# Futaba CDR-5000 Battery Charger & Thermo Stand



## hankster

A breakthrough in charger technology!

So easy to use and program, and so accurate and versatile, the CDR-5000 is the "must-have" charger for today's demanding modeler!










More info at http://www.hobbytalk.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=313


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## hankster

Just to add info that was not in the press release. This charger will discharge at up to 40 AMPS!!!!!


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## HOOPD1

Finally a charger worth $400.00+Kinda makes the gfx look oh I dont know primitive.


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## Rich Chang

I know I want one. I wonder how big it is?

-Rich


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## EAMotorsports

Its small Rich...I seen the only one in the US two weeks ago...Don Rice of Futaba has one. Its smaller than a Rivergate Bulldog 30 amp powersuply!! Its suppppppper trick!! A must have!! LOL

ea


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## Rich Chang

Thanks, Eric! Wow! Well, that makes me want it even more. Now I just need to scrounge up $500 so that I can also have the thermo tray.

-Rich


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## pepe

A release date of April! my birthday is in July!oh honey, guess what I want for my birthday? LOL Seriously though no motor run feature? all that technology without a major feature like that missing.


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## RickRussellTX

Cripes, for that much money it better wash my car and clean my bathtub.


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## hankster

A TurboCharger is about the same price and 1000s of them have been sold.


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## Bodido

What's the deal with motor break-in and running a lathe though? That is a huge part of what makes the the Turbo 30's-gfx a decent value. It's something I use EVERY time I'm at the track. 

The charger does seem pretty trick, but if it can't run a motor it won't be worth it to many, many people.


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## Rich Chang

Well shoot, I didn't even think to see if it ran motors. Looks like it doesn't?

-Rich


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## hankster

Let me email them and see if it has that feature... but then you can always get one of our motor break-in/lathe power supplies and not have to tie up your charger while doing that....


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## Bodido

Actually not a bad idea at all Hank.... Good plug too


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## pepe

I agree with hank but I would at least want the feature for that kinda money.Then again you do get the thermo tray instead of the motor feature I guess,which does me no good cause I run six cell spec class.


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## hankster

I just got information back that the charger DOES NOT include the ability to run motors or lathes. While that feature is nice (I have it in my GM charger) have now use a seperate PS for motors and lathes. Too many times have I been charging batteries and wanted to cut a comm or break-in a motor and couldn't. The seperate PS allows me to do that so it isn't a show stopper for me.

A got a lot more info on the charger and all I can say it may be an invaluable charger if you really want to know the state of your batteries. Looking through the info it allows monitoring of each cell and gives a "match" percentage. Also gives you the average voltage during the first part, the middle part and last part of the cycle. It shows this info on both charging and discharging.

The graph screens show the following:
#1 Pack Charge Voltage & Temperature vs time (graph form)
#2 Pack Discharge Voltage & Temperature vs time (graph form)
#3 Each single cell Charge Voltage vs time (graph form)
#4 Each single cell Discharge Voltage vs time (graph form)
#5 Voltage of each cell during charge (numeric)
#6 Voltage of each cell during charge (graph form)
#7 Peak voltage of each cell (graph form)
#8 Average Voltage of each cell discharge (graphic form)
#9 Temperature and Humidity (graph form)

Hummmm.... interesting stuff!


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## Bodido

Actually pepe.... I believe the tray is an option.... not included.


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## pepe

Bodido said:


> Actually pepe.... I believe the tray is an option.... not included.


Bodido,your right I just thought about that,But with the new info from hank this thing may just prove to be a real asset to the arsenal.Looks like it would look good sitting on top of the GFX.


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## Bodido

Sitting on top of GFX !?!?!!!

Do you need a big furry green feathered hat to go with that PIMP?? 
:dude:


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## Joe Novak

I wonder if they are going to be released on time,or will it take several months after the release date like every other rc manufacture!


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## hankster

Hehe... let's hope I don't get into too much trouble for posting this, but here is a "illistration" for the data screen.


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## Bodido

I'd prefer it display a little more info.....

Ok Just kidding.


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## DynoMoHum

I'm really glad I had not plunked down the cash for a GFX... I'm just not sure how i'm going to save enough pennys for one of these babys...

I agree that a motor run feature would have been nice, but what I don't like about my T35 is that every time I want to run a motor, it seems like I'm charging a battery... Besides... If I get one of these Futabas, my T35 should be free to run motors on...


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## Barooose

I may have missed this info but, does this plug into the wall or does it need a power supply?


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## hankster

It requires a power supply.


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## pepe

DynoMoHum said:


> I'm really glad I had not plunked down the cash for a GFX... I'm just not sure how i'm going to save enough pennys for one of these babys...
> 
> I agree that a motor run feature would have been nice, but what I don't like about my T35 is that every time I want to run a motor, it seems like I'm charging a battery... Besides... If I get one of these Futabas, my T35 should be free to run motors on...


Dyno,

I think you would enjoy the GFX with it's graphing feature it comes in handy,it coupled with this new charger is going to be a potent combination for those that really like to sort through a lot of data. :wave:


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## hankster

The Futaba unit has graphing too... more then the GFX. Below are a few of the grafts.

futcvolttemp1.gif - charge volts and temp vs time
futdvolttemp1.gif - discharge volts and temp vs time
futd6cell1.gif - discharge curve of 6 cells vs time


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## DynoMoHum

Hank,

Where are you getting all this information? Is there a Futaba site that gives some of this to the general public?

