What would be the correct charge rate for 1650 MAH 4.8 volt batteries? Ive been charging at .80 amps but packs were getting warm. So I backed off a little to .75 amps and pack seems ok. Does this charge rate seem ok? It prob takes me about 2 hours to charge after a full discharge.

Theoretically you can safely charge a battery at 1 amp per 1000 Mah. for 1 hour. so you should be able to charge your battery at 1.6 amps for an hour. Experience says to charge it for 2 hours at .8 amps, like you are doing, for two hours and the charge seems to hold better and the packs seem to have a longer life. Ensure you have the correct number of cells selected on your charger if it is not auto detected. 4.8v should be a 4 cell pack where as 6v is a 5 cell pack.

EDIT// NmHi and NiCd batteries do get warm when fully charged or recently discharged. This is normal say 90 degrees but do not let them get hot. Then you risk cell damage and I will not use a battery after it gets overcharged.

G'day Mate,
The slower you can charge with a normal, as opposed to a reflex charger, the better, about 1/10 is good, in your case 165 Ma, would be the ideal charge rate, check here, for more info.
http://members.aol.com/davthacker/balancecharging.htm

G'Day y'self, Allan. How was your weekend? We had our Labor Day weekend so it was good weekend for flying. I spent most of the day yesterday (Monday) flying, and it was a great day.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand.

Dave Thacker (RadicalRC.Com) is a great authority on batteries and charge methods. He has always preached that fast charges are ok, but a good, slow .1C is a good way to go. The longer the better. The battery seems to respond better and you get a more balanced charge that way. So, .1C for a 1650 would be 165 ma for 10 hours.

He is also a great advocate for regular cycling of batteries. He talks about the frequency that this can or should be done, and how most of the batteries he has seen that no longer hold a charge, only require seveal long duration cycle sessions and they are frequently returned to full service.

So, slow and easy is the best way to go. Now, don't confuse this for the necessity of doing a quick field charge. You should have a good quality field charger (Sirius comes to mind here, as does the ICE and the Triton). but the simplest of the three is the Sirius. It will do both NiCd and NiMh batteries.

CGr

Here is the # i got from Hughesrc.
C/10 rate 165ma 10hrs.
Fast charge 1650ma
Discharge 330ma
Dennis

A charge rate of .5C does not cause any of my packs to warm up. Thats' what your .80A would be. And most packs can take that without problems.

What charger are you using?

USING A DYNAMITE VISON PEAK CHARGER.

I have had problems with two different Dynamite Vission chargers... I wont buy another.

Here's a great site for all the information you need about batteries: [link=http://www.rcbatteryclinic.com/]battery clinic[/link]

Happy Landings!

was thinking of getting an accu-cycle elite. I have a used Ace Digipace 3...but really only use it for discharge as it doesnt peak detect.

I use my Accucycle Elite regularly. I like it.

Good idea.
It'll do two at a time and tell you how they did. And that info is priceless.
And it's price covers it working in the shop on AC, and at the field on DC.

When I get home, I plug in my TX and the RX of the airplane I flew the most. Go eat supper. Come back to the shop and look at the readouts of the two batteries. I remember how many flights I got on each and compare what I expected for battery use and what actually happened. Anytime a pack seems to have given up too much capacity for it's use, I cycle it overnight. Next morning I know if it's on it's way out. I've spotted two in the last two years. One was very new. One was about two years old, but in my favorite airplane.

Good charger.

you really shouldn't fully discharge your nicads..about 1 volt a cell is good