Charging Cells

In my years of racing I.C and Electric cars way back to 1975 there is loads of info regarding charging batterys
people have given out good and bad hints so When I was at Ardent I was asked how do I charge these Gaz . . .

Below is an account of what should be done on race day only if you are out to get the best from your car and cells


Well in fact these were 4600 NiMh the best advice I could give for the BEST PERFORMANCE is this

If the club you race at at regular times has 3 rounds and 1 finals you want 4 packs

If the club you race at at regular times has 3 rounds and 2 finals you want 5 packs

You should only use 1 pack for 1 run per day

First discharge them on your charger then place them in a discharge tray.

the day before the meeting

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At the meeting find out what time the first race is what heat you are in and work out the time needed to charge them at 4.6 Amps ( 4600mah . . if they are 5000mah then charge at 5.0 Amps )

Normally it will take around 45 minutes to charge when done they will become warm or hot to the touch

NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES PLACE A FAN ON OR NEAR THE CELLS TO KEEP COOL whilst charging

CHARGING at higher amps and with a fan can be done but do so at your own risk

I have done this and they do go bang ( way back in the 80's )

No matter what cells you have 4600mah or 5600mah cooling them down and charging at Xamps is no good. . they will only take what they can take. . . hows that Gaz

Well if you have a pint glass and fill it with water you can only get a pint in it no amount of cooling down will alter the glass it will hold a pint thats it

when you have raced and taken them out and there warm / hot then yes you could cool them down but NEVER on charge

NOW IF YOU ONLY HAVE 2 PACKS THEN COOL THEM DOWN WITH THE FAN BEFORE YOU CHARGE THEM AGAIN




Wow totally differant battery system . . .

I my self fly model planes and we have been using these about 3 years before the Car lads did they are in no hard case we have loads of crash's and still they work so put in a £2 hard plastic case and the price doubles
any way

first you need a LiPo charger daft you ask but I have heard of storys and its not good . . .

Charge at the correct 1c rule so a 4000mah charge at 4amps. . . 5000 mah charge at 5 amps . . . 5600mah charge at 5.6amps


Lipo sacks . .. Me I hate them why. . well we dont use them at the flying field and if they start to swell you can see them and stop charging but i have seen them blow up you say well thats car racers for you. . . .Never seen it happen at the flying field so what you doing wrong ?


I suppose I will wait for the post of . . . .I charge mine using . . .

Well if its wrong info on the subject to harm I will of course DELETE not to be cruel but SAFTEY

Wicked dude. Got 2 packs at the moment but will get more when the bank says yes

I have the 4600mah and I'm charging at 0.8a at the mo.

My question is - is it better to charge them at 4.6a to charge them quicker or do I drop the amps to mayb 2a and charge them slower?

Better off at 4.6a one its quicker and two produces more punch

Lower charge amps = more capacity less punch
Higher charge amps = more punch less capacity

Always charge at 1c

as per nick

and normal room temp before you charge

Ok will charge at 4.6 then.

Just changing it now.

Cheers

Also forgot to put that cells run better on there 2nd charge as they produce even more punch.
But do let them cool a bit before recharge

Ok then fellas. What amps and voltage for the discharge?

It's on 0.3a and 0.1v at the mo.

what will it do 0 to 20 amps ?

BuddyRC wrote:Ok then fellas. What amps and voltage for the discharge?

It's on 0.3a and 0.1v at the mo.

If there nimh's never take the individual cell below 0.9v! or you could cause damage in the cell.

my cdx-d2's do 35A discharge so around there. most chargers with built in discharge function vary from 20-30A.

his is 1amp max

can anybody give me advice on cycling cells as we sometimes have 3 weeks between meets. would it be better to cycle a couple of time first then discharge-balance the day before and then charge on race day? i have also heard of people charging the day before and then peaking them again just before each heat? cheers

Before anyone says "go lipo" I will say what I do and my cells have lasted me 2 and abit years now and they still have plenty of go in them ask anyone who has seen my dave run.

Say your starting the new regime after a club night. You pull the car off and take the batteries out and store them. Now at the next availible chance I discharge them on an equalising tray to 0.9v per cell then charge them up by a 3rd and leave them till I get to the track and put them on to charge so that I time it roughly to be charged about 5min or less before my race so they are "fresh" if you like. Then I use one pack per race and repeat the process.

I havent bothered with an equalising tray for about 6 months now but I would definatly say they are worth the money if you have matched cells and want to keep them for awhile in tip top condition.

I only equalise cells a meeting before a big race so that they are on there 2nd charge from being equalised this is when the cells are at there best (Punch wise)