bish--I didnt mean it was the same charger--what i really meant to say was it works just as well--ive never had a problem with the smart charger--I fly helis and if you go to www.heliproz.com website-they did a review on this charger and compared it to the sirius and said they seen no differance in the performace of the chargers. I have been using the smart charge for a while now and its a good unit. They said the ace is made out of the country so its cheaper....Joe

Ace chargers were made in Missouri for years. They sold to someome in Calif. Don't know where they are made now!!!!I do know as of a month ago they did not provide repair service for Ace chargers. They referred me to a very nice guy in Moline IL who calibrated my Digipace 2.

Some Chinese company bought them.

Too bad! they used to produce some really nice equipement.

I am interested in the Schultze 330 model charger. Could you email me a place where they are available for $169. Thanks,
Jerry

The Sirius chargers and testers are the best.. PERIOD!!
I've used them since 1995 and haven't had any problems with them.
Just a word of caution with packs older than 3 years. Keep an eye on them.
There's more that can go wrong with old packs than just capacity. I too have
rejuvenated old packs but I check them often. The best authority on batteries
I have ever seen is Red Scholefield. He says after the old packs have come
back to life charge them fully and test the capacity after they have set for 72
hours. If they still check good , they're good. Sirius chargers are good but they
don't work miracles.
You can ask Red any questions you might have about batteries on this forum
under the batteries and chargers section.

tommy s

PS: The Ace Smart Charge is not the same. Piece of crap. Bad copy of the Sirius
with inferior components. Licensed by Sirius to build them but changed the design
without Sirius's permission.

There are MANY good qaulity chargers and cyclers out there, many of them combine discharging with re-charging (thus the name "cycler").

The Schultz is a top line product, so is the Super Nova (Dymond and FMA are each licensed to make them), and there are a number of other good quality units on the market.

A former club president has the Sirius equipment, and he said it's no better than others he's owned. Personally I have a Super Nova, it automatically discharges at the proper rate for the pack, then recharges at 1C. (It reads the pack to determine proper voltage for both discharging and charging, and it's a "Peak Detection" charger for NiCD's and NiMH's. You do not HAVE to discharge first, I use it often to quick charge on the way to the field. (15 to 20 minutes for an average flight pack.) So it's truly a "plug it in and forget it" unit.

It can also be set manually for special applications (like if you want to charge a pack at 3C), and it has the capacity to charge up to a 24 cell pack if you fly electrics.
Dennis-

You're right about there being a lot of chargers out there but all are not
created equal. I've seen a lot of different chargers in use over the years
while flying in the pattern wars. Some work OK, some don't but the Sirius
is the best and easiest to use I've ever seen. It's not just a peak detection
charger , it's much more. It conditions and rejuvenates depleted packs.
One of my long time friends owns and operates his own hobby shop and he
doesn't even sell Sirius but he uses one. They have a small computer built
inside to control functions and they're idiot proof. They're almost impossible
to hook up wrong and even if you do it won't hurt anything.
Oh, and they do have Li-Po chargers too.
I attended the Florida Jets Rally and saw how many fliers trusted their high
dollar jets to Sirius so I think I'll stick with it.
I guess everybody likes what he has or he would not have purchased it, but
I don't think anybody would be disappointed with Sirius equipment.

tommy s

Dennis

I fully agree that there are many good chargers available. There are also some not so good chargers available. Therein lies the value of RCU.

I choose a Sirius charger a few years ago. I have used it exclusively for my Tx and Rx packs (except on new packs, which I slow charge and recycle a few times before use). I check the voltage on the packs often. Initally, after a few months, I got into a panic. I was not sure what was happening with the packs. I purchased the Sirius cycler. Now I can check the packs for capacity occasionally.

The Sirius unit does not have the flexibility that some other chargers do, and I have chargers for other purposes.

Red Schoefield, of the battery forum is a friend of mine. His position is that the "burp" charging adds nothing to the Sirius unit. At the same time, he acknowldges that it does no harm. Red is a genuine expert. He co-authored a book on batteries when he was at GE that is still an industry standard. He feels that there are other chargers that are every bit as good.

We probably lose more planes to bad charging and bad linkages than to dumb thumbs. My advice to anyone is to research the charger of interest and buy the one that best suits your demands.

Just a quick note...I sent my Sirius Charge Pro series in for upgrade to handle the larger batteries and I sent my Sirius Super test in for calibration...The service was EXCELLENT...about a two day turn around from Indiana to AZ...Now that is SERVICE...and that, my friend is very valuable in this business. Plus, their products work as advertised and safe to use. I will be a long-term customer.
Jerry

I Must agree. I have had several different chargers. The Sirius line is the best. Very high quality. they work.

I also agree, I have been using the Sirius charge for 5 years now and won't even consider purchasing a different brand. I had one problem with the indicator light at the 500 ma setting (I dropped the charger) and called Sirius. They had me send it in and they took care of MY problem and only charged me for the shipping. Even though you can buy less expensive chargers this type of customer service is worth every penny. And for anyone still using the slow chargers that come with the radios. I have probably doubled my flying days because I can decide at the last minute to go flying and plug in and charge on the way to the field. I haven't missed a flying day due to batteries in 5 years.

Just curious if I should consider purchasing the cycler by itself to use with my AstoFlite 110D? I would rather keep using this charger than replace it with another (sirius). Can I expectthe same benefits using only the Sirius Cycler with my charger?

Thanks,
Bill

Guys i have the sirius pro plus & love it too but just a word of caution when charging NIMH batteries (especially large capacity). After a winter season i was charging my plane (2-2700mah NIMH batteires for the RCR) and the lights were blinking after about 20 minutes of charge. Good to Go!?

I was in the process of changing control setups and this took some time. i noticed my controls doing some funky things....very strange. To the point....all of a sudden i did not have any control movement. Battries were dead. Why? How could this be?

Well with NIMH (and NICADS too)the charger the charger shuts down the charge when the first cell reaches it's delta peak (conservative and safe operation) and then shows the full charge complete.
Large NIMH batteries especially have this problem but now they have balanced cells so???? I had one heck of a time trying to get these battries charged....even with repeated plugging & starting over.

At any rate with large NIMH cells be sure you discharge to verify your freshly charged capacity.....do not simply rely on blinking lighs....do this at the start of the season and your large NIMH's will be good until next year-so verify at least once.

Last year, I made the same rookie mistake and lost an airplane as well. I had a plane that had been sitting idle for about 5 months with an 1800mah NiMh in it. I plugged in the charger and in about 20 minutes the light started to blink, and I actually thought to myself, that was quick. I had about 1.5 before sunset and was rushing to get my flight in, so I just brushed it off. Well....4 times around the circuit, aileron control became erratic, 10 seconds later, tooth picks..... I knew it, I KNEW IT...I've seen this before with my Sirius charger on old (>5 year old) batteries and had to cycle them like 10-15 times before I was getting good rates. The moral of the story....Cycle those batteries at least once if you have not used them for a couple of months.

btw, I LOVE my Sirius charger best $250 investment I've made in the hobby, hands down.

What about the Tritons? Does everything under the sun, all one unit, less money, charges all types of batts, etc.