When I first heard of this charager, I was lead to beleive that it was going to be a 20 amp discharge... now we are hearing 40 amps and such... I tried to find some info on this charger at Futaba's site and couldn't find any.


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## Jamie Hanson

This charger reminds me of the old ballistic charger in how it could graph each cell of the pack during charge and discharge.


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## hankster

Dyno, I am getting the info from Futaba. The info I am giving is not publically available any place else at this time.


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## hankster

Here are the specs I have:

Batteries - NiCd & NiMh
Input Voltage - 11v to 16v

Charging Current:
Less then 18v - .1 to 12A
Will charge up to 54v packs
Tx/Rx Charge Current - .05 to 2A

Cutoff Methods:
Delta Peak - 0 & 3 to 50mV/cell
Temperature - 25 to 75C
Max Voltage - .1 to 62V
Capacity - 50 - 9999mAh

Discharging Current
.1 to 40A - 7.5V and less (.01 step)
.1 to 35A - 8.5V and less
Discharge packs up to 62V (lower amp rates of course)
Tx/Rx Discharging:
below 10V - .1 to 5A (.01 step)
above 10V - .1 to 3A

Discharge cutoff Method:
By Voltage - .8V/cell - .75V/cell - .9V/cell
Time - 10 to 59940 sec.

Temp Range - 5 to 99C

Humidity Range - 20 to 95%

Expansion Ports:
Thermo Stand
Single Cell Harness
PC Port (not sure if this will be user "friendly")
Printer (not sure if this will be user "friendly")

Screen - 192 x 128 LCD w/backlight

Size - 170 x 170 x 83mm (4.75" x 4.75" x 3.25")

Weight - 1200g (2.7 lb.)

Memory to save a total of 10 different charge/discharge data sets.

Rev. polarity protected - 5 cooling fans


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## DynoMoHum

I've heard people say that you can charge up to 6 packs at the same time on this charger. Is that accurate and/or is that charging 6 packs in series (as if it were one big 36 cell pack)? or is that 6 packs all with their own individual peak detect?

I have no real need to charge 6 packs simultainously... but it shure would be great if you could actualy charge even two packs simultainously... Perticularly if you don't have to start both packs at the same moment in time.

Anyone have any information that would answer my questions in this regard?


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## pepe

Dyno, you may wanna check out the yokomo chargers Murdock has,I don't know all the particulars but they do have one that can charge two packs at one time.


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## DynoMoHum

Oh, another thing... For me, it's almost a MUST that you be able to transfer data from this charger to a PC. To me, just having the info available temporarly on the screen is of very little value, and I more then likely would not buy a $450 charger if I couldn't get the data onto a PC.


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## hankster

You can not charge more then one pack at a time. You can charge up to 36 cells at once... needed for drag racers. KO has a charge that allows you to charge up to 4 packs.... but not at once... it just starts the second pack once the first is done.

The info I got about the data ports is they are still working on it. It does store up to 10 data sets for recall.


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## erock1331

hmm i was told last night it could charge up to 9 - 4cell packs. Thanks for clearing that one up Hank


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## DynoMoHum

I was pretty skeptical of the claim of multi paack charging, that's why I asked. I thought the aswer was NO based on the fact that there apear to be only one set of power wires comming out...

However I did also hear somewhere that you can charge TX/RX cells seperately from the main power cells. Now that alone may have some value if that is true. But still not the same as being able to charge two main packs, etc...

All in all, this still looks like a good charger, and quite possibly is slightly nicer then a GFX is, but really it seems in the same league as the GFX except for it's ablity to collect data on individual cells... 

However that brings up another issue... How many cells can it collect data for? Surely not for 36 individual cells...


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## hankster

No where in the info I got does it say you can charge more then one pack at a time (unless you put them in series). From the looks of the info I got it appears that it won't. I can ask about this but I am pretty sure you can't.

Yes, you can charge Rx/Tx packs at the same time as main packs. It collects data for up to 6 cells at once... that's the limit.

I suppose you could charge 6 4-cell packs at once if you hook them up in series...


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## GMan

Hi Hank, sounds a lot like the Pro Trak chargers John Warner uses with the individual cell charge information etc. but with a much nicer LCD display. 

Currious to see one in person some day. Any chance you will get a "Sample" unit to try out in the near future?

Greg


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## hankster

Hehe... I wish!


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## BullFrog

would Don Rice have one in his pits at the birds????


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## EAMotorsports

Yes Bullfrog...Don has the only one in the US at the present time.

ea


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## BullFrog

Thanks I'll check it out next week.


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## ablueminium

Hi all
Any news on a release date? Also on the pictures that I have seen floating around the net, there is a PC interface in the back of the charger is this what they still working on?


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## hankster

I haven't gotten any news about it for quite some time. No idea what the holdup is... maybe to correct some issues that were found by some that had units for testing. There is a PC port on the unit, last I heard there was no software or info available on it.


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## Guest

Hey Hank.....Will you be carrying the Futaba Charger at Hobby SHopper ?


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## ablueminium

Thank you Hank.. can't wait till comes out.


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## erock1331

Tower Hobbies says late July.


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## ablueminium

Just got mine.. this thing ROCKS!!!! the only thing I don't like so far.. is that for the moment there is not access to the printer port nor the PC interface.


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## crazyronny

I'm interest in this charger...

Does anyone have some real test with it to share with us... How good is it... How is it in general.... Is it better than the CE T35 ????

CrazyRonny


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