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Radio - Servo - Gyro - Gov - Batt > Battery managment equipment, what to get?

Ken B
Elite Veteran
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Now I am getting to the point in my this hobby that it has become much more than I intended. There fore I need to start spending money on the things that will in the long run save me money. Battery managment systems, which one to get?

I already have a Sirius charger, What other systems might be a good investment?

I need a GOOD battery managment system that can handle my1, 4, 5, and 8 cell packs. I also want to be able to run nimh and nicads with out worries.

Lastly it looks like I might be moving into electric flight as a pass time. What battery managment equipment can I use for 10 Cell packs as well?

Thanks for any good advise.

Ken B

11-12-2001 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Steve Campbell
Elite Veteran
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Check out http://home.att.net/~LitcoSys/

This is the renowned Alpha 4. While you may find something to equal it, you will NOT find anything to surpass it's flexibility. The main gripes one hears about is the fact that it won't charge above one amp (which annoys some of the electric crowd, and the guys who don't have any patience and like to jam-charge their flight packs, etc.) and the fact that one must wait quite a while to get one. That fact alone should tell you that this is a highly desirable gadget.

You'll probably hear some whining, usually from those who don't have the patience to wait in line. You will not hear any carping from anyone who owns one. It is simply amazing. The only real problem with it is that you will soon become totally dependent upon it. When I finally realized that, I bought another one.

BTW, it works just fine as a "field charger".

Steve

11-12-2001 Over year old.

vetrider
Elite Veteran
Location: Daleville, AL (Ft.Rucker)

Looks like a great system but geezzz Backloged till APRIL 11, 2002.

Hey Volkul, which Sirius do you have and how do U like it?

Nolan Manley
RREMODELS, KBDDintl, Magnum Fuel
Stratus, ODIN, Knight3D, ATOM 500, TREX 700N.

11-12-2001 Over year old.

RapidRaptor
Heliman
Location: San Diego

Super Nova 250S

I have the Super Nova 250S. It handles 1 to 25 cells, NiMH, NiCd and has both an automatic mode (for NiCd only) and 10 selectable, preset configurations that you can alter for your various battery packs. Both discharge and charge rates are modifiable. I love it.

YMMV, eric

11-12-2001 Over year old.

Greg Takacs
Veteran
Location: Fort Worth, TX

Volkul,

I use a charger from my good old car racing times..... It's made by a manufacturer called Tekin. The model number is 112C. It will charge 1 to 12 packs at 0-10 Amps.
The manufacturer's website is www.tekin.com I have bought mine from TowerHobbies about 2 years ago for $160. Now tower lists it at $180 and being discontinued and I don't know who else sells them. I'm sure the price is a tad high, but I really like this charger.

11-12-2001 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

BladeRunner
Elite Veteran
Location: Ontario Canada. Member of "some sort" s

Battery Management?

Well, I too wanted to get the Alpha, I read a lot of positive things about it and desided to get one. So I dutifully marked my calender 5 months ahead so I would remember when to get my order in( as suggested by Litco) sure enough the day before I checked my calender and WELL before the 9:00 AM time to order came, guess what? The order list was CLOSED AGAIN even before it opened!

Now, after waiting 5 mo.-just to get on an order list,

They say the same old standard line they have been using for years "the order list has become unmanagable and is closed, will reopen XXXX" yada yada yada. Some people might want to wait for years to buy this thing-but I'm not one of them. Besides, if you have to jump through all those hoops just to get one, if you ever do get one-how the hell would you get one serviced if needed?
Would that only take 3 yrs.? Litco has created a pretty good marketing strategy, make something that only "the select few" can have and everone will want it. I'm sure it's a great quality product, but near impossible to get.---------BladeRunner.

11-12-2001 Over year old.

jfair
Senior Heliman
Location: Ft Lauderdale FL

You hit it right on the head Blade!! I once saw a Litco at our field. I felt as if I should drop to me knees and bow, at being allowed to be in its presence.

I will say its a great charger. Good luck getting one though. I settled on the SuperNova 250. Great little charger/discharger. The only complaint I have with it is you can only do 1 pack at a time. So I guess I'll just have to get a second one....

