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I need a field charging setup

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  • #21
    Originally posted by Bill Wakeley Jr. View Post

    Hi Mike. Thanks for the input. So, you hook up your charger to a marine battery with alligator clips? I just bought a Kia Serento and it has 12 volt hookups everywhere. Can anything you know of plug into these?
    What to use depends on what you need.

    The plugs in your Kia :
    The power outlet is designed to provide power for mobile telephones or other ... Only use 12V electric accessories which are less than 10A in electric capacity.
    (That is better than most other automotive power ports I have checked)

    A typical deep cycle marine battery is 120 amp-hr, 12V nominal. If you consistently drain it below 50% you are damaging the plates.
    You can do a lot of charges of 3S 2200 mah packs from that, or a few charges of 12S 5000 mah.

    Your car battery is lower capacity and is made for short burst current, not deep discharge, so it will give far fewer charges without being damaged.

    Connecting the charger directly to the battery is usually preferred, because any length of wire acts as a resistor at high current and you can find your charge rate limited by the resulting voltage drop.

    FF gliders and rubber power since 1966, CL 1970-1990, RC since 1975.

    current planes from 1/2 oz to 22 lbs

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    • #22
      "or a few charges of 12S 5000 mah."

      I've done 10 to 12 6S charges every time I go out on my set up and sure I could get more. My Hyperion 720i duo can do 2- 6S @ 1amp.all day long After 3 years of heavy use my Deep Cycle is still going strong. While a bit pricey it's well worth it.

      Mike
      \"When Inverted Down Is Up And Up Is Expensive\"

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      • #23
        Honda generators are nice!

        Another way to price out the problem is cost vs convenience. At Apollo in California, there are charging stations we use, so we're lucky in that regard. But here in China, we figured that for the cost of a generator, we could just buy more batteries, enough to fly our entire testing afternoon. It's easier to cart out more batteries to the test field, fly them until they're all dead and the sun has gone down, then drive back to base and recharge them in wall sock power. I recognize that's a rather specific use case, but it works.

        In a pinch, I've never charged larger than a 4s 4000 on my van's battery. But as MikeT pointed out, it really depends on the quality of your battery and if it's that important to you to get that one last flight. If you're a club at your car battery dies, you can get a jump start from a buddy. But if you're out on the salt flats flying all alone 5 miles off the interstate, I personally wouldn't risk it.

        Live Q&A every Tuesday and Friday at 9pm EST on my Twitch Livestream

        Live chat with me and other RC Nuts on my Discord

        Camp my Instagram @Alpha.Makes

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        • #24
          Originally posted by MikeT View Post
          "or a few charges of 12S 5000 mah."

          I've done 10 to 12 6S charges every time I go out on my set up and sure I could get more. My Hyperion 720i duo can do 2- 6S @ 1amp.all day long After 3 years of heavy use my Deep Cycle is still going strong. While a bit pricey it's well worth it.

          Mike
          Mike...........your comments are ambiguous with regard to providing insight to those that have little/no electrical understanding of what to acquire for a reliable field charging setup.
          The reason I say this is because the important factor to consider is the amperage drawn on the battery charging system, the voltage of the Lipo is of no relative concern.
          You say you do 10 to 12 6S but don't indicate what Amp size. If they are say 5000mAh packs, that equates to 50-60Ah(Amp hour) of drain on the deep cycle marine.
          Most standard marine batts fall into a BCI group category of 24M which is equiv in physical size of a average car battery.
          A $100 version is in the 550CCA (ColdCrankingAmp) range. This number is more relevant to short burst starting currents.
          The more important number on the marine battery is the Deep Cycle Capacity which again in the $100 version runs on average 65-75Ah.
          As fhhuber indicated earlier, you can not repeatedly draw down a deep cycle without causing damage.
          The voltage on the marine battery will drop off to 10.5 - 11.5vdc at 75% draw down of it's Deep Cycle Capacity.
          Most high capacity (4S or greater) chargers will usually shutdown/error code when the input voltage gets to those voltage levels.
          I'm not a wagering person but I gotta believe that you have yourself a pretty pricy marine battery with much higher deep cycle capacities.
          I also have a kick butt high capacity marine deep cycle that is in the $300 range but I also have a brother that is in the battery business where I get a get a "family" rate. ;)

