Hi all,

I have a Hitec 335 charger, and it does the job, however, I find the when I charge at home, I have to pull out my car battery charger and hook up the Hitec to the leads to get DC to charge my aero battery. ( I feel like Dr. Frankenstien in his lab with all the cables and such )

Obvious safety issues asside, I am looking for a charger which can do Nicad, and NiMH, charge/discharge, trickle, and maybe some "auto sense" technology that works out of my home base from an outlet. Is there something like this out there? (If so, what are the $$$?)

Secondly, is there a way to *safely* provide AC -> DC conversion for the Hitec if the first option is cost prohibitive?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Radio Shack sells a series of 12V power supplies. I picked up a 3A version when they were on sale for $40, and I use it with my FMA Supernova all the time. All I have to do is keep the charge current low so I don't overload it.

mkirsch1,

You wouldn't happen to know that part numbers on the Radio Shack stuff would you?

It amazes me that there is not a charger that can do both or even AC... I would think there would be....maybe if a manufactuer is reading this.....it would be a design update!! *hint* *hint*

I use a Verapulse charger from www.fmadirect.com. It was $50 and can be used on an outlet or a car battery. It also has a nice alarm to let you know when it's done charging.

Chris.

Hyperbot,

I have a Duratrax Intellipeak Charger that might fit the bill. It was $60? I think and made for the cars. But it can do NIMH and Nicad at charge rates of .5 A to 4.0 A. This rules out the really little batteries but would work with most situations. It has its own AC adapter and of course DC as well. Obviously by the name it is a peak charger and also has a discharge function although its fixed at 2 A. I use this at the house and the Hitec CG340 at the field.

Also, I don't plug it onto the battery, rather I found a Wattage cigarette adapter that two banana plugs fit into and modified the charger to have banana's on the end instead of the alligator clips. Works great to have the hood down at the field. (I fly at a school, and got tired of people asking if I needed help with my truck!). Hope this helps.

Scott

I have a couple of Simprop Intelli-Control chargers (just like the FMA Supernova) which I run at home using a spare PC AT-style power supply. The yellow and black wires off of one of the 5 1/4" drive power conectors should deliver around 3A. In a computer store that isn't a chain, it should be in the $20 range (or better yet used for less).

The other charger I have is the infamous MRC Superbrain 959. AC/DC, up to 8 cells (but not 2), NiMh safe. No discharge, but charges up to 4.5A. After mine fried and was serviced by MRC, I've not had a problem. I now use it frequently on AC and DC (it fried using AC), but like the safety net of having two other chargers to depend on. Buyer beware... BTW - I've not run into the overheating problem with this, and I've been using it for 6 months since the repair. But when I first purchased it, I only had it a week...

Neil L.
AMA 704471