Dymond Super-Turbo charger

[gjestico]

I recieved my Super-Turbo charger recently, and I notice when using it to discharge, it has no setting for cell count.
How does it determine cutoff voltage?
I have been testing it on a 5 cell 1400 pack, and it will pull it down
to ~4.0V when discharging before it terminates load.
Probing the individual cells shows at least one being reversed.
This can't be good for the pack.
Am I missing something with the setup? I have quite
a few packs to cycle, but not if its gonna hurt em
Help me out here, I'm new at eflight.

[GBR2]

I also recently got one of these chargers and after reading through the instructions, I really wasn't happy with it. I never ran it to be honest but I didn't like that you couldn't specify the number of cells in the pack. I also didn't like the parameter of setting the max amount of current in at some value over the rating of the pack (20% for nicads), beyond which it would shut down. This is an OK feature but I just didn't want to be constantly asking myself is that 2000ma setting for my 1700ma pack or something else. I also didn't like the fact that the 10 battery slots were in reality only 9 as one was dedicated to the automatic mode and could not be changed. I also personally did not like the adjustable peak feature. Sounds interesting but seems like asking for trouble to me. This should be set at some standard value and not adjustable (just my personal opinion).

Physically the charger also would not sit flat on a flat surface as if the case was twisted. The first charger I got from Dymond had bad switches and would not sit flat. The exchange on also would not sit flat. That alone did not give me a warm fuzzy feeling. So in the end, I sent it back to get a refund and I'm going to buy another SuperNova.

[pullin-gs]

Actually "cell-count" is just an extraneous constant that is determined merely by a simple pre-charge voltage-reading (after a short pre-charge burst at a fraction of "C" to bring cells "up") voltage reading on the charge-side battery. At that point the cutoff voltage is known. Cell count can also be determined by the charge-voltage/current curve that stablizes once the cells are at charge voltage. Once cell chemestry "delta" is detected (different for NIMH and NICAD, thus the justification for "cell-type"), the charge is halted.

For discharge the count does not even matter. The pack is discharged at a current that is programmed by the user.....cell-count will not change that......that is the whole point of a constant dischage of x-times-C. The pre-discharge voltage is again used to calculate cell-count, if it is even needed in the algorithm. Manually-entered cell-count it is not needed to discharge a healthy pack at all. When needed by the charger, it is infered by using the detected pack-voltage and the user-entered cell chemistry. BTW, "delta" is different for discharge. Some dischargers often lower their user-programmed discharge-current towards the end to bring that 1st cell that triggers delta below "0" voltage (reversed) at very low current.

As for the charge "20%" over value.....this is for the instances when "delta" was missed due to the host-cells having a very "tight" delta (hence the ability to adjust). In the rare instances when "delta" is missed, the charger will "auto-shutdown" in order to prevent a toasted pack or charger, or worse (fire/explosion). In actuallity you could enter 2,000,000 Ahs and the charger would still halt charging a 500Mah pack once "delta" is reached. This is a VERY nice feature that is only seen on the most advanced chargers to-date.

9-vs 10.
Is your issue is that it only has 9 or that is 9 instead of 10? I could see someone needing more than 9 cell-types, but not many. I have about 6 different cells. But programming is cake with this charger on the fly, thus I must say I dont see it as an issue

The adjustable-peak feature is nice for the well-informed who expect nothing less in a charger that can handle even those cells that otherwise would have to be charged under close observation. And besides, what battery chemistries might we expect in the future? It would certainly be nice to have the ability to adjust "delta" for a new chemistry vs buy yet another charger. Remember when NIMH hit mainstream and you had to buy a new charger that could charge them. Also it IS set to a standard (and resetable) value. Most people (99.9%) will not ever need to play with it. I have not had a need to use it, and dont expect I will

Now if the charger was warped, that is a good reason to send back.

Obviosly I have this charger.....but I do not work for the vendor. I am very happy with it, and find it of great use above and beyond just charging/discharging packs. It just plain works well.

