Scott S.

My Feedback: (2)

Okay, here is the deal, I think I have got it down to one of these 2 chargers, but I just can't decide on which one. I have always been leary of FMA's reputation, but Great Planes is just as much of a concern. I like the fact the Triton has Lithium capabilities, but I may never use them. Heck I just got in NiMH. Other than that, they seem to be very similar, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!

zero244

My Feedback: (1)

A SuperTurbo........I have two and they work great......very easy to program......and they have a couple of features the SuperNova is missing. The Triton seems to be getting the thumbs up....with some minor probs is Ion batteries.
The superturbo has been field tested for a while........while the Triton is Brand New........you might want to wait 6 months to see if the Triton stacks up ok.

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

For what its worth, my sources say the SuperTurbo and Triton were designed by the same individual in Korea.

lennyk

My Feedback: (12)

Tell the guy to start his own operation from home and program his microprocessors to target a well known 4 port charger
and start taking orders Feb 6th 9am est

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

Apparently there is no market for them. :-)

My third one is scheduled for March shipment . . . but it is promised to a poor unfortunate chargerless individual - at cost.

ml3456

Will the Alpha charge multiple Nimh packs. of 4.8 and 6 volt, or just 2? There web site leaves a little to be desired, but there reputation is very good.

ML

satnaam

My Feedback: (5)

Who make's the super turbo chargerand what price range and can you list some feature's

satnaam

EdMan-RCU

Dymond Super Turbo $109.00, http://www.rc-dymond.com/
Great charger/cycler.
-Charge/discharge 1-26 cell ni-cad & ni-mh.
-Charge up to 5amps
-DC (12volt input)
-charge/discharge or discharge/charge cycles
-adjustable trickle and delta peak sensitivity
-ect......

I have had this charger for just less than a year now with nothing but good things to say about it! However the new Triton looks to be pretty good. Hope this helps,

EdMan

wuudogg

My Feedback: (14)

I have owned the Dymond Super Turbo for about 6 months. It's a great charger. Easy to use. Programmable memory.

Dad got the Triton for XMAS.... so of course I got to mess around with it. Also easy to use. Programmable memory. Triton will charge your Lead Acid and Lion batteries too (Dymond Super Won't). I like the controls on the Triton.

I don't plan to turn in my Dymond Super Turbo anytime soon for an upgrade though.

... if it ain't broke (blah blah blah)

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

It will charge 4 packs at once - independently.

gwright

But the alpha (I have one) will only do 1 amp,.. and that's divided by the number of ports you have active,.. so 1 amp rate for one pack, 250mah ea if charging 4 at one, 1/2 amp if charging 2 packs at one,..etc.
. Pretty much useless unless you're just doing reciever packs. I've got a couple supernova's (work great, both over a year and a half old), and a schulze 636. Supernova's will do up to 25 cells and 5 amps, the schulze ,..36 cells and 8 amps. The automatic mode on the schulze is far better than the supernova's,.. even going to 8 amps, packs are cooler coming off the charger than from the supernova at 5 amps. 30-cell 2600mah hydride packs range from 24 minutes to 30 minutes to peak on the schulze, and come off cooler than breaking them up into multiple packs and charging on the supernova at 5 amps, which takes much longer to peak. The schulze and orbit products are really the "cream of the crop". If all you need to charge are little 4-cell and 5-cell reciever packs,..anything will do the job OK,.. no need to over-analyze the situation.

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

I don't think it was ever the intent of Litco for the Alpha 4 to focus on the electric flight market but rather offer a very good system for maintaining control system packs with occasional field charge in a pinch. As it turns out it seems to fit the bill quite nicely for some of the park flyer packs and even up to speed 400 packs where you want to have four packs charged before going to the field. I think we will all agree that there is no system that does it all for everybody . . . and probably few could afford it if one were to be offered.

gwright

Yes Red I realize that, but mucho talk about this charger versus that charger,.. yada yada,.. and if all you need is something to charge and/or discharge a little reciever pack, it really doesn't matter, the cheapest of the available chargers will do it just as well. I think it's sort of strange that someone would think about a 250 dollar charger just to charge reciever packs . Sort of like researching for a month to find the best 12 guage shotgun because you have flies in your house,.. you just need to buy a flyswatter for that for the price of the alpha 4 you can have the low-end schulze 330, and have $80 left over, plus have a lot more capabilities. The alpha 4 was great for what was intended, and when it was designed, but it's out of date and overpriced considering other things that are available now. About the only "advantage" it would have is the 4 ports, but,.. using those all at once limits you to a 250mah rate per port, so you could just spend $40 on wall warts and do the same job.

