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Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 10/6/2004 1:32 AM   
Crash90



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From: Cressona, PA, USA
Status: offline 		I am a new Li-PO user and have a few questions.
1 Can I charge LI-PO batteries with this charger?
2 How will I know when the batteries are fully charged?
3 Do I need to discharge them before each charging?

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 10/6/2004 2:40 AM   
INeedHelp


 

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Status: offline 		The charger on their web site says it can charge lipo's. I don't have that charger so I can't tell you how to tell if they are completely charged, my Triton shuts down the charge when they are charged. No, you don't have to discharge them before charging. Lipo's do not hold a "memory" like nicads do.

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 10/6/2004 3:40 AM   
Red Scholefield



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Status: offline 		For a review of the Hobbico Mk II contact the Battery Clinic, back channel.

red@rcbatteryclinic.com

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 10/6/2004 9:20 PM   
AgCat1982



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Status: offline 		I have the charger and have been using it for NiMH's and as soon as my li-po arrives I will find out how well it does with it. The manual says it uses "constant current/constant voltage" method to charge li-po's. When the lipo's charge rate begins to drop, the charger shuts off the charge and supplies NO trickle charge because manufactures do not recommend applying trickle charges to li-po's.

However, they do recommend only using li-po's that are UL1642 approval or has built in protection circuit. I have ordered a KOKAM LI-PO SAFETY GUARD for $12.95 that is used in line with the charger for extra protection.

< Message edited by Red Scholefield -- 10/6/2004 11:09 PM >

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 10/10/2004 9:29 AM   
AgCat1982



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Status: offline 		I have charged my Kokam 1500 11.1v with the charger and it is doing fine. The charger will blink its charge light and beep several times when the charge is finished. I will be using the extra Li-Po saver with it just to be on the safe side. It charges at a steady one amp (that's its max when charging Li-Po's)

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 10/11/2004 1:31 AM   
Mike Bogh



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Status: offline 		I have the hobbico too and it is not charging my lipos to their fullest....about 10% short. Now I/m looking at the new Kokam lipoly charger....


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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 10/11/2004 9:47 AM   
AgCat1982



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Status: offline 		Do you mean the voltage is not reaching 12.5, give or take a fraction? Mine does.

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 10/23/2004 5:33 AM   
DrFun



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Status: offline 		I am charging lipos with MK II for a week now, charging TP 3S 1320's and been using PC pwer supply for two days.

The charger charges upto 12.39 V and the charge rate dial is very accurate, I measured the current and voltage while charging it is exactly 1A when set to 1A, Voltage from the battery connectors of the charger is 12.20 V but the pack is 12.38V if measured directly so the differenve might be the internal resistance of the charger.

The pc power supplies 12.07V and I was planning to get accucycle elite since lipos are sensitive but MK II looks like it does the job nice.

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 11/1/2004 9:12 PM   
WhtBronco



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Status: offline 		Well I can tell you that my Hobbico MKII charger does a miserable job charging my 2S 1320mah TP li-po. The best I have gotten so far when the charger cuts off is 8.07v, usually I see 8.04-8.05v. This is a problem for me since I only get about 5-6 minute flight times with a GWS400 geared 6.6:1, 12x6 prop, on my Efilte Ultimate. I asked the LHS owner about this and he said I told you it would not do the li-po's all that well. I guess I will be getting a Triton or something similar before long, if I can come up with the money.

Do all the chargers take so dang long to charge li-po's? It is at least 2 hours, sometimes 3+, between flights for me by the time the battery cools and is recharged. My 9.6v nicd's and nimh's charge in about 20 minutes. If this is normal I must say the award fo reducing boredom goes to glow power, land, refuel and takeoff again in 5 minutes with a lot more power at a much lower cost. The only advantage I have found, in fact, to these tiny electrics is that I can fly it home.

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 11/1/2004 9:45 PM   
DrFun



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Status: offline 		What are you using to power your charger as TP 3S 1320 takes about 1 hr to 1:15 miutes with MKII set at 1.2 A with pc power supply.

But then again I can get 12 miunte flights with mine and will be trying triton to compare flight times. I am not that happy with the flight time and if I can get 3 more minutes I will be okay.

