jet chargers
 

Eddie,
Because I have the Sirius "Super Test" unit (yeah, I know, mo money, mo money!) that I use for testing my packs.

Sorry My mistake..

Please, I am not proselytizing for Sirius.

hey...hey...hey. Lets keep the language clean
and professional. Kids read this stuff.

Eddie Weeks
http://www.corpcomp.com/weeks1/

Re: Quad Charger
 

Originally posted by Dustflyer
Gordon,

Wow, I guess I'm not accustomed to the pleasures of a 5 amp charge rate! True, 1 amp is pretty slow, but man there is nothing like charging your RX, ECU and TX battery at the same time, all automatically! Keep in mind if you take off on a full charge and then put it on the charger before your next flight it doesn't take that long to top off even at a 1 amp per pack rate.



A 6 minute flight takes about 350 mah out of my ECU pack, so that means I'd need about 20 minutes per flight with the Sirius... not necessarily that bad, even though the Graupner will do it faster.

My main gripes with the Sirius were to do with the total lack of instructions (maybe it includes instructions now, but I got one of the first ones). When I pay $350 for a charger, I don't expect to have to spend several hours with a multimeter in hand trying to figure out what the heck the charger is doing, which wires are which, whether its true that you have to charge twice to put in more than 1000 mah, etc, etc.

Like I said, the guy I sold the charger to loves it - it just wasn't for me. I also like the fact that the Graupner gives feedback telling me how much it put in the pack - coz I can use this as another simple check on the battery condition (when I see it suddenly taking 500 mah, that's a red flag).

Given the price of the Sirius Quad-charger, I'd just as soon have mutliple of the cheaper and (to me) more useful Graupners.


Sirius has been getting some negative talk on the Alpha web site and certain other "expert" sites. Sirius is not mentioned specifically but the concept of "reverse pulse" has been talked down as snake oil. The "experts" say it's bogus


There's a guy called Red Scholefield who's forgotten more about batteries than most of u swill ever know. I don't much care for some of his politics, but when it comes to batteries I'll believe almost anything he says. On his website : http://www.rcbatteryclinic.com/ he says that burp charging achieves nothing, but also does no damage. I'll take his word for it. YMMV.

I also looked into buying Sudding's Ultimate charger, but when I posted some questions about it (either here or on the jets list - I forget which), I received a huge amount of email telling me to stay clear of the unit. Hence my purchase of the Graupner and Mainlink chargers.

Now if only Graupner / Schulze would do a multiple port (3+) charger in which each port has the same capabilities as the primary port on their current system... but idealy not at 3+ times the price or size... ;-)

Regards,
Gordon

Re: Chargers
 

It's not a diode - it's a 5 amp fuse that is soldered into the battery case.

It could be the fast charge that blew it, depending on how much juice the charger tried to put into it - however, there's plenty other ways the fuse will blow. I blew the fuse on 3 10X battery packs even though I only ever charged them with the JR supplied mains charger. The first time was with a radio that was only 1 week old. I replaced the fuses with wire (as suggested by Horizon), and on one occasion I had the copper land blow off of the PCB (it acted as a replacement fuse, I guess). Took me a while to figure it out. The TX charge connector on one charger had bits missing from the end of the black plastic separator, and was causing a short if not perfectly aligned when inserted into the battery pack. I replaced the connector on the charger and have had zero problems since then.

Gordon

jet chargers
 

one thing I forgot to mention was that this radio battery pack combo will be for air start ram 750. I dont need a bigger ECU battery? Eventually down the line though, Im assuming that Future turbines for me will be autostart.



never assume, it makes an a** out of u and me....

JR 10X / fuse
 

Gordon.

On the JR 10X the device on the printed circuit board in the battery case is a diode to prevent reverse charging. If you pull the battery pack out of the transmitter and look through the opening at the left end of the battery receptacle you will see the glass type fuse on the main transmitter PC board. It is mounted in a block fuse holder. The fuse us removable without desoldering. It could be changed in the field.

I am almost positive on the diode but I never have been able to remove one to test it to be absolutely sure. If you ever get one out before it blows you might check it with an ohm meter to be sure.

Have a nice day.

Sirius etc
 

Eddie and Gordon,

That's the beauty of this forum, lot's of experience and opinion to draw from. I very much appreciate hearing yours as I'm sure the other forum members do.

Sirius chargers may not be for everyone. I think they are the greatest; they are simple as dirt, work good and last a long time but I admit I don't know half what you guys do about batteries and chargers.

