Question for you charging experts.

[Çh®i§tiªñ]

Ok - I use a Reedy Quasar Pro to charge, discharge and cycle all my packs. The five cell humps, 6 flats, TX stacks etc. These are all for the servos etc..

Now the questions are:

what is the best rate to discaharge at? (in amps) I can go from .10 to 20

what is the best amount of time to wait after discharge?

what is the best amount of time to wait after charge to discharge?

Looking for opinions.....

-Chris

 

[Hunter]

I discharge at no more then 2 amps. You should check the temp of your packs during the discharge procedure, if the temp gets over 120º discharge at a lower rate.

2 Till the bats cool to room temp.

3 How long does it take you to plug the pack in and use it??? You will also want to look at the temp of the pack if the temp is high let it cool down to room temp befor use.

 

[Çh®i§tiªñ]

I'm finding that NiCd flat 6 cell paks get wayyyyy got and the NiMh humps and flat 5/6 cell packs stay relatively cool.

I currently wait about 5 minutes after charge to discharge and about 20 minutes after discharge to recharge. This is for cycling only. Otherwise I just run them to death.

I think the fact that I was discharging at 15a on the 1500 mah NiCd packs is why I was cooking them. Its weird though, the documentation will push you up to 20 amps depending on the MaH rating.

I just want to make sure I'm not trashing anything.

Also, I set my trickle rate to 0.05a . Is that too low?

I like the mV/c cutoff settings too. from 3-20mv I can set.

I really like the charger, if only I could master the perfect cycle settings.....

Thanks for the info Hunter.

-Chris

 

[Hunter]

The nicad packs can be charged at up to 6 amps, but I find they get to hot at that rate. A 1500 mah pack should be charged at 1.5 amps ( peak chargeing) for longest life. Any higher will shorten the life cycle of the pack. And discharging at 15 amps well its all in the temp of the pack if your cooking them then slow it down. When your using a pack unless your using the pack to run an r/c plane you should not be pulling that much power from the pack. And if you are using the pack in a plane you will want to mount it so it gets cooling air from the prop. Now on to your trickle rate .05 is fine if you have lots of time and you keep track of when you turn it on so you know when to turn it off.