NiMh battery charging???? Which Batteries are Better??

[edwin pibal]

opps

Yeah, i must agree with Darryn about having fun

for the last 4 years ive raced onroad electric and every last bit of battery counts

so i still have my train of thought down that path, not back into off road

Edwin

[RETRO R/C]

Hi Edwin - mate my comments were not directed at what you said mate !!

Another "for what it is worth" comment before I fly off to work: You DO NEED to re-peak your batts before the race for better performance if you charge the night before. Unless the cells are hot from being out in the sun - the battery needs the heat from the chemical process of charging. These batteries perform better when they are warm - so re-peaking is worth it. Again - this process of charging the night before is NOT for the "ultimate" tire tearing performance in off road and especially on road.

If you want to be super serious and have every single last drop of performance (and have no time to talk with your mates and soak in the atmosphere and cars), then charge at 6 amps just before your race. Make sure you time it well though - as if you "peak to early" any advantage is lost as the chemical process slows down after a few minutes. Re-peaking when the cells are hot from charging is less effective and potentially damaging.

Again - please don't think I am trying to preach. I have just seen way to many people spend too much time and money at a meeting and have no time to really enjoy themselves with their mates etc. Soak up the atmosphere - it should be a great meeting with some terrific guys. Wish I could be there. There are different methods for charging for stock class racing, for modified racing. You could have a 50 page thread of details on how to do it.

At the end of the day though - all the performance in the world from your cells wont help you if you make 1 mistake - as that is all the advantage you get for using some of the charging methods around - about 5 seconds worth of power. If you are that good - go hard...if not - sit back and enjoy the fun....relax

Cheers

Darryn Johnson

[AscotConversion]

Charge at 10 amps. It's not an r/c car race unless someone's pit blows up

[bearrickster]

WOW I charged my NiMh 3000's at 5 amps once and they were so hot I couldn't put them in the car it started to pop the heat shrink I think 10 Amps mine would explode

[tecnica2001]

I just got the Promatch battery packs in the mail today, what a nice pack, it's very well put together with the clear heat shrink around every cell. one thing that caught my eye though, it says to charge at 8, woa and I thought charging at 6 was high, I'll just charge them at 6.5, that'll be good enough, right??

[edwin pibal]

I just got the Promatch battery packs in the mail today, what a nice pack, it's very well put together with the clear heat shrink around every cell. one thing that caught my eye though, it says to charge at 8, woa and I thought charging at 6 was high, I'll just charge them at 6.5, that'll be good enough, right??

holly crap!! 8 amps!!!!!

geeeeezzzzzz

6amps i would have thought would be fine.. but 8 amps ??

[tecnica2001]

Man, I ran my 10t with the 17.5 brushless on a half charged 3600 stick pack charged at 4 amps and it was unexpectedly fast, I would Imagine that with a pack charged up that high , but to be on the safe side I'll charge them at 6 amps and be happy

[tecnica2001]

How many millivolts should I charge the 4600 mah pack at??

[Brandon G]

If it's an IB 4600, I wouldn't go more than 5 amps. Unless you like fireworks and the acrid smell of burning electrical equipment.

Seems I remember 6.5 was the upper ceiling of charging amps, but who knows now.

+1 on the "have fun" remarks from Darren....

[tecnica2001]

Ok I got some info from the promatch racing guys, Great people by the way, and they said .5 or 5 millivolts per cell or 30mv for a 6 cell pack, this might be useful to others like me