What battery charger?

r011ingthunder

I'm looking for a battery charger that will charge all of the following together:

1. Glow plug heater
2. Battery for plane itself
3. Transmitter battery
4. Battery for starter motor for glowfuel plane (charging this one is optional as it holds charge for ages, and is not "flight critical")

I'm led to believe that one is available that will charge (and cycle - whatever that means) all these batteries SIMULTANEOUSLY, and also show what charge levels are in them, etc etc.

I have absolutely NO IDEA about the technicalities of battery charging. I'd like to be able to leave them all on trickle charge all the time, so they are ready to go when I am, rather than gambling on the weather, and trying to get them on charge the night before.

If you need more info on what make or model the batteries are, just let me know.

Any ideas or suggestions?

r011in

coolwings

I understand your wish to have one charger that does everything.
If you have such a charger, you will find that it does not do everything with equal ease, or speed. So some sort of compromise will occur.

The cycling chargers with display screens usually can charge one only, or in some cases two, batteries at a time. My Aeronaut Vario and Graupner Ultra Duo plus computer chargers can both do two simultaneously, and cycle, Nicad, Nimh, Lipo, Glowstarts, everything including lead acid car battery, but some knowledge is required to get the most out of those functions. It is all in the manual included however.

On the other hand, the Multilader 6E has multiple power outlets, can charge many different batteries simultaneously, batteries of different sizes, different voltages, and it does trickle charging.
It will not cycle cells, or show their capacity ... it's just a multiple trickle charger, and they are all full after they have been trickled for 10 hours.

But I would still recommend that charger for what you describe as it is very close to what you described.

T-Maxx

I really don't understand your need to have them all charged simultaneously.

1. The lead acid starter battery should last almost forever.
2. The glow plug igniter too should last a long time and besides most of them use a standard size cell so you can always carry a charged spare.
3. The Tx battery too should last a long time, carry a spare if you feel you should.
4. Rx battery - yeah, by all means - carry a spare.

Most batteries can safely be charged at a rate of 1C/h (top quality cells and construction even quicker) so time shouldn't really be an issue. Besides, NiMH cells shouldn't be stored flat so your packs really should only need a top-up charge the night before in any case.

r011ingthunder

coolwings wrote: »

I understand your wish to have one charger that does everything.
If you have such a charger, you will find that it does not do everything with equal ease, or speed. So some sort of compromise will occur.

The cycling chargers with display screens usually can charge one only, or in some cases two, batteries at a time. My Aeronaut Vario and Graupner Ultra Duo plus computer chargers can both do two simultaneously, and cycle, Nicad, Nimh, Lipo, Glowstarts, everything including lead acid car battery, but some knowledge is required to get the most out of those functions. It is all in the manual included however.

On the other hand, the Multilader 6E has multiple power outlets, can charge many different batteries simultaneously, batteries of different sizes, different voltages, and it does trickle charging.
It will not cycle cells, or show their capacity ... it's just a multiple trickle charger, and they are all full after they have been trickled for 10 hours.

But I would still recommend that charger for what you describe as it is very close to what you described.

Thanks for the info Coolwings, that Multilader 6E sounds interesting. I presume that leaving batteries on trickle all the time is not DETRIMENTAL to them? It may not be best practice, but surely it's ok to do it?

T-Maxx wrote: »

I really don't understand your need to have them all charged simultaneously.

1. The lead acid starter battery should last almost forever.
2. The glow plug igniter too should last a long time and besides most of them use a standard size cell so you can always carry a charged spare.
3. The Tx battery too should last a long time, carry a spare if you feel you should.
4. Rx battery - yeah, by all means - carry a spare.

Most batteries can safely be charged at a rate of 1C/h (top quality cells and construction even quicker) so time shouldn't really be an issue. Besides, NiMH cells shouldn't be stored flat so your packs really should only need a top-up charge the night before in any case.

Hi T-Maxx,
Thanks for your reply. I'm an infrequent flyer, I may fly for several days or weekends at a time or not for months. I want to be sure that the batteries I bring with me are going to be fully charged. There would be no point in me getting spares, as that would just double the amount of batteries which I would have to ensure are fully charged.
I know the lead acid battery (is it still lead-acid when it's a sealed battery?) will remain charged for ages, therefore it's not a priority.
The glow-plug charger may well hold it's charge for a long time, I don't know (therein lies part of the problem).
The Tx battery doesn't last that long at all, and after a full day's flying it is generally dangerously low.
I have no idea how long the Rx battery lasts at all, so it's been a case of just fly-and-see. So far so good!

As I said, I know NOTHING of the technicalities of charging, so saying things like charged at a rate of 1C/h (top quality cells and construction even quicker) and NiMH cells shouldn't be stored flat means very little to me

r011in

coolwings

The quick and dirty battery summary:
Nicad are obsolete, and soon to be unlawful to sell due to toxic waste disposal issues.
We replace the nicads in radio and receiver with nimh of same size but double capacity.

