Question About Batteries

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Question About Batteries
Topic Started: Feb 23 2006, 10:40 AM (404 Views)
flamingGLH	Feb 23 2006, 10:40 AM Post #1
Swayed by the Trax Posts: 21 Group: Member Member #49 Joined: January 26, 2006	Kinked and I have received our new ESC's, 17t motors and Batteries from tower a few days ago. Yesterday I tried out my new Epic dreadnaught 3000 MAH 6 cell batteries (NIMH), charged them up with my DC Pirahna Peak Battery charger and away we went. Man oh man did it have alot of punch ..... for the 3 minutes they lasted!!! I was disappointed.I'm a complete newbie when it comes to NIMH batteries. This morning I tried my 5-6 years old 1500 MAH NiCads and they lasted me a good 9-10 minutes with the same setup (Novak XRS ESC and 17t motor) in my tamiya Jeep Wrangler. I don't understand... is there something we should do to our NIMH batteries before using them?? Seriously, my NICAD 1500's outlasted my NIMH 3000's by 300%!!! the 2 6 cell packs are the same. The only thing I can see is that the Pirahna peak charger is crap for NIMH...... Or can the fact that we had 2 DC chargers (the same) plugged on 1 car battery recharged by a powerful automotive charger affect the performance of said chargers??? I know it's not the best, but Kinked as been running his setup like this forever without ill effects. Maybe 2 is too much for one car battery I'm going to try running only 1 charger of my van to see if that affects the performance of the charger. Any insight from more experienced NIMH users? Thanks
	Tamiya Clod Buster and Jeep Wrangler Traxxas T-Maxx and Traxxas CAT (old school) Submarine And soon a Blizzard EV!


quick5pnt0	Feb 23 2006, 11:30 AM Post #2
Worthy of the Trax! Posts: 59 Group: Member Member #53 Joined: February 9, 2006	They need to be cycled. Charge them back up, run them, charge them back up, run them, etc etc etc After a few cycles you'll see the run times get higher and higher until they start lasting as long as they should. Let us know how it works.
	Mike Ford Mustangs \| Ford Mustang Forum


flamingGLH	Feb 23 2006, 11:35 AM Post #3
Swayed by the Trax Posts: 21 Group: Member Member #49 Joined: January 26, 2006	quick5pnt0 Feb 23 2006, 11:30 AM They need to be cycled. Charge them back up, run them, charge them back up, run them, etc etc etc After a few cycles you'll see the run times get higher and higher until they start lasting as long as they should. Let us know how it works. you mean I need to play with my rc truck alot?? Dang. I'll fire up the charger tonight!
	Tamiya Clod Buster and Jeep Wrangler Traxxas T-Maxx and Traxxas CAT (old school) Submarine And soon a Blizzard EV!


spoon37	Feb 23 2006, 11:45 AM Post #4
Trax Master Poster Posts: 602 Group: Admin Member #11 Joined: December 14, 2005	yeah NiMH packs are a little insecure... if you dont play with them they sulk until you play with them frequently... :lol: Also it is possible for such packs to false peak - I've had totally discharged 3300mah packs finish charging at 900mah? wtf? this is despite my charger being apparently designed for NiMH (just so you know I use a Pro-peak Supernova 1-25 cells) especially boasting that it doesnt false peak..yeah right....



outcastrc	Feb 23 2006, 02:14 PM Post #5
Administrator Posts: 1,150 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: December 13, 2005	Batteries can ussually come around with cycling. A dicharge tray is even better at getting the batteries working... (I built a dicharge tray out of automotive lights and a cutoff relay schematic) It also helps to have a charger capable to pumping a battery hard, without false peaking... I havbe taken batteries that refuse to work anymore and by the time I am finnished with them they are pulling as hard as if they were new... Or a cel has given up and started smoking... Then I just tear out the bad cel and throw the rest into a box to make up custom packs.



spoon37	Feb 23 2006, 02:46 PM Post #6
Trax Master Poster Posts: 602 Group: Admin Member #11 Joined: December 14, 2005	I think its fair to say NiCD packs are alot more sensitive to deep cycling and discharging, certainly my NiMH packs rarely if ever need to be discharged to fully peak. for old packs its a good method of restoring them tho....



Gimbal	Feb 23 2006, 04:54 PM Post #7
Worthy of the Trax! Posts: 64 Group: Contributing Member Member #26 Joined: December 22, 2005	off topic maybe. Anyone have experience with mini-t nimh packs? I have an 1100 pro match pack that absoloutely rocks. I also have an Orion 1400 nimh unmatched that's ok. And an Orion 1200 unmatched that is crap. I charge the 1200 with my Great Planes Triton at 1.2a and I get maybe 2 min runtime... and if I leave the pack overnight after charging, then i get no runtime. Would trickle-charging at say .1a for overnight help? Or is my pack toast? The 1200 basically sucked after about 2 charges.



flamingGLH	Feb 24 2006, 08:48 PM Post #8
Swayed by the Trax Posts: 21 Group: Member Member #49 Joined: January 26, 2006	well, they are getting much better! Getting 10-12 minutes runtime with the same setup... enough to freeze my fingers! it's minus 10 Degrees CELCIUS outside, and I'm having a blast with my Tamiya Wrangler. we'll see how long the next cycle will last me! Thanks guys!
	Tamiya Clod Buster and Jeep Wrangler Traxxas T-Maxx and Traxxas CAT (old school) Submarine And soon a Blizzard EV!


RCrunner789	Nov 22 2008, 10:44 PM Post #9
Worthy of the Trax! Posts: 54 Group: Noobs Member #1,584 Joined: November 22, 2008	no lipo batteries bad bad experiments i lost a total of 1000 dollars worth of truck i converted it to BL and bougt a 5500 lipo and got little bit went it went booooooooooom flash sizzel sizzel gone it wasnt funny at first but it went quick and is funny as all heck Edited by RCrunner789, Nov 22 2008, 10:44 PM.



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