Scorch

New from Great Planes

I'm curious, do y'all think this is a good investment? Do y'all think it will be high quality, do the job and be worth the price? A buddy at the flying field has the AstroFlight 110D and this appears to be more feature packed, and it's nearly the same price.

I know it's not out yet, so I'm just curious in opinions.

Thanks guys.

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

Expect to have GP Triton for review by the Battery Clinic as soon as they become available. Will have preliminary performance report within 2 weeks after receipt of product. It will appear electronically at RC Universe http://www.rcuniverse.com/ and in hard copy in RC Report.

From reading the press releases on the product I will stick my neck out and say it is probably worth waiting for.

Wright Flyer

Dustin,

Maybe it's just me being a bit dim but I don't see a price (?) so it's difficult to judge how much of a bargain it is. But anything that can be used for Li as well as NiCd/NiMh seems like a great idea right now with the Kokams becoming generally available.

Cliff

Scorch

It's $130. The AstroFlight 110D is $110 That link is to the manufacturer. Not a seller.

Thanks, I may go ahead and pre-order this guy.

Roscoe

I have one on order now. Expect it to be shipped in early Dec. I will give my opinion ( for what it's worth ) after I check it out. The reason I ordered this one is that it will work with most batteries and packs we now use in RC.
Roscoe

Scorch

That was my thought. I had considered the AstroFlight 110D but it does not cycle. I also like the fact that I can charge literally ANY battery I have now. I too am going to order and will submit my $.02 when I get it.

Thanks guys.

coomarlin

My Feedback: (1)

Will the triton be DC only, or will it have AC capabilities? Would be nice if I could use it at home and at the field.

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

You will have to get a DC power supply to use it at home, just like most of the chargers that are offered to the hobby market. The DC supplies are quite reasonable at about the $30 range.

coomarlin

My Feedback: (1)

Is that some kind of adapter that plugs into your wall outlet while at the same time accepting a DC device? Is that something I can buy from Tower?

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

No, it is a simple oldfashioned DC power supply that every models shop should have.

Check theck these sites;http://www.efunctional.com/new-pyram...-supplies.html

http://www.millionbuy.com/caudio-kit-sup.html

http://www.valcoelectronics.com/

Ross Kean

Is there any problem with using an old PC power supply (AT type) for these chargers? I have a 250w power supply that is rated for 12 VDC at 9.5 amps. In order to "switch" it on and to get regulated power from the 12 V, you need to put a load on the 5V output - it seems to work Ok with a 5 ohm 25 watt resistor across the 5V supply (1 ampere draw). Higher resistance, lower wattage might work as well, but I have this one available. I have ordered the Triton and was planning to use this supply unless someone can tell me why it might not be a good idea.

Ross

Scorch

Actually, that is a great idea! There was an article in QST (ham radio) magazine about using just such a power supply to build one for use with 12v DC mobile ham rigs. I plan to do the same thing. If you like, I can dig up the magazine and give you specific information if you would like to read that article.

Ross Kean

Setting it up shouldn't be a problem. I would simply "tidy" it up a bit by removing wires that aren't needed. It is my understanding that all of the lines of the same voltage are in parallel. I might keep two "yellows" (+12V, 9.5A) tied together because of the potential high current draw if charging big packs at high rate.

I don't know if there is any reason to not use the PC supply. These are quite stable in voltage and (according to specs) should put out enough current to run the Triton. Can't wait until I get it - early December!

Ross

Scorch

I am excited too. I have acquired many models over the years and have fallen short on support equipment. I have high hopes the Triton will serve all my charging/cycling needs. I am also excited about building the power supply for the shop. The article I read seemed simple enough. I am somewhat of a novice at most of this stuff, so I will lean heavily on my fellow modelers at the field and on RCU

I hope it becomes available soon. I have oredered one, so we'll see.

Scorch

My Triton shipped yesterday, and will arrive on Monday I'll share first impressions ASAP.

4*60

My Feedback: (41)

PC power supply was discussed here and other threads here:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...c+power+supply]

Brettrein

My Feedback: (1)

I am using a PC Power supply to run my Dymond Super Turbo charger and it works great. It is an ATX Power supply but that's not a problem, as all you have to do is jumper the green and one black ground wire to start up the Power Supply. If you have an older AT power supply, you don't need to jumper those 2 wires. I used a 10 watt 10 ohm wire wound resister for the +5 volt line and hooked the Dymond up to the +12 volt line. Saved me some money.

