Best way to charge and possibly condition older NiMH batteries.

[corneileous]

Hey guys, I just got a Dynamite Passport P1 Mini to replace my antique 1 amp charger that came with my 10 year old Traxxas Revo 3.3 and I was wondering the best way to charge the 6v and the 7.2v batteries with it for my truck’s receiver and the EZStart.

One of the little 6v’s and one of my 2000mah batteries are pretty old, to the tune of at least almost ten years old, but they’ve really not been used a whole lot. Also, since I left the original receiver battery in my truck for the last 4 years, I’d there a way to use the discharge cycle stuff to maybe condition the battery? Also since using that cheap 1 amp Traxxas charger and now have this much better charger, would a discharge cycling be good to condition this battery as well? I also bought three brand new batteries from Traxxas, two of their 1800mah 7.2’s and one of their updates 1200mah 6 volt batteries. Can I charge all these batteries the same way?
Thanks.

 

[tntpoof]

The thing is with Older Nixx batteries no matter how few charges you have on them they still develop crystals in the cells...Id do a conditioning charge at.05 amps it will take almost 20+ hours to do so.. then you can discharge them Id use the most amps you can .I have a series of old school dischargers from 1/2 amp to 30 amp.. I think they are called reactor dischargers I took them apart to adjust the pots for lipos...then stay just under 1 amp to charge for use...

 

[corneileous]

The thing is with Older Nixx batteries no matter how few charges you have on them they still develop crystals in the cells...Id do a conditioning charge at.05 amps it will take almost 20+ hours to do so.. then you can discharge them Id use the most amps you can .I have a series of old school dischargers from 1/2 amp to 30 amp.. I think they are called reactor dischargers I took them apart to adjust the pots for lipos...then stay just under 1 amp to charge for use...

 

[corneileous]

So now, I can do this same .05 conditioning for both batteries? Keep in mind, one is 7.2v 2000mah and the other is the older, in blue heatshrinked 6v 1200mah.

But anywhoo, what setting do i use to do this? There’s a NiMH discharge that lets you set amperage and cut, whatever that is. Then there’s NiMH re-peak with a programmable number of times to do it and there’s a NiMH cycle, where you can change the number of times it does it and even start out with discharge or charge. I’m assuming since the battery is pretty much charged up that I’d start with the discharge first, correct?

 

[tntpoof]

use cycle if you can select the charge amount on 2nd charge .. it wont matter if it 4 or 5 or 6 cell nimh.its all the same when conditioning...id start with 10 qmps if I could then charge at .05 amps then 15 amp discharge then go up in amps maybe .10 amps . do that until you reach 1 amp...10-.25-.50 then 1 amp...you know that Nixx lose voltage while sitting even 2 minutes after charge,,,,,

 

[corneileous]

use cycle if you can select the charge amount on 2nd charge .. it wont matter if it 4 or 5 or 6 cell nimh.its all the same when conditioning...id start with 10 qmps if I could then charge at .05 amps then 15 amp discharge then go up in amps maybe .10 amps . do that until you reach 1 amp...10-.25-.50 then 1 amp...you know that Nixx lose voltage while sitting even 2 minutes after charge,,,,,

It doesn’t let you change any of that. It seem like it’s automatic how it does it but it just let’s you start off with Either charge or discharge, and let’s you set how many times you want it to do it.

I went ahead and did the cycle, it’s discharging at what I’m assuming is at one amp, the battery voltage is steadily dropping, currently at 6.10v and dropping, it’s counting time.

 

[corneileous]

Pic...

 

[tntpoof]

after seeing your charger and then looking up manual . you can adjust your charger. up to 2 amp discharge and up to 6 amp charge....

 

[corneileous]

after seeing your charger and then looking up manual . you can adjust your charger. up to 2 amp discharge and up to 6 amp charge....

But not on that cycle, correct? There is a separate charge and discharge setting.

 

[corneileous]

By what I mean by that is only on the dedicated charge and discharge setting does it appear you can change the rate at which it charges or discharges but on the cycle setting, all you can change is whether it starts with charge first, then discharge, or the other way around, and then how many cycles you want it to do, unless I’m not seeing how you can change that particular mode to where you can customize at what voltage it charges and discharges.

 

[tntpoof]

yes you can not change the cycle settings.. so id go to charge and discharge and change those to my needs.

 

[corneileous]

yes you can not change the cycle settings.. so id go to charge and discharge and change those to my needs.

Gotcha. But since I leave my batteries charged most of the time, if I’m starting with a charged battery, it’s best to discharge first then recharge, right?

But on to I guess the manual cycling; I can only discharge at 2 amps. Will that be fine? That’s a lot less than 10, 15 amps discharging if I’m understanding you properly.

