A battery charger, is a battery charger, is a battery charger???

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Ish - 06 Feb 2004 07:42 GMT

Ok, so I'm new to this R/C car stuff and have already posted a few
questions to this group, so I thought, what the hell, I'll ask yet another
question..

Basically I need a battery charger to charge 7.2 volt NiMh six cell stick
packs for my new R/C buggy running a trinity monster horsepower pro stock
motor (if that detail matters.).

Looking at the array of battery chargers available, I can see that they
range in prices from US$18.00 to many hundreds of dollars.

Now, I'm looking at a more modest price range, topping out at US$80. Taking
DC Peak chargers as an example, I can see two that have caught my eye:

The Duratrax Piranha for US$18

The Duratrax Intelli Peak AC/DC deluxe US$75

The Novak Icon AC/DC for US$72

All appear to do the same thing, so can someone please explain to me the
advantage of the Novak charger or the Duratrax? Do I get better battery
performance when charging with the Novak? Are there any other chargers I
should consider? (excluding the obvious that Piranha is only DC..)

Thanks in advance.

Ish

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kenji - 06 Feb 2004 14:55 GMT

> Are there any other chargers I
> should consider?

Dynamite makes a no frills dual charger. It peak detects and charges 6
cell NiCD and NiMH at 4 amps. It is AC/DC so there's nothing else to
buy. It charges two packs at a time. It will also charge smaller
receiver packs too.

I've had it for almost a year and it does just fine. We race once a
week with three off road vehicles.

It's about 65-70 US dollars retail.

Dynamite Twin Peak

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dg - 07 Feb 2004 00:13 GMT

I own a Duratrax Intellipeak charger, it is great. There is one GREAT thing
about the Intellipeak series of chargers. The intellipeak chargers come
with an AC adapter that converts 110VAC to 12VDC. Big deal you say, well
this AC adapter puts out a whopping 7 AMPS! Just in case you aren't into
electronics, this IS a big deal. I was sold on the intellipeak after I
read about that little power supply.

I paid $64 for my Intellipeak Mini pulse charger, which includes the 7A
power supply listed here for $44.99.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXUF47&P=7

When I was into RC 12 years ago, a setup like this would have cost $200
easily, probably more.

--Dan

> Ok, so I'm new to this R/C car stuff and have already posted a few
> questions to this group, so I thought, what the hell, I'll ask yet another
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>
> Ish

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Matt - 07 Feb 2004 15:47 GMT

Damn, I should have gotten an Intellipeak, I got the digital Piranha instead
which only puts out 3 amps off AC. Oh well, I'm going to be stepping up to
nitro soon anyway. This 18 mph stuff is getting old already!

Matt

> I own a Duratrax Intellipeak charger, it is great. There is one GREAT thing
> about the Intellipeak series of chargers. The intellipeak chargers come
[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]
> >
> > Ish

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Divrdan007 - 07 Feb 2004 20:08 GMT

>Subject: Re: A battery charger, is a battery charger, is a battery charger???
>From: "Matt"

>Damn, I should have gotten an Intellipeak, I got the digital Piranha instead
>which only puts out 3 amps off AC. Oh well, I'm going to be stepping up to
>nitro soon anyway. This 18 mph stuff is getting old already!

I have this one.

http://www.hobbyhobby.com/cars/products/duratrax/chargers/dtx_digipulse_in
fo.htm

Disregard that $169.00 price-tag.
I got mine at the LHS for about $105.00.
So far, seems to work good.
NOW, I wish I had gotten soemthing that can handle Li-Polys.
The never-ending search for stuff that will keep you up-to-date continues.

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Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Land Models / February 2004

A battery charger, is a battery charger, is a battery charger???