Simple 6/7-cell field charger?
 

I fly a few electric 400-speed airplanes utilizing 6/7 sub-c Ni-Cd cells around 1700mAh and 1900mAh. Nothing fancy. I have two methods of charging the batteries right now. An overnight Hobbico Multicharger and a Victor Engineering "burp" charger (which I like, but requires 35-40 amps @ 12volts).

I've racked my brain reading about all the chargers out there. The Triton seems to be a favorite but I wonder if something else will better fit my need. I might "upgrade" to NiMH so I'd like the device to have that ability to charge them too.

So, I'm basically looking for a simple box that will accept my 6/7 cell pack and charge it at the field in 30 minutes or less. It doesn't need more than one charging plug. "Small/Compact" would be nice. Fancy readouts and multi-settings are not required. It should have the ability to plug into a car battery (if I'm away from the club) or into a 12 volt power supply (4-30 amps) that be shared with my Sirius Pro Charge. I currently don't have an AC/DC power supply so any suggestion on that would be welcome too (although, I believe the Pyramid 26amp charger is my first choice).

Phew....is that specific enough? Thanks for the feedback! :)

RE: Simple 6/7-cell field charger?
 

Go with the Hobbico Quick field charger MKII. Will charge two packs of any configuration.

$50 at tower.

Best $50 I spent on a quick charger.


One note though: Notice they put a set of charge monitor jacks right next to each set of outputs. If you're not careful, you could plug your charging banana plugs into them (I did). Since you're not supposed to charge through those jacks, I guess you could screw somethign up.

My solution: Since I know I'll NEVER use those monitor jacks, I put hot glue into the 4 holes. I'll never mistakingly put the plugs into those jacks ever again. And, should I ever choose to monitor the charging, since the hot glue is soft, it would be pretty easy to dig it out of the jacks. Problem solved.

Nice, solid, well built charger.

Roger

RE: Simple 6/7-cell field charger?
 

I would recommend the e-flite pinnacle charger. You can find it on Horizon's website. It can charge 1-14 cells at 200mah-5A. It also trickle charges, discharges, and shows your charging rate, mA put in, and voltage. It also comes with leads for receiver, trasmitter, JST, and Tamiya. I really like it because it is extremely easy to use. I first tried a Triton but like this much better. It can handle Nicads and NiMH.

chris

RE: Simple 6/7-cell field charger?
 

I second the Hobbico MKII it can charge two batteries and it can even do Lipos! good deal