Discharging?

[BADNBADN]

How do i build a battery discharger?

I would rather build one but just to keep my options open:

Is there a battery discharger that I can buy?

I have gp 1100 7 cell packs for my 18t

 

[gillbot]

I used five 1157 auto bulbs soldered to a metal clothes hanger for mine. I wanted to try it at 10 amps first to see how the batteries would hold out since they are rather old. I left the wire long so I could add more bulbs later if I wanted to go up to 15 or more amps later.

 

[ImBroken]

I made one years ago with the auto bulbs.. I remember having to buy the
"auto stop" module so that the batteries didn't go too low & get ruined.
If your looking for a basic discharger, nothin fancy, pick up one of these... I used one awhile back for my HPI micro flat packs...

Venom Discharger

 

[Diver6127]

I have seen guys that have made their own dischargers with about 20 autobulbs at the track. You need to have at least 10 amps of discharge rate. it'll go fairly quickly but as ImBroken said, you really don't want it to go down too low. You want it to go down to about .09 amps for each cell, not just as a pack. There is only one way to do it and that's with a unit like the Smart Tray by Novak.

The smarttray is what I use. You odn't have to baby sit the unit. It'll take care of itself and also has a "dead short" mode on it if required by the user. It will monitor each cell and bring them all to the same voltage. Click HERE for the link.

It's an investment for those that want their packs to be well taken care of. I got mine for about $80. Well worth the money considering how expensive battery packs are getting these days.

 

[Wardo]

You want it to go down to about .09 amps for each cell, not just as a pack. There is only one way to do it and that's with a unit like the Smart Tray by Novak.

And just don't bring the pack down to .54 volts!!! As Diver said .09 is a good point but that is voltage read at each cell, not as a pack. This requires a dis-charger (like diver is talking about) that will discharge each cell individually.

I've never used the new smaller packs for 18th's but the larger NiMH packs when discharged as a whole pack should be cut off at .9 per cell. 5.40 volts for a 6 cell pack.

Building a basic discharger is easy. 1157 bulbs are dual element and draw roughly 2 amps each. 10 of these will get you in the range you should be discharging full size cells at, again I'm not positive where the right range is for the smaller cells but you should'n prolly be over 15 amps max.

Deans make a nice kit and an assembled item. You could assemble it without using all ten bulbs to discharge to adjust the rate.Deans discharger

 

[710baby]

There is a also a discharger made by integy all you do is coneect it tap on the discharge button it comes with a built in fan it discharges up to 30 amps.
Diver it is better to use the integy one then slap them on the smart tray to equalize it would take a very long time to discharge them on the tray if you are gonna be @ southshore I will show it yo you