MRC Super Brain 969 Opinions?

[MONSTER]

Ive had 2 969s for a while now, and my Batts have seemed to steadily go down hill. I recently sent 1 in to MRC for a check up and New Buttons (they seem to be notorious for getting hard to use), but it hasnt done any good at all. I can certainly admit I may not be using them right, but I have the Manual, and read completely (3-4 times now), and have use them as they advise.

So, if anyone has/had one, please tell of your experiences, or tell me how you used them with success. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks

[edwin pibal]

hiya

do you have/use a discharge tray that you use after each run ?

i had simular problems with my cells till i got ahold on one

Edwin

[MONSTER]

I only have 3 Side X Side Packs, 2 of them seem to have gone down for the count, and the other isnt feeling well. Most of my Batts are Stick Packs (30+). But, no, I dont have a Discharge Tray. I recently started looking for one, with plans to convert several of my Sticks to Side X Sides. I run all my Batts just until the vehicles start to slow down, then remove them. I always let them cool way down before trying to Recharge them.
A Buddy has a Prophet Plus that seems to charge better, and his Batts dont get near as warm as mine do. I just thought the SBs wer supposed to be pretty good, and maybe I dont know what Im doing with them. We're gonna do a little expermenting between the 2 different Chargers this w/end, but I really need to hear a few opinions/experiences before I decide whether to look for other Chargers.

[edwin pibal]

i used to have stick packs, but all my touring cars use side by side now.

anyways, i used a Spintec Battery Manager V2 on them and had great life from the cells

there is quite a few on ebay i see.


hope this helps

Edwin

[Halgar]

I've never liked the MRC chargers. I've got an 805SB that has false peaked from the day I bought it. It makes a passable back-up charger, but I always repeak the batteries on my Tekin B112C charger to be sure things are topped up.

[MelvinsArmy]

MRC chargers suck. I had two 959's and they both turned to junk within 6 months. My buddies I used to race with had the same problems. Don't buy MRC chargers. Integy makes good chargers.

[edwin pibal]

i have a much more ctx charger, its a great charger.

another goodie is the LRP pulsar competion charger.

[MONSTER]

Are there any good Chargers that can do 2 Batts at once like some the SBs?
Had pretty good luck today (with the 959 and the Prophet), but I think Im still gonna be on the look out for another Charger, and a Tray. Even did my experiments with my Runner RC10, hehe.
Will bad/weak Batts cause over heating in the Batts and Motor?

[Halgar]

Bad batteries have increased internal resistance, causing the heat. I don't think they will hurt anything else on the car, short of them catching fire or something.

I believe that one of the Duratrax chargers is a dual battery charger, but IMHO, Duratrax isn't any better than MRC. Some of the bigger, more expensive chargers like the Competition Electronics might, I don't know.

[edwin pibal]

Hyperion make a dual battery charger, ive seen one here in New Zealand, but i couldnt tell you what model it is sorry.

Edwin

[civilguy]

I've used Integy and had issues charging anything over 3000 cells. It was an older charger but I was told by their customer support that it should have done up to the 4200 that I had. It did not- it still sits in the box.

I've used the Duratrax Intellipeak twin and it charged fine until a power surge at the local track made it stop working on 110. Still works off a 12v battery, but I rarely use it. It's actually been boxed to go back to the manuf. to get serviced for the past 8 months.

I currently have a Super Brain 989 that I charge nicds, nimh, lipo, and 12v gel cells, run my lathe, break-in motors. I have never had any problems- it's been used at outdoor events, indoor events and at home.

Guys at the track use the ICE, Hyperions and Checkpoint chargers as well. I've even heard stories of some of those going bad. Electronics these days seem to be hit or miss and I think you can get a bad example in pretty much every brand out there.

That said I don't think there are high-end dual chargers out there- some cheapies for the E-MTs (Dynamite, Hot Bodies, etc)., but Hyperion does make a "DUO" that charges 2 at once with built-in balancers and the works. Pretty pricy imho.

Best of luck to you--- and keep 'testing' the RC10!!

[MONSTER]

Thanks for all the posts so far Guys!!! I'm taking it all in.

Bad batteries have increased internal resistance, causing the heat. I don't think they will hurt anything else on the car, short of them catching fire or something.

The Motor "seems" to heat up quite a bit with the so-called bad Batts I have. Or is that just my imagination?

and keep 'testing' the RC10!!

I'm anxious to run it some more, but I REALLY want the Modern Wheels/Tires I ask about in B/S/T Area, to save my Stock Tires with AE Lettering, front and back.

[Halgar]

Thanks for all the posts so far Guys!!! I'm taking it all in.

Bad batteries have increased internal resistance, causing the heat. I don't think they will hurt anything else on the car, short of them catching fire or something.

The Motor "seems" to heat up quite a bit with the so-called bad Batts I have. Or is that just my imagination?

I suspect it's more your imagination than anything else. The heat generated in a motor is more from the load it's under than it's power source, though I suppose that an underpowered battery could increase the load on the motor by not supplying it enough juice for the task at hand. Not that I'm an expert* or anything.




*expert: "X" is an unknown quantity, "Spurt" is a drip under pressure.

[Brandon G]

I had a 959, and the buttons went south a few months after I got it. Junk.

I noticed also on all my new Orion Lipos, it has a warning not to use MRC chargers on these batteries. Interesting.

I use strictly Hyperion chargers and love them. Simple and versatile. Their new model has capability of charging 2 packs at once, and I believe it comes with the balancing adapters and built in balancers too. Definetely worth a look IMO.

[justinspeed79]

I have had bad luck with MRC chargers false-peaking too. I have had My ICE since they first came out, must be close to five years now. I have never had a single issue with it until recently the back button started to crap-out. I have to hit it several times to get it to work. IMO five years of hard use with no problems is a pretty good run. I plan on buying another charger soon, and then sending the ICE to DTX for repairs. The ICE can't do two batteries at once, but I don't think you can get a better charger for the money.