Charging in the field

[V6Jim]

So, to follow on from the Kipor generator thread, what is everybodies preferred method of charging 'in the field'? (Assuming no mains electricity is available)

Do people still use their own car battery?
Do you carry a big leisure battery?
Or carry a small generator?
Or any other technique?

Jimmy

[bigt]

I got a 115a leisure battery and a 2k Honda generator or an inverter in front a the van just despends on the occasion and if anyone else sipping juice

[PaulRotheram]

I've got a cheap heavy duty 12v I picked up from the local scrap yard.

£15 cant complain at all really!

I used to use a generator when I did nationals, but they were smelly, big heavy things to pack and always stunk the car out!

When I come around to do nationals again next year i'll have to consider what i'll use!

[Andy Nelson]

My pref is a 12v battery and a good charger at home got mine from a scrapper £15 used it twice so far no prob if unsure get 2 battery's . And when they do fail just take back to scrapper and they will buy it of you win win situation.

[discothesnake]

For a one day event a 12v leisure battery is spot on. For a weekend event like Nationals etc i would go for a generator. They are also handy if you're camping.

[blue_pinky]

I've been using a half decent 70Ah leisure battery, and half decent leisure battery charger at home for a couple of years now. Costs more than an old car battery, but has lasted over 3 years so far, and still going strong as far as I can tell!

I've done 2 day nationals, regionals, and club days on it for the last 3 years, so it's done car and transmitter battery charging, sometimes for more than 1 person, plus the camping with a 240v ac inverter for phone charging, a bit of music and light in the evenings...it's never run flat leaving me short trackside, and I've never had the initial purchase cost, noise, smell, space or petrol running cost problems of a generator! ;)

Leisure batteries are designed for deep discharging so suit our charging and relatively low power situations perfectly...it's what they are designed to do! They have thick plates inside, that don't deliver high power bursts, but degrade very slowly over time.

Car batteries and quite different. They are designed for a single high power burst once every so often, with charging happening in between to keep the voltage up. They have very thin plates inside that will degrade much more quickly if loaded and discharged over long periods. Hence they don't last very long doing deep discharge duties.

If I decided I wanted to run more electric stuff at nationals...I think I'd just buy another leisure and inverter and carry 2! It'd still be less to carry, and cheaper! But your camping...it should be a bit more back to basics ;)

[jcb]

I've always used a 12v leisure battery. Used to have two 75ah ones for when I did nationals and they lasted perfectly for powering charges, dischargers, lathes and soldering irons.

Now I just have a sole 110ah one which does club and regional meetings fine and quite happily powers 2 chargers for a day, but have had four running off of it at odd occasions.

They are quiet, generators do my head in with the noise and smell. My last one 12v lasted four years and cost me £85 making it far cheaper than a reasonable generator.

[RandomConflict]

After my leisure battery packed up late last summer, I went for one of these:


http://www.hardwarexpress.co.uk/evx12200-csb-battery-12v-20ah-448-p.asp


Will do a full days charging and more, can charge around 9 or 10 2S LiPo race packs without any problems. When I get home, I just stick it on charge with my Orion Adantage Touch and charge it back up. I've also run soldering irons on it, all through the winter in some of the coldest conditions I've raced in. Plenty of power for a full days racing, and probably enough to get through the next day aswell!


So much lighter, cleaner and smaller than any other option! And Corally type connectors fit perfectly into the screw holes in the top! :thumbsup:

[Robocop]

If its my kipor thread,i am asking about a generator as 3 of us would need 12v each for a national weekend 3 of us are in a car to travel...

[blue_pinky]

Wow...3 of you plus racing kit (and camping kit?) for a national weekend in one car? How big's your car? :lol::D:)

[V6Jim]

Well, I already have a wee gennie, and it started second pull after sitting for 3 years unused! So I hooked it up to my charger and.... The charger didn't like it. All the digits got muddled up on the readout, so I guess the input from the gennie is a bit 'dirty'.

However, worked OK when hooked up to a 12v battery through a 12v charger/power supply, which stabilized the voltage. So the answer for a long weekend might be a generator and a leisure battery. Just fire up the gennie when the battery gets a bit tired.

