I hope to be posting some discharge graphs soon with CBA software, I'll start with basic NIMH battery that a noob may use as a first purchase and go up from there.

They will probably be all constant current and done in AmpHrs and I can overlay various currents and/or brands for comparisons. My standard for these packs have been 10 amps , but consider using the cba defaults, 5C, 10C,20C ect.

Any thoughts as to how to arrange and organise them? I am limited to batteries I posses right now or had tested in the past at the curreent I had tested. I can overlay old tests with new tests though.

The software puts in the type, cell count, and current for us automatically and has default currents built in. I'm tempted to use the default x 10, or 10 amps.

http://www.westmountainradio.com/CBA_ham.htm

http://www.westmountainradio.com/cbareviews.htm

Samples at 5-20 amps (Without the Camlight load) Mostly older batteries

nimh graphs
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8180464/anchors_8180464/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#8180464]Graph 6x1500 stick pack at 10 -20 amps[/link]
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8183229/tm.htm]Graph 6 and 7 cell 1900-2400 mah 10 amps[/link]
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8184024/tm.htm]Graph 3000 NIMH at 10 amps[/link]
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8199259/anchors_8199404/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#8199404]Graph 3300 -4200 NIMH[/link]

lipo graphs (with Camlight load)
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8261780/anchors_8261780/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#8261780]3Sx4000 [/link]


Most of these old samples are limited to 150 watts , now we can do about 500 watts.

This could be helpful to all since one user may not buy ALL packs.

For example:

rcboy buys 8 cellx4200 pack Awhopper
rcgirl buys 9 cellx5000 pack Zbattery
rcguy buys 7 cellx4600 matched/zapped pack
rcguru buys 9x4500 cell generic pack
rcguver likes 8 gp3300 in mec tubes
rcbaby loves his 6 cell e-bay miracle pack

They can all be tested at the same level and the graphs overlaid for a direct comparison. Hopefully they could be tested at 10C or close to what may be encountered in a brushless rustler, stampede, bandit OR an e-maxx or e-revo. That may be around 30 amps constant.

Hello Guver,

Are you aware that the CBA is limited to 100 watt continuous? Actually the IC in it gets extremely hot if you go over around 60 watts. This tends to reduce the maximum amount you can draw for larger numbered cell packs.

For example, an 8 cell pack would have a starting voltage of around 11.2 volts (8 * 1.4 = 11.2). 100 watts divided by 11.2 volts would be a maximum current draw of 8.9 amps.

Now, if you invest another $500 and get the amplifier, you are good to go.

Tom

Yes, I got tired of fooling it to do 150 watts and purchased a 400 watt discharger from Camlight [link=http://www.camlight.com/]CC-400[/link] so I can do about 500 watts. Works great so far.

I really only needed twice the capacity for what I do , but eventually I'll use the full power I'm sure.


3 Pics of the CC-400 from John at Camlight , being controlled by the cba . The cc-400 is also programmable to do burst current testing AND a neat "throttling" option where one can program the end point current and use your Transmitter manally. I've not played with either one of those functions yet, just the constant current. The constant current is the best and easiest way to compare packs fairly.

I picked up a CBA II on eBay recently. Great product if you have a lot of packs to work with. I race off-road 10th scale with my son and also 12th scal on-road and other stuff including 18th scale. The CBA already has shown the quality of some of the older packs vs. newer ones. Also picked up a few packs of EnerG 4600 NiMH from ProMatch and they really outshine any older packs I have from the prior season. I guess NiMH can lose some of their overall voltage over time. Also, using a Voltmeter, I've been able to find and repair packs which had failing cells (low voltage, even zero volts). It's not a bad investment for the CBAII especially if you can find them used for about $70.

Any tip to affect a battery pack's voltage by charging at a higher rate? I have a few Elite sub-c packs which discharge at 10A at a 7.0 voltage. I hope to try to revive them to 7.2 or higher. The EnerG are up at 7.5v since they're new.

$70 is a great deal and you can get the pro software for $39 until Feb if interested. You can download the cba2 software for free.

I think that anything that makes the pack hot will increas the voltage. Many swear that it is the charge rate that does and I agree. We also know that if the fast charged pack is allowed to cool down then the voltage also "cools down"

A racer at my local track also is now a battery vendor (just starting). He's doing 2/3A cells and in some tests, he's actually (don't try this at home) charging the 1600 mAh 2/3A cells at 10A and trying to break them to see how harsh they can be handled. After 10 cycles, he's done pretty well with no venting. He thinks a good sweet spot for charging sub-C cells is 6A. I've been "babying" my cells and charging 4500mAh packs at 2A and 4A and really should be pushing it harder for higher race voltages. They've lasted a pretty good while and I think I need to also turn up the amps to charge higher to get more out of the older packs.

My normal use is to charge at a very high rate (whatever the max of the charger is) , and unfortunately is a big variable. For testing I've found the biggest variable is cell balance, % of charge and temp. I try hard to make real sure the cells are all full and warmed up.

Nice thing is we were both using 10 amps as a standard. No more 10 amp limit for me since I have the cc-400 load , hopefully I won't need the second one real soon.

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8943831/anchors_8943831/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#8943831]NIHM 4200 +[/link]

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8930181/anchors_8930181/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#8930181]2sx4000 LIPO[/link]

6S lipo http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_91...tm.htm#9116113</p>

2sx1700 LIPO http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_99...tm.htm#9933085

How about A123 2300 and 1100 2s packs??

Greg

2s x 2500 LIPO http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_9965956/tm.htm

panasonic lumix dmc-fx07 charger

Hope you can find what you need

2s x 5000 hardpacks

The above link is hard and soft packs and will include these packs soon.

Some pics of today's set-up doing 5 packs at 5-50 amps

Two 8 amp chargers on left side Triton 2 EQ and the Onyx 235 (both run on AC power)
Hobbico elite to quickly manually balance the cells. Triton EQ is used to check cell balance quickly.
Two 10 amp chargers on the right side TC 1030 and the SkyRc Ultimate.

CBA in the middle with a CC400 load when needed.