Space charger / space charger pro

[marcoski]

Just a note of caution!

Whilst I thoroughly recommend this charger for 6 cell NiMH packs, it is not best suited to charge 4 cell packs. This is because the charge current is limited to 3 amps.

I would suggest the LRP pulsar sport as a good charger for those of you that run four cell NiMH packs. This does allow high current charging up to 7 amps on a four cell pack.

[burgie]

I think you will find that it flatly refuses to charge 4 cell packs anyway. I know mine does.

[MattW]

Chris, I have never seen one that flatly refuses to charge a 4 cell pack. Mine used to limit it self to 3.5A, I have seen some that limit to 3.0A. The strangest one that i have seen was one quite happily charging a 4 cell Sanyo 2000mAh pack at 5A last week. I wouldn't have believed it if i hadn't seen it with my own eyes. ??? 8)

I think there are a few small variations depending on software versions.

[burgie]

interesting, that. mine faultlessly charges 6 cells, both ni-cad and ni-mih, but flatly refuses to charge 4 cells, and when i try to, it tells me to check the connection, or similar!

[webba]

hi, a little off topic. I have just bought a mardave V12 and have never used 4 cell batts before. I assumed that a 4 cell would be charged at a lower amp rate than a 6 cell but after reading this thread i am a little confused now. I am cutting my old 2400's and 2000's 6 cells down to 4 cell packs and will be charging them on a protrak. What charge rate and delta cutoff should i be using?

Thanks

[marcoski]

Charge current can stay the same as you have always used, delta = (old delta/6) *4 , so if you were using 30mV per pack it would be reduced to 20mV.

[webba]

thanks marcus. While your'e here, im having problems with my leisure battery. I bought one about 6 months ago (85mah). The first time i used it i lasted 2 tiverton meetings and 2 club nights which equated to around 30 charge/discharge cycles. Since then i have a job to get it to last 5 cycles. I changed it last week for a brand new one as i thought it may be a faulty battery but the new one is the same. I charge it using a normal car battery charger for around 16-20 hours until all except one light goes out on the charger as per the instructions for the charger. The battery instructions say to charge it until the density? or seomthing reaches a certain point (density is the wrong word but i can't think of the right word at the moment). Am i doing something wrong or am i using the wrong type of charger? It charges at 6 amps and this reduces as the batteries charge increases.

[DA_cookie_monstA]

Mark, go down to the Auto factors, and buy an electrolyte meter, long glass tube with a ball in it, that should tell you if the battery is OK. If this is the second battery that don't work, you could look at using another charger dude, something a little less harsh.

Personally, I use a motorcycle battery maintenance system, and it does fine, and is really good and keepying your 12v in trim.

[webba]

the shop tested the first one with one of them electrolyte meters and they reckoned it was ok but they swapped it anyway.

[burgie]

just set your number of cells on your protrak to 4, and it will take care of the rest for you.

[webba]

bear in mind my pro-trak is ver 2.15, will it still sort it out automatically when set to 4 cells

[marcoski]

Leisure batts should be charged using a two stage charger, bulk charge to fill it then a maintenance charge to keep it full. It should be left on the maintenance charge all the time its not being used. As Cookie said, there are specific chargers for the job, either the motorbike one or one from a caravan shop or similar - they are somewhat different to a normal car battery charger.

[burgie]

as long as your protrak allows you to adjust down to 4 cells, then I am sure it will still do the rest for you.

[Glenn Atterton]

bear in mind my pro-trak is ver 2.15, will it still sort it out automatically when set to 4 cells


Once powered up and set to charge 4 cells it will do that all day. As it has no memory like the newer versions it will default back to 6 cell next time you power it up.

If your charging 4 cell ni-mh be sure to set delta-v down as the v2.15 will reduce it to suit ni-cd.

See Cells and Chargers FAQ on this site for guidelines on looking after cells

[kriss]

How much does the normal space charger cost?

[Dave G]

in releation to not charging 4 cells correctly,mine will charge 4 cells on a 12v lesuire battery no problems but will not charge them when using a mains 12v power supply...work that one out :)

dave

[burgie]

this is strange. After saying that mine wont charge 4 cells at all, it has turned out that it will charge 4 cells after all.

That is as long as the cells are metal hydride. ;D

It will not charge 4 cell Ni-Cad's. >:(

I have tried several different 4 cell ni-cad packs, that all work fine on another charger, but the space charger tells me to check the connection! ???

[ihateferrari]

i charged a 2 cell battery pack for my mum's dustbuster yesterday ;D at 1.0 amp happily! odd thing was at first it says 'Shortcut!' and then gets a bit confused, and then 'realises' that there's no shortcut, and just charges it! i realise this doesn't apply to the current problem for 4 cell packs, but the fact it charges 2 cells is interesting.

[Simmo]

It will charge 4 Cell or as you say even2 Cell, But the initial problem I had was, I was current limited, and could'nt dial any more than 3A with the charger...

I would expect that if you where charging 2 cell on it, you probably cant demand more than 1A ?

