cycling?
 

i just bought a thunder power 610c charger and I was wondering if I need to cycle my batteries every time I charge them and how many times do I cycle them per chargethanks

RE: cycling?
 

I'm just learning all teh ropes now of using an intelligent battery charger.

You get mixed opinions but from what I gather you only need to cycle batteries a couple of times a year really and the main reason people do it is to test them for capacity since when you cycle your charger will tell you what its taken out and what it gets back in. These figures should be around 70% or more than the capacity of the battery.

i.e. if youre charging a 2100mA then you should be getting results of 1680 or above for it to be a usseable battery.

Thats how I see it from teh two days of research I have been doing.

Don't cycle evey time yu charge. Its pointless and takes time.

RE: cycling?
 

IMPORTANT distinction: (below is all very much simplified.. rules of thumb, not anything etched in stone)
LIPO /LIFE batteries DO NOT typically need to be cycled. (since they do not develop a 'memory') but if they have multiple cells then they should be balance charged.
(although, by discharging, balance charging then discharging again you can see how many mah's the battery can deliver, so cycling is a method of testing how 'good' the battery is.

Nicad / NiMh batteries DO need to be cycled periodically but do not need to be balance charged (I cycle my NiMh batteries maybe twice per season, but have almost completely switched to LiFE's)

Nicad / NiMh batteries develop a 'memory' . from being charged then only partially discharged, then charged again. cycling them allows you to determine how many mah's they can deliver after a full charge.
(this way you'll know you can fly for X minutes and still have Y Mah's left in the battery)

Lipo / LiFE batteries do not like overcharging, so we balance charge them (by either charging the entire pack, then partially discharging the most 'full' cells until all the cells' voltage match, or by charging each cell individually via the balance plug)

again, a very simplified explanation ;D hope it helps.

RE: cycling?
 

I alway use balance connector when charging Lipo/Life. It has the effect of balancing mulitiple cells which is like cycling. Sometimes I have run a Lipo down to the point where one cell has to be restored by the charger before committing to the charge. The charger will indicate something like "335 Mv" and run until it is balanced, then start charging all cells. (I also use a low voltage alarm in my electrics when flying to tell me when a cell has discharged below a certain level. The alarm attaches to the balance connector on the battery.)

For NiCd/NiMH batteries I discharge/charge about once a year. I usually use 1500/2500mah packs and charge before flying. The invividual cells usually don't get so low that one will short out. The D/C restores all cells. I keep a spreadsheet and note the capacity of each pack. Over time I can see a trend of lower capacity and will discard one too low. I think the 70% of stated capacity is a good rule of thumb.