Ideas for charging at the track without a generator
 

I used to charge off my car battery when I had just an RC8.2e, but with two 10th scales added to the mix I am a little nervous of stranding myself.

I saw a guy with a deep cycle marine batteries or (more commonly) generators. A generator is out of my price range.

Would bringing my portable battery charger unit with me be good enough, and just refill my car battery from it?

Looking for ideas / feedback on how you guys do it.

The chances of you draining the battery from using it as a power source for your chargers is pretty slim. There is a possibility but I doubt it will happen. That is, of coarse, you have a battery that is in decent shape and your charging system in the car/truck is fully functional.

Its all I do in the summer when running 1/8 scale. Charger is plugged in at about 8am and disconnected at the end of the day, usually around 6pm. That's charging 5-6 2 cell Lipo's, 4 lipo RX packs, and a gel cell for my starter boxes. Have yet to need a jump.

But if you are that worried about it, you can pick up a jumper box for about $100 or less. That would be cheap insurance:D
Or you could fire the vehicle up for about 15 minutes 1 or 2 times during the day to put some juice back in it.

I had a deep cycle and a set of jumpers cable. Charged off two batterys and started the car about every hour. I killed my battery in my car the first 2 or three times. Bring extension cords and a power strips. Just ask

Deep cycle or marine batteries are really the safest way to go here. They're a bit expensive but still cheaper than a good generator.

Harbor freight tools has a small generator for $129.

Save money for a generator. Saves you problems for years to come

if you really have to have a generator buy a good quiet one. please don't bring those giant loud, smelly monstrosities called a generator to the track. or at least put it far away. no one can hear the speakers and they smell awful. and they can ruin your electronics(voltage spikes). definitely need to use a surge protector with a generator!

if you really really want a generator buy a honda or a yamaha. very small and very very quiet.
they're a bit pricey but the rest of us will thank you deeply for not listening to and smelling a lawn mower engine all day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L37bGQTFpxA

I use 2 ryobi's for my trailer. Basically 2 ryobi's for the price of 1 Honda.

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-2-200...2200/203617901

when CBS sports was at mid-ohio sports car course in 2013 the camera systems used the yamaha gens and you couldn't even hear them running.

A 12 volt deep cycle battery or a pair of 6 volt golf cart batteries would be a good solution. You could charge them up at home and not have to deal with the noise at the track. Golf cart batteries would wind up being cheaper per amp hour, but you would need to wire 2 of them in series.

@Jerm 13

Thanks, maybe I will just keep doing that. Somebody said I would kill my battery but maybe they were exaggerating a little. I can bring booster box in case (I already own one). Did you charge all that off a truck or car battery? I have a small Corolla, but the battery is in good shape.

Yeah, those never generators are what everyone is using. There is only one guy with an old fashioned generator and he's relegated to placing it behind the tool shed. I didn't think deep cycles were that expensive... if they are maybe I will just try to run all three vehicles off the car battery skip it while I save for the generator.

I use an inverter and start my car every 3 hours or so. No problems. I have jumper cables just in case but have never needed them

Deep cycle batteries are expensive. But they can be discharged more than a standard lead acid.

Correct me if Im wrong but don't a lot of those chargers have a plug? Why not just use your jumper?

I'm sorry, I will not use my car battery for this kind of use. I have seen MANY guys with dead cars at the end of the weekend.

Anywho: I picked up a little generator for $200. It perfect to have a couple chargers a light or two and some tunes.

I love people that say dont bring generators to the track. There are some tracks with little or no power, Ive seen LOTS of people plugged in to on Gen. With out these people, there would be pretty small crowds on race day...