Battery chargers....

[bing! (L.A.)]

If your going to use rechargeable batteries, save you money by investing in a good charger. Here are a couple thatll do the job. You know what they say, the right tool for the right job. Both will charge, peak detect, refresh, cycle, MONITOR CAPACITY and are editor's choice awardees from PC PHOTO and Outdoor Photography magazines. Git 'er done!

You'll need two of these http://www.thomas-distributing.com/la_crosse_bc-900_battery_charger.php

or one of these
http://www.thomas-distributing.com/maha-mh-c801d-battery-charger.htm

For the more technically inclined, this will be more flexible http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXKSY1&P=ML but will require a power supply and adapters/battery holders. It will charge even lithium batteries.

And for the best NIMH batteries around. The new ENELOOP cells from Sanyo will hold a charge indefinitely. Its 15% capacity loss per year is a technical miracle. http://www.sanyo.co.jp/koho/hypertext4-eng/0511/1101-2e.html

I am in no way connected with any of these online merchants. Happy New Year! /bing

p.s. the original wall charger will work, but if you dont want to be plagued by short rechargeable battery life, inconsistent performance and poor reliability, a first grade charger is the only way to go. Otherwise, buy alkaline.

 

[WThesing]

Just for the record, those of you who received the 8 cell Vanson charger with their Explorer II's be advised that this charger has no internal shut down or trickle charge switching. If not monitored, it can ruin your cells from overcharge.To play it safe, attach it to a timer, and set the ON TIME for 10 to 12 hours for depleted cells (1600 Mah) 14 - 16 hours for 2500 Mah cells.You can maintain a charge by setting the timer to one hour a day, and leave the cells in the charger if you use your detector, say once a week. The 1600 Mah Vanson cells supplied with the Explorer II are junk, Use them for something else or as back-ups. Use Eveready 2500 Mah NiMh instead, and you will get MUCH LONGER run time. I usually get about 12 - 14 hours including intermittant use of the backlight, and have never had the low battery alarm trigger. The Sanyo's pictured above, I am not familiar with, however I am very much tuned to "battery science" , as part of my competative R/C hobby. Sanyo has always made the very best cells available. I use two other chargers from my R/C bench. The "Pulsar Competition", and the "Duratrax ICE", both of which are available from Tower Hobbies (link in previous post), or other R/C supplier. These may be overkill for most of you, but are able to "do it all". I have a fair amount of other devices that use batteries both around the house, and in my shop. I very rarely buy disposable batteries for my own use, and with the proper charger / cycler, I have rechargeables that have had very heavy useage that are a few years old and still going strong. One of the other factors with the higher end chargers is the ability to dial in the parameters for all of the different cell types. This enables quick charge times. I usually charge 8 AA 2500 Nimh cells in about 45 minutes from an almost empty condition, or can "top off" a pack in minutes. I also carry a spare set with me just in case, and alternate sets in order to give even use.

 

[GraveDiggerMax-VaBch-Va]

http://www.powerstream.com/

 

[shawnv(or)]

What kinda of RC racing did/do you do? Cars or Trucks? My area use to have a good club and indoor offroad track. And in the summer we would turn the parking lot into a road course. What a blast but it went out of business a little over a decade ago. That s when I started my new hobby, detecting. I still got all my gear for Stadium trucks 1/10 scale electric and a couple off years ago I bought a 1/8 scale HPI Savage in kit form to bash around in the back yard. Its awesome at 40+ mph 2-speed transmission 6 1/2 tires its cool.