[marcoski]

Indeed, you see the problem is you guys want everything small, and linear chargers, by their very nature generate lots of heat, the smaller the pack you put on (ie number of cells) the more heat is generated. As its so small, the heatsink inside can only get rid of so much heat. Its current that makes the heat, so to prevent overheating, the current is reduced if the unit detects four or less cells. Small is not always best.....

[Simmo]

Well, not everything small. Size matters... ;)

But yeah, totally agree.. I ended up buying a LRP Pulsar, which is'nt much bigger - but works fine up to 7A.. although as you say, it does dissipate a fair amount of heat..

[marcoski]

ROFLOL size does indeed matter... :)

[Hog]

I've been loaned a Millenium Pro, which will soon have to go back to it's rightful owner.

However I am hopefully next week going to swap a couple of airbrushes that I no longer use for a space charger. It says on the box that it goes up to something like 6.3 Amps - is this the case when charging 6 cell 3300's? I'm only looking for 5.5 Amps really.

I don't want something that's only going to give me 3 Amps top whack.

[Firestorm]

You will find that early versions of the Space Charger / Space Charger Pro will charge 6 cells at 5.5 amps. The latest ones will charge at 6.3 amps.
Both versions drop to 3 amps charge rate when 4 cells are connected, even if you preset the charge rate higher.

Frank.

[Hog]

Cheers for that Firestorm. I had assumed that the higher charge rate was only achievable with 6 cells, but was just looking for clarification from someone in the know.

[SMTCA Focal Point]

Just a note of caution!

Whilst I thoroughly recommend this charger for 6 cell NiMH packs, it is not best suited to charge 4 cell packs. This is because the charge current is limited to 3 amps.

.

I have tried the charger with 4 cell packs and it operates perfectly well at up to 5.5amps, and down to 0.5 amp.

I dont change any settings on the unit when using differnt number of cells as I rely on temp cut of rather than peak detect.

Having read the above, I am confused a little at what people are saying.

Just confirm it is the Space charger PRO made by CS Electronics your are discussing and not something with a similar name?

The cost for a PRO will be around £100, yoyu may find shops selling it cheaper if you hunt around. I bought one to replace my protrak which I found to be tempramental. The PRO has performed faultlessly since day one. The only limitation is you cant charge at more than 5.5amps.

[MattW]

John. There are a few odd things when talking about charging 4 cell packs with a space charger. I had one for a while and was not able to charge above 4 A. It simply wouldn't do it. If i had it set any higher, it was still limited to 4A.

I asked CS about it and they confirmed that this had been done to protect the internal components as charging 4 cells creates more heat that charging 6.

However, i have also seen one with my own eyes that will happily charge at what ever charge rate you like above 4A, although it does get hot when doing it.

I am not totally sure of the reason for this. I can think of a couple of possible reasons but they are only thoughts. The Software detects teh cell voltage when you put the cells on charge to decide if it is a 4 cell pack. If your cells have a high terminal voltage then it may "fool" the software into thinking that it is a 6 cell pack. This could be because the cells are getting old (old cells always have a high voltage when you initially put them on charge). It could also be a slight variation in the software between versions as i know they changed it quite often.

Like i say, CS still say that it is limited to protect the internals.

[MikeS]

A lot of chargers have this "problem" or limitation, and as Matt said, it is to protect the internals. However, you might wish to try reducing the voltage level into the charger (if using a variable voltage PSU) that will normally do the trick :cool:

[SMTCA Focal Point]

A lot of chargers have this "problem" or limitation, and as Matt said, it is to protect the internals. However, you might wish to try reducing the voltage level into the charger (if using a variable voltage PSU) that will normally do the trick :cool:

Must try it again to see if I am talking rubbish...

[Grayspeed]

I have read all the above threads carefully and am still having difficulty with a space charger. It will happily charge 4-cell 2000`s at 5 amps off my converted pc power supply (400w) but when I try 4-cell 3300`s it tells me me my voltage is too low, typically 10.4 v, yet my 300ish quid multimeter says 11.4volts. Which reading do I believe??? Surely 5 amps is the same into nicd or nimh, so why the voltage drop????? HELP ME PLEASE!!! :confused: :confused:

[MattW]

The charger is probably diode protected, which would explain why it shows a voltage lower than the multi meter, although i would only expect a 0.7V drop rather than 1V.

One thing i found with the space charger was that was very sensitive to the stability of the input voltage, so i would try it on another source - maybe a 12v battery.

[David Ross]

can anyone help me with a problem I'm having with my space charger?
I blew the internal fuse which has been changed for one of the correct type and rating. when the charger is connected to a 12v supply it works fine but as soon as I connect a 7.2v battery for charger it gives me a message saying "error disconnect". has anyone had this problem and if so how did you fix it?

[scott_davis]

Are you sure you are connecting the 7.2V 'the right way round?

[David Ross]

That was my first thought. that was the reason I blew the fuse in the first place, but I've connected both the 12v and 7.2v the correct way.

[CrashBangWallop]

Sorry, out of date post.