Trig TT21 Transponder ... reports?

I have a Triton (first generation) multi-mode charger that will charge
NiCad, NiMH, LiPoly and SLA. It will cycle and record capacity and
both the charge and discharge rates can be adjusted.

In the US it is distributed by Great Planes hobby company. Their
products are carried in most hobby shops. The URL for the most
current version, Triton2 is he

http://www.electrifly.com/chargers/gpmm3153.html

Most modelers use the same 8AH size SLA that are found in sailplanes
and this charger is used to keep them charged.

Mike

SoaringXCellence wrote:
I have a Triton (first generation) multi-mode charger that will charge
NiCad, NiMH, LiPoly and SLA. It will cycle and record capacity and
both the charge and discharge rates can be adjusted.


I'll throw my 2 cents in. Ive been using the Accumate charger
(http://www.accumate.com/612/) for the last 9 years. Hook up the battery
and forget about it until you need it. I cycle though 2 batteries -
bring a fresh one to the field, return with the other to recharge.

What I would like is an effective way to measure battery capacity - that
doesn't cost more than the charger.

Tony "6N"

On 8/23/2010 5:38 PM, Tony V wrote:

What I would like is an effective way to measure battery capacity -
that doesn't cost more than the charger.
I like the CBA for discharge tests (westmountainradio.com), but it's
$150 price may be too high if you don't want to be a battery geek. The
Triton2 that SoaringXcellence suggested would do a good job, and it's
only $100 from Tower Hobbies. The Multiplex LN5014 is $75 from Tower,
good if the 0.4 amp discharge rate is OK for you.

The CBA is discharge testing only, but the other two will also
charge/discharge four types of batteries. They are powered from from a
12 volt source, like a battery or an AC input, 12 volt DC output supply.
There may be cheaper discharge testing units, but I don't know of any.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (netto to net to email me)

- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz

On Aug 23, 5:38*pm, Tony V wrote:

What I would like is an effective way to measure battery capacity - that
doesn't cost more than the charger.

My experience says that's a waste of time and money. About 20 years
ago I invested a lot of time in measuring SLA discharge
characteristics in the hope I could predict the failure of the glider
battery. What I found was that most failures were caused by one cell
going bad and that it was not predictable. The battery keeps looking
good with only a slow decay in capacity until the flight where one
cell goes bad and there is very obvious fall off in performance.

Maybe measurement techniques are better now. I loaded the batteries
to sink about 1 amp and continuously sampled voltage and current using
the game port of my Beeb computer. The software stored off the values
and plotted the results in real time All the results were saved to a
data file and periodic testing and comparison of the discharge plots
showed how the battery was holding up. Despite all the data I was
never able to to predict the cell failure that rendered the battery
useless.

My solution was to buy a new glider that had room for 2 batteries.

Andy (GY)

"Tony V" wrote in message
...
SoaringXCellence wrote:
I have a Triton (first generation) multi-mode charger that will charge
NiCad, NiMH, LiPoly and SLA. It will cycle and record capacity and
both the charge and discharge rates can be adjusted.


I'll throw my 2 cents in. Ive been using the Accumate charger
(http://www.accumate.com/612/) for the last 9 years. Hook up the battery
and forget about it until you need it. I cycle though 2 batteries - bring
a fresh one to the field, return with the other to recharge.

What I would like is an effective way to measure battery capacity - that
doesn't cost more than the charger.

Here is a very cheap, low tec solution. Make a jumper to tie into your
battery, that has a regular car taillight bulb soldered into the circuit.
Hook it to your battery and measure (inline, of course) the amperage
discharge with a volt ohm meter. Use that reading as the discharge rate,
and hook up the setup while you are sitting around, and take a voltage
reading every 10 minutes, and graph the voltage, time along the horizontal,
and voltage on the vertical. You will see the voltage take a quick nose
dive, at some point. The last reading along your graph before it dives is
you time value you use to figure the capacity. Use some math to figure the
capacity. Like if the drain was one amp, it should take 7 hours to
discharge a 7 amp hour battery.
--
Jim in NC

On 8/23/2010 5:04 PM, SoaringXCellence wrote:
I have a Triton (first generation) multi-mode charger that will charge
NiCad, NiMH, LiPoly and SLA. It will cycle and record capacity and
both the charge and discharge rates can be adjusted.

In the US it is distributed by Great Planes hobby company. Their
products are carried in most hobby shops. The URL for the most
current version, Triton2 is he

http://www.electrifly.com/chargers/gpmm3153.html

This looks like a better choice to me than the Multiplex, based on it's
20 watt/1.6 amp@12volt discharge capability. The only quibble so far
seems to be the 90 ma shut-off point is rather low for my 18 and 36 ah
batteries, but the shut-off timer might be adequate instead.

Do you know what voltage it uses to charge a 12 volt battery? The manual
didn't seem to specify the voltage.

--

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (netto to net to email me)

- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz