Upnet

My Feedback: (8)

Got a new DX7 with a 4 cell 1100mah NiCad. Have not used the Triton for several years. Mostly using wall warts on a timer. So I decide to do 2 cycles...discharge to charge. Long story short...the battery was not warm at all. I always thought that if it was not warm...it wasn't fully charged. About 4 hours after the final charge I put it on my ESV. 5.52 no load.....5.45... 15 seconds with a load. I don't think I have a problem.
I was just surprised that the battery was not warm. Anything to worry about?

Triton settings:
Charge @ .2a discharge @ .2a /4.4v (1.1 v per cell)
Peak sensitivity 5mv/cell
Peak delay 3 minutes
Delay between Charge and Discharge 3minutes

After first Dschg/Chg 1388mah in / 1507mah out
After second Dschg/Chg 1145mah in / 1480mah out

acarter

i don't know much about batteries, but i think they only get warm if you do a fast charge, but i could be wrong

Austin

rcairflr

My Feedback: (44)

On new batteries it may be false peaking, I would let it charge a second time, and I agree with you that the battery should get a little warm when fully charged.

Rodney

Batteries, especially NiCad, do not have to be warm to be fully charged. What creates heat in batteries, the recombination of oxygen due to being overcharged, so anytime the batteries are getting hot, they are being overcharged. Most batteries are designed internally to accomodate some excess charging but, this will always reduce their lifetime in terms of charge/recharge cycles.

KB9STD

My Feedback: (1)

I'm with Rodney on this one.The discharge voltage confirms the battery is charged.There's no reason to overcharge the pack,just because you like a warm battery.You bought a "Peakk-detecting" charger to NOT have to overcharge your batteries to tell when they are done charging.Let the charger tell You when it's finished.

rcairflr

My Feedback: (44)

Q: How do I know if my pack is fully charged?



Temeprature is the key.. always, always, always! IF THE PACK AIN'T WARM AT THE END OF THE CHARGE ROUTINE, IT AIN'T CHARGED! Note I said 'warm'. Not HOT! Hot is NEVER GOOD at the end of the charge routine.. but warm is OK. If using a temp probe, set it for 10 degrees above AMBIENT. If it's a peak controlled charger and the charger shuts down before the pack is slightly warm to the touch.. IT AIN'T FULLY CHARGED. If it's a timer controlled charger and at the end of the charge period the pack is not warm.. it's NOT fully charged yet! By far and away the biggest reason for low capacity numbers is undercharging.. if you have a 5 gallon pail with only 3 gallons in it, your only gonna get 3 gallons out of it. Engage your brain.. check temperature at the end of the charge routine!



The above came from Hangtime Hobbies. His business is batteries, so I would think he knows what he is talking about....

roadtrip

I have a question regarding high capacity nimH batteries. I have one transmitter pack rated at 3300 maH and one receiver pack rated at 2500 maH. Both are new, so I put them on my Hobbico Acu Cycle battery charger/conditioner for cycling. I have had them on discharge/slow charge (15 hours). I live in Europe, so I plug the charger into a 220v. transformer. I've been using it for this purpose for many years and it's always worked fine. The problem I have, is that when I first started the process, the batteries were in the first charge cycle after an initial discharge when the plug slipped out of the 220v. converter. I had to start all over again. (discharge/charge). This happened twice, so I set the 220v. converter so that the plug would not fall out. I have completed 5 cycles and the capacities are not reaching even near their rated capacity. For example, here are the readings I have so far:

3300maH battery reads 1st discharge/charge: 2233 maH; 2nd cycle 2279maH; 3rd 2150; 4th 2274 5th 2210maH.

2500maH battery: 1st 1972; 2nd 2039; 3rd 1880; 4th 2099; 5th 1998maH.

Could a problem with the batteries have occured because of the two power losses during charging causing them not reach full capacity? (memory effect). Should I continue with the cycles and see if they eventually do or should I consider replacing them? I would think 5 cycles should be sufficient to reach peak capacity.

Could the problem be that the charger is not designed to charge batteries with such a high capacity given the maximum charge time of 15 hours at 125ma charge rate? (125mA x 15 hrs= only 1875maH)

rcairflr

My Feedback: (44)

Bottom line is: you need a new charger. At that charge rate/time you can't even properly Form your batteries.

mrasmm

upnet

well according to your info, you are taking more out of the pack than you are putting back in. The voltage reading looks good though, especially under a load. On a NiCD battery, you could try adjusting the peak sensativity up to 8 or something also. You're only charging at 1/7C, which is more of a form charge, before you adjust the peak sensitivity, try charging at 0.5C or something like that. Your charger may be false peaking.

roadtrip

I would agree with the above post, you're charging at a slow form charge rate on a peak charger. You'll probably have to start the charger 2 or 3 times to get a full capacity. You're looking for 1.45 to 1.5v per cell hot off the charger, and about 1.35v per cell after it's been sitting for a few hours, or under a 1 or 2A load. So basically yes to your last question, try charging a bit faster, something like a c/4 or a c/2 charge rate or better.