RE: Battery Charging for Pattern
Hi Joe,
The prices of the Hobby City stuff is quite compelling. I will probably buy Flightmax for my next set of packs due to the price and they are lighter than the Zippy's. Some like to stagger pack purchases both for budget and life span. Remember packs will deteriorate whether they are used or not. Starting out you will probably want three sets min and buy two new ones each year thereafter. Hobby City does a have a number of very cheaply priced adapters too. Their packs use the jst-xh connectors.
How do you plan on using your equipment? Will you be charging at the field? Is there power available? How much do you plan on flying each day? I really don't get much out of more than 4 or 5 flights a day. That coupled with the cost and noise/fuel of a generator I opted for a Marine battery for field charging. I can get about three solid charges before it start to fall off, although I haven't really tried more. Nothing special just a walmart $80 model. The downside to that is the amp draw is too high to run two chargers. At one point I had five sets of packs and would just fly without charging. The hassle that came out of that was I only had one charger which made it tough to charge everything and go to work the next day.
Look for the biggest highest Volt power supply you can. I have two out of and IBM 235 server you used to be able to get them very cheap but now they are harder to come by. Also, only 12V. If I had to do it over I might just bite the bullet and get the Iota 55.
I have two of the Cellpro 10s and they are Ok. Around $180 when you catch their sales and a little over 200w. Not the most accurate, lacks a discharge function and service is fair although some have had problems. The seperate IRs is a nice feature in case one cell is going in a pack but I don't pay close enough attention nor do I think the numbers are that accurate for the small variations I have seen. The 1010B+ looks compelling as does the Neu although at first glance it may be the same just rebadged.
Some miscellanious ramblings hope it helps
Happy New Year