raptornut

My Feedback: (20)

has anyone seen the 989 superbrain yet, tower hobbies says it will be avail . in Feb.06 does it do lipo's is it ac/dc, is it the next step up to the 77 superbrain, cant seem to find out much info on it yet.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

The 989 is suposed to have 20 memories, 20 nickle cells, 8 cells Lithiums, 8 amps, DC only, and a single output.

It may have the power of the ice charger with the voltage capabiltiy of the triton.

We will see.

raptornut

My Feedback: (20)

THANKS FOR THE INFO, TRYING TO DECIDE BETWEEN THE SUPERBRAIN 77 AND THE HOBBICO ACCUCYCLE ELITE , THEY BOTH WORK ON AC AND HAVE 2 OUTPUTS, WE HAVE AC OUTLETS AT OUR FIELD AND I DONT HAVE TO MESS WITH A BATTERY. WHICH ONE BETWEEN THE TWO D0 YOU THINK IS BEST THEY ARE BOTH ABOUT THE SAME PRICE.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

Those are similar, but if doing large sub C batteries then the 977 is the choice. 5 amp max

If doing small batteries then the elite is the better choice. 2 amp max

yodal

I got a 977 about 5 weeks ago. The fan in both power supply and charger have made bad bearing noises a few times. Tonight I go to plug it and batteries in and the power supply is dead. Well see what comes of this tomorrow at the RC shop. I have liked it with those exceptions. Also, I do wish it would have a memory of settings.

3-D Flyer

My Feedback: (150)

Yodal, I had that bearing noise on my 969.... Never had any issues with it tho, i mentioned it to MRC in my letter when i sent them(2) in for the 977 updates. Hopefully they'll fix it. I am still waiting to get mine back yet so we'll see what happens. I'll post up and let you know the outcome after i get them back.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

lots of my fans seem to be noisy when cold.

yodal

Alright, I'm a jack ars. The green plug that has the cables going in that secure with the little screws, well I checked them lastnight but took one more good look this morning to make sure and one was loose.

User error

keqwow

I'd love to hear from more folks who have gotten the 977 and charge li-pos. What are the advantages of the Triton over the 977 (with the exception of the fact that it has a long running positive record???). With the exception of the power supply and two outputs, why would someone go with the 977 over the Triton???

3-D Flyer

My Feedback: (150)

Personally, My Buddy at the Hobby shop used 'em and love's his. I liked the wall adaptor and the duel outputs. So your "exceptions" are actually why i went with the 969's. (they are both in for the 977 updates right now.)
I charged lipos with mine and never had any issues, i always kept a close eye on them anyway as you should with any charger. If i were to find somthing to gripe about it would be the fact that it dumps the data on a cycle after just a few minutes and goes back to defaults. That drives me nuts! If i miss the end of a cycle i have no idea what it did. Bad feature IMO. Does anyone know if they changed this on the 977? That would be great but i doubt if i'll be that lucky.

kx250ryder

Nope, the 989 will have memory, but in an odd move, will not have an a/c adaptor, and will be 30 bucks cheaper. Also, instead of the up/down buttons, there is a rotary knob to increase/decrease settings (at least this is what I get from looking at it on Tower's site.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXLTW4&P=7

Wow, looking at the picture again, I don't see the a/b option anymore either. I guess I won't be getting a 989 after all.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

wow, I agree with the data not staying around. It is not a good thing. Also good to here about the 989. I like to save the money and use my own power supply.

the 989 memory is for battery presets right? does this mean it will remember the data long after the charge?

rstoomanyhobbies

Question for those that have sent their 969 for upgrade: Did you mail to the address in the manual for Service Returns and just state that you want the upgrade? I don't see anything on their website about the upgrade. Also, if the battery connectors are changed, did this cause any problem with them doing the upgrade? They state that "ANY" modification will cause them to not accept the charger for repair. Before I mail mine, wondering if yours were stock connectors or mod'd. Thanks...

guver

My Feedback: (325)

Mine was all stock and I called first to let them know. I sent only the charger, but I have heard lately that they are also upgrading the power supplies for a fee. Probably have to call or e-mail them and let us know please.