          So to sum this up for those wondering, a $100 price range deep cycle marine will get you about 8-10 charges on a 5000mAh Lipo or approx. 20 charges on 2500mAh.
          I tried not to get too techy here, so hope this helps those inquiring minds that have a DC powered charger.
          Warbird Charlie
          HSD Skyraider FlightLine OV-10 FMS 1400: P-40B, P-51, F4U, F6F, T-28, P-40E, Pitts, 1700 F4U & F7F, FOX glider Freewing A-6, T-33, P-51 Dynam ME-262, Waco TF Giant P-47; ESM F7F-3 LX PBJ-1 EFL CZ T-28, C-150, 1500 P-51 & FW-190

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          • #25
            I just went to harbor freight and bought a tailgater generator for my field ops, nice and small fits well in the trunk along side the planes and gear, will run all day. Generator is for $90:) just get the 2 stroke mix fuel and rock on.

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            • #26
              Originally posted by OV10 View Post

              Mike...........your comments are ambiguous with regard to providing insight to those that have little/no electrical understanding of what to acquire for a reliable field charging setup.
              The reason I say this is because the important factor to consider is the amperage drawn on the battery charging system, the voltage of the Lipo is of no relative concern.
              You say you do 10 to 12 6S but don't indicate what Amp size. If they are say 5000mAh packs, that equates to 50-60Ah(Amp hour) of drain on the deep cycle marine.
              Most standard marine batts fall into a BCI group category of 24M which is equiv in physical size of a average car battery.
              A $100 version is in the 550CCA (ColdCrankingAmp) range. This number is more relevant to short burst starting currents.
              The more important number on the marine battery is the Deep Cycle Capacity which again in the $100 version runs on average 65-75Ah.
              As fhhuber indicated earlier, you can not repeatedly draw down a deep cycle without causing damage.
              The voltage on the marine battery will drop off to 10.5 - 11.5vdc at 75% draw down of it's Deep Cycle Capacity.
              Most high capacity (4S or greater) chargers will usually shutdown/error code when the input voltage gets to those voltage levels.
              I'm not a wagering person but I gotta believe that you have yourself a pretty pricy marine battery with much higher deep cycle capacities.
              I also have a kick butt high capacity marine deep cycle that is in the $300 range but I also have a brother that is in the battery business where I get a get a "family" rate. ;)

              So to sum this up for those wondering, a $100 price range deep cycle marine will get you about 8-10 charges on a 5000mAh Lipo or approx. 20 charges on 2500mAh.
              I tried not to get too techy here, so hope this helps those inquiring minds that have a DC powered charger.
              I can charge all day long at 2 or 3 C with my set up but always do 1C to increase the life of my batteries. I dropped $275 on my battery and would do it again tomorrow. As far as explaining the technical side of this I'm no expert and will let you handle that. I've found most don't understand it anyway. They just care about the results.That's on thing I've learned from the few days a week I spend at the LHS helping others with these kinda questions. "Don't give me the labor pains just give me the baby" basically sums it up how 99% view it..

              Mike
              \"When Inverted Down Is Up And Up Is Expensive\"

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              • #27
                Thanks for your primer on batts and amps, I ought to be able to buy what I need now. One more question; can I charge a deep cycle marine battery with a regular battery charger such as one would find at an auto parts store or do I need something bigger? And again, thanks for your help! Bill

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                • #28
                  Depends how fast you want t charge the deep cycle. I recommend generally using 5 amp rate. They can take higher but it can be hard on the battery.

                  Also an automatic charger that changes to a low "trickle" rate is good.

                  The charger I use for my boat's deep cycle battery (and as needed for car or lawn tractor) is discontinued
                  Closest I can find : https://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumache...rger/563031222

                  Higher rate is available, but that is for getting the car started if you left the lights on.

                  FF gliders and rubber power since 1966, CL 1970-1990, RC since 1975.

                  current planes from 1/2 oz to 22 lbs

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                  • #29
                    This is what I've been using for the last 3 years. 18 bucks at Pep Boys.