Airborn

Tower Hobbies has them in stock, Called yesterday. Mine will be here on the 21st.

Ross Kean

4*60

I did the usual - post a question or reply and THEN do a search on the forum to see if the topic had come up. I had already salvaged a power supply from an old (dead) PC and set up a resistor on the 5V line to start it up and decided I'd better ask before risking a new charger.

If anyone is looking for some more info on PC power supplies for chargers, do a search on this forum or a search in Google - rec.models.rc.air. HOURS AND HOURS OF READING!!

Ross

f2racer

The new GP charger (the Triton?) looks extremely interesting. Keep us informed on Airborn...

Scorch

It has arrived, I will be playing......ah....researching its' capabilities tonight, and will post first impressions.

Foxtrot_019

I wish I had your job!!!

Scorch

In a nutshell, here are my first impressions of the Triton. It is housed in aluminum and plastic. It does have a substantial feel to it, but I have never had anything like this before, so I have nothing to compare it to. It comes with a booklet manual, and five flow charts and a one-page instruction supplement to setup the charger. That is pretty good, but I’d like to see some rules of thumb on charge and discharge rates of various sizes of cells and packs. It is not specific. This is a problem for a novice such as myself. I know a battery is slow charged at 10% of its’ rated capacity (overnight). I also know, a cell should be discharged to 1.1 – 1.0 volts per cell (also called out in the manual) that’s about the extent of my battery knowledge. The manual does warn you if you don’t know what you are doing, get help or you will destroy your battery pack. I have heeded this advice. I hope we get a good thread going on the hows and how-not tos of the Triton and fast charging/discharging in general.

You need a 12v power supply that can provide 13 amps, or an automotive battery for power. Don’t power it off your 7amp gel cell in your flight box. I am going to build a power supply from an old ATX computer supply. See QST magazine, May 2002 “The St. Louis Switcher”

Triton does have an auto mode (that you!), but it warns not to use it with packs smaller than 600 mah, and AA cell size. The setup seems pretty easy with the exception of choosing discharge and charge voltages and currents. I understand the steps involved, I just don’t know what to choose for some of the values. <help>

There are a number of warnings about Lithium Ion and NIMH battery packs. I only have Nicds, so I have not read that yet.

When I do know what to choose, I have 10 memories to setup for my special packs. For example, I have a 4 cell, 4.8v, 270 mah pack. I can choose 250 or 300 mah for its’ capacity in the setup menu. What should I choose?

What seems to be a really good feature is it will charge then discharge 1- 10 times automatically, or discharge then charge 1 – 10 times. I understand the advantage of being able to discharge, then charge. For example, I have a PBF with that small pack on it. I would think it would be a good idea to pull it down, then charge it back up to keep as much capacity as possible.

All in all, it looks promising. I hope others will teach us novices how to get the most out of our Tritons.

On Edge

Thanks Scorch,
I too hope that someone with more knowledge of batteries will give us the spec's to get the most out of out Tritons! I know even less than you do, so any advice will be much appreciated by me!

Also, what is QST magazine, and can I find the article online somewhere? I too have a PC power supply I would like to convert. Unfortunately, my knowledge of electrical is less than my knowledge of batteries :-( so any help on this will be much appreciated too!!!

Thanks,
Jeff

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

We are suppose to get a Triton here at the Battery Clinic to review. I'll keep your questions in mind and try to answer them as they relate to the Triton.

Rule of thumb for charging/discharging as asked by Sorch,

1) Unless you are really in a hurry stick to charge rates equal to the rated capacity of cells being charged. (In the case of the 270 mAh pack, ;300 is OK). Max charge rate for Ni-Cd is 4C (4 times the rated capacity), and 2C for Ni-MH. I don't know what the Triton has established for Lithium Ion/polymer. For right now I would recommend that you stick with 1/3C for charge rate with a cut off at 4.1 volts.

2)Manufacturers rate their cells at the C/5 discharge. So use as close as you can get to this (on the high side) if you want to see if the cell meets manufacturerer's specs. 50 mA one way or another - it is not critical.