IronZ

My Feedback: (3)

Seems no one is chiming in about the Super Nova. I LOVE mine!! My only complaint is that it won't discharge at a rate lower than 500ma. Other than that it ROCKS!!!

IronZ

Jazzy

Ditto IronZ, ditto.

The PIPE

Dear Fellow RCU'ers:

The PIPE Here, yet again-and even though I DO have two VERY nice SuperNova chargers, there MIGHT be just enough financial room in my budget in the New Year-the CENTENNIAL OF BIPLANE FLIGHT New Year -to pick up a Triton charger around the beginning of summer.

I've downloaded the Adobe Acrobat file of the Triton charger's manual, and though I haven't had any time to check it out closely yet, some of the nice features-like the "jog dial" to set your parameters, a discharge current that can run as low as 100 mA, and even some NICE NiMH-specific features that seem to leave the SuperNova just a bit "wanting" in that particular department.

However, as I use a 2 volt lead acid battery, running through a germanium power transistor P-N junction (in that homebuilt glow igntion boxed rig of mine that I call the "The German-ium Secret Glowplug Weapon") to reduce the voltage down to "just the right voltage" for great starts on all my four strokes, my two SuperNovas still have an important place in my support gear collection (The Triton can't handle a 2 volt lead acid battery-only 6, 12 and 24 volt setups!)

Perhaps, by the time the 2004 WRAMS Show rolls around, I'll have TWO Triton chargers as well..providing I'm not trying to charge four electroflight batteries at once, the 23 amp output 12 volt Radio Shack-sourced power supply I have for powering my SuperNovas will ALSO be running my Triton(s) for radio battery charging and maintenance without breaking a sweat!

It sure DOES look like a good, and VERY versatile, charger-and I'll TRY to see if I can get it from my LHS by May or June, as he's a Great Planes distributor!

But with ALL the nice chargers out there, it's VERY hard to understand WHY someone would want to waste their time in the "Al-phuh-Fore" allocation game-most fliers just don't have to charge FOUR batteries at once for just ONE plane's airborne radio power needs, like these guys running "upwards of quadcycle-engine sized" one third, 40% and even ONE HALF SCALE monster aerobatic models with upwards of four battery packs in them! THOSE things SCARE me......I'll just stick to my four stroke models, thank you-and use my SuperNovas, and perhaps a Triton or two in the near future, for my charging needs!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE!

Red Baron Gary

My Feedback: (59)

My old simprop battery charger gave out the other day, no one ANYWHERE was willing to make repairs to it.
So, went out and bought the new triton.
First one was a failure out of the box, now have second charger in service, will see how it goes.
Many nice features, much to the point that there jsut migfht be TOO many variables that can be compensated for.
Will keep the forum posted as to how things go with the new triton, but as of now I'm not entirely too happy.
Have talked to local r/c store, may go back to it and see if i can get them to trade the triton for a super nova. At least, if it goes on the fritz FMA will repair it.
In closing, fwiw, I callled FMA to see itf thery would make repairs to my simprop, got the usual "leave your number, we'll call you back."
But lo and behold, I recieved a very nice call about an hour so later, the gentleman I talked to said that "no, we don't repair the other guy's equipment."
But he was couterous and so-forth.
Maybe FMA's having a change of public heart?
Best to all in `03,
Gary Smith

sfaust

My Feedback: (11)

Your idea of what market the Alpha is intended for is just skewed. Its easy to say the Alpha 4 is useless, unless you fit into the category where the Alpha is just about the only charger that works well. And thats up poor old giant scale pilots with the larger aerobatic planes. Unfortunately, there just isn't a vialble solution for us unless we spend twice the price of an Alpha 4.

$40 worth of wall warts for us is totally useless. We typically fly
NiCad or NiMh packs in the 1600mah to 3000mah range. Each of our planes have at minimum 3 battery packs, usually 3 for the most part, and many have 4 packs. My 40% Extra 330 is a typical plane, with dual 2700mah packs for the receivers, and a 2150mah pack for the ignition. Add in a transmitter, and I need those 4 ports. Couple this with the fact I usually fly two of giant scale planes at an event or meet, new I have 7 to 8 batteries to charge at the end of the day.

I would need more than $40 worth of wall warts. I would need wall warts that have 200mah to 400mah rates, which I havent seen yet. The wall warts will not discharge and capacity check my packs. I would also need 120v ac, or a charger that will run off 12v in addition to the wall warts. The Futaba wall warts at Tower Hobbies run about $20 each, or $80 for the capability of 200mah total output for 4 ports. It would take forever to charge the packs, and certainly not overnight. Maybe in a couple days though, it it fully charges them at all. For a 2700mah pack, its little more than a trickle charger.

