David_Moen

The inability to use stored paramaters on both channels seems like a silly thing to me!

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

The only thing that bothers me is that the supplied power supply has limitations with respect to the unit. SInce I will be charging RX packs, it is not a problem. If I has 6-10 cell packs for electric planes, then I would be upset.

coomarlin

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Giest I noticed that those limitations with the ac power source are when using both channels concurrently. I wonder if there are any limitations when using a single channel.

BTW, I assume you've received yours. What are your thoughts. Have you had a chance to charge any LiPo's yet?

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

No, Fed Ex is still playing with it. It has been in Atlanta since 7/2 and has been bouncing between two facilities that are less than a mile from each other. If I read the manual correctly, the limit is 14VA per channel. With that said, you can charge a single 10 cell pack at 2 amps. This would equate to about 28.5 VA total so there is not a limit.
Chart is on http://www.windyridgerc.com/accucycle_elite/7.jpg

ptgarcia

My Feedback: (36)

coomarlin,

In response to your questions:

1. A safe fast charge for any size pack is 1C. Packs made with sub-C and larger cells can usually fast charge safely at 2C and even greater for the biggest packs. I fast charge all my batteries (NiCd, NiMH, and LiI) at 1C.

2. I typically use 1.1v per cell as my cut-off when discharging - it's safe. 1.0v per cell is fine but 0.9v per cell makes me uncomfortable. I tend to lean towards the conservative side when discharging.

3. Most manufacturers use C/5 to rate the capacity of their packs. So, when I discharge I always use C/5, that way I can compare apples to apples when checking capacity.

4. I would leave the default alone at 8mV. I have my Triton set to 5mV for NiMH and 10mV for NiCd. The lower the number, the more conservative the charge, meaning less damage can be done to your packs. There is a good explanation of this floating around somewhere. When you get the time you might want to look for it.

Hope this helps a bit. Good luck with your new charger!

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

Well, I finally received my charger today. It has been floating around Fedex in Atlanta since July 2nd. I plan to cycle a couple of packs to check it out. The charger looks good and the power supply looks to be a regulated supply with a transformer instead of a switching power supply.

I will post more when I check it out.

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

OK, I have had a chance to charge a few pack under a couple situations.

Charged two receiver packs. A 6v - 2700maH pack and a 6v - 1650maH pack using the 1650maH parameters with no problems. Packs were charged, flown (5 flights) and recharged and were within 100maH of each other. I started the cycle feature on both backs and found that sometime the supplied PS will give you an input over voltage reading on the charger. I am not sure why this happened. I could not duplicate it but I will continue to test it out.

I use the 6v 1650maH setting to charge a 4.8v 2700maH ignition pack. The charger saw the pack as a 4 cell pack, put in 850maH at the proper voltage 6.4 (max) and went to trickle charge at 51ma at 5.7volts.

My next plan is to program two memories and see if I start channel one on memory one then go to channel two and select memory two. The manual says you cannot do this.

rajul

My Feedback: (58)

Miles, are these Nimh or Nicd ? What is the peak sensitivity setting ? Thx

PS. Did you get my email on the APG html code ?

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

The peak sensitivity is at 8mv and all of these are NiMH's
I plan to replace them with 1700maH Nicads. I first want to test how low I can take the packs until it can't handle .8 amps at 1.1 volts per cell.

Yes, I received your emails saying that it worked!

Slyder

Have you guys checked the discharge currents yet?
Please keep us posted and your final thoughts. Thinking of getting one if you all think they are working good.
Thanks
Eric

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

I haven't checked the discharge yet.
Today I ran my transmitter down to 8.6 volts.
It is a 1650maH NiMH pack
I put 1688 maH back into the pack before it went into trickle charge.

The only thing that I have noticed that is out of the norm is that the supplied AC supply will sometime cause the charger to say that the input voltage is to high at 17.8 volts. I will test this out more when I get the chance.

rajul

My Feedback: (58)

Try using a DMM to verify the output voltage from the transformer the next time you see this error message. That will be interesting to find out.

