elevator_up

I just received a receiver battery pack for my park flyer, an 8.4 300mah AAA NmH pack from Horizon H. I went to give it it's inital charge, and set my Triton for .1A charge. It charged, and charged, and charged ... indicated a charge of over 600 mah before I notice and unplugged it. the peak was set to .5 so I lowered to .3 but not it still continues to chare, and is slightly warm. Any idea's what's happening or how I can properly charge this pack ?

Rodney

If there is any impedance in the hookup (long wires, to small a gauge wire, bad connectors, etc.) the charger cannot differentiate the peak from the circuit losses. Use very short leads, really good connectors and at least 22 gauge or larger wire. Actually, 100 milliamperes is more than is recommended for the first charges on a 300mah battery. The first three cycles should be C/10 milliamperes or 30 milliamperes in your case. You will also get more run time if you charge the batteries at C/10 before use.

elevator_up

I have the standard Triton setup, no special or long cables and the unit has worked flawlessly for more for over a year, so I don't suspect the charger. Unfortunately the minimum setting on the triton is .1A. Anyone know if it will deliver less on the Auto setting ?

elevator_up

As an update, I'm not sure if the Triton delivered less than 1A on auto charge, but I tried and it did seem to properly charge the battery in the Auto mode to the battery's stated capacity. I've suspect I probabily missed some forming. Is forming on a NiMh as important as Nicad's ?

KINGX

I experirence quite the same "plroblem" with AAA Ni-Mh packs. Triton can get "false peaks'. I suggest:

1)DO NOT use the Auto setting, it rarely works properly!
2) Try and do the following for this particular battery pack:
a) Get in the Discharge/Cgarge menu for Ni-Mh and , set the cut off voltage PER cell at 0.9 volts, set the peak voltage to 9mV(or 8mV), set the appropriate number of cells, 7 in this case, set the Ni-Mh max cut-off capacity to 400mAh, also set the max safety timer to 240 minutes provided of course you charge your pack at 100mAh(0.1A). If you wish to sharge at 0.2A set the timer to 180 minutes.Do not use the thermal probe at this stage, just check the battery pack with your hand every 30 minutes. If it gets hot , stop the entire process immediately. The discharge/charge process (1 cycle, you do not need more at this point) will fix the "problem". If not write back for more suggestions

IN GENERAL:
The smaller the pack the easiest to get false peaks with "extra sensitive" settings (eg. 3mV)
Ni-Mh packs are more likely to give you false peaks, they also tend to overcharge and can get quite hot
Finally, READ the Triton's manual very carefully from word to word and "experiment" with Triton and various packs MANUALLY I believe that you will feel more "comfortable" with the charger after spanding some time with it and the packs you have.