advanced battery chargers

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hificat101

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i like my pila charger...don't see the point in lcd's, just means more likely to break.

I disagree. If the LCD's break, then you don't have a readout on that bay anymore. So what? I like the Pila charger, and may even purchase one, but what I'm looking for is something that gives you more manual conditioning control, control over charge rates, and I REALLY like the display of the actual capacity of the bat so you can judge when to condition, and when to reorder. I'm not sure you could accomplish that with a voltmeter. You can observe a diminished voltage capacity, but I think a snapshot of the current mah capacity of a given bat is a more complete picture.

I think if it is possible to make something like this for NiCad, NiMH bats, it should be possible to have something like this for bats using the chemistry found in the bats we typically use. Or maybe I'm missing something.
 

CraigHB

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Why would the LCD ever break? Do you routinely throw your charger around? An impact that would break the LCD would probably also damage a charger without one.

BTW, a hobbyist will spend a couple hundred of dollars for a charger used on the Li-Ion batts that power model aircraft and cars. LCDs and adjustable charge rates are standard equipment on those.
 

hificat101

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Thanks Craig. I agree 100% on the LCD issue. I'm not sure about what RC people are using, but the charger I found for my friend was about 36 bucks on amazon. It may be more complicated to charge lithium type bats, but 200 bucks? Yikes.

I may get one of the ones my buddy got, and some rechargeable AA's and AAA's to try it out, but only after he guinea pigs it for me.
 

CraigHB

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No, there is no routine conditioning for Li-Ion batteries since they don't have the memory effect that NiMH and NiCad cells do. There is a conditioning procedure to recover an unprotected Li-Ion cell that has been over-discharged. High end chargers recognize that situation and automatically condition the cell as required before going into normal charge mode.
 
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