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 11/2/2004 6:49 AM   
WhtBronco



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Status: offline 		I have been using 12v batteries to power the MKII charger. Mostly my 7amp glow electric starter battery, but I have also tried using the battery in my car, 650CCA, with no better results. The PC power supply would be easy to make and use at home, but won't help much away from the house of course.

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 11/2/2004 8:34 AM   
AgCat1982



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Status: offline 		Cobra78 is right to a point. However, the variable setting on the MK11 does not effect the Li-Po settings. They are charged at 1 amp only. Even at that it should not take more than 1hr 14min to charge an empty battery. That is the safe empty level.

As for as how fast Li-Po's charge, any of them should be charged at only 1C. On yours that would be 1.32 amp's which the MK11 will not do. Therefore, the MK11 takes a little longer that ONE hour. I am sure you are, but, make sure you are pushing the set button three times to get the GREEN light.

You have to have a bad charger, using the wrong setting, or a bad power supply. Mine works perfectly! If yours doesn't then something is wrong. My Kokam 3s 1500's charge to right at 12.45V!

Good luck

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 11/2/2004 3:43 PM   
rjbarthel



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From: Minot, ND, USA
Status: offline 		Hi I also have the MKII. I have it mounted in my flight box and powered from the 7a flight box battery . It been charging my Kokam 3c 1500 to 12.5V and withing an hr or so,I didnt time it to see exact charging time .
Ive been gettin around 12 min flights on my Goldberg Tiger 400 . with them and all flights are WOT. Im happy with the batteries and the fight times also.
I bought the plane for flighing it in my back yard .Oh I live in the country with around 7acres of nothing for my backyard !
I know and have read all the safety issues on the li lipos and so on . But this is how i feel ! If they are so bad for safety reasons why do so many cell phones have them as thier power supply. and look how we use them and charge them without watching them or taking any extra measures in doing so . I think we just need to make sure we are not charging them with nonlipo type chargers and use the proper esc that wont drain them down past the 2.5 per cell..
Now I dont stick them on a charger and forget them ! I do watch and have them in a coffee can during charging just because of the pubisity Ive read ..
Ive talk to several guys at our last club meeting and many are scard to try them !
Well this was just my 2 cents .

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 11/2/2004 5:02 PM   
mrfliboy



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Status: offline 		Here's my 2 cents. Been using the MKII for about 3 months now. Charging lipos all 2S from 850 to 1550, along with nicads and nimh, all without any problems. Average charge time is around 1hr for the lipos. All have been fully charged. I have the charger hooked up thru my cigarrette lighter and run the charger all the time. Fabulous piece of equipment for the price. The biggest thing I like is the fact that any improper connection or battery the charger will let you know. Greta investment in my mind.

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 11/2/2004 7:49 PM   
DrFun



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Status: offline 		agcatsBest ,

You are right about MKII charging max 1A for Lipos's I forgot that, no point to setting higher for me.

I was reading the manual of Hobicco Elite yesterday and it says it charges Li-ion's to 4.1V and Li-po's to 4.2V and then holds the potential constant and charges ot as much as battery takes.

The MK II is li-ion type and i thought and read that they were the same type of battery however apperently they are not as Elite treats them different.

0.1 V per cell makes 0.3V and that can explain why MK II is charging not completely.

But I love my MKII for nicad's and NiMh just charged my rx and tx. It can't be any simpler to use.

< Message edited by Cobra78 -- 11/2/2004 7:51 PM >

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 11/2/2004 9:35 PM   
WhtBronco



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Status: offline 		I will agree the MKII works great for my Tx and Rx batteries, both nicd and nimh. It charges them very fast, is very convenient and super easy to use. I just don't seem to be able to get a full charge on my only li-po, a TP 2S 1320mah. Maybe the li-po battery is not good. This is obviously a major contributor to my short flight times.

5 minute flights and 90 minutes to charge up again after it cools down, ugh.

RJbarthel I am envious of your backyard. I have been aching for years to get a bit of land, but when I had the opportunity my wife and I agreed we should be in a neighorhood for our kids. We were wrong and now regret it terribly. The prices have gotten so high we cannot afford more than 1/4 acre unless we move much further out. I already commute 69 miles each way to work. Nearly 100 miles is not a pleasant thought.