So, I'll see if I can find a decent big battery somewhere. Cheap!
Jimmy

[Jamesk]

I have a Toyota diesel battery I purchased new,I fully charged it and got six months before it need charging and general race three times a month. I've had it three years now and its going very well still.
Money well spent in my mind,plus it has been used to help jump start my neighbours car a couple of times.

jK

[Danny Harrison]

After my leisure battery packed up late last summer, I went for one of these:


http://www.hardwarexpress.co.uk/evx12200-csb-battery-12v-20ah-448-p.asp


Will do a full days charging and more, can charge around 9 or 10 2S LiPo race packs without any problems. When I get home, I just stick it on charge with my Orion Adantage Touch and charge it back up. I've also run soldering irons on it, all through the winter in some of the coldest conditions I've raced in. Plenty of power for a full days racing, and probably enough to get through the next day aswell!


So much lighter, cleaner and smaller than any other option! And Corally type connectors fit perfectly into the screw holes in the top! :thumbsup:

So you use your rc charger to charge this 12v battery? Can this be done to charge leisure batteries too?

[andys]

Decent leisure battery all day long.

Generators should be banned - noisy, smelly things.

And why is it that people with generators always insist on placing them as far away from where they are pitting as possible, which usually means somone who doesn't have a genny getting one placed next to them !

I've re-positioned a fair few inconsideratly placed generators in my time :)

[RandomConflict]

So you use your rc charger to charge this 12v battery? Can this be done to charge leisure batteries too?

It wont charge leisure batteries I'm afraid, you'd need a proper car/leisure battery charger for this. The Orion Charger I have (and most other chargers these days) have a PB setting which charges lead acid batteries like the one I have. Only takes a couple of hours after a full days racing to charge it back upto full again. charging 6/7 race packs and a bit of soldering will take around 8amps out of my 20amp lead acid battery.

I agree with the whole generator thing. A good idea for a weekends racing, for a standard regional day meeting/club meeting they aren't really needed as there are plenty of other solutions, and the noise is frustrating! Wherever you choose to pit, someone will always reel their extension cord metres away from their pit table, but next to yours.

[blue_pinky]

Generators aren't even needed for weekend meetings in my experience!!! A leisure battery does the job perfectly...and silently...and cheaply! :)

[Hpi_guy]

I find that a optima yellow top and red top in parallel running to a Anderson connector on the bumper on my 110 works well for everything

[discothesnake]

I don't think the noise is annoying at all. Once they have been running for a few hours you hardly notice them.

Also if you travel a long distance like we have to do, a generator is great as we can have 6-8 racers sharing one unit. Far more practical than everyone bringing a leisure battery.

[Hpi_guy]

I think the compromise would be to have a dedicated area for generators

[kaszal]

Yes, generators are noisy, especially if you value the relative quiet of electric racing compared to 1/8 nitro :lol:

Maybe Tim Allen had it right... more power, urrrgh.

[Aire valley]

After my leisure battery packed up late last summer, I went for one of these:


http://www.hardwarexpress.co.uk/evx12200-csb-battery-12v-20ah-448-p.asp


Will do a full days charging and more, can charge around 9 or 10 2S LiPo race packs without any problems. When I get home, I just stick it on charge with my Orion Adantage Touch and charge it back up. I've also run soldering irons on it, all through the winter in some of the coldest conditions I've raced in. Plenty of power for a full days racing, and probably enough to get through the next day aswell!


So much lighter, cleaner and smaller than any other option! And Corally type connectors fit perfectly into the screw holes in the top! :thumbsup:


20ah seems rather small.....? Most people seem to use 75ah or 100ah..
I like the idea , and price, but is it up to the job ..?:eh?::eh?:

[V6Jim]

20ah seems rather small.....? Most people seem to use 75ah or 100ah..
I like the idea , and price, but is it up to the job ..?:eh?::eh?:

I thought that myself.

20Ah means (I think) that the battery will supply, at best, 20 Amps for a period of one hour.

By my reckoning that should be able to charge 4 x 5000mAh packs from flat. That might be enough to get through a days racing....

Jimmy

[RandomConflict]

I thought that myself.

20Ah means (I think) that the battery will supply, at best, 20 Amps for a period of one hour.

By my reckoning that should be able to charge 4 x 5000mAh packs from flat. That might be enough to get through a days racing....

Jimmy

I tried to do the math before taking the plunge, I thought I'd get 5/6 race packs out of it, putting around 1600/1700mah back in after each race before the Lead Acid battery went flat.

