Rcbs chargemaster

[STOMP442]

I have had two units now. Used the first from the time it came out until the day the digital display decided to stop working a few years later. Loaded thousands of rounds on that unit without issue and I have loaded thousands more on the replacement. I love them and if you do a lot of reloading they are a must have. I will never be without one.

 

[Homerange]

Had one for about an hour!! Watched that thing drift back and forth for that long before I boxed it back up and found someone that needed it more than I did. I'll stick with my 505 thank you very much. Havn't seen IT drift in over 20 years.

I experienced just the opposite !

When the new CM arrived it immediately showed my 505 was all up the creek !
Cleaned it properly and got the 505 working nicely again so to do some checks against the new CM.
Once done and confidence established in the CM, the 505 hasn't been used since.

 

[kerjo]

+1 for what Ackleys and STOMP442 said

 

[Shooter13]

It's a good machine if you're ok with 0.1 grain accuracy. Mine has lasted 6 years, so far.
Recently converted to battery power and the scale is now much more consistent.

Tell me more about this little secret (in my best Russian voice)! What are everyones thoughts on a voltage conditioner?

 

[J.d. Popkes]

chargemasters can do well.

 

[jimmymac]

Love mine. I have it set to run pretty fast so I get overcharges here and there, but no big deal. I run two pans that weigh the same. When one is getting filled, I’m charging a case with the other. It speeds things along nicely.

 

[Homerange]

Tell me more about this little secret (in my best Russian voice)! What are everyones thoughts on a voltage conditioner?

There is not much to tell as everyone's usage scenario has different local interference that might affect might or might not affect measurement stability.
Typically it's local EMI which can be from a # of sources but in most cases it's nearby lighting of which fluorescent or LED can be an issue. How this manifests itself is unclear without detailed investigation as it could be radiated into the cabling from the wall wart PSU or into the CM itself.

Before getting mine I read about this a lot online and concluded as others have a ferrite core with the wall wart cabling passed through it with a few wraps is likely to fix any issues and in my case that's what I've done and never had a problem.
I have a single fluorescent maybe 5 feet above my CM and a small gooseneck LED focussed onto my Rockchucker and dunno what all the negative press about CM's is.

Further, as mine is just a couple of years old it came with the multi-voltage SMPS wall wart instead of the older 110 or 230VAC fixed voltage wall warts and as SMPS wall warts can emit copious quantities of EMI the addition of a ferrite on its supply cord will also help suppress any electrical noise being passed into the CM via its cable.

Complaints about this go back years and for all we know RCBS could have added additional supply filtering into later builds like mine.
YMMV

 

[Evan]

I started with the Chargemaster to load for Matches and Practice at the range, then switched to the Chargemaster Lite when it came out. I prefer the Lite for my short range Benchrest needs.

It has a much better wind guard, (it really works), has a built in level, does not drop unwanted kernels like the larger unit, and takes up less room on the loading table. At the range, I use a small motorcycle battery and a small inverter for the 110 I bought at Best Buy.

I have no complaints, except for that round count. That is useless for my applications.

My experience exactly, except I never had the full size original, just the lite but the lite has served me well.

 

[Ackman]

There is not much to tell as everyone's usage scenario has different local interference that might affect might or might not affect measurement stability.
Typically it's local EMI which can be from a # of sources but in most cases it's nearby lighting of which fluorescent or LED can be an issue. How this manifests itself is unclear without detailed investigation as it could be radiated into the cabling from the wall wart PSU or into the CM itself.

Before getting mine I read about this a lot online and concluded as others have a ferrite core with the wall wart cabling passed through it with a few wraps is likely to fix any issues and in my case that's what I've done and never had a problem.
I have a single fluorescent maybe 5 feet above my CM and a small gooseneck LED focussed onto my Rockchucker and dunno what all the negative press about CM's is.

Further, as mine is just a couple of years old it came with the multi-voltage SMPS wall wart instead of the older 110 or 230VAC fixed voltage wall warts and as SMPS wall warts can emit copious quantities of EMI the addition of a ferrite on its supply cord will also help suppress any electrical noise being passed into the CM via its cable.

Complaints about this go back years and for all we know RCBS could have added additional supply filtering into later builds like mine.
YMMV

I'd planned to ask about this and came across your post. My reloading room has overhead fluorescents in a drop ceiling that are more than 30yrs old, definitely not anything recent. The Chargemaster (my second one) has worked fine for a couple decades until recently it got wonky. Setup a clampon worklight and use that, now except for one bad button it works ok. From what I've read, the fluorescents have finally had their effect? I've wired my workshops but still know pretty much nothing about electricity. Your post has several terms I don't understand - EMI, "wall wart PSU", cabling passing through a ferrite core, multi-voltage SMPS wall wart, or ferrite on the CM supply cable. Educate me, I'd like to use this thing in a fully lit room.