Regards......Pullin'

[Don Sims]

I received one as an early Cristmas present and am very happy with it. There is a marked difference in charging my packs. (Most over a year old.) Between the Diamond and my Hitec 315. So far, no cooked packs, no problems. I also like having the ability to preset several different packs.

[wjjones]

So I'm not the only one that got a warped charger! I called Helmut at Dymond about it and he acted like it was no biggie. I guess it's not, but I'm one of those fussy people who gets annoyed by the charger rocking every time I push a button.

Helmut also told me I'd have to pay shipping to return it, so I decided to think about it a little more.

I haven't used it much because the instructions are not great.

I know there are more features with the Super Turbo, but at this point I have to say I like my Supernova better. It seems easier to use.

[Mighty Mik]

I like mine so far. I'll be building some 20 cell packs soon, then i'll see what it can do.

[Mighty Mik]

for charge times over 9:59:59, it rolls over to 0:00:00 instead of 10:00:00 .

[pullin-gs]

Mine is warped too!....never noticed until tonight....thought it was my work bench at first and wrote it off.

[Rudderman98]

I bought the Schulze isl-330D for 50 bucks more and you know what, No problems whatsoever. Hmmmm...............

[wjjones]

Actually, the more people I see have the warped cases, the more I'm willing to accept that condition as the nature of the beast and live with mine. My wife tells me not expect perfection in everything (yes, I AM fairly anal about my stuff).

If I were the only person to get one like this, I'd be more inclined to return it. I'll probably just shim up one corner of the charger and try to be content.

[GBR2]

I'm sure the warped case doesn't affect the electronics but it doesn't take rocket science to build one where the case is not warped. Doesn't give me a good feeling about quality control. If the manufacturer will sell things with a warped case what else do they think is OK but let slip that is inside the case? As I said it isn't rocket science to make a case that isn't warped. As to just living with it, would you put up with it rocking if it was a piece of stereo equipment, a TV or a bookcase? Sure things aren't always "perfect" but most manufacturers at least make sure that the box which holds their stuff is square.

[gjestico]

Pullin-gs:

If cell count does not matter, Then it does not know a safe cutoff
voltage. I am no expert on batteries, But I did find that it was
dropping the pack voltage so low that one cell was reversed
for at least a minute. Isn't that bad for the cell?
I would prefer it to stick to a safe cutoff per cell.

Greg j

[pullin-gs]

<i>qjestico wront:</i>
If cell count does not matter, Then it does not know a safe cutoff

Please re-read my post you responded to.
Cell count IS known.......it is CALCULATED based on predictable behaviors of pre/post-charge dNICAD and NIMH chemistries and inputs from voltages/currents of the charge-pack under a dynamic load.

Regards,
Pullin'

[GBR2]

The instructions from Dymond are adequate and useable. Those from FMA are far better. The Super Turbo has some new features such as the max current delivered to battery so it won't charge forever if there is a problem, and the new temperature sensing option.

I personally don't care for the newer programming. For instance, the ID for batteries is by M0, M1, M2, etc., similar to a computer transmitter that identifies each plane by a number rather than a name. The manufacturer of the Super Turbo could have put the max current delivered feature in a sub menu and then allow you to at least ID the battery pack by value.

While the Super Turbo ID's the number of cells dynamically, I much prefer the method the SuperNova has. In each slot you ID the battery pack by number of cells, capacity and type. Makes picking out the battery easier. Nothing wrong with letting the machine do all that automatically but for me, I always wonder if it got it right.

The ability to change the delta peak sounds great, sort of. One of the other posts said that 99.9% of the people using the charger won't use that feature. I think that 99.9% of the people who have the charger will play around with it even if they don't have any understanding about what it does. Just seems like an invitation to trouble to me but then you won't be playing with that feature, right?

In the end, all this comes down to personal preference. I'm sure Dymond will sell a ton of the chargers and they will work just fine. I just find the SuperNova more user friendly and better constructed.