Intellect Pack not holding charge

[ohmygahitscoby]

Hey guys,

I seem to have a problem with one of my new receiver packs. It's an Intellect 1400MaH hump pack. I first of all charged it with my Superbrain 959 charger at .5A. After charging I let it peak to full. I left the hump pack alone (After charging) for a day. I tested it the next day and it gave out minimal power to my servos. I then charged it after again with .5A and quickly put it back into the receiver. The servos were working fine. This led me to believe that my hump pack is not holding charge. Any suggestions?

I don't think it's the charger. I charged an off-brand hump pack with it too and after a week it still holds its charge.

-Coby

 

[olds97_lss]

Maybe try and cycle it a few times. Charge it at 1A, run it dead, charge it at 1A run it dead then charge it at .5A and see how it does.

 

[ohmygahitscoby]

Thanks! Will try that.

 

[olds97_lss]

I normally do that with my packs after having them sit all winter. They are all just 6V 2/3A or AA or my 9V AA in my transmitter. I drain them using a couple 1:1 brake lamps wired in parallel. Runs them dead in about 30 minutes or so. Then I let them sit and cool off (as the warm up a bit when draining) then charge them back up. I usually do that twice before my first bash and I don't notice any real run time shortage.

 

[Lessen]

Pardon my thread hijacking but my IB4200 pack got real hot when I charged it the other day. Waaay hotter than it ever has before. I was wondering if maybe it setting idle all winter had something to do with it. I put it in Chase's WK last weekend and he ran it for a while but didn't run the battery all the way down. I figured I'd give it a cycle so I discharged it on my Intellipeak @ 10A then let it sit for a good hour at least before charging at 3A. When it was done the cells were all around 160 and it's NEVER been that hot before. I dont' get it :shrug: I probably only have maybe two dozen charges on that pack and it's never been over 130ish before.

 

[PyroRC]

i bet you have a bad cell in it. when charging feel how hot each cell gets. my dads slash battery did this. it would run for 15 min then die, i have the exact same battery and me driving harder than he does mine lasted 40 min. when he was charging it i grabbed it to move it and the end cell was extremely hot while the others were cool. also if stored for more than a day it would die

 

[ohmygahitscoby]

Lessen, have you tried charging at a lower amperage? I've had packs that were hot to the touch, but when charging them at a lower amperage it seemed to have helped.


I will try cycling my hump pack when my new charger comes in the mail. I found a Piranha Digital Peak charger at a great deal, so I went ahead and ordered it. I accidentally killed my Superbrain 959. I noticed that the ground wire for the AC was loose, so I resoldered it on, not knowing I attached it to the positive end. I plugged it in then BAM. Pop goes the fuse. Ah well. The Piranha never gave me any problems.

 

[Lessen]

Charging a 4200 pack at only 3A should not overheat it. When I first got it I was charging it at 4A with no heat issues.

Keep us updated on you hump pack for sure.

 

[ohmygahitscoby]

Update.

My battery pack was fine. The ole' SuperBrain false peaks like hell. Thought my hump pack was fully charged in like a minute. Charged it with the Digital Peak and it charged fully. Oh well. Got my good charger back .

 

[Lessen]

I dont' know why I continue to put off buying a high quality charger. I really need to considering I've spend about $300 in batteries in the past few weeks.

 

[olds97_lss]

Update.

My battery pack was fine. The ole' SuperBrain false peaks like hell. Thought my hump pack was fully charged in like a minute. Charged it with the Digital Peak and it charged fully. Oh well. Got my good charger back .

Whenever my MRC959 does that, I just drop the charge rate down a bit and try again. It normally charges fine once I adjust it.

 

[ohmygahitscoby]

The problem was that it did it even at .5A, the lowest rate. Not really sure why, but the 959 is known for false peaking. I read about it off of Google. At least I got the Piranha charger back. Best charger I've ever had.

 

[olds97_lss]

That's funny! I bought a pirahna off a guy here and it false peaks on me whereas my MRC doesn't, at least not as frequently. I'll normally use both to charge a couple things, then use the MRC to top them off when the pirahna is finished.

Maybe it's because all I charge are receiver packs and AA's. I've never had anything higher than 2300mah to charge on it.

 

[ohmygahitscoby]

I wonder who that guy was?

Weird that the Piranha false peaks on you. Weird that my Superbrain false peaks on me. Guess not everything is perfect.

 

[olds97_lss]

Was that you?!?!? I completely forgot!

I'm guessing it has to do with the cell capacity. I know the pirahna charges up my 12V drill just fine, but tends to come short on the receiver packs and my remote.

 

[ohmygahitscoby]

Oh lol I thought you were playing around!

It may be. I was thinking it had something to do with the mV settings or the condition of the batteries.

 

[olds97_lss]

yeah, bought it off someone here for cheap as a second charger late last year I think.