cats corner

Smart Fastchargers

Universal Automatic
Nicad and Nickel Metal Hydride
Fast Microcomputer Charger

This is the 'little gem' of a charger referred to in Ray Datodi's article on air space, and must surely be the answer to every r/c modeller's prayers! Manufactured by Smart Fastchargers of Tasmania, Australia, it looks and sounds to be a beautiful piece of equipment.

It is rugged, compact and very portable, for workshop or outdoor use anywhere in the world and is designed for maximum battery capacity and longest battery life.

Here's the fastcharger's impressive list of features:

Avoids the well-known memory effect and all other causes of gradual loss of capacity - i.e., overheating, crystal formation, cadmium migration, etc.
Totally eliminates the need to discharge before recharging - No more 12/16 hours discharge/charge cycles. Simply top up the batteries. This avoids possible discharge due to low voltage levels and therefore contributes to a longer battery life.
Use only one charger for all Nicad and NiMH batteries from 1.2V to 14.4V or 16.8V or 19.2V (three ranges) and from 50 mA/h to 5000 mA/h.
Charges very fast - minimum charge time of 10 minutes. The maximum charge time depends on the depth of discharge and battery mA/h rating. Up to 1250 mA/h, from 10 minutes to maximum of 1 hour; up to 5000 mA/h, from 10 minutes to maximum of 4 hours.
Overcharge protection and reverse polarity protection for DC input and battery terminals (no fuses required).
Sound alert for end of charge.
Charges 9V 110 mA/h batteries.
Fully automatic voltage detection. It is no longer necessary to know how many cells are in each pack. The charger will automatically detect the right voltage.
Very easy to use - connect the battery, select the mA/h, then come back when the sound alerts you to the end of charge or just whenever you think about it!
Maintenance charge mode - batteries can be left indefinitely on the charger - or forgotten - without any detrimental effect whatsoever. There is no time limit and batteries remain cool at all times.
Saves money - and as an added bonus also protects the environment at no cost by recovering your batteries.
Restores most Nicads and NiMH with memory effect to capacity.
Recovery facility for batteries with very low remaining voltage, including some zero volt batteries below 1250 mA/h.

The optional external power pack and the optional internal power supply are both switch mode supplies for international use with 100 to 240V 50-60Hz. The charger can be powered from a 12V car battery or an external 12 to 15V 5-amp power supply (not supplied) and also from a solar system. They can also be ordered with a built in 100 to 240V A.C power supply for use worldwide.

The external power pack is the same as used in many laptop computers (19V 3.2A) and is easy to purchase in all countries. The battery charger has a socket on the back panel for the power pack plug .

Smart Fastchargers accept orders by email, also by fax, phone or normal mail and payment by Visa, Mastercard and overseas draft in Australian dollars. Although a bit more pricey than some chargers, this is a real quality product and pound for pound, dollar for dollar, is tremendous value for money. No prices are shown here because Smart Fastchargers like to quote in the customer's own currency, so see below on how to proceed, but I can tell you the price is not high for such high-tech quality gear!.

Contact Smart Fastchargers for complete technical details and a price list and to let them know the country of origin. They will then quote you in your currency and advise on the most economical freight options. Many countries, but not all, have air mail (about 10 days in transit) and economy air (a cheaper option, with approx. 3 weeks in transit) and Smart Fastchargers like to offer both whenever possible.

Smart Fastchargers
2567 Wilmot Road, Devonport, Tasmania 7310, Australia.
Phone 03 6492 1368. Fax 03 6492 1329
E-mail smartfastchargers@bigpond.com

My thanks to Carmen of Smart Fastchargers for supplying me with the above information.