ggazzola

Hey guys!

I recently got the Duratrax Ice charger and have been pretty successful at setting it up and charging various NiCds. I charged the packs and everything went as expected interms of the operation of the Ice and the final charge the NiCds received. Time for the NiMHs! I checked out the factory default settings for the NiMHs that Duratrax provided and started a charge. Now I have some problems!

I am trying to charge a 7.2 v, 6 cell 1300 mAh pack with this profile:

Batt type: NiMH
Batt volts: 6 cell
Batt Cap: 1300mAh
Chrg cur: .5
Dis Chrg: .5
Trkle cur: 50
Cut Temp: 116F
No. Cyc: 1
Cyc Del: 10 min
Cyc Mod: D-C
Max Chg: 150%
Peak Dly: 3 min
Top off: 100

OK, with these setting the charger said the output voltage was to low and did not match the cells. I increased the charge current to 1.0 and everything was functioning. After about 120 seconds the buzzer sounded and it went into the peak delay and then started peaking the batt. This ended 2000 seconds later and added 34 mAhs to the pack.

Here is what I ended up with: I checked the pack with a volt meter and it measured at 8.2 volts and after everything was done charging (the Ice singing it's completion song) the Ice charger said my pack had a capacity of 83 mAhs. I am very confused!
Where did the other 1217 mAhs go and what did I do wrong?

Please "O Battery Gurus share your wisdom with me and show me the light!"




Thanks!

G

guver

My Feedback: (325)

It sounds like you have a new, (or one that sat dead for awhile), or a very old worn out batttery that needs to be slow charged or just cycled.

Your setttings all look good and if you know the battery is dead then you can get away with adjusting the peak delay to a 60 minute value for this first itme only. Otherwise a wall charger should be used to slow charge it overnite.

richrd

Yea as U dud asked did you form charge this bat….. new or old batteries do not peak well and charger stops early. In your list I can not find the delta peak setting I must be getting old. To form C/10 I try first with NiCAD setting best to get delta peak of 25mV so it will not stop before 16 hrs are up or max capacity stops charger. After 3 cycles then use fast charge ..NiMH setting of 70% to 100% C is best for delta peak at your C/2 it may false peak on new or old batteries. My favorite setting is 75% C with a 4 mV delta peak I typically do not trickle charge after peak charge.. just me.
Rich

ggazzola

Hey guys!

Thanks for your response!

The battery is new, so I do have to figure out how to do the form charge! I have charged and used used other batteries and thought all was fine - though I never had a charger where I could see the the mAhs!
Hopefully my other cells are not damaged, I will check them out with the Ice.

Did I do any damage to the new batt? The batt did have a voltage of 2 volts prior to my charging attempts.
If I use a wall wart charger do I need to discharge the battery first as it charged now - 8.2 volts - 83 mAhs.

I greatly appreciate all of your help and advice!

Please keep in mind that I am up on some of the batt lingo but not all!

Thanks again!

guver

My Feedback: (325)

6 cells with 2 volts does not sound good. You didn't damage it, it may already have been damamged when you got it. at 83 mah , it is still considered empty and a c/10 forming charge is best for 15 hrs with a "dumb" charger.

OR you can get away with setting the peak delay to a high value .

ggazzola

Ok, I will do th C/10 forming charge. I am confused as to what values to use in creating a forming profile using the Ice charger. I do have a wall wart but have no way of knowing what is going on as there are no status lights. If I were to use the wall wart would I just plug in the battery and leave it alone for 16 hours?

This battery was recently purchased so I do need to figure out if the battery is bad.


Thanks!

guver

My Feedback: (325)

Most peak chargers can be very problematic trying to do a constant charge. If the rate is close to 130 ma then charge to about 150% or capacity (which is 15 hrs)

ggazzola

Thanks to all of you!

I did get a form charge and am happy with the results! I am still learning but do feel a sense of accomplishment!

Thanks Again!

rxAxilleas

hi,
is there a connection between mah and trickle curent setting? how do i know the trickle current i must put on the ICE charger for a given batery pack?(i think it is imposible to find out the discharge rate without spent the whole day) is there a simple rule?
i can not find in the manual for how long the trickle curent is applied.any ideas?
what if i dont charge the packs without the trickle curent?i dont care if i have a few mah lost.
also how do i find the correct setting for the delta peak?it has to do with voltage or mah of the pack?
the packs aren t new.i charged them with a wall wart charger and now i bought the ICE. can i fast charge them?these are 2 or 3 year old packs but with litle use. they dont seem to have sighns of redused capasity in mah. is it dangerus to use that age packs?
thanks very much
achilles

mrasmm

as long as the packs deliver 80% of what they say they should, you should be ok.

http://manuals.hobbico.com/dtx/dtxp4170-manual.pdf
is the link to the manual. Take a look over it and see what you can see. If you still need help after you've read it, like in a few days or something, lemme know =)