RC battery cycler

Thanks Mark , May be I should be asking if anyone has a manual after tring to find one with no luck but I think the SUPER CYCLER II by electrostar systems would be a better choice to use ?

They're really basic chargers i wouldn't worry about 'em. You could put a volt meter on them and see what kind of juice they're putting out, they both look like they do the same thing.

I'd surf and see what you can find on cycling nicads so you don't totally discharge a cell and reverse polarity. I'd also wonder about your nicads (?) what size and how old they are?

In this day and age of Lipo, LiIon, LiFe et al, why would you bother with NiCad battries?  Even NiMH is tough going compared to Lithium technology.  Furthermore, in commonly available batteries, Lithium give easily the highest density energy.  Have a look at the offerings on HK.  My son converted me about 5 or 6 years ago - and I won't be looking back.

I remember cycling batteries manually using some light bulbs for depletion.

NiMH has a safety advantage and a very low self-depletion advantage over all lithium technologies. It has a service advantage over NiCads too. For any number of consumer devices they are here, and I like them.

Yes lithium based technologies are superior for charge density, discharge rate, and anything requiring high performance demands. There is more to performance than high performance though.

BTW, I don't miss nicads, memory effects, and other headaches.

Phil

lol, i remember back in the early eighties, i kinda enjoyed charting discharge rates of my nicads, every fifteen minutes mark down the voltage drops.

Mark Boesen wrote:lol, i remember back in the early eighties, i kinda enjoyed charting discharge rates of my nicads, every fifteen minutes mark down the voltage drops.

Maybe Mark (batjac) has a supply of NiCd/NiMh packs that he'd like to try to use? (I have several) After all.. there are many projects besides powering models.. that these batteries are still very useful for; not to mention what "actually" happens to the cells/packs when offered for recycling..

Do NiCd/NiMh cells degrade over time from just "sitting" (off-charge)?? I have packs that are 20 years old.. but have not been used very much. Would these packs still have a good degree of capacity remaining?

These "Radio Shack" chargers were on clearance years ago for $5.00/ea. I bought two of them.. The "Hitec" DC charger is over 20 years old.. and was my first NiCd field charger (5-7 cells).



This is my latest charger. It will balance-charge/discharge/cycle pretty much any type of hobby battery.




I have an old Makita VSR 9.6V drill that still works great.. but I can't find replacement battery cartridges for it. The two original packs don't have much capacity left now.. but have had countless cycles over the years.

Yes, batteries go bad by aging alone. Only way to find out is to cycle them.

Those Makita battery packs have cells inside of them. I am positive you can crack them open, take them apart, and solder in some NiMH batteries and have them go another decade or so. Best part of NiMH is they work perfectly well on a nicad charger!

Look up batterydepot.com I think I saw those batteries there.

Phil

Phil's correct, its easy...and fun, I've saved a couple old drills that way.

If you replace that sucker get a  SORRY it took me sooo long to getback the baat.s are 1,2,and older yrs. old, For me AMsystems and that is what I have some FM of and my money now is going other places Bills / CL / Engines ? Any way I don't know how to change battery LIFO LIFEO over and don't want to at this time , I haven't flown RC I a While so just want to keep what I have going  Pic     Bad pic but am sure you have seen these before   Eric     (stupid wind 30-40 mph )

getback wrote:SORRY it took me sooo long to getback the baat.s are 1,2,and older yrs. old, For me AMsystems and that is what I have some FM of and my money now is going other places Bills / CL / Engines ? Any way I don't know how to change battery LIFO LIFEO over and don't want to at this time , I haven't flown RC I a While so just want to keep what I have going  Pic     Bad pic but am sure you have seen these before   Eric     (stupid wind 30-40 mph )

I know what you mean Eric.. The whole brushless-motor/controller-LiPo balance-charger technology is something you really have to do your homework on. You can however; cheaply convert most FM radios to 2.4GHz spread-spectrum, for interference-free operation.. and that's something to consider. The great thing about LiFe receiver packs is their greatly reduced weight. Put one in a very small airplane with nano-servos.. and you can easily fly "full-house" controls with an .049 engine.

