NOVAK SMART TRAY

[Dlux]

My smart tray arrived today and i have a quick but dumb a$$ question. It came with a DC adaptor (USA) which I obviously can't use here, and it also came with another plug with + & - wires hanging off it. Do I just connect them wires up to my power supply (from an old PC) like I do my charger? I'm always hesitant about messing around with electricity so when it comes to charging/discharging/maintaining my batteries, I always ask questions. Just ask max'd out.

[M.J]

yer just connect it to your power supply

i leghtened my leads though they wernt long enough..

[opAsx]

hehe this is where femal molex plugs come in handy for adaptors for heaps of things with 12V power needs :)

[anson]

Take your pick.
http://www.marcee.org/Articles/PCPowerSupply.htm
http://www.one18th.com/ShowArticle79.htm
http://www.e-maxximumrc.com/html/power_supply.html

[James]

i might have a smart tray coming also :) they rock

[Dlux]

Here's another question. I have some new GP3300 matched packs, a 20amp discharger and my smart tray. After a days/nights racing, do I discharge my batteries using the discharger, then wait till the following week where the night before racing, I whack the batteries on my smart tray to equalize the pack down to 5.4v.
Then the next day when I start to race, charge em up at 5amps.

[Dlux]

The GP's also have discharge rate at 30amps. Will discharging at 20amps be a problem?

[M.J]

i have a smart tray i do them after every race day it does them pretty quick and yer your 3300 will be cool

[Dlux]

But shouldn't you be equalising your packs just before you charge them up for racing, and not equalising them then leaving it for a week. Can anyone gimme an insight on my precedure for discharging/equalising/charging method.

[James]

do this... lets say you havent raced in a while.

throw pack in novak smart tray, equalize. remove pack. if pack is totally cool (wait an hr or so if not), then charge at your desired amperage, lets say 5A for mod, 6A for stock.

race the pack, after race, throw pack straight into smart tray. let it discharge and equalize ea cell. You wont need a 20A discharger, the smart tray does it all.

read this:
http://www.teamnovak.com/products/dischargers/smart_tray/index.html

The smart tray discharges ea cell individually. When complete, it will shut off ea cell one by one as they are equal. This is "equalizing" Basically it ensures ea cell is exactly the correct discharged voltage.

while a 20A discharge feature in a charger is nice, it discharges the entire cell pack, not the cells one by one.

use smart tray for all discharging directly after running a pack. remove and let cool only when completely discharged/equalized.

hope that makes sense.

I need to get me a smart tray. I sold my Eagle CDC as I didn't need two chargers, but I would like a seperate device for discharge/equalizing, so the smart tray is probably the go. Waiting on a bloke who has one for sale....

:)