CrazyBear

Hi,

I just got a Triton charger and I was wondering if someone can help me with the settings for my battery pack. I have a NiMH 8 cells 700mAh pack. I am using this pack to fly my hornet heli.

My current settings are:

Safety Timer: 960 minutes
Temp Cut-off: 60F
Peak Delay Start: 3 minutes
Delay Between Chg/Dsch: 5 minutes
Peak Sensitivity: 5mV/Cell
NiMH max charge input: 700mAh
Top-off charge rate: 700mAh

NiMH charge: 0.7A
NiMH discharge: 0.2A 7.2V

NiMH Chg to Discharge: 0.1A / 0.2A
NiMH Discharge to Chg: 0.2A / 0.1A

Memory: 01
Number of Cells: 8 cell
Battery Capacity: 700mAh
Charge current: 0.7A
Discharge current: 0.2A
Dsch Volt/Cell: 0.9V/Cell


Thanks in advance for your time.

CrazyBear

U2Steve

"Temp Cut-off: 60F"

I'm assuming you're using the optional temperature probe- neat item, BTW. But unless you're in the Arctic Circle, I think that value needs to be higher. You could warm them past the cutoff temp. just holding them in your hands!

Top-off rate should be C/10 or C/5, 70-140 mah. IMHO.

You could probably raise the charging current to an amp (1000 mah) without damaging the pack, if they're newer cells. It would charge them a little faster. Set the temperature cutoff to 90 degrees (that's as warm as I ever like to see a pack) and have at it.

Remember how much this advice cost you.

Steve

RCaillouet3

I have the same pack, but with KAN batts. The one thing that I have had to work with is the peak detect time. i had to increase mine to around 5 minutes to get it to not false peak. Not sure why, but it works.

Also, charging at 1C as you are doing, you should set the safety timer to around 70 - 80 minutes, with my reccomendation on the 70 minute range. Remember that a 700 MaH battery is .7 Amp. If you charge a .7 Amp battery pack at .7 Amps, then the charge should only take 1 hour!

Delay between charge and discharge I have set for 10 minutes, but this is because I quick charge most of my NiMH packs (2C.) I know that life span on them is decreased because I quick charge them, but it is just the way I have been doing it. The 10 minute timer allows the battery pack to cool before continuing with the cycle process.

Other than that, you seem to have everything going well so far! I also agree with what u2Steve has said about the heat sensor. Remember with that neat little thing, that all does is act like a thermometer. If your ambient air temp is 70 deg, and you have 70 deg set, then as soon as it starts charging the temp probe will shut it down.

Just my thoughts,

Reg

CrazyBear

Hi,

After a few months of beeing unable to fly my heli (a hornet) I am going to try again. The only problem is that after recycling the battery packs the display only shows an average of 430 mAh (My battery pack is 700mAh) and doesn't last, is this correct? I was expecting to see something around 680 tp 700 mAh. The setup that I am using for charger is the ones above.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Crazy Bear

Matt Kirsch

My Feedback: (21)

What do you mean by "doesn't last?" Do you mean that the pack doesn't last in the helicopter? That's usually indicative of a dead cell in the pack, or a bad connection somewhere. The packs that come with the Hornet helis are made from the cheapest possible cells. It's not surprising that they don't hold up over time...

430mAh is awfully low, but only if the battery is being completely discharged. A long, thin charge lead will cause a severe voltage drop when the batteries are just fine in reality. Charge leads should be made from the thickest possible wire, and should be as short as possible. This helps to prevent false peaks and other weirdness.

CrazyBear

Thaks for your reply. Yeap the battery pack doesn't last more than 5 minutes. I made the battery packs after I bought the cells at amondotech.com (green 1.2v 700mAh cells). I used solder wick to make the connections between the cells. Do you think this might be the problem?

Thanks,

Crazy Bear