hankpajari

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Guys

I just bought my second Alpha. I have a little question. My first came with a 10 volt AC charger. The second came with a 9 volt AC charger.

The first calls for a 12v DC or 10v AC input.

The second calls for a 12v DC or 9v AC input.

Both call for 2.4 amp inputs.

Does anyone out there know what, if anything, this means?

I am asking you guys for help because from what I read on the Litco website the owners don't want to be bothered with silly owner questions.

Before anyone reads this as a criticism of the product, if I didn't think it was the best out there I wouldn't have spent about $500 on two of them. Make your own conclusions on what I think of their attitude toward customer service.

hebertjj

Why no replies? The reply instructions say "Please resist the urge to curse, flame, degrade, insult or embarrass someone in your post." You spent $500 on chargers and don't know what those terms mean?

Mike01

Somebody didn't take their ritallin today.

I saw no insults, curses, flames, degradations or embarassing comments in the original question.

I believe the reason most Alpha 4 owners do not want to be bothered with silly owner questions, if that is in fact true, is that they don't know the answers. The Alpha 4 seems like a device designed to take all the thinking out of battery management. Nothing wrong with that, of course.

Hank...when you say charger, do you mean power supply? Like a little wall wart that transformer 117V AC into 10 or 9V AC?

If so, and one calls for 9V and the other calls for 10V, the units are probably built just a bit differently (different value resistors and capacitors and all that kinda good electro-wizzamajigms). Just be sure not to mix up the two power supplies and you'll be fine. Mixing them up would probably be very bad.

It might be a good idea to mark them with colored tape or something.

If I'm way off base with this...someone like Red will step in and smack me around (verbally speaking, of course) before giving you the right answer.

iflyj3

My Feedback: (7)

It means, don't worry about it. He is probably using the least expensive transformer he can get and the latest one is 9VAC. Some of mine from 1995 had a true large white wall wart. The later ones have a transformer with wire from both ends.

Anyway, by the time the AC gets rectified inside the A4, the resultant DC is 1.4 times the AC input. The input to the A4 is a full wave bridge rectifier and that allows the input to be AC or DC of either polarity, a good design.

Nominal line voltage is supposed to be 117 VAC, however mine is always on the high side and is about 125 VAC. This too will affect the output of the transformer.

I wouldn't hesitate to use either xmfr on either A4.

I have number 10 A4 on the way.

rajul

My Feedback: (58)

That's gotta be the record ! [X(] Just out of curiosity, why do you need 10 A4's for ? Many will feel deprived LOL !

hebertjj

Sorry guys, I wasn't accusing Hank of flaming; I was saying responses (like mine) might come close to flaming and thus people just weren't responding. Badly worded, I know. As for me, I just couldn't resist getting a jab in.

Litco threads tend to spend more time bragging about how they got theirs, how many they got, or griping about not being able to get one, than talking about charging and flying. Maybe we need a "Litco" forum all by itself ( with no manufacturer support, obviously, or maybe I could moderate by just putting in an occasional "Nah, Nah, NaNah, Nah!" to keep things stirred up ).

As to Hank's two models with two different AC input specs, bummer! Is that really the specs on the Litcoes, or the specs on the wall warts? If it's just the wall warts being different, they may both meet the specs for input to the LItcoes and Mr. Litco just got a new batch of wall warts that are a little different from the previous, but still meet the input specs. I kinda doubt the AC input specs are that tight and think both wall warts meet specs for both Litcoes. If you fry one by switching wall warts, don't worry; it's easy to get another Litco or get one serviced.

hankpajari

My Feedback: (1)

Sorry guys, I didn't explain my self very well.

I wanted to know why I have two different wall warts to power the Alphas and why the silkscreen on the side of the Alphas state that they use the two different wall warts. I also wanted to know if mixing the two would damage the units.

As far as clarifying my comments on owners, I meant the owners of Litco company. If you look at their website there is no phone number to call. They discourage emails and questions. They will do business on their terms and the public be damned. They are apparently basking in their success in manufacturing an outstanding product and feel complete disdain for the poor unwashed that pay a premium for their product.

Do I sound bitter, I hope not. But I do resent the apparent arrogant attitude that I see and hear about this company. I run a small company here and deal with customers on a daily basis. They are the most important asset we have. If we don't take care of them they will simply go somewhere and buy competing goods.

I wish Litco felt the same. When someone comes in and designs a competing product I am betting that Litco will either change their attitude or go away. The latter will be a shame since they obviously know how to design a superior product and their manufacturing and quality control is way above average. Arrogance in business usually means failure.

BillS

Oh so true and so many times forgotten or ignored.

KevinSheen

My two A4's came with different power supplies. I've used either power supply on either A4 with success.


