Multiple Chargers.. Multiple Planes..
 

IN an era that we have one radio and several planes, how come Futaba doesnt make a dual charger for Receiver batteries? the only thing Tower has for charging is the dual charger. It seems the assumption is one plane one radio. What do you guys do?

Also, I usually just charge up the night before I go _ big planning. However, What do you do so that you can just pack it up and go? The weather is good.. and you just wnat to go - oops forgot to plug it in.. Do you Leave it plugged in all the time? Thats not good is it?

Thank.. I appreciate your creativity and input.

Peace,

Jeff

RE: Multiple Chargers.. Multiple Planes..
 

When I want to "just go" to the field on the spur of the moment, I take
my fast charger with me, and charge them up. It takes about 5-10
minutes at the field. This is done with a pack (or radio) that has been
sitting around for a few weeks. It's not really good to fast charge a pack
that is dead....they get too hot, and it is said that it shortens the battery life.

Don't keep then on the charger all the time, that is not good either. I'm
talking about transmitter and reciever batteries. The batteries that power
electric cars are charged and discharged at very high rates, and get as hot
as the dickens. I don't really know about them.

I get usually about 10 years out of a reciever or transmitter battery. Most
times I just charge them overnight before a day of flying, usually about 12 hours
or so. I have friends with the fancy battery "cycle features" and such. Their
batteries only last about 3-4 years....go figure. :eek:

I really prefer not to fast charge batteries, when the slow charge is
the prefered method. I believe if the manufacturer wanted the batteries
fast charged, they would have provided a fast charger. I will admit that I am
old fashioned, and when something is working fine, I just keep doing it that
way.

FBD. :D

RE: Multiple Chargers.. Multiple Planes..
 

FBD,
Cool thanks.. Ill look into one of those chargers. I charged up for last week and it was wendy. I was in the area today and there was very little wind.. but no charge..
Thanks again..

Jeff

RE: Multiple Chargers.. Multiple Planes..
 

After years my battery solution is a transmitter that hold many models and traveling receiver batteries. My transmitter charges and then goes on trickle. Two receiver batteries are always charged and on trickle.

When the wing is put on the airplane the battery is put in the airplane. The RX battery is held in with Velcro and is used in many airplanes. No planning required.

Bill

RE: Multiple Chargers.. Multiple Planes..
 

hmm Good idea..
Is the trickle charger the one that comes with your radio or a 3rd party?

Thanks..

JEff

RE: Multiple Chargers.. Multiple Planes..
 

Ace makes a little box that you wire in line with your charger called an ADD-A-TRICKLE. You use the stock wall charger and the Ace unit automaticly switches it to trickle. Then you just leave it plugged in for ever.

I have all my planes on trickle, all the time. Because all of my planes are always ready to fly, I walk in and pick the plane that suits my mood at that moment.

I've been using the Ace ADD-A-TRICKLEs for about 15 years now. I haven't had any problems. I love them. I prefer the manual units. The new units are automatic. Red LED's indicate trickle or regular charge rate.

RE: Multiple Chargers.. Multiple Planes..
 

Over the last 35 years I have gone through several iterations of battery charging and maintainence. It started with the radio furnished chargers hooked into a plug strip with numbers on all of the wires so that each plane and transmitter got hooked to the right charger. T When the TME timer and trickle charge control came to the market I put those between the plug strip and the power outlet. Then Came the multi and variable rate chargers which I also used with the TME units. Finally with the planes using three to five battery packs per airplane I have gone to the Hughes Charge + and Sommer Minron multiport chargers. The cost has increased with each change but the ease of operation has also increased.
In the end there is no correct solution that is either best or suitable for everyone and every type of battery. The batteries are the life blood of sucessful operation so it is up to each person to decide how much of their hobby budget should be spent on chargers.

RE: Multiple Chargers.. Multiple Planes..
 

The charger for the radio is an Accu-Cycle. It charges for 16 hours and then goes to trickle. The charger used for receivers is a Smart Charger and it checks the battery size, fast charges and goes to trickle. Many chargers will charge and then go on trickle.

The traveling battery scheme has allowed more airplanes and a neater shop. Not having to move the fuselage to the charger reduces the clutter. Now I add an airplane to the fleet without feeling guilty of not being able to keep the batteries charged. Last week I got an airplane out to check thrust. It had not been flown in 8 months and there was no concern about the battery.

Admittedly I have too many airplanes. Any scheme that allows more airplanes is good.

Bill

RE: Multiple Chargers.. Multiple Planes..
 

