flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

I got a few of those servo city battery paks on sale back whenever it was ,,well I took the last one out and charged it around 4-5 hours and it shows red on the Voltwatch...2 other batteries showed green...so I charged it 5 more hours and it still shows red...one more time for about 3 hours...red[:@]...oh its a 270mAh hitec...anyway..I hooked it up to an electric motor 400 I think to cycle it and it ran for 9 minutes,which I think is pretty good...so I charged it back up for 3 hours...still shows red, is this 1 bad cell?..I have no plans to actually use it, has anyone else had this problem with the servo city sale batts...?...Rog

rrragmanliam

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Rog,

Sounds like a bad cell to me, I haven't had a problem with hitec packs per say but it can happen. I've had a couple of unused packs crap out on me because they were old. You can sometimes bring them back to life by repeated cycling but I wouldn't trust the pack.


Darren

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

Rog, do you have a voltmeter? I'd check the voltage of the pack, then check it again under a load. Don't start tossing packs because of a voltwatch! Make sure it's still accurate first. The first one I bought went bad in a similar way. You need to test the voltwatch at different voltage levels and compare it to the VW's specs. If you don't have a voltmeter, you can use two voltwatchs for a comparitive test. Not as good, but probably sufficient.

rrragmanliam

My Feedback: (1)

PT,

I thought Voltwach put the pack under load. I don't use one but that's what I was getting at. I put all my packs under a load with my Triton charger and check the voltage drop. As you were saying testing packs under a load is the best way to check a pack.


Darren

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

Assuming the entire radio outfit is hooked up, it is under load. The voltwatch by itself is does not load the battery. I sink mine into the wood and monokote over them. (with transparent or clear colors) If I remember correctly, I checked the voltage with a meter while everything, including the voltwatch, was hooked up. Mine just read "off". It was reading dead long before the batteries were. (hey, that's failing upward!) If was five years ago or so and have never had another bad one.

rrragmanliam

My Feedback: (1)

It's under a load but not much of one. I'm talkin out my hind end here but I like to put a .5 to 1.0 load on a freshly charged pack then see if it'll stay at a relativly steady voltage after the initial drop for an extened perion of time.

Darren

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

Well, if that's talking out of your hind end, you're doing pretty good. Mine usually sounds like RRRRIIIIIIIIIIPPPP!. That's about all it can say. Nothing intelligent like yours. You already know you're right, but to clarify, I was talking about testing the voltwatch, not the battery. I used various batteries in different states of charge in the test to get different voltage readings. That's about as sophisticated as my test equipment gets. Too much time working with insufficient tools on the job has ruined me for good setups.

Bipe Flyer

I bought a bunch on that sale too. I tried quick charging on my Triton and Supernova and they would only hold something like 60mAh of charge. I did a 1/10C (25mA) 14 hour charge and it works fine. I cycled it on my Triton 10 times to double check and it came out fine every time.

Speaking of chargers, I have a Hobbico R/C Multi-Charger from Tower. It is a nice, cheap, constant current charger that is great for overnight charging of small or large packs. It can do 4 packs at a time at 10, 25, 50, 100, 250 or 500mA. http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXL331&P=7

Larry Driskill

Bipe, will your Multi-Charger work with nimh batteries?

Bipe Flyer

It's not a peak charger, if that's what you mean. Yes, you can use NiMH batteries on it, but you should time the charge. I plug the charger into a wall timer to prevent overcharging.

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Bipe, that's the same charger I have. I love it. The wall timer is a good idea, but I try to always charge at 1/10C so an hour over doesn't hurt. I only wish it had a 150mah setting since I have some 1400 6v rx packs (for digital servos).

I also bought the MPI Battery Bugs for rx and tx. It's important to form charge new NiMHs, which means you slow charge at 1/10C, discharge and repeat three or four times. Then, they can be fast charged.

http://www.maxxprod.com/mpi/mpi-9.html

microsprint9

deleted

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

Ok charged the pak overnight again..still shows red when hooked up , its not the voltwatch as other paks indicate green just fine..but this time it ran the same electric motor for 15 minutes, (longer than I wanted to hold it) obviously not at full speed, but I dont get the reading? I know it works ok, but I wont put it a plane, I have enough problems without testing fate...Rog

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

Sounds like you have a bad cell. Without a voltmeter and considering the battery was a buck or two, maybe it's time to put it in file 13. Seriously, if you need a couple of spares, I bought too many and wouldn't mind sticking a replacement in the mail for you.

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

Huh, this time I charged it (accidently) for like 20 hours and it shows green on 2 different voltwatchs,,this was after the third time I cycled it, looks good to go...I'll try it for 1 flight and see...Thanks anyway Patrick!!....Rog

BSARGE

Man, I hope that's not like the old saying "Hey....watch this!"[:-]

-Bill

Bipe Flyer

They can take a few cycles to get back up to snuff. Do you have a cycler?

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Bipe, no not as such, I refer to a "cycle" as me charging the pak up to full and then running it on a motor until its dead....Rog

Bipe Flyer

That works. With a cycler you can actually see the pack improve with each cycle until it reaches full capacity.

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

I don't think that the VoltWatch puts a load on things, just tests the straight voltage. Put one on your rx and then cycle the servo's. Watch the voltage drop.

If the VW worked under load, it would place a pretty good constant drain on your batteries, so I'm pretty sure that it doesn't.

Bob

BANJOAIRPLANE

Let me know when you are going to try it out Rog,I'll bring the camera.