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Charging question - 6/16/2002 8:07:35 AM   
crosswind



Posts: 181
Joined: 3/7/2002
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Status: offline 		It's probably been answered here before, but I couldn't find it. It's not uncommon (especially so far this year) to give a full overnight charge and find the wind 50 mph across the runway all weekend. Next weekend I'll go ahead and charge maybe 6 hours or so and the same thing happens... no flying. What should one do a week later after a couple of charges and no flying? I could just cycle the batteries I suppose, but I kind of hate to do that on what would be a pretty regular basis unless that's the best solution. I've just heard that a lot of cycling ain't the best thing for them. Thanks for any help and advice
       Post #: 1

Pretty Good Question - 6/16/2002 12:42:21 PM   
bob_nj


 

Posts: 3497
Joined: 12/3/2001
From: Vineland, NJ, USA
Status: offline 		Let's assume we are talking nicads and a standard overnite charger (C/10) The easiest and most costly solution would be to pick up a peak charger of some sort. This will only put in what is needed and you're good to go. Other than that, nicads lose a small percentage of charge per day. If I remember it's something like 1% You can do the math and figure how long they sit and how long you need to charge kind of thing. All of this assuming you keep an eye on them with a voltmeter naturally. Of course the age and condition of the batteries also come into play. Batteries are a strange and wonderful thing in this hobby. It's the only link we have between success and possibly hurting someone. Take care of and monitor then wisely.

(in reply to crosswind)
       Post #: 2

Charging question - 6/16/2002 2:33:18 PM   
Red Scholefield



Posts: 4981
Joined: 12/8/2001
From: Newberry, FL, USA
Status: online 		Bob-nj

The article on "Keep your batteries in the ready state without damaging overcharge." was written just for you.

Please visit the BatteryClinic web site.

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Charging question - 6/16/2002 8:41:36 PM   
crosswind



Posts: 181
Joined: 3/7/2002
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Status: offline 		Thanks for the help. I read the article about using the timer and it sounds like the answer to my problem. I also will read all the rest of the info in the Battery Clinic web site. Great work! I've been flying for nearly thirty years now without an airborne battery failure and I'd like to keep it that way! Do you think I should just stick with the nicads or change to the NiMH or even the Li Ion packs when I need to replace?

(in reply to crosswind)
       Post #: 4

Charging question - 6/16/2002 9:13:41 PM   
Red Scholefield



Posts: 4981
Joined: 12/8/2001
From: Newberry, FL, USA
Status: online 		Quoting Cross wind:

"I've been flying for nearly thirty years now without an airborne battery failure and I'd like to keep it that way! Do you think I should just stick with the nicads or change to the NiMH or even the Li Ion packs when I need to replace?"

Chances are if you are the typical age of most R/C flyers you won't live long enough to see if Ni-MH or Lithium Ion are as good as Ni-Cds.

What are you looking for from these newer but inferior power systems that Ni-Cd does not give you?

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Charging question - 6/16/2002 9:32:32 PM   
crosswind



Posts: 181
Joined: 3/7/2002
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Status: offline 		Well, Red, now that you mention it, I don't know! I usually replace my Nicads every two or three years as they seem to go downhill a bit, and I thought maybe the new stuff would hold up better. Have no idea of the cost difference, as I've never used either NiMH or Lithium, but at nearly 60 years old, you're probably right !

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       Post #: 6

Charging question - 6/16/2002 10:15:11 PM   
Red Scholefield



Posts: 4981
Joined: 12/8/2001
From: Newberry, FL, USA
Status: online 		Neither Ni-MH or Lithium Ion will give you the service life of Ni-Cd. They only advantage is more capacity (for a while) in a smaller package. Lithium Ion will also require that you get special chargers/cyclers.

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Charging question - 6/16/2002 10:34:31 PM   
crosswind



Posts: 181
Joined: 3/7/2002
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Status: offline 		Thanks for the valuable info. I'll just stick with the reliable old Nicads till I shuffle off this mortal coil! One more question if I might... I just read your article on soldering directly to cells. I've built a lot of packs that way because I couldn't easily get cells with solder tabs, knowing it's not a good idea. Probably one reason my packs sometimes go south early. The question is, if I'm gonna take the chance and do it anyway, do you think it's better to use more heat quickly, or less heat longer... like with a 15 to 25 watt pencil iron as opposed to a larger gun? That's my last question. Honest! (for a while, anyway !

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       Post #: 8

Charging question - 6/17/2002 1:07:29 AM   
Red Scholefield



Posts: 4981
Joined: 12/8/2001
From: Newberry, FL, USA
Status: online 		You will have to get your advice on soldering directly to cells from the guys that do it. :

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Wow - 6/17/2002 4:34:02 AM   
bob_nj


 

Posts: 3497
Joined: 12/3/2001
From: Vineland, NJ, USA
Status: offline 		Very eloquent and delicately done Red.

(in reply to crosswind)
       Post #: 10

Charging question - 6/17/2002 7:53:56 AM   
crosswind



Posts: 181
Joined: 3/7/2002
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Status: offline 		Touche!

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Charging question - 6/17/2002 8:00:22 AM   
Jazzy



Posts: 1106
Joined: 1/8/2002
From: Erie, PA, USA
Status: offline 		Crosswind,
I have soldered directly to cells. I found the 'pencils' didn't have the heat necessary to do the job. I use my Craftsman gun to get in and out quickly with a fair amount of heat. I guess I looked at it such that the time required to sufficiently heat up the area with a pencil will heat up much more of the cell than if you use quite a bit more heat with less saturation time.
Seemed to work well...

Jeff

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Charging question - 6/17/2002 8:11:12 AM   
crosswind



Posts: 181
Joined: 3/7/2002
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Status: offline 		Thanks Jeff!

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       Post #: 13

Charging question - 6/17/2002 1:14:23 PM   
Steve Lewin


 

Posts: 904
Joined: 3/18/2002
From: Reading, UNITED KINGDOM
Status: offline 		I've soldered a lot of cells as it's the only practical method for electric flight packs. Normal tags just won't stand the currents plus by Red's standards we're already abusing the cells without mercy so how much extra damage can it do .

It's best to use an iron of at least 40W with a good heavy copper bit. That's usually better than soldering guns which tend to have very small bits which lose heat whenever you touch them to anything cold (like a NiCd cell ). Cleaning every thing properly is vital as is pre-tinning all the parts that you want to join. The aim is to have the iron on the cell for no more than a couple of seconds.

Steve

(in reply to crosswind)
       Post #: 14

Charging question - 6/17/2002 7:02:58 PM   
Jazzy



Posts: 1106
Joined: 1/8/2002
From: Erie, PA, USA
Status: offline 		Good point Steve.

Preparing the areas to be soldered is paramount to success. I like to scu