ilikeplanes

So I get to the field only to find out I left my tx on and the battery is completely flat. We put it on a fast charger at 1500 ma and it peaks in about 30 seconds. Now we put it on at 1000 ma and it peaks in about five minutes. Switch on the radio and the gauge shows 100+ for about two minutes and then falls rapidly. I thinks either the fast charger or my battery have a problem so I pack up the airplane and BS the rest of the day.

Now, at home, I put the radio on the wall charger (50 ma) for 20 hours (600 ma ni-cd sanyo pack). I switch the radio on and record the meter reading until dead. Here's what I got:

0 minutes, 100+
30, 100
60, 100
90, 100
120, 97
150, 93
180, 80
210, 10

The pack has only about 20 charges on it and was purchased this spring. I usually top it off with a 12 hour charge and let it fully discharge about every fifth time. Recharge from fully dead is 16-20 hours.

Am I OK?

Traxxas_Tech

My Feedback: (22)

I'm no expert with batteries, but it sounds to me like you have a dead cell, or one of the connectors snapped inside the pack?

What transmitter?

Steve Lewin

If it lasts 3 hrs before it gets down to 80% there's not much wrong with it. But if you carry on discharging it all the way down to zero (if that's what you mean by fully discharge) you soon will damage it. That it not a good thing to do to NiCd packs.

Also TX batteries are not really intended to be fast charged. Many chargers will not handle them well particularly at too high a charge rate. 1.5A is way too high for a 600mAh battery. Ideally you should keep it down to about 1C, the 1 hour rate (600mA).

Steve