s7jstep1

for the most part, i have been out of rc for about a year now. this is mostly due to work, college, and my money going to other hobbies like hunting, and my 1:1 truck. i have decided to start messing with the rc's again but my batteries are gone. they have gone too long without a charge and i dont think they are revivable. my question is, is there a product that i can get the keeps the batteries in shape when not in use for extended periods of time? something that i can plug them into that keeps them on a trickle charge so they dont permanently die on me? thanks

sheograth

Your best bet would be to switch entirely to lipos, which not only have great shelf life when left with a partial charge, but can also be left plugged into a passive cell balancer.

yakfish

My Feedback: (27)

If you want to try it... put them in the freezer for a couple hours. this will "erase" the memory of a battery. it works for cell phone batteries it might work for yours too. its worth a try anyway. hope it helps

TIGER76

I thought freezing nimhs batteries fully charged helped them keep that charge longer didnt know it erases the memory too? If your gonna try this put them in airtight bags and dont recharge them til there room temp again

Druss

Mostly I cycle batteries once a month when I don't use them.

Chris_RC

If they have not been in use for a year or so, the cells are probably not even since each cell discharges a little more than another. I would cycle the batteries 5 times at .5 amps then in a couple charges get up to 1C.

OvalRacer99

Your best bet is to trickel charge them and then discarge them at a low amperage. Do that a couple times to wake them up, then start cycling them, low amps at first then bump it up until you get to the charge rate you want. It's going to be a slow process, but they should come back to life. They won't be as god as new, but should work.
If you can, I highly recamend LIPO. Much easier to care for.

calvino

Side note, don't cycle your packs more than 2x/day as its the recommended "max" for them. Never heard of freezing packs even though the package says "do not freeze" [&:] I would pop it on the charger for 2 SLOW charges/discharges (about 1A both ways IMO works good) and then slowly drive around. I have done this numerous times with my nicad packs that drop to about a total voltage of 2V and still run good for their old age

larryf333

My Feedback: (2)

Surely somebody makes a battery tender for these batteries. If not, we need to make one and market it.

This is close, but not exactly what I'm talking about.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXHS78&P=ML

kaiser01

if they are nicads you can def bring them back to life.
i have some that sat for 5 years and after low amp cycles they are like new again.

Access

Don't throw them away yet, often times you can bring back old NIMH just by cycling them a few times. If you are getting false peaks or the charger won't start the charge, try plugging them into one of the cheap wall wart chargers for an hour or so (not longer). I've brought back NIMH batteries that have been sitting on a shelf unused for 3 years with no problems.

Snipin_Willy

There are some nice chargers out there that people are selling that will cycle packs a pre-programed number of times with user specified rates and times between cycles. I would expect it would be most cost affective to get into Lipos. I just bought 2 5s 5000 packs for ~$100, HobbyCity rocks.

zjwhitrock

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXRGS9&P=7