car charger

[coolair]

could you use a car charger/starter set to 6amps kinda like a power supply for a lipo charger ste at 5amps...?

[Trubble]

The manuals for my Onyx chargers have the warning to not use an automotive battery charger as your 'power supply'. I've seen other chargers' manuals that have echoed similar warnings.

If by "starter" you meant one of those portable cases that you lug out to a car to jump start it (not plugged into AC), then that should be usable until it runs down, then unplug your charger, and plug your jump pack into the wall until it comes back up. I really think a proper power supply would be a much better choice, though.

Tower Hobbies has listed an Integy 7 amp power supply for $21 (temporarily unavailable), same PS on Integy's own website shows in stock, $30. Tower also lists an OFNA 10 amp PS for $45, in stock. I'm sure there's cheaper options out there than this, don't be afraid to do some diggin' around for a deal.


EDIT: This should probably have been asked in (or get moved to) the electronics section. We'll let the Mods decide if they want to or not.

[AX10wannabe]

dont really understand why you'd use a car battery charger or a booster pack to charge an rc battery but ok... if your talking about charging your batts out in the field then i think your better off just buying an rc batt charger that you can hook up to your 1:1's battery using gator clamps.

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by AX10wannabe

I don't really understand why you'd use a car battery charger or a booster pack to charge an RC battery, but ok... if you're talking about charging your batts out in the field then I think you're better off just buying an RC batt charger that you can hook up to your 1:1's battery using gator clamps.

He doesn't want to charge the packs off the car charger, he likely has a RC battery charger that is DC input only.

coolair, you just need a DC supply greater than what the charger needs, you could use a 100A DC supply, the RC charger will only use what it needs.

I use a 8ah 12vdc gel-cell battery for out in the field, you could use the car charger connected to the gel-cell. The gel-cell helps "condition" the power off the charger.
As to using a car charger as a DC supply, a lot depends on the type of car charger it is.
Mine is an old 25A simple charger, it's a transformer with a full rectifier bridge to get DC voltage, there are no "electronics" that may give "false peaks" to the RC charger.

[clayton78]

I've seen lots of local airplane guys use a booster pack. and I myself have used one many of times with out any problems. And they can come in handy out on the dunes!!!

[AX10wannabe]

Originally Posted by Charlie-III

He doesn't want to charge the packs off the car charger, he likely has a RC battery charger that is DC input only.

coolair, you just need a DC supply greater than what the charger needs, you could use a 100A DC supply, the RC charger will only use what it needs.

I use a 8ah 12vdc gel-cell battery for out in the field, you could use the car charger connected to the gel-cell. The gel-cell helps "condition" the power off the charger.
As to using a car charger as a DC supply, a lot depends on the type of car charger it is.
Mine is an old 25A simple charger, it's a transformer with a full rectifier bridge to get DC voltage, there are no "electronics" that may give "false peaks" to the RC charger.

ah gotcha... that makes more sense lol. i still think just buy a charger with gator clips and hook it up to the car.