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<DIV>
<DIV>Del</DIV>
<DIV>I am assuming you are talking Lipos here.... I would have to
say no, not really. I've studied a lot of chargers and came to the
conclusion that there is a lot available out there, but are mostly site
specific. The best combination for automatic and safety I've come across
so far is the TP 1010c / TP 210V, charger/balancer combo. If used in
tandem during a charge, the charger listens to the data presented by the
balancer and charges according prescribed parameters. If there is anything
that gets outside the parameter limits, the charger will shut down and issue an
error code for you to read. It will not charge any more until the error is
dealt with. </DIV>
<DIV>This also means that you have to be there to do something to correct the
problem. For instance, if your 5s 4p battery pack is nearly at full charge
and you want to top it off, you just plug it in to the charger, along with the
balancer, and set the cell count/ charge rate, and press start. What
happens, is the charger will start the initial charge, read the battery voltage
and stop the charge. It issues an error saying wrong cell count. It
wants to make sure you set the cell count correctly in the first place.
You read the error, say something about the "stupid thing" and just press start
again. The charger now knows that you knew what you were doing and starts
charging, but reduces the charge rate automatically and continues to do so until
the charge is completed.</DIV>
<DIV>Pretty simple, but you still have to be there to make sure it all goes
according to plan. The other problem is with cell balancing.
Sometimes during a charge, a balancer will give an over voltage error on one or
more cells and stop the charge. You have to either lower the charge rate
or let the balancer bleed the high cell(s), then continue the charge.
</DIV>
<DIV>I believe that the safest way to charge is when you have the balancer
active during charge. If a cell becomes over charged during the process,
and the charge continues, the cell is damaged at the very least.
Once the cell is damaged, anything could happen, including fire. Without a
balancer connected during charge, and the ability of the balancer to feed info
to the charger, the charger has no way of knowing what individual cells are
doing. </DIV>
<DIV>I've seen lots of adertisements that leads you to believe that the item is
the neatest thing since sliced bread. You have to realize that to make
money in marketing these days, you have to get in on the ground floor.
This is part of the problem. Suppliers sometimes don't know really any
more than the people using the product. One such advertisement I read said
that the charger will reduce the charge rate in heat generated in direct
sunlight. Gee, that's great, except for one thing, if you want to see a
really nice explosion, just charge your big Lipo out there in direct sunlight at
100 degrees. The battery pack will get so hot, you couldn't even pick it
up. You don't want to let your Lipos get over 150 degrees. Anything
higher than 170, and look out for the impending burst... </DIV>
<DIV>I am sorry to say that we have to seperate the wheat from the chaf...
You have to know what you need and why. This will all get easier as time
goes on. There's a lot guys out there now, using and testing many
different configurations of electric flight products.</DIV>
<DIV>As the season goes on, we'll see an abundance of information
presented. It's still early in the game.</DIV>
<DIV>I hope this helped....</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rex Lesher</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>From:</B> <A
title=mailto:drykert2@rochester.rr.com
href="mailto:drykert2@rochester.rr.com">Del K. Rykert</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org
href="mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org">NSRCA Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, March 27, 2006 10:42
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Changing
list behavior. Chargers..?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>I am going to ask something stupid to some but.. Is there
a charger out <BR>there yet that lets you plug into your pack and forget about
them? It can <BR>read the charge of the pack and how much charge it needs to
bring it back to <BR>full charge.. Only adjustment parameter being how
fast you want them to get <BR>to full charge?<BR><BR>----- Original Message
----- <BR>From: "Joe Lachowski" <<A title=mailto:jlachow@hotmail.com
href="mailto:jlachow@hotmail.com">jlachow@hotmail.com</A>><BR>To: <<A
title=mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org
href="mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org">nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org</A>><BR>Sent:
Monday, March 27, 2006 11:01 AM<BR>Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Changing
list behavior.<BR><BR><BR>> Jim you forgot the only pain in the
butt<G>"Babysitting the batteries <BR>> while<BR>> they are being
charged when you get home for the next
day"<BR>><BR>><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>NSRCA-discussion
mailing list<BR><A title=mailto:NSRCA-discussion@lists.nsrca.org
href="mailto:NSRCA-discussion@lists.nsrca.org">NSRCA-discussion@lists.nsrca.org</A><BR><A
title=http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion
href="http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion">http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion</A><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></BODY></HTML>