Rcpilot
Posts: 6840
Joined: 3/20/2002
From: Arvada, CO, USA
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: speedyAK
hey all,
im looking to get a really good charger. i have a duratrax intellipeak pulse charger and wished i didnt get it. my time charger is doing better than that. the things im looking for in a charger is:
AC/DC inputs
able to charge NimH, Ni-CaD, Li-Po, and Li-Ion,
fast and slow charging capability (of course)
at least up to 10 cells down to 1 cell
umm...ive been hearing people saying that you should cycle Nimh batteries so able to cycle batteries.
and compact.
ive looked at tower first and came up with the Accu-Cycle Elite. i wouldn't mind spending that much on a very good charger. plus its small and compact. and it fits all of my needs. i just want opinions on this charger and know if its worth the money.
thanks in advance.
I have had both the Accu-Cycle Elite, AND the Great Planes Triton.
I still have the Accu-Cycle Elite. I sold the Triton. Whats that tell ya?
My problem with the Triton is that it will ONLY work on DC. That makes it a bit inconvenient to use around the house. It's not a totall dealbreaker, but something to take note of. Another thing is that Triton can only charge one battery at a time. THAT was a dealbreaker for me. I want to be able to charge BOTH RX batteries at once on a big plane with dual batteries. Then, when the RX batteries are done, I want to charge my ignition battery and my TX. That alone takes long enough with dual outputs on a charger, but with the Triton only having one output--it would take 3 hrs to charge a Giant Scale plane with 2 RX batteries and an ignition bettery.
Another problem I had with my Triton is that it was overly voltage sensitive. If my input voltage dropped below 12V--the damn thing would shut down. I sent it back to Hobby services, but they just sent it back with a clean bill of health. It still dropped out everytime the input voltage dropped below 12V.
To me, the Triton was just a pain in the arse.
Now, my Accu-Cycle Elite, I LOVE IT!! It works on AC and DC. They give you these really cool alligator clips that already have banana post in them. so, if you want to use it at the field, just plug your banana plugs into the alligator clips and hook it to the truck battery. Simple. Effective. Good design.
The Accu-Cycle is also 10 times easeir to program than the Triton. You just tell it how many cells. Tell it the capacity of the pack. Then tell it to peak charge, trickle charge, or cycle. Push the button and walk away. It has 8 batteries in the memory, so you can set up a charge for your TX and store that in memory. You can even store a quick field charge, and a slow overnight trickle if you want too.
I use a lot of the same size RX packs. I use the 1650mah 6V Hobbico packs from Tower. I probably have 15 of those batteries. So, I set up a field charge rate and store it in memory. Then I set up a cycle and trickle charge for at home and store that in memory.
It has dual outputs too. Thats a big deal to me. As I mentioned earlier--if you have a plane with dual RX batteries and an ignition bettery. Thats 3 bateries. Toss in the TX and your looking at charging 4 batteries at the field. It will take you the rest of the afternon with the Triton. Might as well pack up and go home--it will be dark by the time you finish field charging 4 batteries with the Triton.
_____________________________
Airplanes have expiration dates. It''s just not printed anywhere on them.
I''m not really an airplane pilot; but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
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LOOKING FOR GOOD CHARGER - 
