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davidchilds
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NiCd chargers - 2007/02/12 11:53 I need some education regarding NiCd chargers. Can any of you guys recommend a good charger for my Rx packs and Tx? I don;t fly electrics, just glow/gas. My Rx packs range from 1100 to 2400 mah. I'd like to get a charger that would automatically switch to trickle charge after the pack id fully charged. Thanks. Dick Byrnes, new member.

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KevinKRC

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Re:NiCd chargers - 2007/02/13 13:21 Hi Dick,
Welcome to the club.

I have been flying since 2000 and I bought an Accucycle charger from tower Hobbies. It is 110 volt, has two charging circuits, one for reciever packs and glow plug igniters 1, 4 and 5 cells and one for transmitter packs, 7 and 8 cells.
It has small switches to move between the voltages and another set of switches to slow charge at 50 Mamp or 125Mamp. I use the 50 Mamp for my Nicad packs and 125 Mamp for my Metal Ni-Hyd packs. It also has a discharge button for each circuit so that when you want to sysle your packs you hit this button and it drains the pack at 125 or 250 Mamps(another switch. Once the pack goes below 1.1 volts per cell it switches to slow charge mode. there is no fast charge option. It also switches to trickle charge once the slow charge cycle is complete. it also tells you how many minutes the drain down took so you can track the capacity of your packs.

It will not drain down a Futaba radio since they have a diode preventing that in the radio.

see link to accucycle below.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXL357&P=ML

70 bucks , I think the price went down.

For my planes in storage I use the 50 mamp chargers on overnight timers, I run the charger for about two hours a night and that keeps a good pack fresh. I cycle the batteries in the spring and fall to see how their holding up.

Hope that gets you started.

Kevin

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KevinKRC

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Re:NiCd chargers - 2007/02/14 08:01 FROM Dick B. shout Box

Thanks for the input, Kevin. I also need to have my memory refreshed on battery maintainence during the flying season, and during the non-flying season. 1) After a day of flying, when you get home, do you fully discharge the Rx battery, or do you plug it into trickle, or do you just wait until the next time you want to fly and give it a charge the night before. 2) In the off season what do you do with your batteries? Someone told me once just to give them an overnight charge once a month.

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KevinKRC

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Re:NiCd chargers - 2007/02/14 08:25 Dick,

After a day of flying it depends what I'm going to do the next day. If I am going to fly saturday and maybe SUnday(a very rare occurence) I would come home and plug the plane I am going to fly the next day into my accucycle and hit the charge button.
That way it is ready for the next day.

If I am going to go out in a week, I will just plug in the plane and let the trickle charge bring the plane back up over the week. About every month or so I will hit the drain and charge button the drains the pack down and then gives it a full 15 hour charge after the drain down.

I also have a loaded voltmeter which will tell you the voltage of your packs when loaded at 250 or 300 mamp, a typical small plane servo/reciever load.
Below are pictures and links to some of the equipment.
Some guys buy the "lttle Trickler", it's a box that you plug about four wall chargers into and it reduces the 50 mam charge to about 5 or so. THis way you leave your plane plugged into this system all day and night and it keeps your pack fresh.

I use the wall timer and 2 to 3 hours a night charge on every plane that is not connected to the accucycle. The only issue I have had recently is that my original packs started to good bad and I am cheap SOB so I had my super sportster go down this year when the old pack I had in the plane went below 4 volts after about 3 minutes of flying. I have replaced all my original packs for this year.

Hope that helps. I am one of many, it's a matter of finding a method that works for you. I highly recommend you get a loaded voltmeter if you don't have one already. It's must have item.

Kevin

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXWW16&P=ML

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KevinKRC

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Re:NiCd chargers - 2007/02/14 08:41 Oh Yeah,

In the off season I leave all my planes (about five) plugged into the 2 hour per night wall timer with the 50 mamp reveiver charger. In the spring around march, i will move each plane over to my Accucycle and drain and charge the plane a least twice, checking the drain down milliamps each time. If a pack is less than 75% of it's rated maximum, I toss it, (new rule I just came up with this year(see post above for reason). Where did I get that number? I made it up based upon a total gut reaction.

Kevin.

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KevinKRC

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Re:NiCd chargers - 2007/02/14 12:39 From Dick,

Thanks a lot Kevin. This is the input I needed. I think I may have lost a plane this past season due to an older pack; I know the feeling!!!I had been out of the hobby for a few years and forgot somne stuff. What you said makes sense. I'm going to check out the Accucycle at Tower; the "Elite" model sells for $135 plus it needs leads.

Dick,

You will need leads for the voltmeter and the accucycle as well.

Kevin

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