 

[corneileous]

Oh and I guess the cut where it shows a settable voltage- I’m assuming that’s where you set how down the charger pulls the battery to, correct? It’s preset at 3.2 volts. Will that be fine for both the 6v and the 7.2v?

 

[tntpoof]

6v battery is 5 cells your charger says 6-7-8 cell Nixx so id say no to using that charger to charge or discharge that 6v bat.
direct from manual..
Features

• 5-year limited warranty
• Mini 60W AC Multi-Charger
• Compact size and stylish design
• Charges Li-Po, LiHV, LiFe NiMH/NiCd, and Pb batteries
• Charges 2-4 cell Li-Po/LiHV/LiFe, 6-8 cell NiMH/NiCd, and 6-12V Pb
• Terminal voltage control
• Re-peak mode for NiMH/NiCd battery
• Battery meter
• Battery internal resistance Meter
• PC Communications: USB port for PC control and firmware upgrades

 

[corneileous]

6v battery is 5 cells your charger says 6-7-8 cell Nixx so id say no to using that charger to charge or discharge that 6v bat.
direct from manual..
Features

• 5-year limited warranty
• Mini 60W AC Multi-Charger
• Compact size and stylish design
• Charges Li-Po, LiHV, LiFe NiMH/NiCd, and Pb batteries
• Charges 2-4 cell Li-Po/LiHV/LiFe, 6-8 cell NiMH/NiCd, and 6-12V Pb
• Terminal voltage control
• Re-peak mode for NiMH/NiCd battery
• Battery meter
• Battery internal resistance Meter
• PC Communications: USB port for PC control and firmware upgrades

Well, your right, I just now saw that in the instructions and on the face of the box that it says only 6 to 8 cell Nicad or NiMH batteries. Guess I’ll have to use my original charger to charge my 5 cell 6v receiver battery from now on, or might wait until the new updated 2 amp charger from Traxxas comes off back order.

But anywhoo, I talked to a local hobby shop and he said with cycling this older 7.2 battery, to discharge it at the highest rate which is 2 amps, down to the cutoff of 1.1 amp. Then he said to just use the auto charge to charge it back up.

 

[tntpoof]

Ill advice to never use auto charge for any type of battery.. and I told you b4 to discharge at a high amp rate. butt what do I know?this is the 1 reason why I have never used a charger that could not do a single cell in the types of batteries I use from A123(LiFe) to li-ion to Nixx..NiZm stinks short life batteries....

 

[corneileous]

Ill advice to never use auto charge for any type of battery.. and I told you b4 to discharge at a high amp rate. butt what do I know?this is the 1 reason why I have never used a charger that could not do a single cell in the types of batteries I use from A123(LiFe) to li-ion to Nixx..NiZm stinks short life batteries....

What’s wrong with the auto charge for these NiMH batteries at any time whether it’s after forcibly discharging a battery to condition it or if it’s after using it, especially in what I assumed was a fairly high tech charger such as this passport charger?

But I know you said to discharge it at a high amp rate but unless I’m doing something wrong, this charger only discharges at a 2 amp rate, down to what he said was 1.1v.

But as far as charging it back up if I’m not gonna auto charge it, how do I make this charger charge at a .05 amp rate?

 

[tntpoof]

Here is a link that can help you..https://rogershobbycenter.com/dynamite-passport-p1-guide
I dont have 100% faith in auto.seen many chargers (think a 6 cell was 7)and seen batteries fail.(but thats just me)

 

[corneileous]

Here is a link that can help you..https://rogershobbycenter.com/dynamite-passport-p1-guide
I dont have 100% faith in auto.seen many chargers (think a 6 cell was 7)and seen batteries fail.(but thats just me)

I can understand that. Thanks for the link.

 

[corneileous]

I can understand that. Thanks for the link.

I’ve read that article before but at least i was able to take it one step further and actually had the pleasure from getting to speak to someone from that place through email yesterday and he told me a way that really made sense to cycle my batteries. As far as whether or not the parameters set by the user in the manual charge and discharge modes reflect the NiMH/NiCad Cycle mode, he pretty much told me to just manually discharge the batter at the highest rate possible which on that charger is 2 amps, and to pull it down as low as it will go to .1 volts, let the battery cool, then charge back up at 4 amps. Bein’ that these are 1800 and a 2000 mAh batteries, I don’t think it’s wise to charge them up that fast. Another hobby shop I called said to charge them back up at 1 or 2 amps. I did that yesterday to the old battery and an hour and a half later, it pulled about 1600mAh’s out it. Charged it up kinda fast at 4 amps but it stuffed almost 1800 back into it.