i have this charger
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXCLD5&P=ML

the duratrax pirahna ac/dc charger for 1-8 cells.


what i want to know is what will happen if i try to charge a 10 cell battery?

It will not charge, the voltage input must be greater than the voltage output in order to go into the battery and a 10 cell batt has over 12 volts. If you use a 15 volt input voltage it will work, no guaruntee. I use mine to charge 9 cell batts at 5 amps, but the input voltage must be at least 16 volts.

It's not designed to do, so don't do it.

It may not charge it completely. It may peak way too late. It will improperly charge your battery. ect

Ryan

The peak is the part that must work ok. (will work ok) It is the rate or current that will be minimised.

The digital piranha is one of the worst chargers for current when it comes to higher cell count batts, lots of people will notice this even on 6-7 cells. It is real bad on 8 cells (which is within the specs) and even on ac or dc will drop off to 1 amp or so.

Running this charger on a nice 15 volt ps really makes a nice charger out of it. It will allow the rate to come right up to 5 amps, the 15 volt power supplies are readily available and cheap too because a lot of notebooks use them. You only need abouit 60 watts.

i think i am going to use this as an excuse to invest in a nice charger. i have been thinking about getting into lipo too.

i started looking at accu-cycle elite and duratrax intellipeak ice chargers last night. any opinions either way? i will be using it with ac power, charging 6 cell and 10 cell nimh packs and hopwfully soon 3 cell lipos.

I think the biggest difference in those two are the current capability and the elite is a dual charger. It will charge larger packs, but is limited to 2 amps or less. The ice is a single, but will go to 8 amps. They are very similar feature-wise and both very good choices. They both have a 10 cell limit as well. Here's a thought, buy a power supply right now, try it out on the piranha and then you'll still have it for the ice or the elite.

I own the Triton and believe it is a great cheap charger at $90. It does 1-24Nicd/NiMh, 1-4Li-po 6/12/24v Pb's.

Ryan

The triton is a great charger, I use mine for doing higher than 10 cells. There are also a number of chargers with a 14 cell and 5 amp limit it seems.