Rx Battery NO NO!!

[Mickstix]

Well, here's a picture of what NOT to do.. I wanted to cycle my new 6V "hump" pack Reciever battery, so I charged it up and then hooked it to my old "bulb" discharger.. I think that might be a tad too much draw for the little BEC battery plug adapter!! LOL.. As you can see it melted the wires in about 3 seconds.. So my next question, does anyone know how to get the little metal "pins" out of the BEC plug? (the little black female plug) so I can rebuild my BEC battery adapter?? Thanks..

 

[Racer 1966]

If they're melted,I'd just clip the wires and get some new connectors at the lhs.

 

[Rolex]

If they are NOT melted, push the clip in with the tip of an X-acto knife and pull out the wire. One clip for each wire.

 

[Scrogg]

That entire connector is toast. Buy a new one.

 

[olds97_lss]

Yeah... I've come close to that before. I used a couple spare tail/brake lights from my MGM. I wired both the elements in parallel and use just one bulb to discharge/cycle my AA's. Running two wired that way (4 elements) makes the connector pretty warm pretty quick. I guess I see what 5 times that will do!

 

[Mickstix]

Yea, it was fun for a second.. lol.. I would just buy new adapter, but my LHS doesn't have it.. All they have is an "octopus" adapter with like 6 different leads, for something like $20.. EEK!!! I'll just make a new one if I can get these pins out of the BEC housing w/o ruining it.. I can get em' out of the Tamiya end no problem.. And I've got plenty of "good" wire to rebuild it.. (I got this one with an online order.. If I reordered it's cost more for shipping than the adapter) Someone told me RadioShack has the male/female BEC plugs though, so I'm gonna check them out tomorrow!!

Olds, you said you wired 2 elements but used 1 bulb? I dont follow ya? You dont have a pic of it do ya? I need something to cycle these 6v hump packs.. Thanks!

 

[Rolex]

He's probably referring to an automotive 1157 parking/brake bulb. 2 offset + spots and a common case ground.

 

[Revo Rancher]

The original issue (too much draw for wire rating) has been very educational. Never thought that the wire rating was important in using a "bulb discharger", but now since i have read this thread, it makes sense.

 

[olds97_lss]

He's probably referring to an automotive 1157 parking/brake bulb. 2 offset + spots and a common case ground.

Close to that. Newer bulbs don't appear to share a ground anymore. They have a plastic wedge that has 4 leads on it that make contact with 4 contacts in the plug. Regardless, the end result is the same. Brake element, running lamp element, 1 bulb. The brake element draws a lot more current since it's a much heavier element. Seems to be sufficient for cycling AA packs. I use them on occasion to dump my AA's in my transmitter as well.

Either I have really good batteries, or the cycling of servos/transmitters don't draw much life out of them as some of my cells have been in use for 3+ years. I run an entire day on one charge on any of them. Granted, a day means 2-3 hours of actual driving, but rarely do I shut things off in a 4 hour time period of running.

I normally charge everything up the night before, then top off before heading out the door in the morning. That probably plays a part as well.

Anyway... didn't mean to derail.

 

[Mickstix]

Thanks for the added info Olds!! If I can find some bulbs I'll make a new discharger with just 1 or 2 bulbs, for my rx and tx packs..