Toker41

I just bought the Futaba 9C, and E-flite Mini Ultra Stick with a 3 Cell LiPo 11.1v 2100 mAh. I also use several NI-MH batteries up to 8 cell. Any suggestions on a charger? AC/DC would be preferred, and it would be nice to charge more than one battery. Something that peak charges, and cycles would be great. Don't want anything to complicated, as I'm already overwhelmed with all the science behind this hobby, when all I really want to do is fly.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

If you have other electric planes that have been using NiMh, and you have a good charger for those, then you might consider a dedicated lithium charger rather than a charger that does all types like the Triton.

If I was buying a new Lithium charger today I would want a balancing charger. This uses that extra tap on the pack to be sure all the lithium cells are equally charged. Unfortunately the balancing plugs are not standardized yet, so you need to be sure that your balancing charger and your lithium pack use the same plug, unless you are willing to cut and resolder on a new balanding plug.

Here are some examples of balancing chargers.

Cellpro
http://www.fmadirect.com/products.htm?cat=45&nid=4

Balance pro
http://www.fmadirect.com/products.htm?cat=38&nid=4

PolyCharge 4
DC only lithium will do 4 packs at once.
Max single pack charge rate is 3 amps with 1 pack charging
Non-balancing charger
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXKAU0&P=ML

AC/DC - Accu-cycle - Does it all non-balancing charger
Two packs at once

Max 2 amp charge rate so packs over 2000mah will take over 1 hour to fully charge.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXEYD4&P=ML

Toker41

Actually all I have is wall warts for the batteries I have now. I believe it's the reason they have such a short life (been through a few in less than 8 months). I need a charger that will do both. You bring up a good point, though. I DO want a balance charger. Maybe I should consider 2 chargers?

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

NiXX batteries should last for 250 - 500 charge cycles so either you are doing a lot of flying or you are killing your packs.

Lipos are the way of the future. If you can swing it, go for a balancing lipo charger.

For your Nimh packs, you can go cheap since you will probably be moving forward with Lip. I would put the big money there!

The Accucycle meets all of your requested features today. Maybe you start with that. Will do it all and will do two packs at once. Then later you add a balancing charger.

Of, if you don't need AC, you could do this:

Multiplex multicharger - - $80
Charges 1 to 5 Lithium cells or 1 to 14 Nicad or NiMH cells at up to 5 amps
I read a review about this one somewhere, may have been Model Aviation, and
it sounded pretty good.
Details here
http://www.multiplexusa.com/product_fs.htm
Manual
$79 at Tower Hobbies
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXKSY1&P=ML

Plus this:

Cellpro
http://www.fmadirect.com/products.htm?cat=45&nid=4


Now you can charge two at once at the field, one lipo and one NiXX or Lipo.


There are dozens of good chargers and lots of ways to approach this.

I use one of these to drive my DC only chargers at home:

They are simple to use. It is just like using your car's cig lighter plug or
clips on the car's battery. You attach a 12 volt DC charger and charge your
batteries at the field. They can also
be used at the house so you don't need a DC and an AC charger. I use one in my
shop for that purpose.

Here is the one that sears sells:
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...id=02871472000

Target sells this one:
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html...sin=B0002INUMK

BTW, they are great for jump starting cars too!