99cavyz

I was just wondering if anybody could answer my question. This is the charger I have and it claims it can charge LiPo batteries but...can it, SAFELY? The guy at the lhs claims that the company that makes the charger is being sued because of the batteries being damaged by the charger? I have no problems charging NimH or NiCd, but i know that LiPo's are a completely different cup of tea. any help would be appreciated.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

The Super Brain 977 charger can safely charge 2S (7.4) LiPo packs safely. 3S or higher voltage LiPo packs should only be charged using a balancing interface, however. None of the major manufacturers are offering non-balanced packs in 3S or higher voltages any more; in fact virtually no manufacturers are offering unbalanced packs.

You can purchase a balancing module like the Electrifly Equinox balancer to connect between your Super Brain 977 charger and your balanced LiPo packs to safely charge them:

http://www.electrifly.com/chargers/gpmm3160.html

I use the Equinox balancing module with my Super Brain 989 charger as well as my Hobbico Quick Field Charger Mk II, and I'm quite happy with the results.

nk3t

I have a 977 in the box on the floor, shipping out today as an ebay sale. According to the manufacturer, it is working properly. I personally find it awkward and unsafe, having already puffed and ruined LiPos with the unit. My problem is the virtually inaudible beeps and delay in the button presses. At times the start button will accept multiple hits, which changes your charging settings to the default for a NiMh.

99cavyz

BigEd~ Thanks for the info... So the balancer will cut the voltage when it reaches 4.2v? So, in essence, you can use any charger if you use that balancer?

Nk~ sorry to hear, i know lipo's arent cheap. were you using anything like BigEd suggested? or plugged straight into the charger?

BuzzBomber

My Feedback: (4)

fwiw, if there's a lawsuit against MRC it's probably concerning the 969, which claimed to be a lipo charger, but required you to time the charge and estimate the total capacity to put in the pack. A genuinely bad idea. The car guys seem to like the 977 and the 989 chargers, but my 959 crapped out after a year, and so did my brother's and my father's. We all bought the around the same time and the same thing went wrong--the LCD started to fail and the programming buttons would stick. I think I'll stay away until the can demonstrate real improvements.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

The balancer monitors the voltage of each individual cell and bleeds off voltage from the highest cells as they charge so they stay balanced.

You still need a LiPo compatible charger to use with the balancer, a NiCd/NiMH charger wouldn't be able to monitor the batteries properly and would likely fall into trickle mode, which would be bad. A true LiPo charger will provide the correct voltages and shut off when the peak charge level is detected.

The LiPo charger provides the proper voltage to charge the pack and can detect when it is time to stop charging the pack. The balancing module monitors the individual voltage of each cell while the charger is charging them and bleeds excess voltage from the highest charged cells.

LiPo batteries will tend to puff up and swell when not balanced while charging. The cells that are more fully charged get overcharged while the charger is trying to get the lowest cells up to full voltage. Balanced charging prevents that from occuring.

99cavyz

~bump~ any more opinions on charging lipo's with the Superbrain 977?

supi7

My Feedback: (2)

We have just had two complaints about swollen lipo packs and SB 977 was used, both were 2S packs of diffrent capacity used by same driver on 2 diffrent cars. Both were charged, used once, and then charged again before customer returned them to the store, puffed up. The store manager checked the voltage upon my request it was at 8.92V, way over the limit (8.4V). I say STAY AWAY from this one. If you got one make sure you have fire insurance.

For balancer the SM505 or Equinox is a MUST. Always use as a charge through balancer.

Dan

f_shawn68

Go with something else for lipo. It works well with nimh, but not so well with lipos. I ran lipos in all my offroad racers and they were awsome. The lipos (from Orion) strongly discouraged the use of superbrain 977 as they have had several problems with ruined lipos that were used to charge them. There was a warning card in the box when I bought the lipos. If you really want a good charger, go with something like a duratrax ice, or other lipo charger. Stay away from the 977.