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Nicad chargers
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Philip
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Nicad chargers

What sort of charger do most people recomend? Why?

I have seen many Tritons at events and have read that Nightshade has a SuperNova.
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Post Sun May 08, 2005 1:21 pm 
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Knightrous
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Tritons are preferred by some because they will charge from 1-24 cells of either NiCD or NiMH. they will also charge LiPol/LIon and PB batteries. Price:$200

You can also use the GWS chargers, but I believe they are limited to only 10 cells on NiCD or NiMH, I may be wrong. Price $80-100

The Supernova chargers, I hear are very similar to the Triton, but I'm not too clued up on them, best off waiting for Jeff to post about them Cool Price: $180?
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Post Sun May 08, 2005 1:26 pm 
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andrew



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i use the GWS charger and its not as fancy and high tech as the triton but i can charge Orbits batts nicely at events, I do need about 3 mins to swap connectors as i need to charge the main batt and booster pack seperately because of the 12 cell limit but besides that it has worked a dream so far.

Only costs 75 bucks too
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Post Sun May 08, 2005 2:29 pm 
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Valen
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we use a supernova
the new ones charge pretty much anything like a triton i believe
cost was $200 i believe
and a $30 ATX 500W PSU for power
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Post Sun May 08, 2005 9:21 pm 
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ffej
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I use the older version of the Supernova, pretty much the same as the newer one, except it doesnt change LiPoly's, and its missing the all important customizable charge complete tones, stupid firmware upgrade . . . .

The Supernova can charge 30 cells BTW, compared to the Triton that can only manage 24.
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Post Sun May 08, 2005 10:15 pm 
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timmeh
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How many feathers use 30 cells anyway?

Id reckomend a triton cos it leaves room for if you build a bigger bot or add more cells or want to use lipoly's in an ant or whatever.
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Post Mon May 09, 2005 4:46 pm 
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Valen
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but the supernova does all that
and more than the triton?
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Post Mon May 09, 2005 5:30 pm 
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Glen
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jeff passed on the link to an ebay charger that was up to 24 cells and 5 amps for $30.

dont ask for the link tho lol, err jeff...
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Post Mon May 09, 2005 5:58 pm 
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Philip
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Is the SuperNova 250s about the best value at a little under $200 in most peoples opinion?
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Post Tue May 10, 2005 1:00 pm 
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Philip
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I have bought a Platnium EX charger for just under $200 from Wings over the downs, the shop where Nic/Original Carnage works. I found them to be close to the best price for that charger (within $2).

The nicad and NiMH charging capabilities are similar to other battery chargers in it's price range but it is able to charge up to 10 lipols in series, 37v. I think that lipols may be the way to go in the future.

I cycled my old drill batteries on the weekend. The charger was set to automatically choose the optimum rate to discharge and charge the battery. The charger tests the battery's internal resistance every minute to determine the state of charge. The charger discharged the battery at 0.11 A down to about 0.5 v per cell. It then charged at 0.23 A.

I intend to do this once per month and belt 5 A into the battery packs the rest of the time. I hoope it works.
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Post Mon Jul 11, 2005 7:50 pm 
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Philip
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I charged the battery from my Atlas Copco on the automatic setting yesterday. It chose to charge it at 4.1A. This compares with 0.23A for the drill batteries that came with the Ozitos drills on the same setting.
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Post Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:29 am 
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Glen
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has anyone else had problems getting the triton to charge at its quoted 5 amps? waydes wont seem to go past 3-3.5 on 24v...

im tossing up getting my own and not sure whether i want the triton cause its so simple in use, the supernova is probably the best deal of performance and price (i just hate the interface) and the astro 112D which is just flat out performance wise the best cept it doesnt do SLAs and lipolies. and its all metal construction looks nice.
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Post Tue Feb 07, 2006 8:56 pm 
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Knightrous
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I have a little issue with my Triton, All the NiMH packs I've been charging have only been taking 1000mAh max Confused When I first spotted it, I thought the battery pack had died... But I tested it today and the pack lasted quite a while. Also charged a good 3300GP pack and the same thing, 1000mAh....

Funkyness -5...
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Post Tue Feb 07, 2006 9:19 pm 
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kkeerroo
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The Triton charger cannot put out 5A at 24V because it cannot handle the power. At 12V it can charge at that ridiculous rate (you shouldn't charge batteries at more than 1C unless you really need to).
And Aaron, what rate are you setting the charger at? To get the most out of the batteries they should be charged at 0.1C as per the manufactures recomendations. It takes longer but you just have to be patient if you want good results.
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Post Tue Feb 07, 2006 9:31 pm 
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Knightrous
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I'm charging the NiMH's at 0.5-1C depending on cell size. 2/3A and AA's get 0.5c and Sub C's get 1C rates. I might go back through the manual incase there is something I've missed special to NiMH Confused
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Post Tue Feb 07, 2006 9:39 pm 
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