Battery care for cells

HI guys some more handy tips for you running cells in your cars as opposed to lipo power. Kudos for the write up must go to that man Mikey of TeamBritUS.
This is by no means a complete guide but it gives you the idea of good battery care.



First thing I do when you get a new set of batteries is to ONLY put about 1000mAh into them at 3 amps. This preps the cells before taking on a full charge. Do this initial charge and then discharge them back down. Now, for the first full charge, charge again at 3 amps. Remember, this is just to break-in the cells for the 'full on' charge you will be wanting to do for the races. Occassionally, I have had a false peak on this initial charge. I just click the charger back on. After this charge, either drain the battery pack down by doing a few races or discharge it. The next charge, depending on the type of cells, 4 amps is a good al'rounder to start with in my rule book. Rule of thumb is if your battery pack is a 3300mAh battery then you will want to charge it at 3.3 amps and same goes if your battery is a 4600mAh battery you will want to charge at 4.6 amps. So, there yah have it, that is how I get my batteries prep'd for racing.

On race day I arrive 1 hour early to help out with the track and to get my Team Orion 4600SHO batteries on charge. I arrive with all my cells discharged to .9 volts per cell which I did earlier that day plus I have one emergency battery fully charged in case of a mishap. I place my batteries on charge at 5.0 - 6.0 amps. After about an hour all the batteries are ready for racing. I usually race in race 4 so when race 2 ends I kick on the charger to repeak. It usually kicks off after a few minutes and the battery is warm and not too hot to touch. I have my delta peak set on 15 per contact with Team Orion. (This setting is different for all cells and I recommend contacting the company who makes your cells to get the exact number.) If your charger has not kicked off in time for you to get to the starting line then just end the charge, put the battery in your car and get your car on the track.

I then repeat the above for the each battery pack. They are all charged up and ready to be repeaked on race 2, race 3 and race 4. Just one thing though, LABEL your batteries. I cannot tell you how many times I forgot which battery was which. I have 4 batteries packs each with a red star on a different cell.

If you only have two battery packs I would either charge them prior to arriving or do what I do which is from the point that I arrive at 6pm. After race 1 let battery pack 1 cool to room temp and get it back on the charger ready for race 3. Again, repeak before your race if need be. Battery 2 you will use in race 2 and again when it cools to room temp get it back on the charger for race 4. Some say the second charge is the best. Always make sure your batteries have cooled before charging the second time as charging them when still hot/warm can damage them.

****A little note on repeaking very recently fully charged packs. I have read that this isn't always the best thing for them. If your battery is warm to touch after a recent charge and it's time to repeak, skip the repeak and prepare your car for the race. It's not worth damaging your good cells for one race.****

After the race I get back to my table and get the motor cooling under a fan immediately. To me heat is the enemy of the G2 motor so I get it cooling as fast as possible. Next week I will be testing out a motor cooler. I see some of the others using it so I'm going to give it a try to see if there is a difference. I will keep you posted.

After the last race I get my motor cooling again but at the same time start packing up. I just don't like the thought of all that heat sitting in the motor for any bit of time. The last thing I do is pack up the car.

Some people discharge their cells to .9 volts per cell pretty much right away. I don't do this. I just do it the day of the races. I see no harm and it's worked for me. And then I repeat the whole process over again Wednesday the following week.

Let the fun commence.