Charger....
 

what do i look out for if i wanna get a second hand charger?
as i'm quite new to electric cars..
i would like to know whether a good charger is a MUST or not..
or will thoese slow charger work fine....

if i do get a good charger... then lets say i bring it to the track... then where is the source of my power?
is it those "real" car batts?

sorry for my ignorance as these questions sound weird

ur questions are exactly my concern when i started out Rc with my buddy and we were both wonder abt wat u are thinking abt now.

normally at the races,power outlet will b provided for u to connect up ur charger.if u wan 2 play RC serious,then a quality charger is a must.

chargers can be divided into 2 main group depending on the power supply needed.AC and DC.
AC:
u will jus need 2 plug up to the wall power outlet,the charger will do everything and normally,the DC recetifier is built-in.

DC:
u will need a power supply 4 this depending on the charger specification.

different chargers have different functions,so u have 2 do ur research well...

one of the better charger around at this moment is the novak millienium pro which can charge both NI-MH and NI-CD and can charge,discharge and also condition the batt...

as 4 the car batts,some chargers are veri 'hungry' and need a bigger power batt 2 power them.an example is the KO BX213M.i know bcos i have it... :...(

a gd charger can also decrease ur charger time from several hours to jus 1/2 hour.so i consider it a gd buy 2 have a gd charger.

thanks ijneck
how much does one novak mellinium pro cost?

heard about the turbo 30 and turbo 35 charger
how much does one cost?
can got any site so that i can view the product????

Try to get a good charger which can charge Ni-cd and NI-MH. Of cos it's not cheap but worth buying. For ur info, someone is selling away his CDC charger. It's a good charger and it's not easy to get. Why not considering to get that charger. Hurry before someone grap it.

i reckon a new novak millienium pro charger would cos abt 280.anyway,u can check out toykar or winnie 4 the best price.
as 4 the turbo 35,i believe tat's a veri xpensive charger.

if u r keen on gettinga new charger,i recommendu the novak millienium pro as it can charge,discharge and condition ur batts.but do keep in mind tat u will need a gd power supply.

for power supply,i suggest u try contacting kasey,he should b kind enough 2 test out his power supply under load for u to c the voltage and current changes.

this is his online website:
www.geocities.com/kaseylow

wah....
still cannot make up mind which one to buy..
curently i'm looking at:
EX1.
novak millenium pro.
CDC.

can help me decide?
or should i do more research?

I got good experience with CDC. and I know a few folks who have good experience with them.

I believe it is also cheaper than others. I do advise you to get the DC version and get an external power supply if you need AC.

wat do u all tihnk about the yokomo YZ-48D DC Charger?

u sent mi the PM?...
i have nvr used this charger b4,but a check on kasey's website shows tat this charger is actually pretty gd...discharge n charge ni-cd n ni-mh batts also can...but can't seem 2 find info on the input power supply needed...

input 12v dc

how many amps? i know 12v but how much?

A 10amps Power supply will b gd enough for this charger. I think a p.s wif 8.5amps n above will work since the YZ-48D can only charge up to 5.5a.

Someone once told me to get at least a 12A PS if I have the cash.. that'll allow you to hook up another charger should you get another one in the future, and other stuff (like fans for cooling).

MosFat: I agree wif ur point.:nod: its gd to get a better PS if budget allows.

guys did you all check out the SPEED charger in kasey's site? it looks similar to the yokomo... except it can charge 0.5-6.5 then yokomo 0.5-5.5 and that the SPEED has AC/DC, yokomo only DC

any one expirence with it?

Hi, anyone tried using a Ni-Cad only charger with Ni-MH batts? I just discovered that my KO BX-212 can actually detect the peak, but think the cut-off a bit late, about 100mV from the peak. Anyone has a similar experience?

I think there's no problem with that. Just charge it at a lower current that's all. The problem with NiMH is that they are a bit retarded in voltage drop. So if you charge it at a high Amp then your normal charger will not detect its peak even though it is b'cos it could not detect a correct amount of voltage drop. If your charger has a temp sensor, use it as a cut-off point setting, normally between 42deg to 45deg, NiMH suffers a great deal with eeccessive heat.

hi guys... just brought a new receiver pacl 1100mah... how much should i charge it with? charger is capable of 0.5-5.5

I think if you're not in a hurry, it will be good to charge the pack at about 0.1C (In your case 110mA) coz I read somewhere that that's the typical trickle charge rate. At the trickle charge rate, you won't be able to hurt your cells by overcharging.. or charging at too fast a rate. Receiver packs can't take fast charging like the Sub C packs can right?

What are your opinions on discharge rates? Some people say to discharge as high as possible, 20-30A, but it's hard on the batteries. My charger has a discharge rate of only 1A. Is that a problem? Should I get a discharger with light bulbs to discharge at a higher rate?

