1. My previous 4.8 NiCd packs all had only a red wire and a black wire. My wife bought me a 1400Mah battery but it has a red, black, AND white wire. What can I use this battery for?

2. I purchased a 1800mah, 7.2V Lipo for my ignition and when I put it on my Accu-cycle elite, it only took 600ish mah to charge it. Do batteries come "pre-charged"?

A white wire, eh? Ok. Well, the red and black are normal battery + and battery - (positive and negative) and connect to your switch accordingly. I would not worry about the white wire.

As far as the LiPo battery is concerned.. well, is your Accu Cycle Elete able to handle that type of battery? I don't know. I have an Accu Cycle but not the elite model and do not know about it's capabilities. But, if it is capable of charging LiPo batties, well, most batteries come at least partially charged and what you got for a total charge current may be correct. The only real way to know is to discharge the battery and re-charge it to see what it takes. You did not say what you were going to use these batteries for except for the ignition battery, but ignition for what? Plane, boat, helicopter, car... and how you intend to care for this battery.

Hope this helps. More information would be good..type of application (Plane,heli,and so forth)

DS.

The lipo is for my plane (evolution 26GT gas engine with electronic ignition). The accucycle elite has settings for lipo batteries.

The pack was probably made using standard three wire servo leads; the white wire isn't connected to anything, plug it in just as you would the other, two wire leads. I have several NiMH packs like that. Can't offer any opinion on the LiPo question, I don't use them.

Check the voltage on the LiPo with a voltmeter immediately after charging... it should close to 8.4V if it's fully charged.

LiPo chargers charge at a constant current until the max voltage is reached (4.2V per cell), and then they charge at that constant voltage (reducing the current to maintain the max voltage). The charger should end up reducing the charge current to zero (shutting off), leaving the 2S pack at 8.4V.

BTW... JR and Spektrum battery packs have all three leads on the connectors, and the "extra" one (the signal wire) is not connected to anything. JR and Spektrum use this extra lead on their switch harness and their batt input on the RX to allow for direct servo control (JR 72MHz) or RX/TX binding (Spektrum)...

I have found the Hobbico Elite to be an excellent LiPo charger. If you set it up for a 2 cell LiPo and the battery voltage read 8.4 volts when the "END" notice showed on the display, your battery is fully charged. Yes, most LiPos are delivered with about a 50% charge as, if they were allowed to fall to low, they will be ruined. It is usually recommended that they be stored at 50% charge.