Stick 40

Hi,

Got my first A123 battery's, I read somewhere that there is a proper way to break them in. Mine came with no instructions.

I have a good charger with a LiFe setting on it and I usderstand that I can charge the A123 with that setting.

Any help would be welcome, just want to start them off right.

sticks

dant-RCU

My Feedback: (3)

http://www.hangtimes.com/nobsbatteries.html

Dan

Stick 40

Hi,

thanks, that is a good site.

But I did not see anything about how to start with a A123. If there is nothing to do, so be it just want to know.

sticks

jimmyjames213

My Feedback: (2)

if you had to "break in" a123 cells this would be new to me, i would just charge them slowly on the life setting and stick with that

Stick 40

ok, guess I dont have to break the in.

thanks

sticks

4*60

My Feedback: (41)

No break in required.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Charge - Fly - Repeat

K-Bob

My Feedback: (1)

Not sure of what model charger you have but it's a good idea to balance charge them everytime. No downside except a few extra minutes of your time. A good quality charger like the Cell-Pro series is a good idea also.

You say this is your first set of A123s. If you are not familiar with calculating your Ma usage per flight, you need to be. The link given a few posts back is well worth the read.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Sticks,,
Yes what K-Bob said.

The most important thing is to calculate your battery life based on how each plane consumes current. Basically you do this

1- Charge pack fully.
2- Fly say a typical 10 mi flight.
3- Charge again taking note of how many Mah the pack consumed for that 10 minute flight
4- Now maybe make 2 flights and repeat step 3

This will give you a good idea how many flights you can get out of a full charge.. I never fly if mine are under 50% flight time
Running 2 2300mah packs on a 50cc 6 digital servo 3D style plane, I get 4-5 flight before I'm near 50%, 100cc plane 3-4 flights.

Good luck

p.s.
Bob, I just got the Cell-pro myself after using our Club Presidents a couple times, I was using a Hyperion before that, also a good charger. Nice feature of the Cell-pro charger is it calculates the Pack's current capacity. So it can be used as a fuel gauge. Seams to be pretty accurate too. A good investment if you use A123s

Stick 40

Hi,

thanks for all the input, I have a good working knowledge of charging and cycling .

If I discharge, what voltage do I set the charger to. Does the A123's have the same problem as Lipo' and discharging below rated voltage?

I have the Thunder Power TP-1010 and it has the LiFe setting, its a very good charger .

Do I have to cycle up and then do a discharge to get an idea of the Milli amps each battery puts out or do I just go by the 2300 the battery is rated.

What is the charge rate and discharge rates, max/min. etc.

sticks