Here s a quick rundown of the great new features built
into your Pit Bull:
SMPS Technology means cool temperatures, light
weight, enhanced reliability, and efficient operation, and
it s quiet! (No fan)
It s small. It easily fits in your pit kit.
Programmable sound and display graphics.
Personalize your Pit Bull and keep track of cycle status
from across the room or pit area! Or, turn off all the
sounds for silent operation.
.012 to .192 volts programmable peak detect.
.15 to 7 amps programmable charge rate.
Two selectable, programmable charge cycles for NiCd
and NimH packs means you can have two different
setups stored for your packs!
Automatically stores and displays detailed charge
cycle data for the last charge cycle. Stores data inde-
pendently for both NimH and NiCd cycles!
16x2 character backlit alphanumeric LCD display is
easy to read.
Selectable Trickle Charge.
Long Lockout eliminates early shutdown due to false
peaking. Especially important for charging NimH packs.
The same Competition Electronics performance and
quality as our high-end chargers in a new, lower cost
unit!
Before you operate your new Pit Bull, please take a
moment to read over these precautions. This will ensure
that you get the results you desire.
Lead-Acid Batteries Produce Explosive Hydrogen Gas.
It is dangerous to work in the vicinity of a lead-acid battery since they
generate explosive gasses during normal battery operation. To prevent an
explosion while using a lead-acid battery, such as an automobile battery,
you MUST disconnect the Pit Bull power cable from the Pit Bull before
connecting or disconnecting the power cable to the lead-acid battery ter-
minals. Operate the Pit Bull as far away from the lead-acid battery as pos-
sible. This will keep any sparks or arcing away from the lead-acid battery.
Charge ONLYNiCd or NimH cells with the Pit Bull charger.
To reduce the risk of injury, use only high-rate rechargeable NiCd or NimH
batteries with the Pit Bull. Any other type of battery may burst and cause
personal injury.
If charging smaller NiCd or NimH batteries such as those commonly used
in transmitter packs, for example, be sure to reduce the charge current
rate appropriately. These batteries are not designed for the high charge
rates used on typical R/C power packs.
Always make sure all cells are in the same state of discharge before
charging.
If you do not do this, the cells that are partially charged will get extremely
hot, and bursting or venting of battery acid may occur. Your cells may be
damaged.
Do not obstruct vents on the Pit Bull or allow liquids or other foreign
materials to enter the Pit Bull charger s case.
The Pit Bull needs unobstructed airflow to work properly. Obstruction of
the Pit Bull case vents may cause overheating.
Introduction of liquids or foreign materials through the Pit Bull case vents
may cause damage or faulty operation.
Do not allow the power supply output voltage to exceed 15 volts.
The Pit Bull circuitry is designed for a maximum of 15 volts on its power
supply inputs. Exceeding this WILL damage the charger.
Do not charge packs whose voltage exceeds the power supply volt-
age.
The Pit Bull cannot do this, and it will result in a blown fuse.
Do not leave the Pit Bull charger unattended while charging.
The remote possibility of an electronic failure could cause extreme over-
charge. This could cause the battery to burst, or cause a fire hazard.
Always wear safety glasses when operating the Pit Bull charger.
This is just good safety practice.
Charging at elevated currents and large peak detect voltages will cause
very high temperatures in battery packs.
Also, be careful not to handle hot cells until they cool down.
In order to operate the Pit Bull, you must first connect it to power and to
the battery pack. Here s how.
Connecting Power
The power connector is located at the back of the Pit Bull. Viewing the
connector from the back, the (+) terminal is on your right (closest to the
center of the charger) and the (-) terminal is on your left.
Assembling the Power Cable and Alligator Clips
Alligator clips are supplied separately; if you decide to use them, you
must solder them to the supplied power cables. Use the Red clip for the
positive, and the black clip for the negative side of the cables. You may
desire to use some other type of connector.
After assembling the cable, plug it in to the back of the Pit Bull, and con-
nect it to your DC power supply, being careful to observe the proper
polarities. As soon as you apply power, the display will illuminate and dis-
play the sign-on message. After this, it will display the message, PIT-
BULL Ready!
Connecting Battery Packs
Again, the red alligator clip goes to the positive side of the pack and the
black alligator clip goes to the negative side of the pack. Most cells will be
clearly marked as the polarity of their terminals, but in general the end
with the smaller terminal is the positive side. Make certain you have good,
solid connections. Bad connections here can cause false peaking; see the
troubleshooting section for details.
Display and Control Pushbuttons
The Pit Bull has a menu-based display scheme that is easy to use and
intuitive once you get the hang of it.
Selecting the Charge Setup or Sounds & Graphics Menus
The Pit Bull menu display system is divided into two sections: the
CHARGE SETUP menu and the SOUNDS & GRAPHICS menu.