                    Mike Click image for larger version

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                    \"When Inverted Down Is Up And Up Is Expensive\"

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                    • #30
                      Originally posted by Bill Wakeley Jr. View Post
                      Thanks for your primer on batts and amps, I ought to be able to buy what I need now. One more question; can I charge a deep cycle marine battery with a regular battery charger such as one would find at an auto parts store or do I need something bigger? And again, thanks for your help! Bill
                      Any of the new technology automotive battery chargers can and do well on charging automatically lead acid and AGM(absorbent glass mat) constructed batteries.
                      ffhubber's comment regarding low amp charge rates to these batteries is more in line to the basis of charging Lithium where high current charge rates can be damaging.
                      The plate construction of lead acid/AGM batteries is designed for charge currents much higher than the average 25A charger sold at department stores.
                      The alternator on boats will put out 75+ amps.;)
                      ffhubers's recommendation of the Schumacher is a really good recommendation. Let it loose at the 15A charge rate and a couple hours later a half drained 60Ah marine battery is back to full capacity.
                      The recommended B&D is only a 1.2A max charge and would take 24 hrs+ to bring the same 60Ah battery back to full potential. It is essentially a "maintainer" type charger.
                      Another equivalent 15A charger to the Schumacher that I have been using for 5 years now is the Stanley.

                      Both of these chargers have a good healthy high rate charge capability as well as the ability to switch to a maintenance level charge when done with the high power charge.
                      Bottom line............no fear on using a regular battery charger acquired at a auto parts or department store.:Cool:
                      Warbird Charlie
                      HSD Skyraider FlightLine OV-10 FMS 1400: P-40B, P-51, F4U, F6F, T-28, P-40E, Pitts, 1700 F4U & F7F, FOX glider Freewing A-6, T-33, P-51 Dynam ME-262, Waco TF Giant P-47; ESM F7F-3 LX PBJ-1 EFL CZ T-28, C-150, 1500 P-51 & FW-190

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                      • #31
                        I was at Harbor freight this weekend and spotted this guy.

                        Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!


                        Very small! I would have tried it, but I have a 2300 watt ryobi that I used for fields with no electricity.

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                        • #32
                          Originally posted by DaleP View Post
                          I was at Harbor freight this weekend and spotted this guy.

                          Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!


                          Very small! I would have tried it, but I have a 2300 watt ryobi that I used for fields with no electricity.
                          The Harbor freight Tailgator is a noisy little thing. They work, You have to carefully maintain (and often repair it) the engine or it doesn't last. And do not expect it to survive long if you are demanding max rated power output from it.
                          Use it one year and expect to throw it away.

                          The Honda of about the same size is a MUCH better generator. It costs more, but its worth it. Quieter, more powerful and more reliable. They can last many years.
                          FF gliders and rubber power since 1966, CL 1970-1990, RC since 1975.

                          current planes from 1/2 oz to 22 lbs

                          Comment


                          • #33
                            Originally posted by fhhuber View Post

                            The Harbor freight Tailgator is a noisy little thing. They work, You have to carefully maintain (and often repair it) the engine or it doesn't last. And do not expect it to survive long if you are demanding max rated power output from it.
                            Use it one year and expect to throw it away.

                            The Honda of about the same size is a MUCH better generator. It costs more, but its worth it. Quieter, more powerful and more reliable. They can last many years.
                            The Harbor Freight one is "disposable" ( as with most of the stuff they sell) saw way too many just die after a few uses. That's why I went with the Marine Battery.

                            Mike.
                            \"When Inverted Down Is Up And Up Is Expensive\"

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                            • #34
                              I know ths is old thread, but I've bought a small gas generator from Harbor Freight. Plan on using for field use charging batteries. Just got to get the energy to get it out of the box and start it up. Looking like for handling one man will do. Plan on sitting on ground, to reduce vibration, maybe a small table to set charger, and a cooler for soft drinks and ice.
                              Jimmy

                              I started out with nothing, and still have most of it.  :)


                              Death is the number one killer in the world.

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