AstroFlight: 110 Deluxe Charger

Model Airplane News, Dec 2002 by Aberle, Bob

PRODUCT REVIEW

For many years, the AstroFlight 110D peak-detect charger has been one of the most popular units available. Well known for Its overall ease of operation and excellent reliability,

the 110D could charge up to 18 Ni-Cd or NIMH cells, but it could not discharge a battery.

The new AstroFlight 110 Deluxe is capable of charging from 1 to 24 cells at from 50 milliamps up to 8 amps. Instead of slow and fast charging levels (as in the

original model), the Deluxe has one range and a peak-detect cutoff that works throughout the range. The Deluxe also features a built-in circuit to discharge from I to 24 cells at a fixed IA load. Operation couldn't be simpler, a single knob allows you to set the charge current (no menu to learn!).

OPERATION

Like the original 110D charger, the Deluxe uses a 12V DC source (a car battery or an AC power supply such as the AstroFlight 120). It has a 2 3/8x5/8-inch LCD monitoring screen that indicates charge current, the voltage of the battery being charged, the time the unit has been on charge or discharge and the ampere hours of energy into or out of the battery during charge/discharge. These measurements are stored on the screen until the charger is disconnected from its power source.

A single potentiometer (knob) control permits you to set the charge current. You simply attach the battery pack and adjust the current, and the charger will operate until the peak voltage is sensed. At this point, the LCD screen will display "Peaked," the charger will beep once, and it will then turn itself off. It does not revert to tricklecharge.

AstroFlight provides enough operational instructions to get you started. Keep in mind that the 110 Deluxe is not an automatic charger; you are responsible for setting the correct charge current. The instructions suggest that Ni-Cd batteries be charged at a 3C rate, which takes approximately 20 minutes. A 500mAh capacity battery would therefore be charged at 500mA (or 0.500 amp) multiplied by 3, or 1.50 amps. The instructions also note that NiMH batteries should be charged at a iC rate, which usually takes about an hour to reach full charge. (That's a little on the conservative side; I've found that these cells can easily take a 2C charge rate, achieving full charge in approximately 30 minutes.)

The Deluxe 110 has a cooling fan that stays on all throughout the charging or discharging of a battery pack.

The input cables on the Deluxe are 42inch lengths of 13-gauge wire, terminating in alligator clips. The output side is a much shorter (8-inch) 16-gauge wire with an AstroFlight Zero Loss connector attached. Most of my battery connectors are of the Anderson Power Pole/Sermos variety, so I simply substituted a pair. If you don't like to solder, AstroFlight offers adapters for most popular connectors.

TEST RESULTS

I spent several weeks using my new 110 Deluxe to charge a variety of NiCd and NiMH packs. Using a 12V car battery as the power input, I was able to charge up to 14 cells at the full 8 amps. As you might expect, for more cells, the current does tend to fall off a little; for example, on 21 cells, the maximum current I attained was 5.6 amps; at the 24-cell limit, the current dropped to 5 amps. I consider this very acceptable performance. You will get roughly the same results with an AC power supply, provided that it has sufficient current capacity.

In all cases, I could easily adjust the current down to the 50mA minimum. The setting is more sensitive at this low end, so it may take a little fiddling to get it perfect. This low-current capability will be very popular with pilots of backyard and park flyers that use batteries with capacities as low as SOmAh. Keep in mind that the AstroFlight 110 Deluxe is intended only to charge Ni-Cd and NiMH batteries; do not use it with lithium cells.

The Deluxe 110's 1 to 1.2A discharge current load is fixed and is not adjustable. Since there are no switches on this charger, you may wonder how to select between the charge and discharge functions. Well, it's easy. In the charging mode, you first connect the 12V DC input; the LCD screen reads "Waiting for Batt." Then you attach the battery to the output, select the current level and begin charging. To discharge, you first connect the battery pack to the output and then apply the 12V DC input power, after which the LCD screen displays "Discharge." After discharging the battery down to approximately 0.9 volt per cell, the discharge will stop, and the screen will indicate, "Disc Done." You can read the battery capacity on the LCD screen, expressed as "AH" or amp hours (which you can mentally transpose into mAh or milliampere hours).

SUMMARY

In my opinion, the new AstroFlight Deluxe 110 peak-detect charger/discharger is just as reliable and convenient as the original model, with a greater current range, capability of handling more cells and even easier operating features. You won't even have to refer to the instruction manual! Newcomers and experienced e-flyers are sure to be pleased with the operation of this charger.