Discharging batteries with xmas lights? (Full Version)

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wormburner -> Discharging batteries with xmas lights? (6/27/2004 10:26 PM)

A couple guys at my club suggested I could use a couple of lights from an old strand of xmas tree lights to discharge my battery paks. They said if I wire them in parallel the voltage shouldn't drop low enough to damage the cells.

I have a few questions:
1) what is the current draw for the mini lights? I wired two in parallel and plugged them into a 4.8v, 600mah flight pak.
2)what is the voltage of the mini lights? If it is 1.1 then they are correct about not damaging the cells, right?
3)Assuming #2 to be correct, if I were to wire the 2 cells in series, the voltage would not fall below 3v?

I have a very limited budget so I was thinking about using this method for all of my batteries. Does anybody else do this?[sm=confused.gif]

thanx



laryboy -> RE: Discharging batteries with xmas lights? (6/27/2004 11:13 PM)

the cheapest thing to do is to find a friend who has a cycler and use it twice a year



JoeAirPort -> RE: Discharging batteries with xmas lights? (6/28/2004 4:53 AM)

Go to the hardware store and get a 12v lamp (for a flashlight or car, whatever). Discharge the battery until it gets down to 4 volts. That is fully discharged. Borrow a voltmeter to test the battery now and then while it's connected to the light bulb. Take note how dim the light is when it's at 4 volts. That's your benchmark. Give back the voltmeter to your friend.



JNorton -> RE: Discharging batteries with xmas lights? (6/28/2004 10:28 PM)

An christmas tree light is a resistive load. Which means as long as it is connected to the battery it will drain it. The voltage rating of the christmas tree light doesn't determine how low it will drain the batteries but its proper working voltage.

You can get a digital voltmeter for $20.00 from Radio Shack http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F008%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=22%2D810

Use a light bulb load like JoeAirPort suggested. I personally use a #47 pilot lamp.

John



wormburner -> RE: Discharging batteries with xmas lights? (6/28/2004 11:55 PM)

Thanx, guys. I shall do just that.



Salty25 -> RE: Discharging batteries with xmas lights? (7/4/2004 8:42 AM)

John,

You only use one buld? I thought you had to use one bulb per cell in the pack, i.e. 4 bulbs for a 4.8v flight pack.



JNorton -> RE: Discharging batteries with xmas lights? (7/4/2004 12:36 PM)

#47 bulb has a 6.3 volt rating and draws about 150 MA. The bulb is used as a load and wired across the voltmeter leads to convert a Digital Voltmeter to a loaded voltmeter. Radio Shack has dual banana jack that I solder the bulb across. When I want to use the meter as a loaded meter I simply pug in the dual banana jack to the meter and the meter leads into the dual banana jack. Quick and convenient.

If you want more than a 150MA load just parallel the bulbs.

John



Jackjet -> RE: Discharging batteries with xmas lights? (7/6/2004 3:56 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: JNorton

An christmas tree light is a resistive load. Which means as long as it is connected to the battery it will drain it. The voltage rating of the christmas tree light doesn't determine how low it will drain the batteries but its proper working voltage.

You can get a digital voltmeter for $20.00 from Radio Shack http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F008%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=22%2D810

Use a light bulb load like JoeAirPort suggested. I personally use a #47 pilot lamp.

John


You can get a digital voltmeter from Harbor Freight tools for $5.99 - and they work really good too.

Jackjet



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