Ok I have been looking and reading awhile now and have not seen how to.....Quote You can however; cheaply convert most FM radios to 2.4GHz spread-spectrum, for interference-free operation.. and that's something to consider. .. Can you direct me ? I did look at some very expensive radios though , some cheaper in the 99$ range w/receiver .... but I have all I need for cheap flying now but am interested Eric

getback wrote:Ok I have been looking and reading awhile now and have not seen how to.....Quote   You can however; cheaply convert most FM radios to 2.4GHz spread-spectrum, for interference-free operation.. and that's something to consider. .. Can you direct me ? I did look at some very expensive radios though , some cheaper in the 99$ range w/receiver .... but I have all I need for cheap flying now but am interested Eric

Eric, My 2.4GHz transmitter radio adapter is a  Tactic "Any-Link" (Hobbico) unit that I purchased in 2012 from Tower.. and attaches securely with dual-lock type fasteners to the back of your transmitter's case. Mine came with cables for; "most" JR, Spektrum, and Futaba transmitters having a "square" trainer jack. It is stated to also work with Hitec transmitters too.. but a separate cable had to be purchased. Keep in mind that this was 3 years ago.. and there have been improvements/upgrades since then. I paid $24.99 for the adapter.



The receiver made for it is a Tactic "TR624" (6ch. 2.4GHZ) which weighs .29oz. (8.3gr.) I purchased it through Tower at the same time (2012) as the 2.4GHZ transmitter adapter. I paid $29.99 for the receiver.




So that would take care of your radio upgrade. Note; The range for this system at the time I purchased it was stated to be 1000 feet.

I wanted a lightweight 4ch. radio system that would work in a small airplane, powered by a Cox .049 Babe Bee engine equipped with the "Ace"-style venturi-throttle.. so I needed small/lightweight servos.. and the lightest-weight receiver battery I could find. I chose a "LiFe-source" (Hobbico..) 200Mah 6.6V Rx battery (15gr.) and "Electri-Fly" (Great Planes/Hobbico..) ES-50 nano servos (9gr./ea.) I paid $19.99 for the LiFe Rx batt. (Tower-2012) and the servos; I lost the receipt for.. but they were so inexpensive, I bought 8 of them.

It's important to note; that the LiFe RX battery's voltage is 6.6V and a regulator may be needed.. depending on the operating voltage-range of your receiver. My Tactic TR624 Rx specifically states 4-6.0V so I may have to purchase a regulator.

Here's the weight of my 4ch. "nano-system" in grams (less horns/pushrods-links) 61gr (2.15oz)



and with a prop'd Babe Bee... 130gr (4.6oz)



If you want to fly tiny RC airplanes.. the LiFe Rx battery is a must... but you need the proper charger. I bought this "Thunder" AC6 charger from "X-Heli" in 2012 for $40.00.. but they are currently around $50.00 through most sources. It will however; charge most all of the hobby battery-types you'd have in your shop.

See the link below for the specs/reviews.. It's a good buy for the $$$

http://www.hobbypartz.com/thac6smbachw.html

So... .. to summarize.. you can buy the radio-gear and charger listed above.. for less than $200.00 (probably a LOT less if you shop around)

Well stuff either way its $$$$ the unit I was looking at has no batt.s /charger/ servos they make it look good till U get to reading  That don't sound bad Roddie I really don't have the $$ to put into something I have that already works though . I have installed the equipment in a small 049 well 36" WS plane micro servos (2) And it is close and don't know if its too heavy or not for a TD049    1000 Ft seems pretty far but you don't haven't seen me fly RC SOO Thanks but for now I will have to wait may be at a later date (I have several radios ) More than receivers  Eric

I got this off of ebay, its worked great and charges/cycles/stores all types of batteries ans well as came with most of connectors needed:

Heres one now not a bad price either     http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dynam-Supermate-DC6-Balance-Charger-Discharger-/221690346221?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339dc63aed  Eric

Mark Boesen wrote:I got this off of ebay, its worked great and charges/cycles/stores all types of batteries ans well as came with most of connectors needed:

ALL of the 4 button and 2 x 16 character LED panel multi-chargers (including this one above) are copies, clones, copies of clones, etc ad nauseam of the SkyRC iMax B6 line ( http://www.skyrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=20&product_id=9 ).  I've come across >20 different brand names on them, and all that I've ever seen are cheaper in price and inferior in quality and accuracy.  The original is, in this case, definitely the best, and not overly expensive.  In fact they've been so sullied by inferior copies that SkyRC now provide a "scratch and reveal" set of ident numbers which you can check on their site to prove authenticity.

If you need one which is AC and DC powered there's this version http://www.skyrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=20&product_id=201

for 25 bucks i'd take my chances....

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__55057__IMAX_B6_AC_Charger_Discharger_1_6_Cells.html

Mark Boesen wrote:for 25 bucks i'd take my chances....

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__55057__IMAX_B6_AC_Charger_Discharger_1_6_Cells.html

Good choice. That's exactly the 1st one I bought. If you check the cell balancing with a good mm you'll find large discrepancies. It was prone to overheating too, until it failed completely at around 10mths.