I have charged 8 packs in the past, putting in on average 1700/1800mah back in after each run, and when charging the Lead Acid battery that evening, my charger put around 10,000mah back in. It's all to do with discharge rates etc. aswell. I charge my race packs at 6 amps and the Lead Acid battery more than copes. It probably wouldn't last you a whole weekend, but is more than capable of lasting for a whole days racing, 5 races and 2/3 practices.

[kaszal]

I tried to do the math before taking the plunge, I thought I'd get 5/6 race packs out of it, putting around 1600/1700mah back in after each race before the Lead Acid battery went flat.

I have charged 8 packs in the past, putting in on average 1700/1800mah back in after each run, and when charging the Lead Acid battery that evening, my charger put around 10,000mah back in. It's all to do with discharge rates etc. aswell. I charge my race packs at 6 amps and the Lead Acid battery more than copes. It probably wouldn't last you a whole weekend, but is more than capable of lasting for a whole days racing, 5 races and 2/3 practices.

I too decided to get one of those CSB 20Ah leisure batteries...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290680433601?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch% 2Fi.html%3F_sacat%3D0%26_from%3DR40%26_nkw%3D29068 0433601%26_rdc%3D1

I've got an Turnigy Accucel 6 charger and 15v power supply. What settings do you use to charge yours? Do I just set the charger to "pb" mode (12v) and set the current? The CSB specification (link below) says 6A max charging current so I figured half that should be safe to start with?

http://www.csb-battery.com/english/01_product/02_detail.php?fid=4&pid=47

[PurcyP]

You say you cant charge a car battery with a normal charger?

I have a Core UAC50 and it supports 12v pb, if you follow the bench charge rate the battery states, for example mine is 4 amps then its no issues, just set a mAh cut off as it can struggle to read the peak sometimes.

ive charged my spare car battery with it and then used it to charge my lipos without many issues, although i would like to invest in a leisure battery with handles as lugging this car battery around is anything but easy.

[Danny Harrison]

You say you cant charge a car battery with a normal charger?

I have a Core UAC50 and it supports 12v pb, if you follow the bench charge rate the battery states, for example mine is 4 amps then its no issues, just set a mAh cut off as it can struggle to read the peak sometimes.

ive charged my spare car battery with it and then used it to charge my lipos without many issues, although i would like to invest in a leisure battery with handles as lugging this car battery around is anything but easy.

I allways thought 12v pb was like the golf trolley batteries. Sealed lead acid type and similar. Pretty sure a car battery is on same lines as a leisure battery and wont like pb setting too much. Im sure it will charge, but I would't do it personally.

[PurcyP]

Pb is the name on the periodic table for lead

all sealed lead acid batteries are pb by chemistry, be it leisure, those little golf trolley ones or even car batteries, all use the same chemistry

if its a 12v lead acid car battery aka leisure battery and has a bench charge rate of 4 amps then there i guess there is no reason why any charger that supports pb chemistry cant do it?

[Danny Harrison]

Pb is the name on the periodic table for lead

all sealed lead acid batteries are pb by chemistry, be it leisure, those little golf trolley ones or even car batteries, all use the same chemistry

if its a 12v lead acid car battery aka leisure battery and has a bench charge rate of 4 amps then there i guess there is no reason why any charger that supports pb chemistry cant do it?

Fair one, I was in same boat myself last month, but all the answers I got were that you shouldn't do it. Seems logical though :thumbsup:

[HOTSHOT III]

Pb is the name on the periodic table for lead

all sealed lead acid batteries are pb by chemistry, be it leisure, those little golf trolley ones or even car batteries, all use the same chemistry

if its a 12v lead acid car battery aka leisure battery and has a bench charge rate of 4 amps then there i guess there is no reason why any charger that supports pb chemistry cant do it?

Purcy...it's green.

Joking apart you're right, Pb = Lead = lead acid battery in this context:thumbsup:

[PurcyP]

Paha :thumbsup: that joke is going to stay around for a while i think

[kaszal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkZFuKHXa7w

[dodgydiy]

12v 20ah is 240 watt hour, a 5ah 7.4v lipo is 37 watt hour providing my maths is correct. the 20ah battery should be good for 15-17 AH useable capacity or around 200 watt hours so should be able to fully charge 5 5AH packs from flat or ten from half charged, plenty for the average days racing with one car. have a look around for a 40ah gel cell from an electric wheelchair, another cheap power source, a lot of companies fit new ones when servicing a chair even if there is nothing wrong with the old ones