Jeff

11-12-2001 Over year old.

butch r
Senior Heliman
Location: Alma, Kansas

SuperNova 250S

volkul, Hello. I just purchased one of the above and it is a very high quality unit. Supposed to fast charge 1-25 cells at an advertised 0.1 to 5.0 amp rate. It was tested, I don't recall who but it's actual charge rate was 4.5 with 25 cells somewhere in there. You will need a 12 volt DC convertor with a min. 10 amps. I bought the convertor and charger from FMA Direct. You can go to FMA at http://www.fmadirect.com/home.htm and form your own opinion. Rick's heli also has an artical on it. I too wanted a Litco, besides I couldn't get it if I wanted one. Happy hunting.

11-12-2001 Over year old.

jtag
Senior Heliman
Location: San Antonio, TX

Battery Management

Volkul,

I would look into the Schulze isl-6330d charger.

Some Features:
Types: NiCad, NiMH, Pb, and Lithium cells.
Mode:Fully Automatic or manual discharge/charge, 5.5A/5.5Amp rates.
Qty:1-30 cells.
2 Outputs.
You can use this at home with a 13.8V power supply or at the field with a 12V car battery.

I had been using the SuperNova 250s charger and had no problems with the system. The only thing was, I could not charge both my NiMH or NiCad TX and RX packs at the same time. The Schulze can handle all my battery needs. The price is ($189.99), a little more than the SuperNova but not has expensive as the Alpha charger and there is no waiting list. I had looked into getting an Alpha charger but when I saw the waiting list, and compared specs to the Schulze charger, I changed my mind. For more information on the charger go to rc-direct.com.

JT

11-12-2001 Over year old.

BladeRunner
Elite Veteran
Location: Ontario Canada. Member of "some sort" s

Battery Management?

I think I read something about the Schulze, jtag is right-besides volkul I think you may be around the corner from the manufacturer, if memory serves me( no promises) they are in Germany somewhere. Turn left go .5 km turn right, smile

-------BladeRunner.
BTW, I was looking at the Supernova 250S, it's a neat piece of equipment,but I missed the fact that it will charge only one thing at a time.

Hmmm?

11-12-2001 Over year old.

freestyle
Veteran
Location: Redmond WA USA

I have a Litco and a Supernova, and IMO the Litco's hype exceeds the Litco's reality. It doesn't have a NiMH charge program, and being limited to 1 amp makes it inadequate for electric flight or RC car charging. I mostly use it at home as a glorified overnight charger. The 1 amp total output limit means that if you use it as a field charger you're probably not going to be charging more than one or two things at a time anyhow.

The Supernova works as well or better for charging single packs (way better if you're charging eflight packs that can take 5 amps), and it tells you how much power you're putting in with each charge, where the Litco requires you to recharge, then discharge, to get a measure of capacity / amount used (that's more accurate, but then again you can still do discharge measurements with the supernova if you want).

If the Litco were less expensive and (most of all) available, I would recommend it to people who don't mind buying a second charger if/when they get into eflight. As it is, I DEFINITELY recommend buying a Supernova rather than paying more and waiting for the Litco.

I haven't see the Schulze up close, but it looks to me like it might be a much better charger than the supernova, for only a little bit more money. If you don't mind being the first guy on your block to get one, I say go for it. I've talked to a guy on the net who really likes his, it will probably be my next charger. If I like it, we'll see how much the Litco will fetch on ebay.

11-12-2001 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Steve Campbell
Elite Veteran
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

BladeRunner, I dunno what happened in your case, but two of my flying buddies placed their orders at 9:07 and 9:15 respectively. They received confirmation messages later that day and are on the current list.

Litco hype? Perhaps; I suppose it depends on your needs. The A-4 can charge four things at once; and when one wants to take a couple of planks along with the heli, not to mention the transmitter; well, you can't do that with a SuperNova.

Yes, the one amp limit puts a crimp in some folks' style; but I personally do not fast-charge batteries except as a last resort; even then, the A-4 will fast-charge one pack in a reasonable amount of time. But put that puppy on C-10 and it will do four batteries at once, up to 24 or so cells and any capacity you're likely to see in a r/c model application.

The best thing about the A-4 is it will absolutely NOT allow you to hurt a battery. If you hook up reversed polarity, wrong charge rate, wrong capacity, WHATEVER, the device will tell you and not just blindly start pouring the juice in.

