I just got 2000mah nimh Tx and Rx batteries, and need a charger. I'm trying not to spend a fortune here as I'm already over budget. Do I need a charger with a discharge function? Is anything wrong with a $30 peak DC charger http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXDXA2&P=0 ?) Is there an AC/DC charger that will also charge a 12v field battery? Right now I don't have 12V field battery, so I was leaning toward AC or AC/DC, unless I got inexpensive charger and 12V battery (and charger for that too?) I'm totally confused, just want to get what's good for the batteries without breaking the bank.

Thanks!

Two amps topps, or you'll start to heat things up, assuming you are doing a quick peak charge. If you have the time to wait over night then let the trickle charge, if your charger has one, do the work. You'll get longer times out of them the slower the rate.

It depends upon the battery chemistry.

LiPo's typically ( though there are exceptions ) like no more than 1C.
NiMH's and NiCD's do better with less than 1C.
Phosphate ( A123's ) can sustain 4C and above!

So your ignitor COULD be charged in an hour with a 1600mA charge rate, but it will do better with say a 500mA charge rate for 3 hours or so.

Check the output on your charger too!

Spend some time here. Very educational website devoted to RC Batteries and their care.

[link=http://www.rcbatteryclinic.com]www.rcbatteryclinic.com[/link]

Red also writes the Monthly battery column for the AMA magazine.

Ken

why dont you just use the charger that came with your radio

70ma charger for a 2000ma battery would take 28 hours.

A little bit of extra money will get you a much better charger:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXCTZ5&P=7

At $49.99, the Quick Field Charger Mk II can quick charge two batteries at once. It peak charges and autodetects when the peak is reached then switches to trickle charging for NiCd/NiMH batteries, so you don't have to sit by with a stop watch while charging batteries. It will also charge LiPo batteries and will work with a wide variety of balancing modules including the Electrifly Equinox balancing interface.

You can use the charger on your car battery or field box battery. It also works well with most any 12v power supply.

This is a very versatile charger and a bargain for the price. I also own the MRC Super Brain 989 that I use for cycling and testing purposes as well as trickle charging new packs. For the bulk of my daily quick charging needs though, my Hobbico Quick Field Charger MkII is my "go to" charger.

Good site. I also like www.batteryuniversity.com. It isn't RC related but just has a lot of good, objective information about different battery types in general.

Hmm, how about this one? Will charge a 12V field battery, glow plug, whatever you got! Even comes with it's own power supply. (Thanks to a nice surprise in my checking account today from our ([:@]) president.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...6&I=LXLCJ6&P=K

With either the Peak 400 or the MRC you're going to have to fabricate a connector for the DuraTrax style:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXD173&P=V

To one that will fit your Tx & Rx batteries. Not a biggie.

I can recommend the Triton Jr. and a Hobbico 12v power supply as a good solution. The new Jr. has a way to disable the 90 minute safety timer and that is a huge plus. I fly 4.8v 1450 mAh NiMH in everything (two in my gassers) and the 9.6v 1600 mAh NiMH Rx pack in my Futaba 9C and have great luck with them. Darned 12V source costs more than the chargers. One way around that is to charge a wet cell marine or car battery with a automotive style charger and disconnect that and then connect the Triton. Not cost effective unless you already have the large battery & charger. That, or charge the R/C batteries in your garage from the car until your kitty is replenished. With the Hobbico you can eventually expand and gang several Tritons or similar off distribution strips.

I've got three wall-warts (two Tx/Rx & one to my sealed gel garden tractor 12V starting & panel battery) and a four battery R/C Multi-Charger ( http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXL331&P=7 ) all plugged into a powerstrip on an appliance timer that is on one hour per day (see Red Schofield's site mentioned above). Then an Accu-Cycle charger/discharger and a Triton Jr. . . and I'll be adding a second Triton Jr or II soon. I keep a log and cycle every battery pack through a 2X charge/discharge cycle every month. Except the one in my day in/day out go to flyer that is currently my Contender 60. That gets used enough it doesn't need cycling except in the winter.