Now, what does the Alpha 4 does buy us giant scale pilots. Convenience. I can connect my 3 aircraft packs, and the transmitter, put it on charge, and in the morning, everything will be ready. It allows me the capability of fast charging at the field up to a max 1amp rate if needed. However, with dual 2700mah packs, its rare I would ever get in enough flights to even warrant a field charge. Even on a day where I get in the max flights I can. It gives me the capability of properly maintaining and checking my batteries, with cycling, form charges, capacity checking, a built in ESV, etc.

With two Alpha 4 chargers, I can fly two airplanes all day long (up to around 20 or more flights), connect up the airplanes at the end of the day, and forget about them till the next morning. They will be charged and ready for another uninterrupted day of flying. No field charging, no fast charging, and continuous operation. And when I need to maintain the batteries, the Alpha 4 will do that as well in the shop. And all ports operate autonomously, as one can be discharging, charging, or maintaining the batteries independently.

I have tried to match these capabilities with other solutions. There are none that do not require carrying multiple units, spending more dollars, playing move the charger from battery to battery all night long, or accepting less functionality. The Alpha fits the giant scale aerobatic market almost perfectly, with the exception of the 1amp limit. We just learn to live with that my using large packs (nice to have reserve anyway), and performing a C10 charge during the night while we sleep.

If one takes the time to understand the need for pilots that have a couple big airplanes, each with 3 or 4 batteries in them, one can quickly see why there are people that stand in line to get the Alpha 4's. Try to find another solution with the same features for the same price as an Alpha 4. So far, no one has been able to come up with an alternative.

Al Sabatino

Sfaust, thanks for writing on behalf of the larger scale pilots.I almost went the alpha route myself, but the wait along with the limit of amps forced me to find an alternate way. I have an Ace digipulse that does 1-6 packs(1-10cell ) at 10 to 150 mah for 16hrs then trickles after that . I have found unless the pack is completely discharged(packs over 1500mahs), the digipulse will fully charge up to a 2000 mah pack.and I also use the Ace ddvc that will handle 2 packs 1-10 cell at 5-500 ma which covers anything up to 5000mah at c/10. As far as fast charging at the field, 2 hobbico mkII's will do the trick. You can choose independant charge rates as well as 1-8 cells nimh,Li-ion,nicd in BOTH ports. This means you can do 3 flight packs and 1 transmitter pack or 4 flight packs at 2a each at once. Not bad at 50 bucks each. So all these chargers and a stand alone discharger is around $350 This covers all my charging needs for multiple aircraft. This is just one way of getting around finding the ultimate all in one charger. And come to think of it, I like having different chargers for different needs. It allows me set set up my shop as well as my field box in a more permanent set up. Oh yea and by the way, for the guy who said the big planes scare you. Some of those 40 and 60 sized planes with a less than competent pilot can be kind of scary as well.

The PIPE

Dear Al Sabatino:

The PIPE Here again...and what you said IS true, as those smaller models of 40-to-60 size CAN be, and sometimes ARE, flown by some less caring pilots in a VERY scary way, too......although I don't want ANYTHING "personally" to do with the monstrously huge aerobatic models, in meaning that I would never build, own OR fly one of those myself...I know THOSE types of models are usually flown by people who routinely do incredibly METICULOUS pre-flighting of their huge, aerobatic (usually) monoplanes, and are normally VERY CAREFUL about how they fly them-in fact the pre-flights they do, from observing one or two of them in my own club, are just about as meticulous as a full sized plane's pilot checkout of the plane they're about to place their own body in!

I just prefer to fly models that are SLOW and relaxing to guide through the air, and that bring back the feeling of full sized flight of a truly bygone age, like from the Pioneer Era (Wrights to 1914), through World War I and the Golden Age between the Kaiser's war and Hitler's/Tojo's conflagration...and there's even a 'few' World War II aircraft that pique my interest for future consideration as well for RC Scale aeromodeling subjects.

And ALL of these aircraft will be powered with four stroke powerplants, as I got rid of ALL my two stroke engines way back nearly 18 years ago...and I'm NOT the slightest bit sorry that I did that! There's a very strong likelihood I'll even do an electric RC Scale aircraft or two in the future, and I currently have an RC Assist Old Timer FF model that's due to get "zapped" with an Astro 15 Cobalt geared motor in its nose for power to fly IT again in my hangar...but I'm sticking with four stroke engines for ALL of my "fueled" model power needs for KEEPS. The big gas burning two strokers are great, for other people to use...they enjoy them all right, which is what they like to fly with...but it's just that I would NOT want that sort of powerplant on my RC Scale models, and that's just where I prefer to let it stand, as a matter of personal preference for engines on my own miniature aircraft.

