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120 SR Blade (eFlite) 120 SR Helicopters Information and Help |
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08-31-2011, 08:14 PM | #1 (permalink) |
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Join Date: Aug 2011
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Batteries/Charger
First of all I would like to say that this is a incredible site filled with tons of great info.... almost to much info
I used the search feature for battery and charger information and found a ton of info, but I am having trouble digesting what it all means! I have narrowed it down to upgrading the batteries to the ProTek R/C 1S 550mAh, 25C's since they are a direct fit. My problem lies in which charger to choose!?!? I would like to be able to charge multiple batteries from house hold A/C power but I really have no idea what I need. ; Any help is appreciated! The newb |
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08-31-2011, 10:38 PM | #2 (permalink) |
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first of all how much do you want to spend on a charger? Do you want one that requires a seperate power supply or one that has it all built in.
there are some really good chargers out there but it depends on the price you want to spend for it |
09-01-2011, 06:03 AM | #3 (permalink) |
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CarCrazy, I am also thinking about a new charger, anything you could suggest that would be decent around 80 bucks? Thanks man.
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09-01-2011, 08:31 AM | #4 (permalink) |
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Join Date: Jul 2011
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Perhaps others here could share more on your questions, but I find, even with what my friends own, most of the chargers, in fact all of them, provide good charging, balancing and storage care for your Lipo's. The higher priced ones allow more functions and some allow connectivity to a computer to have a graphical readout of your Lipo's performance and making a log.
A good basic system, such as the IMAX B6 is a wonderful and affordable charger. It allows charging your Lipo's even the 1s cell's our 120SR uses. For 2s Lipo's and above they allow Balance charging to ensure all the cell packs in the Lipo are at equal charge power. They also allow you to view how much each cell has in voltage enabling you to check if a cell has any imbalanced voltage. If so it will ensure all are equal by this balancing feature. With this ability to see the voltage you can check to see their deviation. If one cell is too low...you can tell if it's probably not working as well as the others. This is something very useful with 2s and above packs where each cell need to be within + - 1volt each. Anything to much of a diff would indicate something is wrong with the lower power cell. The chargers will come with the required connectors as well as croc clips if you wish to hook up to a Car Battery or 12V SLA pack. Safety features are also added to ensure temp doesn't get to high from what is set (some require a seperate temp add on), voltage check and shut off if overload. Most importantly, it will charge your battery safely and shut off if anything goes wrong or overloads! This however does not mean that we get rid of the Lipo charge bag and forget about the safety precautions mentioned all over this forum. A Lipo bag should still be used as well as a well ventilated area and at least on a non combustable surface. Most of these chargers will come with a ACDC adapter. The IMAX B6 does not and is bought seperately. I use the IMAX B6 and modded a Desktop PSU to provide me the 12V and high Amh the IMAX needs to charge batteries. Throw it on google and you will find many instructions on how to mod the PSU for such use. I believe some mod the PSU's to also power bench tools that require 12v and at least 5-7Amh which is hard to find with normal wall adapters! The Mod is easy and a case of bunching the wires in their respective groups, use what is needed, cut and heat shrink here and there and some minor soldering to add connectors and a capacitor! Personally I use my IMAX to charge my 1s lipos, but compared to the EFlite charger...it's really slow!..zzzzzzzz but I know it's being done safely. Not to say that the Eflite one is lousy...but since I own several Heli's with 2s, 3s and the 1s cells, the balancing feature and safety add ons....are a lifesaver!! Hope that helps. Others here would be more proficient in other chargers, but I hope what I know helps! I feel that worthwhile investments from ones pocket should go into a good Tx, some tools and a good Lipo Charger. Oh yeah...these chargers can also charge NiCad, Nimh, Lipo, Life....pretty multi for several RC applications! They come with Tamiya connectors which allowed me to bust out my long lived Wild Willy!!
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09-01-2011, 09:07 AM | #5 (permalink) | |
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Quote:
For $80 you can check out these chargers from hobbypartz.com http://www.hobbypartz.com/thunder.html Honestly I always spend the extra cash on my chargers. Mine is a hyperion charger and never had issues at all. My buddy has one of those thunder chargers in the link I provided and hasn't had a problem yet. If you can spend the extra cash try getting one of these http://www.ultimatehobbies.com/store...ARGER%2FCYCLER I have had this one before and it was a really good charger. Also what I have found out that the more watts the charger can put out the better it will charge and not put a strain on itself. I think you would want to stay above 80w. I had a 50w and seemed to take forever to charge a battery. Right now mine is running 300w per side for a total of 600w. I can put 2 6s batteries on my charger and it only gets warm and never makes it work hard. All this is just my opinion though so I am sure some might disagree with me but oh well. Basically if you can afford it get a better charger from the get go and not half to worry about it anymore. anymore questions just ask |
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09-01-2011, 09:46 AM | #6 (permalink) |
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Tim, that was a really great overview. EXTREMELY well-explained. LiPo charging can be very confusing (and dangerous) for ANYONE, let alone "newbies"... and what you said made completely understandable sense.