I would bet that most "glitches", "hits" and mysterious cause crashes are truly poor battery management.

Geez, there's so many options! I was thinking the MRC, while a little more than I was wanting to spend up front, can charge my batteries at home. Then when I get a few more dollars, it can charge whatever 12v battery I get, eliminating another charger. I like the idea of charging two batteries with one charger, unless someone knows of a reason this might be bad?

What do most people do for charging batteries, charge only at the field? Do you charge up first thing, while you're getting all your other stuff ready? I was thinking most people would charge up night before or morning of at home, and only bring charger for emergencies at the field.

My first charger (other than the OEM wall charger) was the Hobbico Accucycle. It worked well for charging Ni-cads & Ni-Mh and cycling Ni-cads. Then I stepped up to the Accucycle Elite. It is a great charger for the money allowing you to charge/discharge 2 batteries at once, get a nice digital readout of mAh pulled out and put into the battery, etc. It even does 3-cell Li-po's. It won't do 12v lead-acid though. The Triton will do the 12V batteries I believe.

When I charge depends how many planes I am taking to the field. I generally fly on Saturday. If I plan on taking my T-28, I charge the Li-po's on Wednesday or Thursday. I normally charge my receiver packs on Friday night but sometimes I'll start Thursday night if I plan on taking a few planes. My transmitter always gets charged the night before I fly. When at the field, I always check my batteries with a load after a couple flights. I haven't had any issues yet and I don't want to. I've seen planes go in due to batteries failing or not being charged adequately. I take the charger to the field just in case I need it and to charge the Li-po's for my T-28.

I also cycle my Ni-cad batteries every 30-45 days to monitor their capacity and condition them. If they start losing significant capacity, I toss them. They are so inexpensive that it isn't worth risking a nice airplane.

Basically, just make sure your batteries are fully charged before heading for the field. Too many people throw it on a charger for a couple hours and call it good only to lose their airplane.

Thanks Chuck.

I've got one plane right now, so I'm going for charging at home, and maybe bringing charger to field for emergencies, in which case then I would use my car's battery. I think the accucycle elite is a sweet charger indeed. If it were $30 less, or maybe if it charged 12v lead-acid batteries I'd give it some more consideration. I'm having a tough time coughing up $100 for the MRC, let alone $130 for accucycle. Wait, with tower's deals, and my rebate... I'm too tired to deal with this anymore. See you all tomorrow (hopefully after some flying! Pray for no wind, pray for no wind!!!)

Good night!

No one has talked to you about rushing things. You have a good start with your purchases and now are having infrastructure growing pains. Your choice of maximizing your TX & RCVR batteries is good as this will maximize your flying time. I personally prefer to go to the field fully charged and not worry about charging at the field. Look at batteries as buckets of energy. When fully charged it takes very little to top the off. Once you start emptying the bucket the charge time increases in proportion to the rate at which you charge. All batteries have an optimum charge rate and anything higher is going to generate heat! Heat is the enemy of many things and a performance killer of batteries. It is simple, If the wind is right and you fly allot then you use more from the the bucket. This will take time to replace that energy and time is what will decide whether your "rushing things or not. If your looking at 2 full days of flying bliss it could be worth forcing more current and fast charging your packs to capitalize on the weather etc. But do this sparingly. Also do remember that batteries do not hit there full power output until they have been cycled about 10-20 times. I spent allot of money on a charging system but I do not worry about batteries any more and worry about flying and weather as it should be. Do what it takes to fly as your enthusiasm is great but do not do things that would harm your batteries as there is plenty of season left and pooling your money for a system that could cycle your new packs and ready them for this season can put you ahead and confirm that you are ready to fly and give you peace of mind.

PS I have 2500MHA NIMH receiver packs and some just go in to 4 servo planes. Running out of battery is never a worry. It does however take up to 15 plus hours to charge a battery of that size if it is empty. I run a 2700MHA NIMH in my transmitter and it will run for 9 continuous hours if need be however that battery drained would take 25 plus hours to charge completely. I never let them get that low however.Hope this helps. Check out Radical RC http://www.radicalrc.com Very knowledgeable people and good FAQ's along with quality packs at rock bottom pricing.