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 1/17/2005 7:36 AM   
2walla


 

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Status: offline 		I have been using my MK II for 7-8 months now with no problems charging. If your field battery you are using as a power supply is not charged you may have problems- Look at what your using for a power supply- most modelers seem to have small 12v 4-5ah batteries. If you are trying to charge a high capacity 3 cell lipo pack after 2-3 cycles your supply battery will probably be dead -then the charger cant do its job. Do the math.

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 2/8/2007 4:36 AM   
Stik-n-Rdr



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Status: offline 		I've had my MkII for almost two years now. Does a great job charging my 1650mAH NiMH battery, my 2c 1500mAH Electrifly Li-Po, and my two 2c 720mAH Electrifly Li-Po batteries. However, the darn thing will not charge my 3c 650mAH Electrifly Li-Po.

I contacted Tower when I first ran into the problem. They said they shipped some batteries out with reverse polarity (wasn’t the case with me) and to return the battery. Now what’s interesting to note is that the battery they sent me was below the minimum Voltage value per cell anyway. Can't remember, but think it was around 2 volts per cell. I figured that was the problem and returned it to Tower.

Guess what, got the replacement in (three months later due to it being out of stock) and had the same problem. This time I believe I measured at least 3.5 Volts per cell, so at least the voltage being too low wasn’t the issue.

Figuring I needed some learning I got on RCU and decided that the voltage of the battery may be below the minimum the MkII will charge due to the Electrifly safety circuit. A friend of mine said that wasn’t a problem and used his deans to banana plug connector to charge the battery through the discharge circuit with his charger (don't know what kind). He didn’t charge it all the way so I believe it was at round 11 volts. I connected the battery to the MkII and found that it wouldn’t top off the Li-Po from at the voltage it currently had. Now I need to discharge the 3c enough to see if the charger will work on it.

All of this took place over the last several months since I’ve been really busy at work and also got married (that’s the real killer), so sorry I’m vague on the specifics. I just can’t remember.

Anyway, thanks for hearing me out. I’m hoping to test the battery again tomorrow, or if I must drain it, the day after. Please chime in if you’ve had issues charging 3c’s, specifically Electrifly's with the safety circuit. I'm thinking I'm gonna have to charge through the discharge with the MkII on my 3c.


< Message edited by Stik-n-Rdr -- 2/8/2007 4:39 AM >

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 2/8/2007 8:58 PM   
soarhead-RCU


 

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Status: offline 		Sorry to hear about your problems. I have a MK11 also and have had no problems and I have charge all the various types of batteries it is capable including Li-Ions . I just have 1 electrifly battery and it is a 2 cell 750mah about 4 yrs old. I now charge through the discharge lead because I think my son plugged the charge lead into the ESC and blew the circuit. Not a problem though. Been this way for at least 2 years.
Good Luck
Bob

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 2/8/2007 9:50 PM   
wildjaych


 

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Status: offline 		I have this charger and I love it plus it only costs 50 bucks and charges 2 at a time. I use a balancer on every 4-5 charge and no complaints here.

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 4/4/2007 3:41 AM   
Stik-n-Rdr



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Status: offline 		Wow, the MkII's working on my 3C Li-Po now,

Took me almost two months to test charge the battery, and I really never got to that point (told you I was busy ) Anyway, I was starting back on my GP Reflection ARF (real mother to assemble by the way, IMHO) and I connected the battery to the ESC to center the servos. Guess what, while holding the battery I noticed a tiny bit of play in the charge leads to the Electrifly protection circuit. Wouldn't you know it, one of the leads had come loose. I removed the protective case and soldered the lead back into position thinking the whole time, "no way that this could have been the problem". Guess what number two, the following day I connected the battery to the Li-Po and now have a 12.07 VDC pile of potential energy in the sucker (only took about 1.5 hrs too).

Yeah baby, yeah!

This MkII's an awesome charger, now that it's working on everything I own. Remember, this is the replacement battery I got from Hobby Services (the Evil Empire), so I still don't know what the issue was with the first battery I couldn't charge.

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 4/21/2007 6:36 AM   
halflight


 

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Status: offline 		Looking for a connector that I can to plug into my auto auxillery dc outlet to use with a Hobbico MK11 field charger.. Do you know of any of these units.

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RE: Hobbico MKII and Lipos. - 4/21/2007 6:07 PM   
soarhead-RCU


 

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Status: offline 		Got mine at Radio Shack , but I'm sure that some auto supply or electronic stores like Best Buy or other would have them also.

Good Luck
Bob

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