And great high-end and low-end recommendations, Crazy. I've had the Thunder AC680 charger on my "Critical Tools" list for a while , now. MANY thanks to both Tim and C-Crazy for those last two posts.
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09-01-2011, 10:42 AM | #7 (permalink) |
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I agree great info guys! Thanks Tim and Carcrazy!
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09-01-2011, 11:27 AM | #9 (permalink) | ||
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Quote:
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09-01-2011, 07:23 PM | #10 (permalink) |
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Thank you for the help guys!
So how would you charge multiple batteries with the charger from above? http://www.ultimatehobbies.com/store...ARGER%2FCYCLER |
09-01-2011, 08:21 PM | #11 (permalink) |
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For that one you can buy the adapter to charge more batteries on one charge. Me personally I would look for a charger that has multiple outputs. On mine I have 2 charge ports.
I have tryed charging more than one battery on 1 port and I blew up the battery. I know they make adapters that work better now but when I started they didn't My charger was $259 plus a $29 pro-peak power supply. I still only charge 1 battery on each port. I just try to be safe due to me having kids around it and don't feel like causing a fire if one pops. That dynamite charger is a good charger but I wanted more ports. You can also look at the ones that charge 4 batteries at the same time if that's what you need or want. I know I will be going to one of those when I can. Most of the time when you get into the more "high end" chargers you will need a power supply to power them. I really didn't want to use one but since the charger is what I needed I just put up with it |
09-01-2011, 08:41 PM | #12 (permalink) |
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I picked up this charger and plan to use it with all kinds of batteries, Mah's, voltages, etc. I fly planes and helis and my daughter is thinking about getting a Ruckus RTR truck.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXXLH3
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~Rich Radio-DX8 (3) Blade 120SR(RKH red trim, NiteFlite , Kestrel 500) Blade CX3/UMX Beast/HK J3cub/Champ |
09-01-2011, 10:10 PM | #13 (permalink) |
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I have been looking at a larger charger too. The IMAX I have has only one charging port and I don't wanna do any parallel charging which I feel is risky. I'd rather talke the multi charger output fixed by the manufacturer!
What I would need to get are longer balance cables so my Lipo can get into the Lipo bag properly and all the way in!! Now that I have 1s, 2s and 3s Lipos...and carry 2 different helis when I wanna play (sometimes a small foamie plane) I could do with multi charging so there is more Play Time!!
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ScratchBuild Fomies(Too many have come and gone!)-Quadcopter-Little UMX planes! |
09-01-2011, 10:35 PM | #14 (permalink) |
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try looking into the chargers that charge 4 batteries at the same time. since I just bought a SR I now need to be able to charge more batteries than what I can now.
Also I just put micro deans connectors on my 120sr and seems like it made a slight difference. I use deans connectors on everything. When the SR arrives it to will have deans |
09-02-2011, 12:53 PM | #15 (permalink) |
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Anyone one have experience with this set up? Seems very cheap.... almost to good to be true.
http://www.helipal.com/ge-b6-digital...e-charger.html http://www.helipal.com/multi-charge-cable-jst-plug.html |
09-02-2011, 01:02 PM | #16 (permalink) |
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I would look at a better brand. I haven't heard anything about that brand at all. You will still need a power supply to run that charger
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09-04-2011, 06:29 PM | #17 (permalink) |
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Could you use the 4 port Celectra mSR charger for the 120 SR batteries? Or the better Protek batteries?
Thanks guys.... Sorry for all the newbish questions! |
09-04-2011, 07:29 PM | #18 (permalink) |
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Not sure if you can buy if it has the same connector and can charge at .7 amp then I don't see why not. I'm not familiar with that charger
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09-04-2011, 08:15 PM | #19 (permalink) |
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The 4 port charges at .3 or .1 if you adjust the pots inside, but you will need a few of these:
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09-05-2011, 11:21 AM | #20 (permalink) |
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I have a B6 and it is a good charger, but the included instructions are somewhat confusing. Like many of the products we buy that are Chinese made, the translation suffers. I just got an A/C power supply for it off eBay for $10. LHS wanted $25 for one.
Until I joined here I never heard of a LiPo bag and I have to wonder what the real risks are with these smaller batteries so long as you are charging them with the charger that came with your bird. I see my LHS selling tons of these RTF birds and never mentioning a LiPo bag in the process nor do I see many being used at my local air park. I'm not saying there is no danger, but in the case of a factory charger and unmodified batts it seems a bit of overkill. Now, if you're using Frankenbatts and something like a B6 to set your own charge rates, all bets are off.
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Align Trex 450 Pro & 450 Sport | E-Flite Blade CX3, mCPX and 120SR | Syma S032 and S107 Parrot AR Drone 2.0 | Futaba 10CHG | FlyMentor | Co-Pilot II | Traxxas Nitro Stampede If my hobbies don't kill me soon, I'll die a poor man. |
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