Help in Afghanistan with A Eflite Pinnacle+ !!
10-23-2006, 12:22 AM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: kandaharkandahar, AFGHANISTAN
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Help in Afghanistan with A Eflite Pinnacle+ !!
Hi Everyone
I just got a Eflite Pinnacle+ charger shipped to me in Kandahar Afghanistan, to charge my 7 and 8 cel Nimh 1000 Mah batteries that pull my Hobbyzone SuperCub around, to the amazement of the locals.. It is a 'peak prediction charger' and it lets me set the amps at which I charge, cycle, and discharge. I really have no idea what I am doing with it, and the instruction manual offers little help. I've scanned thru the posts here, as well as places like batteryclinic.com, etc... but I still have some questions:
What difference does it make to the battery and charge level if I charge at different rates? Case in point. I can charge a 7 cell at .2 amps, wait for the alarm to go off to tell me it is fully charged, but then if I charge it again at 1.5 amps, it will go on for another 15 minutes or so and then say it's fully charged. Are there different kinds of 'fully charged'
When I plug the battery in, the charger gives me a voltmeter reading of 9.5v or so for a 8.4v 7 cell battery that is spent. It will give me a 10.5v or so for a 9.6v 8 cell battery. Shouldn't the voltages be lower than that, esp. for a spent battery?
I notice that all my batteries (I have about 7) seem to have different characteristics (some last longer, some make my plane go faster...) - why is that? They are all used equally.
I have heard conflicting opinions about discharging: some say that nimh batteries never need it, others say you should do it before each charge. Who's right?
Above all this, I need to know just how to simply and effectively use this charger to get the most out of my batteries! I have to say, the instructions for this charger really suck.
Thanks very much, I look forward to a reply or two...
Bert
Kandahar, Afghanistan.
I just got a Eflite Pinnacle+ charger shipped to me in Kandahar Afghanistan, to charge my 7 and 8 cel Nimh 1000 Mah batteries that pull my Hobbyzone SuperCub around, to the amazement of the locals.. It is a 'peak prediction charger' and it lets me set the amps at which I charge, cycle, and discharge. I really have no idea what I am doing with it, and the instruction manual offers little help. I've scanned thru the posts here, as well as places like batteryclinic.com, etc... but I still have some questions:
What difference does it make to the battery and charge level if I charge at different rates? Case in point. I can charge a 7 cell at .2 amps, wait for the alarm to go off to tell me it is fully charged, but then if I charge it again at 1.5 amps, it will go on for another 15 minutes or so and then say it's fully charged. Are there different kinds of 'fully charged'
When I plug the battery in, the charger gives me a voltmeter reading of 9.5v or so for a 8.4v 7 cell battery that is spent. It will give me a 10.5v or so for a 9.6v 8 cell battery. Shouldn't the voltages be lower than that, esp. for a spent battery?
I notice that all my batteries (I have about 7) seem to have different characteristics (some last longer, some make my plane go faster...) - why is that? They are all used equally.
I have heard conflicting opinions about discharging: some say that nimh batteries never need it, others say you should do it before each charge. Who's right?
Above all this, I need to know just how to simply and effectively use this charger to get the most out of my batteries! I have to say, the instructions for this charger really suck.
Thanks very much, I look forward to a reply or two...
Bert
Kandahar, Afghanistan.
10-23-2006, 07:49 AM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Waterford,
PA
Posts: 984
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Help in Afghanistan with A Eflite Pinnacle+ !!
Lots of questions… first I can not comment on that particular charger, so I comment on batteries. NiMH do not gain much on cycling aka discharge before charge. But to keep all the cells equal aka balanced we do a full discharge to 0.9V per cell then slow charge at C/10 or 1000mAH at 100 mAH for typically 16 hrs we call this form charge. This is done after say 20 charges at fast or 1 Amp. Now two things slow charges are not peak detectable so charger must miss peak by setting as high as possible and second for long life charge at 80% C or 800 mA with peak at 5 MV if your charger can do that.
Batteries are not the same with internal resistance after reforming them they are better balanced and give best performance. Last at no load on batteries they come back to 1.2 V or higher per cell and after charging they peak at 1.55 V per cell some as high as 1.66V so any voltage between the two are valid readings.
Hope this helps some Rich
Batteries are not the same with internal resistance after reforming them they are better balanced and give best performance. Last at no load on batteries they come back to 1.2 V or higher per cell and after charging they peak at 1.55 V per cell some as high as 1.66V so any voltage between the two are valid readings.
Hope this helps some Rich