I am dealing with the same questions on which charger. I have a Hobbico field charger now and it is great but I would like to buy a charger that cycles. I was looking at http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...idProduct=6408 and read some good things about it in the chargers forums. It is ~$130 shipped. Seems pretty good as it covers pretty much all batteries including A123's and 1-6 cell lipo's. It is AC/DC input and includes balancer also which is usually another $20-30 for others. Anyone with experience with it?

Brewski did find what looks to be a decent charger for the money but it is a generic charger that distributors can brand for them selves. Found a thread where a person said "it looks like the Hyperion Empire EOS 0606i 6A max" [img][/img]http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/963152.asp So at this site they list that it is in stock and that it does charge lead acid batteries. I use my charger to charge my lead acid flight box battery as every other charger that I have bought or tried has boiled my flight box batteries to failure. Be warned!

Might want to check out this link to a similar charger. California company and no shipping. Check out the cost of other items, including ESC's, and Rx's
http://www.lightflightrc.com/ Look at the Thunder Power charger on the home page.

Hi!
Use the 70mAh wall charger you already got!
Its so easy! Just plug it in a charge! 24-28 hours is nothing! You don't fly every day, 5-6 hours a day do you!? Don't fuzz with 12V fast chargers...they work OK! But as you already have a perfectly good charger...Use it!

This sounds great to me. The only concern is I have no idea how much has been drawn from the battery at the end of the day, so I won't know how long to leave it on the charger for. Doesn't leaving it on too long hurt the battery? Or is this not so at 70mah? Should I just leave it on for however long it takes to charge 90%?

FatOrangeCat - realize also that you can probably go a month of use on a fully charged 12v gel starter battery. It is not one that needs constant topping before every trip to the field. I have a simple wall-wart charger for mine. About every other month I give it a 24 hr charge and 1 hr per day in between uses.

As far as the radio system cells I keep mine topped off at home and ready for use. The 1 hour charge/day after a full recharge when returning home keeps them ready to go at all times. Works for me as most of my flying is spur-of-the-moment when I get a chance after work or on a weekend.

With the Triton Jr I can take a "dead" NiMH Tx or Rx battery and be flying again in two hours using my car battery. This has never happened at the field as they go 300 minutes or so when fully charged and I would be worn out after eight 15 minute flights on any given day; figure 200 minutes of "on" time. I believe my record is six 15 minute flights in one day. Can't imagine of five hours of flying on a single weekend.

I highly recommend the $49 quick field charger, it does everything and has never disappointed me.

Before considering the MRC, please research this unit in the "Batteries and Chargers" forum. I purchased one last year, and was very disappointed. I destroyed a LiPo, and damaged other cells, while the manufacturer says it was operating properly.

Dave

The quick field charger uses a POT to control the charge rate, as do a few others such as the Polycharger.

As such it is very inaccurate, and the pot will vary quite a bit. It is all too easy to set the control to too high of a rate.

I have a couple of these, though I use them only for occasional on field charging.

The Triton, ICE (Tower also sells this rebranded for more $$$ too) or any of the other better digitally controlled chargers are worth the investment. While more money up front, they will help to properly charge, condition and check your batteries.

The ICE features a nice historical charge/discharge graph for testing how your batteries are doing over time.

I build each airplane so the flight pack is easily accessable and remove it at the end of day and therefore no plane has a battery installed while in storage. When i chose a plane to take to the field I just take a flight pack and a spare with a field charger for the rare occasion that this system is not enough and I run out of power. I have 2 flight packs ,1 extra tx bat besides the one in the tx, and 2 bats for the onboard glow system if used, all on the trickle charger after an overnite charge when I got back from my last session. I use a 120volt trickler the can run all my chargers and go to trickle after 16 hrs of standard slow charge. I can then put all the batterys in the tx case and have one case to take to the field with plane. That way I don't have umteen planes sitting around with batterys in them just deteriorateing.