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Excal Charger.

I'm sure it can be perfected but at the moment it works fine and the basic idea is there to modify, I'm open to other ideas as always.
Sunray made a drop in charger but i think they are like live hobby horses and hard to find(and not made anymore), i'm always on the lookout for some plastic box that i can modify but they are all either too short or too long or too flimsy so far but i'll find something eventually.
After all if its not broke don't try to fix it.;)

Dropping to 0.2 amps might work and still cut the charge time to half the stock, 0.3amps 1/3rd, it would be interesting to know, rather than me chopping off the conector to find out
 
I'm not sure about this because I haven't looked closely, but I believe the little charge port on the stock GT pack is a very primative charge termination circuit. It will not provide true battery voltage if you check it there, but rather it's only purpose is to be fed a low/steady current of power from the transformer that you plug into the wall. I think the little circuit in there is more than a diode (for reverse polarity) and a thermistor (to cut power off it it gets too hot). I could be wrong about this but even if that's the case you can not charge through that. Just charge through the main battery leads on your battery for the Etrac or GT. Next time I'm in the garage I'll take a closer look at that circuit, but from first glace I believe it has too many parts on it and is probably some form of very primative charging circuit that will cut off when the pack is peaked. You're other option it to take that circuit completely out of the battery and bypass it with the charging plug, but why do that when it's just as easy to hook up to the main battery leads via alligator clibs or a nice thick rubberband to hold things in place. Or, make the battery coffin that Kered is using. :biggrin:
 
Linking this thread to your Power Pipe Etrac battery holder. Very cool!

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1299053
 
And your opinion of the charger
 
Accucell 6 in stock again, just ordered a spare to keep in the car, now $22.99 + $9.99 postage from HK to Spain, cheap at twice the price imop
 
I posted a How To in the Mods forum I wrote about building a cheap/very accurate device to measure high DC amp draws by modifying a $3 Harbor Tool & Freight multi meter. Buying a commercial unit can get expensive and probably won't even be as accurate. I originally wrote it for the RC crowd in measuring amp draws of brushless motors with various prop sizes to avoid over amping the battery, but something like this can be handy in troubleshooting anything else that draws a lot of amps, so the possibilities are endless...

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?22,1322430
 
I never replied to this thread ....Sorry bout that ....I really LOVE the Accucel charger ...It works GREAT ......Lipo's last a LONG time and they are VERY light weight ....I've never hunted long enough to run the 750 ma battery down ...and then I recharge after every hunt ..... I like the fact that I can use the charger on EVERYTHING !!.....It's quiet , and runs nicely with a 12 volt battery .... I really like the fact that I don't have to GUESS whether my battery is fully charged or not ....The read out on the charger is GREAT and so are ll the features ....When I first got it , I thought that maybe it was a fluke and that I got the wrong charger ....That is until I saw how many things in the menu that you could adjust ....It's a great untt for sure , and I REALLY like the small size and the light weight of the Lipo batteries ....Great deal all the way around and WAY less money than a Minelab battery ....Jim
 
Sooner or later I'm going to write a walk thru to set up this charger for nimhs, nicads, lipos, etc. Once everything is set up you never really need to set things again as it remembers your parameters. It can be a bit confusing for those who don't know how battery chargers work, but once done it's a simple turn on and go type of deal.
 
Just got my second one so i can carry one in the car for spare. Stripped the older one down and fixed the fan, its quiet now. The new one came with different leads not deans so i'll have to make up some more.
 
Did you replace the fan, oil it, or otherwise? I seem to remember some saying it would rub a bit at first on I think some wires at the edge of the enclosure, and that they fixed the problem by grinding down the wires or whatever it was bumping up against. I just never bothered with that since it shuts up after a few seconds. I figure when it burns up I'll throw another fan in it, as they are standard fans use for some aspects of computers.

About the only other negative thing I've read (besides bad connector solder joints on the wires it comes with) is that the buttons can some times get fussy. Some people took it apart and cleaned the contacts where the buttons go. Never had a problem with mine, though.
 
A big THANK YOU to Critter who walked me thru the entire setup proccess when I first got my Accucell , and for showing me the ropes on Lipo's whcih really saves a LOT of space and weight ........ I had no problems with the fan , nor did I have any issues with the buttons ....My charger has worked FLAWLESSLY since I got it ...... Next Lipo's I order , I will get a backup charger ....They're surely worth having a backup !!....Jim
 
More than welcome. I'm just trying to save people from wasting $40 or $50 on a stock nimh or nicad pack alone for this machine, when they can buy a few lipo packs that have longer run time, hold their charge on the shelf, are much lighter, charge in only 1 hour or less, not to mention a charger along with them that will do just about every battery type...all this for way less than buying a single Sovereign Nimh or Nicad pack. I would get the 1450ma packs Kered is using next time. Had I known those would fit I would have bought those, but I guess I'm maxing out my weight savings by using the 750ma packs and I still get about two good long hunts out of one before needing a re-charge.

A side benefit is that I can now build a very light weight plane or two to fly these packs, as all my planes use 2250ma packs. I'm planning on building a real light weight (pound or less) thermal riding motorized glider for them to run in. I've built a glider with a 6 foot wing span that will ride thermals with the motor off, but all my planes are on the heavy side while something super light can really float around at very low speeds. After flying a few of my friend's ultra light weight planes I knew I needed to add a few to my line up for those windless days.
 
I used the same fan, pealed off the sticker and filled the small hole with vasaline, carefull not to get any on where the sticker sits then screwed it back on. The sticker sits against the casing so it should help it seal and stop anything escaping. While i was at it i put some contact cleaner into the push switches as a couple of them i had to press really hard to make contact, hasn't helped much though. The new one is silent from the off and the push switches work a lot better.
 
Kered, if you look on RCGroups for the huge thread on this charger some guys have a fix for the hard to get to work buttons when that happens. I seem to remember them popping the buttons off and doing something to the contacts but I can't remember exactly what they did.
 
been looking for that thread for half an hour, can't find it
 
I never read the thread , but I do remember using an eraser from a pencil to clean off contacts to make them work better ...Not sure if this is what your problem is with the contacts or not ....Jim

BTW ...The eraser use was NOT on the Accucell ......
 
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