I was just glad you chose NOT to play the Intel-style "allocation game" the Al-Phuh-Fore makers force their purchasers to play...and those Ace RC chargers are quite versatile, and you've found they ARE just fine for your needs, so you've avoided the "Litco game" as well-good to hear it!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE!

sfaust

My Feedback: (11)

I almost went that route as well, for the same reasons. I didn't want to wait forever to get an Alpha. It was only limited to 1amp. I didn't want to pay a company for a product when they make it so difficult for their customers. I didn't want to sit at my computer at 9:01 in the morning trying to send off a e-mail.

Before I finally broke down, and fought the resistance, I went through a number of combinations of chargers. I had a collection of wall warts with the TME auto/trickler unit to control the time on charger before going to trickle, I used the Accu-Cycler, Accu-Cycler plus, Super Nova, etc. Lots of different units which allowed me to do what I wanted, but eveytime I went to an event I had to take a large collection of stuff with me. Some AC/DC, some AC only, some DC only. I added it all up, and I have more invested than I would if I just had an Alpha, and I still didn't have the capabilities of the Alpha.

What I finally ended up with was a pair of Alpha 4 chargers, and a Super Nova 250S. I have all the capabilities I need, in three small boxes. The two Alpha's stay in the shop, and are almost always busy either maintaining packs, plotting discharge curves, capacity checking, or recharging both planes after flying all day. I take both of them with me if I attend any event were I will be staying overnight, and use them to overnight charge the planes (7 or 8 packs).

The Super Nova 250S stays in my flight box almost all the time. Rarely is it in the shop, but occasionally I need it for a fast charge over 1amp. I use it to at the field for any fast charging I need, which may be a TX, glow stick, starter/flight box battery, or any of the single pack smaller airplanes that might need a quick charge. However, its seen so little use, that I will be selling it on e-bay something this winter. My needs for fast charging are much less than I had anticipated.

The Alphas fit how I want my battery maintenance to be. "Simple and easy to implement, with the barest minimum of time spent, yet with the maximum amount of feedback and results." I spent more $ and time up front, but the time savings have been my reward for the long haul.

I used to spend all night going back to check to see if one set of charges were done so that I could move the chargers to the next set. I used to be up late waiting to swap over to the last set of packs so that everything would be ready in the morning (usually had from 6 to 8 packs to charge). Now, with the Alpha's, I can connected and program all 8 ports, plug everything in, and leave it till the morning. Takes me about 10 minutes max, and them my evening is totally from from charging duties. I figure that over the last few years, the hours worth of time it took me to finally procure the Alpha's, probably saved me at least 150 nights of tending to the chargers and playing 'swap the charger tag".

As much as I hated to go through the Alpha process, I think I got a very good return on my time investment. The Alpha may not fit everyones charging style and needs, but it fit mine perfectly.

Al Sabatino

Sfaust, I,m glad those chargers are working out for ya,I wish I had a couple of those myself. My suggestions on an alternative were just for people like me,who gotta have it now. What I described on my last post will give you 8 ports total for over night charging, which allows me a good nights rest as well. I also wanted to point out you weren't alone in your needs as far as charging goes.

Pipe, I think the different preferences in our hobby only help keep it alive. And I think its great you enjoy flying what you do . I just have a raw nerve where comments on large scale aerobatic planes are concerned. Others as well as I have been chased out of flying fields because of fear, noise,jealousy and what ever other reason.If I misunderstood your reason of fear, I apologize,

Red Baron Gary

My Feedback: (59)

To all: after a spending the weekend with the new triton battery charger, it has gone back to the courteous dealer who let me trade to a supernova.
Mind you now, am not out of my realm with regards to programing things such as the triton charger. But... it does have (imho,) way to many things that have to be accomplished in order to charge a battery pack or two.
Supernova (and those that are like it dymond, robbe et all,) has it over the triton with regards to simplicity. Program it up to suit your need in either nicd, nimh or lead acid gel cell, and that's that.
Or, just press one button, discharger and then charge a flight or xmtr pack of ANY capacity.
If I should go to electric flight. and accordingly, l-ion batts or such, then I will get another charger suited to for those particular purposes.
Just my opinion (or two)
Gary Smith

sfaust

My Feedback: (11)

I wasn't trying to minimize your comments, as they are well taken. Just some background on why I ended up where I am with the choices I made. It was basically the 'all in one box, one user interface' that made me finally break down and get them. But as you point out, there are other choices, although usually more expensive and in multiple boxes, but they are available now and delivered with a couple phone calls.