Nimh leak when fully charged, so a full battery today, stored unused will in a week be 95% full. Nimh like to be stored half full. They hate being over-emptied, or left empty for periods, and may not fully recover from this. Keeping them full ages them faster than half full, so store half full, and top up the night before or on the day of use.
A trickle charge doesn't hurt nimh provided it is their capacity divided by 10, it takes 10 hours or more to fill them up at the trickle charge rate. That is what 1/10thC means.

Lipo don't leak, cost more and are more fragile than the above. They need special charging procedures. They hate being over emptied, and don't like being over charged. Store half full, and finish off on the day. Trickling additional power in will destroy lipo if they are already full. The charger must stop very precisely as lipo reach full. Lipo weigh less than nimh which is nice for model planes where weight is critical.

Lead acid, or a similar type gel cell 12V batteries don't leak power, and like to be stored full. Trickle keeps them topped up, but is unnecessary once they are full. They are the heaviest battery type. Lead acid may leak liquid acid causing damage.

All batteries when fully charged can go on fire if shorted out or mistreated, just like a bottle of nitro fuel which is liquid energy can go on fire if the correct safety procedures are not followed.

So on balance I wouldn't keep any battery full as policy except for lead acid/gel cells. Half full is better with the other rechargable battery types, and they last a lot longer if stored this way. Then you can top up ready for use when needed, it only takes a short time to do top up.

lotus791

try the imax b6 comes with the leads and a nice metal case charges and balance charges lipo/life/nimah/nicad. does everything but talk to you at a max of 5 amp

Cmar-Ireland

Can you measure the amount of charge left in a battery? For example, I have some 2600mah AA batteries. How can I measure them to see if they are at 2600 when fully charged?

coolwings

Sure you can, the nicer chargers do it for you. eg in my case the Aeronaut and the Graupner chargers I use.

For remaining capacity measurement ... eg after a flight to see how much I used, and how much was left spare ....
I set my charger on discharge until empty and simply read off how much came out.

Or for total capacity measurement, it will first charge the battery until full, and then discharge until empty showing what came out.

loopingfred

Or like the Pro-Peak I have (I think that is the pro-peak...) on a cycle charge or discharge/charge, at the end, you have a menu that gives you everything !
Voltage from start to finnish, capacity in and out and so on... More info that you really need.

Cmar-Ireland

So is there a way to take an instant reading to show remaining capacity?

T-Maxx

Cmar-Ireland wrote: »

So is there a way to take an instant reading to show remaining capacity?

No. You have to discharge to cut-off voltage first.

r011ingthunder

So, given the info above, which basically says keeping everything charged at tip-top all the time is a bad idea, but keeping some batteries half charged is good, and topping them up at the last minute is good. Bearing in mind, all charging is done in my shed, not at the airfield, and I'd like to keep it that way. Also, if the charger comes with leads rather than having to make them up, that would be a plus. Can anyone suggest a definitive charger for my needs (outlined in my first post, but removing the lead-acid battery from the equation)?
So far we have:
The Multilader 6E
The iMax B6
A list of Pro-peak chargers

I found this on the iMax B6, which doesn't look good.

Thanks for all the advice so far,
r011in

Cmar-Ireland

I hope this isn't considered a thread hijack, but what would be the best way to charge my tx batteries. It's a spektrum dx3.0, so it takes 8 aa cells. I use 2600mah energiser's, and when I charge them (all together in the 8cell holder) I use this charger, set to 2amp. The batteries get hot when charging and show 10.6 to just over 11v after charging.

Is this killing them? What else could I use?

coolwings

r011ingthunder:
That first link for the Multilader 6E doesn't seem to be working ...
Try here:

Photos of chargers

I just checked my ML6E ... it has six separate charging output sockets. They have different charging speeds.
So 6 at a time is possible, but sometimes I join up 2 or 3 of the slower sockets to do fewer batteries faster.




Cmar-Ireland:
I assume those are nimh? Nimh are at maximum efficiency at 55 degreesF which is quite warm.
As a matter of fact we get far better flights with those particular batteries in winter when they are warm out of our pocket, or hot off the charger.
So warm is good. Hot isn't.
Say eg the water temoerature you wash hands in, this would be about as hot as nimh should be let get. Much hotter and they are aging, but would still last months before it became obvious.

r011ingthunder

Multilader 6E
Can't edit it now, but here is the link I meant to use, sorry, typo killed it.

loopingfred

Well, the problem with the multilader is that you can't see what you put in and out your batteries. It's always a guess game.
I used a Robbe lader 5 (roughly the same as the graupner one) for years, but my life have changed since I have a more advanced one !
The down side, is that you charge 1 battery at the time, but at least, you know what you are doing !

So, for me, from your list, ImaxB6 or a pro-peak

coolwings

The way you use them affects which one you choose .....

For topping up my radio transmitters when I'm not present I always choose the Multilader 6E on a trickle. That might be half of the the top ups.

For the radio when I'm present: I use either the Aeronaut Vario mc-28, or the Graupner Ultra Duo Plus computer chargers using the bells and whistles and full monitoring. Aging of the trannie cells is thus seen, and watched, and they get replaced before they let me down.

For my motor power packs, I always use the computer chargers every time.
Like Fred, I want to know whats going on in my packs. This way I will never get a nasty surprise and lose a good model for avoidable causes.