it on sale currently, there's a 20amp ps in the bst so you'd be looking at about $200 total.

http://www.allerc.com/product_info.p...oducts_id=3366

anyone use any of the Integy chargers? I'm looking at the 16x705? thanks

I recently got back into the hobby and love my 0606i.

It's right at the top of your range 149.00
https://www.ssl-stormerhobbies.com/c...=MXAEOS0606IAC

Anyone use the MRC Super Brain 989 Charger? It's in my price range and comes with a PS but i'm not too familiar with charger stats like i've stated before......sorry but i'm dumb when it comes to electric things LOL:(:lol: Thanks again

I like this one :

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...rger_1-6_Cells

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...talog/B6AC.jpg

Regards,
Joe Ling

My 2 cents....

I've been researching chargers on & off for about two weeks now and come to the conclusion that the real question to ask is "What capacity & size batteries do you plan on using?" Most of the AC/DC chargers are rated at 50W output. This is maximum power out, which is voltage (# of cells x 3.7v ie; 2S=7.4v) times current(typical 1C, ie; 5000mah =5A). So using my example: 7.4v x 5A= 37w - well below the 50W rating of the charger. Most chargers charge using a constant current (5A=1C for this battery)) until the voltage on the battery reaches the 7.4v then changes over to monitoring the voltage ( 4.2v x the # of cells) of the battery to top it off. (4.2v x 2) x 5A = 42w still under the 50W rating. SO bottom line, a 50W charger should be fine for a 2s - 5000mah lipo and will take about an hour to charge a dead (not 0V per cell but the cutoff voltage of about 3v per cell). The time will be longer if you are balancing the battery because a fast charging cell will have to be bled off so it doesn't overcharge while the slower cells "catch up". So far so good I hope, pls correct me if I'm wrong.

The "problem" with 50w chargers occurs when you use more cells or a higher capacity.
Using a 3S-5000mah battery, Voltage is now 3 x 3.7v = 11.1V. So 11.1v x 5A=55.5w. Since the charger can't exceed 50w and it has to deliver the 11.1v, the charge current can only be 50w/11.1v = 4.5A so it will take longer than 1 hr to charge. Is this right?

Most AC/DC chargers can also boost the power output rating by using a DC power supply to 80W which would solve the 3S-5000mah problem but anything bigger would need something like the hyperion 610inet with 250W output.

This post helps me get it straight in my head and hopefully explains whats going on to somebody else.

C&B RC

those numbers you got are for lipo right? i run NiMh batts right now, (about 3300mah) so do you know the numbers for NiMh? or better yet does anyone know if 50w is more that enough for just regular NiMh packs?
thanks

Yes, the number I ran are for Lipos.

For NiMh it's about the same

3.3A x 7.2v (6 cell @ 1.2v)= 23.76w (no problem with a 50w charger)

Some guys even push it and charge NiMh at a higher current.