Is it a PITA to get an A-4? Unfortunately, yes. It is worth it? You betcha...

Steve

11-12-2001 Over year old.

Ken B
Elite Veteran
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Thanks

Just wanted to say thanks for all the input on the subject. I honestly can put off the Alpha till April. Since I am seriuosly looking at this point and time for what is the best availible today.

The Super Nova sounds like a good charger and if I get 2 it should take care of my needs. Just one question. Can a 1500ma 12V power supply run one? I'm thinking it can. Unfortunatly I am not great at the conversions here.

Ken B

11-12-2001 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

jfair
Senior Heliman
Location: Ft Lauderdale FL

I use a Hobbico 12 v GelCel battery to run my Super Nova. Charging 1800mah packs I get about 2 charges from completly discharged packs. But at the field it will charge them up repeatedly for a FULL days flying.

For Home I just replaced the battery in my car, brought the old one in and have had no problems.

Jeff

11-12-2001 Over year old.

butch r
Senior Heliman
Location: Alma, Kansas

12 Volt Power Source

If I'm not mistaken you can get a 12 volt DC power converter at Radio Shack that puts out 20 amps. 5 amps in the charger, 5 amps out. FMA Direct offers the ps2-12us that puts out 10 amps. Happy charging.

11-12-2001 Over year old.

z11355
rrMaster
Location: 10000 is enough time wasted.

ken,

a 1500mA *supply* almost assuredly will NOT cut the mustard.

I think I tried some big wall wart supply w/ it and it wouldn't run.

Ended up getting some no-name supply from an electronics surplus
store. 12v @ 22A

11-12-2001 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Optech
Key Veteran
Location: Vista/Oceanside, CA.

Dymond-RC Super Smart Charger

Hey guy's,
I was at a plank fun-fly not long ago and came across the Dymond-RC version of the FMA and Simprop charger for only $109.

http://www.rc-dymond.com/

The original charger of this type to hit the shores was sold by Hobby-Lobby under the Simprop label. A guy at our field has one and I really liked it. About that time, FMA came out with their charger but I wasn't sure if there was something internally different. Externally they look the same except for the graphics. Anyway, after looking at the Dymond version my buddy bought one. When we got home we compared it to another guys Simprop charger and the battery management programming is exactly the same. The only difference was the opening screen when you power it up. I can't help but feel that the FMA would be the same as well. I went ahead and ordered one for myself and have been completely thrilled with it. I even had our purchasing department at work buy a couple to use there.

Someone else is making these chargers for others to put their name on! So why pay more.... The Dymond works.

I used to be into RC cars so I have a 13amp, 12v power supply to use at home.

Volkul, 1500ma translates to only 1.5 amps. You might get away with it if you don't try to charge more than an amp nor too big a pack. You also will probably not be able to use the auto mode for nicads. These restrictions would really negate the features of this charger.

In addition to the Dymond I also have a Hobbico multi-charger and Accu-Cycler. Between these I can get done what is needed.

By the way..... I just checked their site and the charger is being replaced with the new Turbo model for the same price!!!

Later,
Mike

11-12-2001 Over year old.

z11355
rrMaster
Location: 10000 is enough time wasted.

yes, they are all made by Simprop in Germany.

For some unknown $$ fee, they custom silkscreen a new faceplate
and customize the powerup 'splash' screen .

11-13-2001 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

freestyle
Veteran
Location: Redmond WA USA

If someone wants to do overnight charging, wall-warts are cheap. If you want to charge something quickly (e.g. at the field), you're going to be using only one port on the Litco anyhow. The Litco is a nice charger, don't get me wrong, but for less money and in less time you can get a supernova and a bunch of wall-warts (which most of us already have), and then the Litco's advantages become very small.

11-13-2001 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Optech
Key Veteran
Location: Vista/Oceanside, CA.

Use an old computer power supply

I just remembered that my RC car racing partner used to use old computer power supplies to power his chargers. You have to use a resistor to load the +5volt leg so that the +12volt leg will output current. If theres is no load across the +5volt leg the power supply will not switch on the +12volt leg.

We normally charged our batteries at around 5amps for modified class racing and pulse charged at 8amps+ for stock class racing.

Hmmm.... pulse charging. That sure brings back alot of memories.

Mike

11-13-2001 Over year old.

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