 

[M-61]

Never a problem over 7 years.
Followed their instructions to the letter
No drift at all.
Plug it in when I'm ready to use it and unplug when done. Sits on my bench in heated/AC basement. One tenth of a grain is perfect for me. If I thought my groups were going to become smaller measuring to one hundredth of a grain I would have something else .
I'm fortunate....I've only failed to close the powder drain door once. But then again I like to think I have a lot of reloading left in my life so the odds are against me for always remembering to close it.

 

[Fotheringill]

Before you take the plunge, read the warranty very carefully.

 

[Homerange]

I'd planned to ask about this and came across your post. My reloading room has overhead fluorescents in a drop ceiling that are more than 30yrs old, definitely not anything recent. The Chargemaster (my second one) has worked fine for a couple decades until recently it got wonky. Setup a clampon worklight and use that, now except for one bad button it works ok. From what I've read, the fluorescents have finally had their effect? I've wired my workshops but still know pretty much nothing about electricity. Your post has several terms I don't understand - EMI, "wall wart PSU", cabling passing through a ferrite core, multi-voltage SMPS wall wart, or ferrite on the CM supply cable. Educate me, I'd like to use this thing in a fully lit room.

Some users in apparent frustration swap to a battery supply for power supply for their CM's (Chargemaster) as their understanding of how to deal with EMI (Electromagnetic interference) is lacking.
It can manifest itself from the power supply itself or the local environs which may be lighting or some other source. SMPS (Switchmode Power Supply) is the most common and they are in most every appliance today even the late model Chargemasters themselves however if RCBS considered they were a significant problem they wouldn't be shipping new units with them.
However if it's bad enough even the supply lead to the CM can act as an antenna absorbing EMI and conducting it into the scales for it to cause havoc or 'gone wonky' as you put it.

The pretty much universal way to suppress EMI conduction into an appliance is to use ferrite beads or ring cores and place a # of wraps of the power cord through them for better EMI absorption.
You have a couple of options, raid a ferrite bead from some old unused appliance, say from on a monitor lead from a PC display or a ring from the guts of some scrap appliance.
Half a dozen wraps though a ferrite would be my suggestion.
Even places like Walmart have these things.
Images for your reference:

 

[Delfuego]

@MDM has a mod for it. Makes a big difference. Good clean power helps too. I check/trickle them on a beam then pour them. Maybe not as slick as the auto-trickler, but I get very, very good numbers (sd/es/etc/etc). It helps speed up the process for me.

 

[cw308]

I've been using the ChargeMaster 1500 for 20+ years works great even with IMR 4064 , I also back it up when I need super accurate loads with the GemPro 250 , really not necessary and very time consuming. CM is a good choice .

 

[ebb]

Zilla everyone that owns a chargemaster has left the powder drain open and made a mess. But are you blaming the machine?

 

[JaoeyP]

If you get into the Chargemaster and understand what causes it to fuss and how to address, it's a pretty darn good scale.

Static is your enemy. Wiping down the hopper, dispenser tube, and pan with used dryer sheets occasionally can really help this issue. Static can be your biggest culprit in scale drift. I recently bought the MK Machine pan and it helped tremendously.

Using an insert or straw in the dispenser tube can greatly help reduce overcharges.

Lots of people have power issues and use a battery to eliminate that, I haven't needed to.

That scale is measuring 1/10 of 1/7,000th of a pound- it's sensitive and you need to appreciate that. Vibrations of any sort can disrupt it. Having it mounted to something that articulates vibration will mess with it. I used to have issues because it was sitting on the bench my press is mounted to and I was seating bullets while it was dispensing the next load. I highly recommend putting it on an independent table. I chose the $30 work table from Harbor Freight.

Out on the web is a complete list of what the control settings adjust- find it, download it, and adjust to your load.

 

[Rustytigwire]

Hey I cleaned my desk up!! Made room for the Jolly Green Giant.
This is awesome. Only one 4 hour load session so far.
A big tuna can under the drain.
Overcharge? Dump it out (in the tuna can) and run again.
Sometimes i try tip some out, tap dispense tube with a pen to trickle back up.
Too slow trickle? Impatient?? Who me???? Tap the tube to knock some out while it makes up its mind. Works for me.
Both digital scales misbehave the same under my fluorescent lights.
Dispense, check, same, gtg.
When this machines inaccuracy restricts my shooting capability it will be time to choose something different, meantime it is an asset.
Red funnel is a damn powder magnet!!
I lined the inside with tan masking tape. Got rid of 99% of the static cling.

 

[lhsako]

Buy it ! works just fine,