SS Pede

I recently emailed MRC because my 969 had a problem. Here is part of the reply:

"If you're interest, we have a trade-in program for the 969. If you send us
your entire charger (5 amp power supply and cables too) with a check or
money order for $35 then we can ship you out a brand new 977."

"Just put a note in the box requesting the trade-in with your name, address
and phone number."

Here's the address he gave to send the charger to:

MRC
80 Newfield Ave.
Edison, NJ 08837


So I may send in my 969 and a check (made out to "MRC" I assume??) to that address later this summer. Maybe it's not a free service anymore, or maybe this is a separate thing than the software upgrade. Either way, 35 bucks for a brand new 977 isn't half bad!

guver

My Feedback: (325)

Thanks, Thats a good deal.

rstoomanyhobbies

On their web site, they are showing out of stock for the 977. I have emailed them June 13 to see when they will get more (what's the delivery time for the exchange) and also asked them if changing the battery connector to 'deans' or other voids the program at all. I assume most change the plugs these days. My stock connectors began melting on my E-Maxx's after a few months of use so I went with real battery connectors on all batteries, trucks and charger. I'll update with their response when I get it.

RS4rallydriver

okay, I origionally posted this in the MRC forumm but got no response. well I have been having issues with my 977 dual output charger, and I need to know how to fix it, or something.

here is the problem: if I try to charge my batteries, it false peaks at about 1500 or so Mah, no matter what peak setting I give it. this will always happen 2 or 3 times durring a charge. whether I charge 1 pack or 2, and it doesn't seem to make a difference what rate I use to charge, it just will not go through a charge without false peaking.

the batteries that I am trying to charge are GP 3300 stick packs. they have been charged and discharged many, many times but still perform very well, so I don't think that they are doing too bad even though the shrink wrap is kinda torn off from getting too hot a few times running them in my truck. I have 1 2000 Mah nicad that I charge every once in a while, just because it still works, but the charger falses that pack 1 or 2 times before it will charge it to full capacity.

so, what do you think could be the problem here? is there a problem with the charger? should I try to fix it or like, send it to MRC? or could it be the batteries? could it be the power supply even? (I use the power supply that came with it.) what is it? it is really boring to babysit the batteries for the hour or so that it takes to charge them, restarting the charger every time that it stops. any advice on this would be really helpful, thanks.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

Only advise I could give is that the batts may be getting worn out and an increase in chargeing rate may help.

Push display to read stop code during the trickle charge to see why it stopped. A 00 is a normal peak.

RS4rallydriver

thanks U-dud, I will check that out. I already charge them at 5A, so I can't go any higher with the amp rate. by the way, where in the manual does it mention stop codes??? I guess I missed that line...

so, what would it mean if it didn't say "00"?

guver

My Feedback: (325)

It does not mention the stop codes in manual. I got them over the phone from MRC and no real ellaboration on them either.

01 fast peak
02 slow peak
03 voltage spike
04 (high resistance??)
05 programmed time
06 programmed capacity
07 timed out
08 dicharge stop code

RS4rallydriver

okay, thanks that helps ALOT. because now I will know just why it stopped. I will go charge something now and see what it says. oh, BTW it wouldn't stop the charge if the charger got exessively hot would it? because I know that when I charge 2 packs at once it does get noticably hot. I guess not since it doesn't mention having a thermal cut-off feature.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

No, I don't think so . Mine runs very hot too when working hard, I frequently get over 100 watts thru mine.

RS4rallydriver

are there 2 versions of the mrc 977? like, the first one, and then another one that was released later with upgraded software or something? I heard something about that. if so, how would I know what one I had? jus' wonderin'.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

the early one was called 969 and then got upgraded and now is called 977.