James
12-01-2005, 09:55 AM
Check it out. When matto was in town and we decided we'd go for an r/c hack when he came over, I realised when I got home from work my AA's were all dead! (and take 15 hrs to charge) !!! DAMN.
So I rushed up to the local shops in an attempt to find a AA/AAA 1hr battery charger. Looked everywhere until I walked into Tandy to find them... (Tandy = $$$)
Anyway, I had the option of a $90 one or a $70 one, $90 WTF !!! of course I bought the $90 one, damn.
Anyway, it's a Varta, runs off AC or 12V (car), and came with four 2000mah AA's.
Why the cost you ask? not sure. But maybe it has something to do with the fact that this bad boy fully charges these AA's (the packaged ones) in 15 (fifteen) minutes!!!!
I found this interesting.
Looking at the batteries they are marked with "15 minute charge and go", 2000mah, type 5306, AA - Mignon - HR6 - NiMH - 1.2V. Charge in in 15min in Varta "15minute" charger only.
Now, how cool is this? re-charges in 15 mins. I've charged them up and timed them, yeap 15 mins.
I'm going to use these four batteries in the Mini-T and see how they hold up with that kind of current draw, then hit em with a 15 min charge (after cooling) and see how the run-time's go compared with 15 hour charged niMH batteries.
Oh yeah, it charges my other GP 1600 niMH batteries in 1 hour, which is cool.
Now, about the charger...
It's regular 'hand' size, holds four AA or AAA, has two fan's in it, in some kind of push / pull arrangement (sucks air from top, over electronics, into unit, then blows air out over batteries whilst charging). It has a regular DC type plug in the back of it where you can swap the AC charger out for the car 12V charger socket.
So far I'm impressed, I've only had to use it twice, but predict I'll be using it a lot initially for the Mini-T until I buy some lipo pack's. I might test the 15 minute charge in the car on the way home from work, see how that goes.
pictures of the unit coming soon.
So I rushed up to the local shops in an attempt to find a AA/AAA 1hr battery charger. Looked everywhere until I walked into Tandy to find them... (Tandy = $$$)
Anyway, I had the option of a $90 one or a $70 one, $90 WTF !!! of course I bought the $90 one, damn.
Anyway, it's a Varta, runs off AC or 12V (car), and came with four 2000mah AA's.
Why the cost you ask? not sure. But maybe it has something to do with the fact that this bad boy fully charges these AA's (the packaged ones) in 15 (fifteen) minutes!!!!
I found this interesting.
Looking at the batteries they are marked with "15 minute charge and go", 2000mah, type 5306, AA - Mignon - HR6 - NiMH - 1.2V. Charge in in 15min in Varta "15minute" charger only.
Now, how cool is this? re-charges in 15 mins. I've charged them up and timed them, yeap 15 mins.
I'm going to use these four batteries in the Mini-T and see how they hold up with that kind of current draw, then hit em with a 15 min charge (after cooling) and see how the run-time's go compared with 15 hour charged niMH batteries.
Oh yeah, it charges my other GP 1600 niMH batteries in 1 hour, which is cool.
Now, about the charger...
It's regular 'hand' size, holds four AA or AAA, has two fan's in it, in some kind of push / pull arrangement (sucks air from top, over electronics, into unit, then blows air out over batteries whilst charging). It has a regular DC type plug in the back of it where you can swap the AC charger out for the car 12V charger socket.
So far I'm impressed, I've only had to use it twice, but predict I'll be using it a lot initially for the Mini-T until I buy some lipo pack's. I might test the 15 minute charge in the car on the way home from work, see how that goes.
pictures of the unit coming soon.