IF i'm not wrong,the discharging current can actually be determine by wat type of motor u r using...

if mod motor,then a discharging current at 30amp is gd bcos tat is abt the current draw tat a mod motor draws from the batt.

for a stock motor,a discharging current of 20amp is gd bcos tat's abt the current a stock motor will draw from the batt...

correct mi if i'm wrong...these r info tat i have pick up from mags...

my charger discharges at a rate of 4amps with the built in cooling fan...

ijnek has it about right. You should discharge at approx amp draw that you run the car at. Discharging a fully charged pack at 1A or 4A will not only take forever but will 'soften' your packs voltage ie. lack of punch. Low amp discharge should only be left to after you have run the pack on your car and you are trying to get the last bit of charge out!

I have a Quick Charger with Delta peak Cut Off for use w Car Batts (12 v input ) for sale !

Charges (600 -1000mah) and (1100 to 2000mah)

Goin $50.

I still have the box n manual ,

it's rarely used.

Charger?
 

Anybody has the Schulze Chameleon charger sold by Hobby Link? Can you tell me more and your comments on the charger?



Regards

I own 2 set speed charger, 1 unit EX-14 and the other unit speed 3000. Both set can take 12V input AND 240Vac. Meaning you can use 13A plug to charge at home. In case yr play site does not provide AC source, you can use yr car batt (12V) very useful charger. Let me know if you need more info. Let me check out the website, its from Hongkong.

Melvin, I have the Chameleon isl 6-330d from Hobby Link, recommended by Sam himself. I don't have a lot of experience with chargers; this is my first high end charger (which Sam says I will never need to buy another one!). I've used it for about 3 months now with packs from 1400 to 3k HVs. It charges up to 5.5A (actually 5.6A in automatic mode) and discharges at 1A.

Can't say too much about it except that it seems to do a very good job charging and can charge Sanyo NiMH cells on the auto mode made for NiCd without any problems. My only concern is that the discharge rate is too low, so I don't know what cycling the batteries will do over a long period of time. I wish it could discharge at 20A like the new Reedy charger.

I'm also interested on what people who have more knowledge about chargers have to say about the Schultze. Of course I respect Sam's opinion, but in this case, he's the salesman, so I'd like to hear from others too.

Wanna sell yours?

LRP Pulsar Competition Charger
 

Has anybody try using this charger? Where can I buy it in Singapore?

I have it too...
 

I bought this charger too. Its one of the best charger in the market after Orbit Microlader. I agree of the discharge rate, is way too slow...snail type...only 1A...hell sometimes i really cant wait for 1hr just for the discharge...goshh...!!!:(
I am thinking of getting a DC for this charger, DNQ, are you using any DC power supply at home? Which type? how much?

Because i cant really think of other useful purpose of this power supply unit except for the charger. Hunting for a cheaper one...
Sam is selling around 90++bucks.
Oh yes, i saw a 12-14V (selectable) DC Unregulated Power Supply at 6amps in a shop, rather cheap, do u think i can use this for the charger??:confused:

RCLover, yes I got a 8A PS from Sam, I think $90. Not enough A to run two chargers at once, but good for my Chameleon and a fan.

Don't want to give you bad advice on a PS, so I can't comment on the 6A unregulated. I'll let one of our brothers who knows a bit more answer your question. :blush:

How it looks?
 

Hi there DNQ,
Thanks for reply. I wonder how the PS looks? Heavy? I saw one picture from the Hobbylink website, is it the one with chrome metal casing and has lots of cooling holes around...?
Is it big?
What is the Voltage of the PS when u see in the charger? 13.8? 12.5?
thnks.....

Yes, that's the one. Relatively heavy, I guess. It's the only one I have owned so I have nothing to compare to.

The V shown on the charger using this PS is 12.1. However, I question the gauge of the wire I am using to connect the charger and PS. Pretty soon I will switch to a higher gauge wire and install dean plugs and I'll let you know if anything changes.

What do u mean...?
 

May i know what is thw gauge u mentined about? what wire is this? dean plugs of the PS? Kindly explain as i am an idiot to electrical things...heheee:D :p :cool:

Basically, gauge is the thickness of the wire. Wire which is too thin may not be able to carry the current of the electricity from the PS to the charger properly. I can tell I have a problem because the wires become very warm, almost hot after I charge a few batts. That indicates a lot of wasted energy (in the form of heat).

Some people simply clip the alligator (or crocodile) clips from the charger to maybe a metal clip they attach to the PS + and -. I don't want to risk the short circuit, so I run a .5m wire from the PS so I can put some distance between the + and - clips. This is the wire that is now giving me problems.

I will use Dean plugs because they have very little resistance (therefore less wasted energy). Also it's easy to plug and unplug in case I want to switch to a DC power source. Most importantly, by using Dean plugs there is almost no chance of shorting the circuit and destroying the charger.

Probably it's a bit of paranoia, but I'd rather not risk damaging my charger by being careless.

anyone selling a medium range charger?

any1 come accross LRP Pulsar charger??? heard it's pretty good.... need 2 know de street price n more feedback.... thanks..

Can anyone reccommend me a good charger/discharger combo that's pack so full of features it's about to explode and is ac/dc?

Yeah, i got one NIB,....haven't tried yet. street price abt 300SGD.
Beside charge/discharge, can use also for break in motor and powering lathe. Maybe LRP forum has more info. :D
Looks like Pitbull but not sure if has similarities in features.