beerman

My Feedback: (5)

I've been using the Triton for a year now with my Nicads and love it. It takes great care of my batteries and has been worth every penny. I recently purchased a 5cell 1650 NIMH pack due to weight and size considerations to put into a new plane. I had trouble charging it, but found the peak charge was set too low. Now...when I discarge I have issues. I have it set to discharge at 1amp and it cuts off after about 30 or so milliamps. This is the second pack as I thought I had issues with the first one. It's either the Triton or me...I'm leaning to the latter.

dstuber

i am having a similar problem. i have a 4.8V 2700mah pack that charges up fine, but a 2A discharge takes it below 4.4 almost immediately. a total discharge takes about 15 min. something is definately wrong. nimh do have a higher internal resistance than nicds but this still doesn't make sense to me. the voltage drop is way to fast.

bob_nj

My Feedback: (62)

Aside from the Triton issues, why are you discharging a 2700 pack at 2 amps?

Pilotsmoe

what charge leads are you using? the hobbico ones are crap. You will see a voltage drop with high loads. Also, 2 amps is a little much for that pack. It should be around a 5 hour discharge rate(to get the accurate capacity), so you should be discharging around .5 amps.

dropzone25

My issue with charging Nimh is that I set it for 1600 max charge (in the NIMH menu )and that is what the battery charges up to. Should I just select 1700 and let it overcharge the battery? This is a 1650mh sanyo tx pack. Any info would be appreciated.
thanks Mike

dstuber

i was discharging it at 2A because this is going into a heli. this is how i came up with that number. i've done some searching and most guys say that you will typically use 350 to 400 mah per flight. say the flight is 10 mins. 400 mah in 10 mins equals 2400mah in 1 hour. correct me if i am wrong, i don't know much about this stuff. the battery is 2700mah. doesn't this mean that it will give 2.7A for 1 hour? i can't even get 2A for 2 mins!

Ernie Misner

Definitely try discharging at a low rate that the small stock triton wires can handle.... and see if all doesn't go well. Please let us know. Also keep in mind that new NiMh batteries seem to take a few cycles to start working properly sometimes.

Mike, about your 1600mah battery, it will take MORE than 1600 mah to get it up to full charge due to losses from heat, etc. (if it is a 1600 battery) Set the max charge rate for something ABOVE that rate in case of missing the peak charge, and simply let the peak charger do the rest.

Ernie

ptgarcia

My Feedback: (36)

I agree with Ernie on all accounts. I typically discharge at C/5 (1/5th of capacity). For a 2700mA battery that equates to 540mAh. I happen to have a 2700mA 5-cell and a 1650mA 5-cell NiMH battery. Both took several cycles before charging fully. I also set the max charge to 9900mA, basically unlimited, and the peak detection to 5mV. Hope this helps you out some...Good luck!

dropzone25, just for your information, it takes roughly 1.5 times the batteries capacity to fully charge from a depleted state.

dropzone25

Thanks guys I will adjust my settings in the Triton menu, That's why I love RCU! You guys rock
thanks again

beerman

My Feedback: (5)

Good info fellas, I'll try a few cycles at low rates and see what it comes up with. Maybe beefier wires as well.

dstuber

i'm starting to trust this pack more now. i made a new charge lead 1 foot long with 14ga wire. the voltage still dropped but not as much as before. it took 15 mins to get to 4.5 and stayed above 4.4 for probably 75% of the discharge. this was all with a constant 2A load as well. a few more cycles and it should be ready to go. thanks for the help