TnT3

Very cool site and excellent conversation. Just got into flying and have a VG 6000 for a LT-40 with a Thunder tiger .46. Instantly hooked, went out and got realflight and have been practicing almost everyday. Have flown twice with a trainer cord and after an excellent day yesterday have 7 solo flight and even a dead stick, what a rush. Anyway, felt the urge to buy something the other day and ordered this charger for 2 reasons, because it would do both my Tx and Rx at the same time and that it would do Li-Po battereis, whatever they are, but figured if it can do all three that is a good thing. After reading all your posts i can see i have alot to learn about charging my batteries, You guys keep posting and i'll keep reading.
Thanks again.

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

I will do just tht. Need to get some batteries for it.
My question will be that the charger is suppose to alarm at 22 volts according to the documentation. I guess the charger is set up to say that just under 18 volts is exccesive. It also may show that the output is not regulated and that the 15 watt output is a maximum under the proper load conditions. Too bad I don't have a reactive load. It would be nice to test this idea.

coomarlin

My Feedback: (1)

Can I check the discharge currents by starting a disharge and attatching my DMM to the battery leads? Red to red/black to black? I've got a cheap DMM but I really don't know much about using it. Electronics is not my strong suit. My DMM has 3 DC Current settings (2mA, 20mA /10A, 500mA) The manual states "Monitors charger or power supply current at the 10A (max.) setting, but can be reset for 500mA, 20mA or 2mA ranges to check the current in a servo, radio circuit or tiny watch battery"

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

It would also seem prudent that they put a fan assembly in the charger to keep it cool during the discharge cycle. I don't understand why this was not done. You could use the discharge current to power the fan

PlaneKrazee

My Feedback: (14)

coomarlin,

I think you want to put the leads of your meter in series not parallel. You will blow the fuse in your meter if you go across red to black because that would be a dead short. You need to connect one lead from the battery to the charger the other battery leato the meter, then out of the meter and into the charger.

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

With this said, you want to put red charger to red DMM and Black DMM to red charge lead. This will allow you to check current. Make sure that your meter is set to current when you do this.

coomarlin

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks for the info guys. I'm still unclear as to how to accomplish this. I think I need to take electronic 101 at the vocational school I've included a rather crude drawing of my setup. Maybe you could explain what to do based on my drawing

guver

My Feedback: (325)

seperate f & g and hook the two leads from the dvm there. so the current from the charger is going thru the meter. It doesn't matter which charge lead goes thru the meter it may just show negative amps. Keep it under 10 thiough.

coomarlin

My Feedback: (1)

The two black wires? I'll try that this week when I have some time.

JimTrainor

Hook your meter up as shown below. You can insert the meter in series on either the positive or negative side of the circuit... as you wish. I showed in on the positive side.

I would set it to the 10 A range to begin wth. There may a separate input on the meter for 10A current measurment. Use that. that input will probably be unfused. If you use the other input (assuming it is there) it will likely be fused, and you'll likely blow the fuse if you fast charge!

rajul

My Feedback: (58)

What Jim and guver said. Don't cut your charging cords. Remove one banana plug from the charger and insert the dvm probes in between.

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

Rajul
Finally connected a DMM to the output of the transformer.
Very interesting results. Kind of confusing.
No load voltage is 14.15 volts.
Charge power on but not charging 17.17 volts - 17.97 volts
Varies without doing anything.

Charging one 6volt pack at 1 amp - 16.85 volts
Charging two 6volt packs at 1 amp - 16.08 volts.

The funny thing is that when I first started charging the pack, I had the battery connector, connected backwards (no ground connection) the charger when into fault but the voltage of the transformer dropped to 7.71 volts and then alarmed with voltage too low. I did this several times so during that power on phase, it was repeatable even after turning the charger on and off. Removing the connection is what resolved the problem.

Slyder

Hi Geistware,
Any more thoughts or conclusions?
Do you feel it is worth the price yet?
Thanks