My life is pretty dang hectic as it is between work, infant kids, you name it, so I barely have enough time to get out and fly my model planes once in a while let alone fool around with complicated chargers and cyclers. I like stuff as simple (to match my IQ), reliable and easy to use as possible. Simple airpane, simple turbine, now if I could just get a simple radio! Man, isn't there anybody that can write a manual you can understand? I love the performance of my Futaba frequency synthesized stuff but that manual is the most screwed up thing I've ever seen!

Thanks again for all the great info you guys have posted!

Re: JR 10X / fuse
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by arw9fmw
[B]Gordon.

"On the JR 10X the device on the printed circuit board in the battery case is a diode to prevent reverse charging. If you pull the battery pack out of the transmitter and look through the opening at the left end of the battery receptacle you will see the glass type fuse on the main transmitter PC board. It is mounted in a block fuse holder. The fuse us removable without desoldering. It could be changed in the field."

I just replaced this in my 10X this past weekend. The battery would not take a charge/discharge after my MC Ultra Duo went up in smoke. I unsoldered the fuse and took it to my local electronic guy. He said it is indeed a small buss fuse. Soldered in a new one and that was it. I ran a continuity check on it and it would read both ways, don't know if that makes a difference.

Re: JR 10X / fuse
 

Hi Jack,

There are actually TWO fuses in the 10X. One, the glass-vial one that you mention, is indeed on the motherboard.

The other is internal to the battery pack. It may look more like a diode because of its shape, but according to the techs at Horizon Hobby it is a fuse, so I'll take their word for it. When I removed it to replace it by a solid link, I noticed that it said "5 Amp" on it.

If the glass-vial fuse is blown then the radio will not work; if the fuse in the battery pack is blown though, the radio will work just fine, but will not recharge.

Also, in case you are interested, see the following thread in which a JR rep talks about the fuse inside the battery pack:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...73&forumid=174

BTW, since the glass-vial fuse came up - if you do ever replace the glass-vial fuse in a JR radio, do it with great care. The metal that is used for the fuse holder is (IMO) very poor quality, and does not retain its springiness (is that a valid word?). In some cases the metal will not retain its previous shape properly, and even though it looks like the new fuse is well seated, it will have very poor contact. Both I and a couple of my fellow club members have found instances in which a JR radio will switch on and off (beeping and turning the display on or off) depending on how you hold the radio - tilit it this way and its on - tilt it that way and its off. In each case the problem was caused by a replaced fuse moving around slightly inside the holder. If in doubt, wrap some yarn / fishing line around the holder to keep it compressed.

Regards,
Gordonn

Chargers
 

I'v used the DuraTrax chargers for several seasons with 100% satisfaction. Tower has them for a fraction of the cost of other chargers with comparable features. And they are real tiny so they fit in a small flight box!

I charge JetCat and RAM ECU battery packs in 5 - 15 minutes, between flights. Plug in, adjust current (I usually dial in 2.5 - 3 amps), press the charge button and voila, goes into trickle when peak is detected. Light on top tells me if it's in charge, trickle or discharge mode. Also beeps once when done charging.

Has a built in fan for improved reliability. Has discharge mode too, but I haven't used it. I discharge on an Alpha 4.

http://www.duratrax.com/caraccys/dtxp4100.html

JR 10X Diode / Fuse
 

Gordon / JGLP3

I stand corrected! :- ) I think you are probably correct in that the device on the PC in the battery pack is a fuse. The ones I took out had already blown. Of course they measured infinity (open) with an ohm meter so you could not tell what they were. A fuse would measure zero ohms (if it were good) and a diode usually measures open one way and a finite reading the other. Why two fuses? And I thought there was a diode in the charging circuit somewhere. I never have had a problem with charging.

Thanks for the advise on the fuse holder. If I ever take it out I will be careful with the tension.

At least they made the radio so you don't have to disassemble the whole radio to replace the fuse.

Have a nice evening, fellas

Sirius
 

Gordon,

I realize I may be beating a dead horse here but I checked the Sirius website for information regarding the negative pulse charging technique referred to in Alpha's and Red's websites.

I'm not so sure that is exactly what's going on in the Sirius charger. Red refers to a certain W. Burkett and a General Electric study. The Sirius website, at the "Limited Edition" product section; however, refers website visitors to the www.galaxypower.com website. From there if you go to the "services" and then to "applications" you are referred to some very interesting studies regarding Galaxy's "Quick Saver" technology which I am assuming is used in the Sirius charger.

What do you think Gordon, is it just warmed over W. Burkett snake oil or something altogether different?

Gene

jet chargers
 

Gene - since I could very quickly get oout of my depth here, I'd suggest posting your question over in the battery forum, and get Red's response to it.

Gordon

jet chargers
 

Since I don't read much on the battery forum,
please let me know if you decide on posting the "Sirius" issue on the battery forum.
I'd like to follow on this subject.
Thanks a lot n brg,
NT