Kevin

AIRPLANENUTS

My Feedback: (2)

Anyone know if the Alpha puts out 1 amp per port, or 1 amp total. I couldn't discern from their website.

will

One amp total.

hankpajari

My Feedback: (1)

It's 1 amp total available, charge or discharge. You can lower the rate by programming more than one port, even if the port it not used.

hebertjj

Come on Nuts! It's one amp total. If it was per port, that would be up to 4 amps out and your input is only 2.4 A max.

As to Litco's customer be damned, arrogant attitude, Litco is a garage industry that makes all the money the owner wants and doesn't want to expand and because the customers have still been willing to buy at that level of service, Litco's not gonna change. I still think some of the appeal is the competition to get one and the "gotta have what everyone says is the best" attitude that keeps them going. Do you really need four outputs in one box?

AIRPLANENUTS

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks, guys. I think four outputs in one charger with a respectable output is better than four chargers with one output each. I prefer to charge several things at once, i.e. rx, tx, glow driver, starter batt., field box batt. I am currently using several chargers to achieve this. In fact, I wish there was a charger with 20 ports, but I may be in the minority.

Mike01

Is a Litco Alpha 4 better than 2 Accucyle Elites, which can charge lithiums, have 4 ports (combined), run off of AC or DC, can charge at 2 amps max and are readily available from Tower Hobbies?

hankpajari

My Feedback: (1)

IMHO - Yep!!

Mike01

Ok...like what?

hankpajari

My Feedback: (1)

Accuracy, reliability, safety. I had a battery pack short out in the middle of the night and the Alpha caught it and turned off. Battery pack, wire harness, switch all were melted but no fire. I dont know if there would have been a fire with any other charger but I darn sure know I am glad I had the Alpha at the time! Just put a new battery and switch harness in the airplane and went flying.

The Accucyle I have, a Pro model, needed to be calibrated and even then only uses a timer to calculate the charge left in the battery. The Alpha moniters and records the charge left.

I honestly believe the Alpha to be a better product. Just my opinion though, Red is a better one to ask but he has not responded to this thread yet.

Flying Geezer

My Feedback: (14)

Iflyj3 told you correctly that there is a bridge rectifier at the input of the Alpha 4. This enables it to run on ac or dc. You can run it on your field battery which may be over 13 volts fully charged.

Whether you input AC or DC, by the time it goes through the bridge rectifier it's definitely DC. Then it goes into a DC/DC converter which can boost the voltage, or reduce the voltage, because it's regulated at the output of the converter circuit. So, by the time it gets to the charging circuits, the voltage is correct as long as the input is within the working range of the convertert circuit, and the current is sufficient as long as the wall wart can supply sufficient current.

You may have noticed that when you charge an 8 cell transmitter pack, the voltage reading will sometimes exceed 14 volts before it peaks, and goes to trickle, even though you aren't using a power source that outputs that much voltage. That's the regulated converter circuit at work.

It's a facinating piece of technology, especially for the era it comes from.

Hope this helps,

iflyj3

My Feedback: (7)

At last inventory I had 45 airplanes in flying status. I keep the A4's on 24/7 and I never know until I get ready to leave what I am going to fly that day. I also use some wall wart chargers with a timer. I have a couple of planes that take all four ports of the A4 to charge the onboard battery packs.

Also, I have bought these 10 over the last 9 years so the $$ sting per year wasn't too bad.

Price for performance, it is still the best charger for my type of flying and charging. There is a new one from Germany that looks fine but by the time you buy the AC power supply it cost about $100 more than the Alpha.

hankpajari

My Feedback: (1)

Hey, thanks guys.

I didn't mean to stir up a hornets nest but will take responsibility since I shot off my mouth about Litco's business practices.

To sum up, I don't have to worry about which power supply (wall wart) to use. The voltage requirements on the Alpha's really don't mean much.

I still believe that this is the best overall charger/maintenance system on the market today and, best of all, is made in America.

Thanks again.

SitNFly

My Feedback: (54)

For you Seinfeld fans, Litco is pretty much the soup Nazi of the charger business. And, yes, I do have one and am glad I have it. Don't know if I'd buy another one or not, especially since I'm starting to fly electrics. It's a great receiver and transmitter battery charger/conditioner, without a doubt.

AIRPLANENUTS

My Feedback: (2)

NO ALPHA FOR YOU![sm=punching.gif]

Mike01

Maybe it's the "crusader" in me that sees the whole Alpha 4 mess as being inherently evil and wants to destroy it...I don't know. I have never seen one, and I hate it.

I think it's the same reason I hate those nightclubs in NYC that only let certain people in while making the rest wait in line. Although in my youth I had no problem gaining immediate entry on the few occaisions some girl dragged me there with her, I still despised the system.

Something about the concept of valuing your customers...