Whenever the Pit Bull is not charging a pack, these two menus may be
accessed at any time by pressing either the CHARGE SETUP pushbutton
or the SOUNDS GRAPHICS pushbutton.
Repeatedly pressing the CHARGE SETUP or SOUNDS & GRAPHICS
pushbuttons will advance the display to the next screen in the menu.
Pressing these pushbuttons at the last screen in the menu will reposition
the display to the first screen in the current menu.
Navigating the Selected Menu: Up/Down Pushbutton
In any screen that has a user-settable parameter, the DOWN and UP
pushbuttons are used to set that parameter. For Yes/No setting, a single
push will toggle the setting from Y to N . For numeric settings such as
Peak Detect or Charge Current, a single press will increment the setting
one time. Holding either down will cause an accelerating, continuous
increment to occur. The numeric settings will stop incrementing at their
programmed limits.
The Charge Setup Menu
The various screens contained in the CHARGE SETUP menu are
described below.
The Ready screen
This is the screen displayed while the Pit Bull is charging.
In the upper left portion of the screen, it shows elapsed time for the
charge cycle.
In the upper center portion of the screen, it shows the instantaneous pack
voltage.
In the upper right portion of the screen, it shows the charge current being
delivered to the pack.
In the lower line of the screen the Pit Bull will tell you what it is currently
doing. It will also indicate any errors or problems here.
The Cell Type screen
The Pit Bull stores a complete set of charging parameters for two sepa-
rate charging cycles in its nonvolatile memory. One is intended for NiCd
and the other for NimH packs, as designated by the words NiCd and
NimH. However, either cycle can store any Pit Bull setup.
The Pit Bull arrives factory-programmed with typical values for NiCd and
NimH packs preprogrammed for immediate use.
The Chg Current screen
Here, the user can select the charge rate for the pack during a charge
cycle. It can be set from a lower limit of .15 amps all the way up to 7
amps.
The Peak Detect screen
This is the change in voltage, or delta-V of the pack which the charger
will use to determine when the pack is fully charged.
The Charge Data screen
Here the Pit Bull will display data it collected from the last charge cycle for
the selected Cell Type (above.) It displays the following data:
mWHr: This stands for milliwatt-hours and is a measurement of the power
delivered to the pack over time during the charge cycle.
mAHr: This stands for milliamp-hours and is a measure of the current
delivered to the pack over time during the charge cycle.
PkChV: This is the highest voltage reached by the pack during the charge
cycle.
Together, these parameters, along with the charge time on the Ready
screen will allow you to assess the condition of your packs.
The Long Lockout screen
Here, the user may select or deselect the long-lockout function. With this
feature not selected, the charger will ignore peaks on the pack for the first
60 seconds of the charge cycle. When long-lockout is selected (Y), peaks
will be ignored for a full 10 minutes. This is useful for packs that tend to
false-peak. That is, their voltage peaks as though they are completely
charged, even though they have not been charging for sufficient time to
be fully charged. This setting is NOT stored, but resets itself each time a
Thanks for purchasing the Pit Bull charger. This charger is designed
and built in the USA, with the same engineering know-how and quality
construction that goes into all of our R/C racing products. It is rich
with features, and built with performance in mind. Not only this, but
the programmable sounds and graphics enhance its usefulness, and
make it truly fun to operate! Once you start to use it, we believe it will
quickly become an indispensable part of your racing gear.
Competition Electronics
R/C battery charger
Pit Bull Features
Important Precautions
Connecting your Pit Bull
0
.00
.00
PITBULL
Ready!
Cell
Type?
NimH
Chg Current?
4.00
Peak
Detect?
Volts
.032
mWHr mAHr PkChV
0 0 .00
Long Lockout?
N
Trickle
Charge?
N
CHARGE
SETUP
CHARGE
SETUP
CHARGE
SETUP
CHARGE
SETUP
CHARGE
SETUP
CHARGE
SETUP
CHARGE
SETUP
Cell
Type?
NiCd
Chg Current?
7.00
Peak
Detect?
Volts
.192
Long Lockout?
Y
Trickle
Charge?
Y
Cell
Type?
NimH
Chg Current?
.15
Peak
Detect?
Volts
.012
Long Lockout?
N
Trickle
Charge?
N
NO USER SETTINGS IN THIS SCREEN
NO USER SETTINGS IN THIS SCREEN
PRESS
PRESS
PRESS
PRESS
PRESS
PRESS
PRESS
PRESS
PRESS
PRESS
CHARGE SETUP MENU
Fuses
Power Leads. Note that the
ribbed conductor is (-) and
the smooth conductor is (+)
Battery Leads.
Solder the red alli-
gator clip to the
red lead, black
alligator clip to the
black lead.
Power Leads. Solder the black
alligator clip to the ribbed con-
ductor and the red alligator clip
to the smooth conductor.
Pushbutton
Controls
Battery Leads.
