UH OH! Charged packs for 44 hours!! Damaged?  
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All Forums >> Radios, Batteries, Clubhouse and more >> Batteries & Chargers >> UH OH! Charged packs for 44 hours!! Damaged?
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UH OH! Charged packs for 44 hours!! Damaged? - 1/26/2003 2:15:17 AM   
99GrandTouring



Posts: 473
Joined: 9/10/2002
From: wilmington, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Well as the subject says thats what I did.....

Its been a while since I've flown (about 3 months) so I went to put them on a 24hr charge...

Since it was out in the garage and sub zero temps, I don't go out there as much this time of year and I totally forgot about them....

I hooked them up at 8:00pm two nights ago and just unhooked them now 4:00pm...

I pulled the pack in the TX and didn't see any exploded..
I can't really tell if there leaking becuase there in shrink tubing..
there was a little bit of an "oily" substand on the very bottom of the pack but it appeard to just be on the outside surface, it didn't look like it had soaked through...

So did I damage them? Its the stock charger that came with the radio...
Is there anyway to find out if I did damage them without tearing the pack apart? And also if their not damaged is there anything I should do since I "overcharged" them? Like drain them down?
Thanks!
       Post #: 1

UH OH! Charged packs for 44 hours!! Damaged? - 1/26/2003 2:28:05 AM   
99GrandTouring



Posts: 473
Joined: 9/10/2002
From: wilmington, NC, USA
Status: offline 		also just to let you know, they were not hot at all....

actually kinda cool, but they were charging in a garage that was about 10degrees in there.....

(in reply to 99GrandTouring)
       Post #: 2

UH OH! Charged packs for 44 hours!! Damaged? - 1/26/2003 2:50:00 AM   
RCRob


 

Posts: 12
Joined: 2/1/2002
From: Magalia, CA, USA
Status: offline 		It's quite unlikely that leaving your pack on the standard wall charger that came with your radio for a couple of days or longer would do any damage, if you're charging NiCd's. It's a slow charger that's charging at about a C/10 rate. If your system came with a 550 maH pack for example, the charger that came with it only outputs somewhere around 55 ma. Not to worry. As for draining it down . . not necessary. It'll do that itself. The 'surface' charge will be close to a full volt about the pack's rating and dissipate rather quickly down a few tenths above its rating. It'll then stabilize and begin losing about 1 to 2% of its capacity daily until it's used or recharged again.

If you had been 'quick' charging, at say a C/1 rate or higher, i.e., 1,000 maH flat pack charging at 1 amp for 1 hour . . and had left it on for days . . that's a different story. Things would have heated up quickly beyond that hour . . and that's when you can normally expect problems.

If you are still concerned . . get a 10 watt 10 ohm power resistor from R/Shack . . put in across (in parallel) the pos. and neg. battery leads . . this equals approx. a 500ma load on a 4.8v pack . . connect in parallel a voltmeter and check the voltage drop. If it's significant . . more than say 2 or 3 tenths of a volt after at least 30 seconds testing, the pack has weakened. It the drop is is a volt or more, don't even think about it. Just replace it!

If you have any questions regarding the above or onboard electronics / power, etc., let me know and I'll be glad to assist.

Toll Free . . 888 567-2862
E-Mail . . . . [email]Support@electrotekrc.com[/email]


_____________________________

RHJ . . ;)
When Safety Comes First & Fun is the #1 Goal - Electrotek R/C

(in reply to 99GrandTouring)
       Post #: 3

UH OH! Charged packs for 44 hours!! Damaged? - 1/26/2003 3:08:57 AM   
moses


 

Posts: 422
Joined: 3/16/2002
From: lawrenceville, NJ, USA
Status: offline 		I agree with RCRob. I doubt that the packs are damaged. Especially given the temperature in your garage. You can leave your packs connected to the stock charger for a good long time without too much risk of damage. Obviously you want to disconnect them earlier, but mistakes happen.

See: http://www.rcbatteryclinic.com/ - the section entitled "Ni-Cd Life, What can I expect from my R/C packs? "

For example:

Quote from RC Battery Clinic:
_____________________________________________
If you have left your switch on overnight or for even a couple of days, just give the pack a good long slow charge using your regular charger supplied with the system for 48 hours and you will probably be OK. It would be prudent to run a capacity check cycle after such an incident just to make sure.
_____________________________________________

In your case, you just overcharged them a bit. You may want to get a charger that can cycle your packs. This makes checking the capacity a simple matter.

Also see the section of the RC Battery Clinic entitled:

"Keep your batteries in the ready state without damaging overcharge"

You should set up one of these "Scholefield" chargers if you are going to use the stock charger (I have several packs connected to one of these set-ups). Basically, you hook the charger up to a lamp timer that limits the charge time. This is very cheap insurance.

Moses

< Message edited by moses -- Jan 25 2003 10:15PM >

(in reply to 99GrandTouring)
       Post #: 4

UH OH! Charged packs for 44 hours!! Damaged? - 1/26/2003 10:11:19 AM   
99GrandTouring



Posts: 473
Joined: 9/10/2002
From: wilmington, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Cool!
Thanks!
I hope it didn't do any damage to them....
I've got a loaded scale voltmeter I'll use it and check them....

(in reply to 99GrandTouring)
       Post #: 5

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All Forums >> Radios, Batteries, Clubhouse and more >> Batteries & Chargers >> UH OH! Charged packs for 44 hours!! Damaged?
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