I don't have a battery cycler and I was told is some thing I really need to get or at least make one. A friend suggested using auto break lights in parallel to discharge my battery.

But how would I determine a correct discharge rate??
Do I hurt the battery by discharging it too fast ??
Is it better to discharge slow ?

Please Help

Thanks

I have this same exact doubt. I want to cycle my rx batteries but cant seem to think of something that might have the same voltage and amps as the servos.

I assume you are talking about NiCd or NiMh packs.

If so, cycling is a waste of time and effort, (that is assuming your packs are less than 5 years old). Don't buy a cycler or rig something up it's just not necessary anymore.

OLDER packs would benefit from 'cycling', but that is no longer the case.

Charge, fly, charge, fly (repeat). When your pack seems to lose it's charge rapidly...buy another $15 pack.


Enjoy!!

I just bought this pack but after charging for 14 hour the hobbico voltmeter didn't showed it to be fully charged, so I call the company I bought them from and I was told they needed to be cycle at least 2 or 3 times since they had never been charged.

Try um, I dunno.... FLYING 2-3 times and charging afterward.

You don't need a cycler, but if you don't mind the lost money and the wasted time, go for it. Both of those commodities are yours to do with as you wish.

I have a charger that also cycles. I run new batteries through a couple cycles to get a warm fuzzy that they're performing near their rated capacity. I also cycle my existing packs about once a year to confirm they're still performing up to their rated capacity. Other than that, I don't typically cycle batteries.

If you have a battery tester, you can use it as a cheap cycler. They have a load that's supposed to simulate a flight pack. However, you need to be sure to watch the voltage to be sure you don't discharge the pack too low.

Check out www.rcbatteryclinic.com for good advice on the care of your batteries. If you are using NiCad or NiMh, cycling is only needed when you want to check the capacity of the batteries. The form charging of new (or batteries that have had many fast charges) NiCad and NiMh certainly does improve their performance, the manufacturer told you correctly. To for charge you need to charge at 0.1C for 16 hours as this insures that the highest capacity cells get fully charged but at a rate that does not hurt the cells that reached full charge earlier than the others. Charging at a rate higher than 0.1C could damage the weaker cells if left charging after the cells reach full charge. Also, if you are measureing capacity, you need to discharge at between 0.2C and 0.25C down to 0.8 volts/cell. If you discharge faster or to a higher volts/cell you will get a reduced reading. Other than checking capacity, there is no reason to discharge either NiCad or NiMh prior to charging.