sodflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Took a break from RC for about 9-10 months and did not store my batteries correctly, just left them in the planes and helis... Now I have NIMH and NICAD RX and TX batteries that I am trying to cycle back to life with no good results either way I do it. I have two 3000 mah NIMH packs that only take a 400 or 600 mah charge at .1C using my triton charger...Have tried 1C and 2C for the heck of it but I still get the same reading at the end. My nicads are the JR 1400 extra that one holds 700mah and the other around 3-400mah. TX's are in the same boat.....does not matter what I do thay will not come back to full cap. I thought the NIMH batteries would be ok as they don't have a memory but I figured the Nicads would be toast. Sould I just toss em out and start over or can they be saved.....However though I have a 6 cell pack that I use for my starter that's nicad and out of 1700mah it took 1900mah at 1C charge... what's up with that? This battery was sitting for almost a year and a half? Thanks Jeff.

rajul

My Feedback: (58)

How long did you charge them at C/10 ? There could have been cell reversals if the voltage/cell dipped below 0.9V during the long storage

Crash90

My Feedback: (17)

I just went through the same thing with a 4.8v 1800mah Ni-Cad from JR. I tried to revive it with my accucycle with no luck. I could only get a few hundred mah while discharging. I later noticed that I had the cycler set for 5 cells. I droped it to 4 and it worked great. I don't know if hitting it with a 5 cell charge jolted it to life or what.

sodflyer

My Feedback: (1)

It only charged for about 2.5 hrs before it said it was done.... Could not find any of my wall chargers for a trickle and non shutoff. it was about the same time frame for the other pack as well after a discharge and charging at .1C. Jeff

rajul

My Feedback: (58)

At C/10, it should be 16 hours. Is there a way to bypass the auto charge termination ?

sodflyer

My Feedback: (1)

I don't remember if I can eliminate it or not but I remember that I could change the time somewhat for my Triton. The thing is that it did not time out it cut off due to it being at a high enough voltage (6+ volts for the 4.8 pack) and they were starting to get just a tad bit worm but by no means hot. Jeff.

rajul

My Feedback: (58)

I don't have a Triton, so I can't comment on the charging regime. Maybe someone who has a Triton can give some inputs. Your batts are basically undercharged

BillS

Did you check the voltage on the pack after charging? My experience is that one cell in the pack will be bad and not contribute to the voltage. In other words a pack will read full voltage less one cell. A fully charged four-cell pack will usually read 5.4v or so. With one bad cell the pack will be about 4.0v to 4.2v.

sodflyer

My Feedback: (1)

I did check them after a charge and they are reading 5-6 volts... My Fluke meter rounds up or down so I only see 5vdc and not 5.4vdc. Jeff.

Mike01

You can set the peak detection very high on the Triton and force the .1C charge to last 16 hours. If, after 16 hours, you get bad numbers during discharge, then there isn't much you can do.

It sounds, however, like you're just experiencing false peaking issues with batteries that have been stored discharged. There is not, necessarily, anything wrong with the batteries.

sodflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Ok, I will find my manual tonight and re-setup the Triton....But I still don't get it.It's showing a fully charged voltage on all of the packs so to me I thought they built up enough crystals that that was the capacity of the pack now and they were toast for RC use. but in the case of the 3000 mah nimh packs I just don't know...figure they are gone as well.....I will try it and let you guys know if they revive. Thanks! Jeff.

BillS

That’s an interesting comment about the Fluke meter.

Since the pack shows voltage in range about the only thing to do is to slow charge and discharge measuring the capacity. If the pack doesn’t come up to 80% capacity after three cycles maybe you should consider it dead.

Since all packs are acting the same consider at least one cycle down measurement with someone else’s equipment just in case your equipment is fibbing or broken.

Sorry that the packs appear to have been lost but consider the good news. The cells could be used in non-critical applications such as a Christmas toy. Or you could have enough NI-starter cells to last a lifetime. Or you could furnish the entire club with NI-starter cells.

I have been there and unfortunately some lessons are expensive.

Bill

sodflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Yep not all is lost I just bought some more packs off of ebay for a good price so I will see if they will hold up ( cycle a few times ). I don't think it's the charger though ( hope not) as I am using it to charge my lipo in my Zagi as well as 2 nicad packs for it as well and they come close to the indicated capacity at about 1500 out of 1700. but the packs are never completely ran down either. Thanks for the info! Jeff.

Mike01

Don't forget to fully discharge before charging at .1C for 16 hours.

TimC

sodflyer, I don't know about your Fluke, but my 77 has a button in the center of the dial to allow fractions of a volt. Try pushing this button.

sodflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Yeah...my Fluke is a T5-600...has no option for that. Jeff.

sodflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Ok I am trying it now...I set the detection up at 20 ( the highest) an am discharging the NIMH 3000 mah pack at 600mah with a 3.2 pack cut off.jeff.

sodflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Well.... only got about 300mah out of the 3000 at that discharge that cut off at the 3.2 volts...but the voltage climbed up to 4.87 with in 30 seconds or so looking at the triton...will try the .1c charge now and see what it will take. Jeff.

sodflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Took even lss so the batteries are being tossed out for non RC use. A .1C charge with the higher setting only went for 62mah before reaching the cut off. Thanks for all of youre help on this! Jeff.

Mike01

The Triton allows a generous peak delay to be set, during which it will not search for peaks. Try it with that.

Or just buy a cheap timed charger.