You are pushing it! Regardless of how many time a battery is charged, the internal cell seperator deteriorates with age. The more cells you have in series, the faster this occurs. The mean time to failure for a 4-5cell pack is supposed to be 3-5 years, and for an 8 cell TX pack, it is around 2-3 years. Failure is defined as the battery's capacity dropping below 80% of rated... it is a sign of an impending internal short. Another sign is a high self discharge rate... if you charge a cell and let it sit for a week then discharge it and you find the capacity is very low, you have an impending failure. Of course, if you never check your batteries under load and you use 5-cell packs, you may get away with a keeping RX batteries longer (i.e. your RX will function), but you are flirting problems.

I know you said you get 10 years, but I think if you were to do a capacity check on an 8 year old battery you'd find it to be in terrible shape. I encourage you to change them sooner for your safety and the safety of those around you... I know I would never forgive myself if a plane hurt my family.

As for fast charging... as long as the cell is one that can handle fast charging, most new cells do NOT get hot when charging... even from a discharged state. Use reasonable charge rates (1C is the MAXIMUM, so I usually use .5C), you will find the packs do NOT heat unless your charger is missing the peak... then they will get very hot very quickly. I am using a Sirius charger which predicts the peak rather than waits for it... I swear my batteries actually get COOLER on it;), and I also use a Duratrax ICE... it can be set for a what they call zeropeak... it makes the charger very sensitive and stops the charge slightly early... no heating. Stopping a little early is not an issue... my packs are usually large capacity and I check them with a 1 Amp loaded voltmeter before each and every flight... cheap insurance.

That being said... I still give them occasional slow formatting slow charges to help keep the cells equalized within the pack... still necessary to do this. Also... I don't fast charge little 600mAh packs... I don't think the batteries are very robust. Of course... I don't use any packs that small... the smallest I use is an 1100 NiMh... it is very light and has 3 times the current capability of a similar sized NiCd... check 'em out at NOBSBatteries.

RE: Multiple Chargers.. Multiple Planes..
 

I did pretty much what GremlinCastle described. Over the years I went from near nothing (the charger that came with the radio) to the Ace manual trickle adapter (still have it) to an early Accu-Cycle to the latest Accu-Cycle and now I'm using GP/Electrifly Tritons almost exclusively. Somewhere in there I also got an FMA Einstein, a Hobbico Fast Field Charger, and a four-port Radio South fast charger.

AFAIAC the Triton tops them all, with the only down side being the single output. My models start at 96" wingspan and go up. Most have three very different battery packs onboard - an 4-cell 1650 mAh NiMh for the Rx, a 4-cell 4400 mAh NiCd for servo power ("d" cells in those), and some sort of ignition pack for the glow drivers. The glow packs range from 4-cell 1800 mAh NiCd ("C" cells) down to 4-cell 1650 NiMh packs for the converted Zenoahs.

I even tried the old appliance-timer-and-power-strip "bump the pack once a day" setup. Found out the hard way that the high capacity NiCds in my Futaba 9Z didn't much care for that because the packs dropped dead in less than a year. I swapped 1650 NiMh cells into the Futaba 9Z cases and dropped the timer/power strip thing like a bad habit.

These days I only charge batteries when I know I'm going to need them, like the day before I go flying. I don't too often get a day off as a surprise, but on the rare occaision that I can sneak off to play and the batteries haven't been pumped up, I just hook up the Tritons and charge on the way to the field. Since the Tx and a model with three onboard packs needs four Tritons, that's what I have - 4 Tritons.

I did decide it would be a good thing to standardize on a single connector type for the models, so I use ordinary [link=http://safe.spsp.net/cgi-bin/debco/250189.html]coaxial power plugs[/link], one for each pack in the model. The Triton charging receptacles are banana type, and making up four charging adapters with banana plugs on one end and a coaxial plug on the other was a no-brainer.

Technology keeps on being technological, and someone invented yet another gadget I obviously needed so I'm back in the 'business' of making up adapter cords.

I recently bought a [link=http://www.westmountainradio.com/RIGrunner.htm]"Rig Runner" [/link]to put in the trailer, and a [link=http://www.westmountainradio.com/CBA.htm]CBA II[/link] for testing batteries. Both of these gadgets use PowerPole connectors, and I have a bag full of those connectors collecting dust on a shelf somewhere.

The only thing I actually _know_ about batteries is that although my models are propelled by liquid fuels, they fly on electricity and if you don't have any of that, you don't fly.

RE: Multiple Chargers.. Multiple Planes..
 

Wow.. see I know there was some deep stuff out there. THis is great ifo gentlemen. Thank you very much. I really Appreciate. I am going to do some additional reading about these products now.

THanks again,

Jeff

RE: Multiple Chargers.. Multiple Planes..
 

Look at the Duratrax ICE!!! Made by the same people (they just put a different stamp on the face), but MUCH better charger for about the same price! There are no global memories... you can program EVERY parameter for EVERY battery and have them ALL saved... plus a MUCH better display!!! VERY nice unit! Drawback... once again, single output.