According the the IQ3000 manual, the number of cells it can charge/discharge is 1-15. When I go to discharge 15 cells, it only let's me enter up to 10 cells. I enter any number higher and it beeps at me and makes me re-enter the cell count. Any idea why this is?

The limit should be 10 cells. I don'thave a copy of the manual, but 10 cells times 1.2vdc average is the 12vdc limit of the unit if I rember correctly.

Well I'm not sure if this will help. I have an old Super2 IQ with the IQ3000 chip. My faceplate is still the Super2 plate, it says only 10 cells charge/discharge max. You will need 18v of input minimum, to charge 15 cells. So it would make sense that it is only 10 cells, that would be 12v minimum.

Here's the page of the manual that shows the 1-15 cell charge/discharge limit. Maybe a typo in the manual? I was able to discharge the 15 cells. I just told it 10 cells. Then it ask me to enter a discharge voltage up to 20v. Set it to 13.5v (i.e. 0.9x15) and it was happy. Stopped at the 13.5v. Wierd.

http://www.wbynum.com/temp/IQ3002.jpg

You might have an issue if you tray to discharge a fully charge pack. It will discharge a partially charge pack but I wouldn't try it with a fully charge one. I don't think the fets will handle it, Or you may have to lower the discharge rate to almost nothing to do it. The other thing you can try is to lower the discharge value then increase your number of cells. I know the older victor units wouldn't let you set both the cells to max (15) and the discharge current to max (40). So if you discharge 6 cells the max current can be 40 amps, but if you go to say 10 cells the max discharge rate victor would allow would be 20 amps or so.

Thanks for the tip. I was discharging an 18v Nicad pack from a cordless drill so I just set it to 2amp discharge. Another wierd thing about the IQ3000 is the voltmeter only goes up to 20v. If you were charging a 15 cell pack, there is no way your peak voltage would be under 20v. Almost like they put the 15 cell limit in the charge but didn't implement it fully (kind of like the Nimh support).

NiMh support.............

Nearly all of the HiIQ's have the "voltage pull" menu. Use this to set the voltage drop to a lower value. I think the default in the regular charge mode is 0.06 volts, way too high for Nimh.

To get to "voltage pull":

charge/discharge (press 1) - charge (press 1) - voltage pull (press 5) then it goes into the usual # of cells and charge current settings, then asks for the voltage drop.

You can input whatever voltage drop you want. I usually seat 0.015 volts. Plenty low enough for Nimh.

Save the usual charge settings as a macro so you don't have to push a gazillion buttons.....

You don't need the IQ3000 chip, nimh support is already there. Victor didn't even know they did something right waaaayyyy back then.

Aren't Victors cool? I hope mine never breaks, I'll cry.

Yep, like a lot of the SuperIQ features, Victor was ahead of their time with the "voltage pull" features.

What I meant by my incomplete comment concerning NiMH and the IQ3000 was really concerning the cycle options. Unlike normal charging, my IQ3000 does not let you set the delta drop in the cycle mode. To cycle NiMH's and get close to the right delta drop for a 6 cell NiMH pack you must set it to 2 cells. Not horrible but "incomplete". :)

This is off topic but I wish somebody could burn a chip to make the super2IQ's do LIPO's that would be great. I now use the ice and I miss my Victor :( They are very cool.

Someone over in the rcuniverse.com forums said Victor actually made a Super IQ with prototype industrial firmware that supported lipo charging. He said he consulted for them or something like that. When I started asking about specifics and if the firmware was available, he clammed up. So who knows. Certainly would be nice if the Super IQ's could be upgraded to lipo charging.

On a different note, I continue to be amazed by the IQ chargers. This weekend I hooked up a 4 cell pack backwards to the Victor. I didn't notice the "reverse polarity" light was on and hit charge. The Victor took off charging for a couple minutes and then said it was done. The battery was hot and the alligator clips were scorching (one of them burnt a nice little + sign in my finger) but the Victor was un-phased. Still works fine. Guess the only thing I could have ask to overcome my stupidity is for the Victor to refuse to start charging when the battery is hooked up backwards.