PDA

View Full Version : Piranha Digital Peak Charger



Hammer
07-25-2005, 12:06 AM
Just thought I’d pass along my thoughts regarding the Piranha Digital Peak Charger. I purchased one from the shop here http://halfeight.com/shop/home.php?cat=260&catexp=260 a couple of weeks ago and I couldn’t be happier. :D

The compact size combined with a microprocessor that allows you to adjust all aspects of charging 1 to 8 NiCd or NiMH cells, makes this charger a great value at $49.99. You really can’t make a mistake with this charger, if you connect something wrong it warns you with a tone an explanation why, in the digital display. It takes about 27 minutes to recharge my URC X42 battery packs.

A pic of the Piranha in the process of charging a URC X42 8 cell battery pack for scale. http://halfeight.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=368&cat=500&page=1

All in all I couldn’t recommend this charger more, the quality seems to be top notch and it is very easy to use. ;)

newbie
08-26-2005, 02:23 PM
Piranha Digital Peak Charger sounds like good value for money!

I've taken a look at it's manual and it doesn't say anything about discharging. Should we discharge the batteries before using this charger to charge 1) NiCd and 2) NiMH?

EphiDelt490
08-26-2005, 02:27 PM
I too have this charger. You can't beat what it has to offer for the price. i have had mine for almost 2 years now and charge anything from 800 MAH AAA's to 3300 GP race cells :). I actually got mine for $29.99 through Tower because of some special where you bought $49.90 worth of merchandise and got $20 off!! I have never seen that special offered again, lol. As for discharging, it doesn't do it. However, I have never had a problem with false peaking or anything from the chargers side of things, usually a bad cell or something in a pack. So to answer your question, you CAN discharge the cells before charging them on the Piranha, but I only do it with race packs :rolleyes:.

newbie
08-26-2005, 02:44 PM
NiMH batteries are said to have "no memory" but I really doubt it...
I think it has less, well, compared to NiCd. Do you think it's ok to charge 3000+ NiMH batteries with that Piranha peak charger without discharging them?

I used to use a cheapy discharger/charger and I always discharged the batteries before charging them. I don't want to buy a separate discharger...

BitHed
08-26-2005, 03:47 PM
...is it AC or DC just as a matter of interest? Or both?

newbie
08-26-2005, 04:16 PM
if it's AC

Sideshow
08-26-2005, 08:36 PM
I had the following chargers:

Dynamite LCD Plus (Sold)
Duratrax Pirhana (Works but never use..best bang for buck when new!!)
Great Planes Triton(The ULTIMATE charger for Micros and Nitro)
Competition Electronics Pitbull X3 (Realll good charger for On-road Sub-c)
Competition Electronics Turbo 35GFX(Simply...the best...but 400$)

The Pirhana is definatly a good charger for micros, and even nitros too, It does your glow ignitor and everything.

I use the Triton to discharge and the Pitbull X3 to charge my packs, there not that great of packs though.

Hammer
08-26-2005, 11:12 PM
...is it AC or DC just as a matter of interest? Or both?It's both AC & DC. ;)

JuJuB
08-27-2005, 12:44 AM
Would you say its better than the IntelliPeak AC/DC Pulse Charger cuz I have one of those.....just bought it for $40 free shipping from a guy on rcuniverse.com. I haven't used it yet, but I'm hoping that It'll at least be decent.

newbie
08-27-2005, 06:36 PM
Can you guys reccomend some inexpensive dischargers? Thanks!

JuJuB
08-27-2005, 10:49 PM
the mini-t peak charger is $20, but it can only go up to 7 cells. There many cheap chargers that do 8cells. About the cheapest they get(that can do 8 cells) is around $50..... I'd suggest checking ebay.com, rcuniverse.com.

crymynal
08-29-2005, 01:28 PM
I have several chargers and like the Piranha Digital Peak the best. Only thing that I don't like is no discharge, but you can build a simple bulb discharger. I like the Piranha so much that the ICE and the Novak Mellinium does not get used much. I even purchased a second Piranha. It charges everything---glow ignitor, H8 6-cell and 8-cell packs, 6-cell packs for roto starts, 6-cell packs for my sons evader, and all my 5-cell receiver packs. Soon it will charge packs for my Clod. At only $50.00 new you can't beat it!!

newbie
09-02-2005, 05:56 AM
What do you guys think about this charger: Novak Ionic-D?
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXJXJ0&P=7

It's got discharging function too!
I also charge regular batteries for my 1/10 buggy so maybe this one is better?

Hammer
09-02-2005, 01:55 PM
What do you guys think about this charger: Novak Ionic-D?
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXJXJ0&P=7

It's got discharging function too!
I also charge regular batteries for my 1/10 buggy so maybe this one is better?One drawback I can see is the charging capacity is only 4 to 7 cells.

crymynal
09-03-2005, 03:03 PM
It limits you to 4-7 cells, only 3 charge rates, does not let you know what mah your batteries are holding, only has a 10A discharge, and is $25.00 more than the pirahna. If you going to go this route then you might as well get the ice for an extra $25.00.

mOOsE
09-03-2005, 03:11 PM
novak is overated* You can get the same/better features from a less expensive charger. Novak is nice but they simply want too much for what they have to offer

newbie
09-03-2005, 08:20 PM
No of cells Ionic-D can charge, charge rates, discharge rate don't bother me at all. But it's a pitty it hasn't got a digital display...

I want a AC/DC charger with discharging function.
Ionic-D can handle 100-240 V AC. That's important to me too!

Ionic-D is $75.
DuraTrax IntelliPeak ICE DC Competition Charger is $130!
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHDJ1&P=7
Or was it another one??

46u
09-21-2005, 12:35 AM
I have one of the Piranha chargers and about 2 weeks ago the transformer went bad. The DC part still worked so I am assuming the transformer went bad. The only other charger I have is ones that takes 12 hours to charge batteries even on my little nitro receiver hump packs. It was only about 7 months old. So I sent it back with a copy of my recite priority mail to Hobby Services. Good news from the time I sent it back to the time I received a brand new in the box one was 1 week and about 6 hours. Great service and other then that problem I really like my Piranha charger. I have a separate discharger. Here is a pretty neat discharger for under $20.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXKZY2&P=0

Inferno454
10-13-2005, 08:17 PM
I love my Piranha it works great, for a discharger, i have the big deans one with like 10 light bulbs, its sweet...