Sears Die Hard Platinum, One of the Best batterys I ever bought.

thats great, how much are they, what are the Cold Creaking Amps on it.? are they like the marine or RV batteries?

A marine or RV battery is your best bet, they can better tolerate a deep discharge. Just keep it topped off and it will easily handle a day at the track.

A generator will require gas and maintenance, way too complicated IMO.

Actually, a small generator is not a bad idea at all. When not being used for R/C, you can use it in emergencies if power goes out. 800W is not that much, but enough for lighting or maybe even heating the house (only if gas heat where it just needs power for ignition and the blower).

A regular generator produces 120v, which is stepped down to 12v via a PS, then stepped back up for whatever the charger needs. Why not cut out the middle-man and produce 12v right at the generator? Since only ~200w is needed for almost all but the strongest chargers, a weedwacker engine running a car alternator to produce the needed 12v. Put a 0.5F cap on the output to smooth the DC pulses (car alternators are actually three-phase generators rectified via bridge or fullwave diodes). :smile:

if noise of generator is an issue at your track, you want awesome efficiency, and money isnt an object (starts at about a grand), these hondas are AWESOME! we have 4 of these for our boat, RV, and tailgates. Virtually Silent!

http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/p...&category=play

i think u should just get a car battery 800cca shold be more than fine, charge it in the garage before u go to the track and it should last all that u need to use it for the day, most likely more than that, then all u have to do is charge it again before next time and if it does for some kind of reason get to low then all u have to do is open your hood, but i doubt your draining that much in one day

There are some other really good ideas here, consider them all befor you drop the coin.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/search_10...ame=Automotive

i read somewhere that charging off your car for long idling periods will cause carbon build up in the cylinders and it isn't good. any suggestions if this is true? should i stop all together on charging my lipos off my car if this is damaging it.

your input is greatly appreciated.

shoot i can go 8+ hours on my car with 2 chargers going without starting it

Dude, put down the Scooby Snacks a minute, it was in post #13 of this very thread..

Idling won't destroy your vehicle, it's just a bad idea. And wasteful!

Diesels don't care really. but gasoline engines like to be worked in their normal operating range to stay clean internally.

I love that car alternator idea! But instead of a weed whacker motor I say just use that nitro motor that most of us have no use for now. lol.

Kidding on this... Damn nitro fuel cost would kill ya if you actually tried it.

Yeah, nitro is wayy expensive these days.

Did a little more reading on alternators and found it wouldn't be a good idea. They need a battery to set up the stator field (until the alt is running, and then it powers itself). Probably easier to use a larger outrunner motor instead.

so after all this conversation, i guess i might buy a marine battery or RV battery (deep cycle), or borrow the ones that my friends have at the track , also how long can i charge off my car battery when it is not running, or what math do i need to figure this out?

thank you for your input,

I see people at the drag strip with an old pressure washer frame/motor assembly with some bracketry rigged up to run an alternator. They use them on cars without alternators to speed charge the battery in between passes. Always wondered if one could make some kind of generator out of it, but I guess by the time you add in batteries, and and inverter it wouldn't really be worth it.

that depends on your battery. But i believe it is safe to say u should have no problems charging the whole time u are at the track if u have a good battery. and u should not have to start it. and when idling your car it really should not sit longer than it takes to warm up as it will cause more carbon buildup or overheating issues.