Danny/SMC

iTrader: (2)

speedo: It's impossible for me to know what every routine does or doesn't do.

I have yet to put charge back in HV's and after 6 weeks I have checked some packs and they are still holding up very well. So if you race every week or couple of weeks I think your putting charge into them for nothing. Sanyo has done a great job with this cell.

SMH's I don't have allot of experience with SMH's because we have stopped matching them since early September. The way the residual voltage drps on this cell I would say that it might be a good idea to put some charge back into them if you plan on storing them for 1 month or so.

Danny/SMC

iTrader: (2)

mr4-malta: Glad to hear that you like these cells. Sanyo has done a great job and hopefully they can continue producing this cell with high quality. The last few date codes the runtime has dropped a bit voltage is still fairly consistant.

Dragon

Hi guys, ive pratically gone through alomst all the posts here, i know u are all discharging your Nimhs to 5.4v, but im still not sure if discharging Nimh is really necessary for lengethening the batt life, as it does not have memory like Nicd.

I say that because ive read somwhere before that its bad to discharge the Nimh too much, as does not act at all like Nicd, as they are different, nickel cadium and metal hydride, and the reason why we discharge Nicd is because we want the chemical molecules inside the batt to bond closer and better when we discharge the remaining energy before charging it back up again.

so what i want to confirm is, if Nimh acts on the same theory?
can any batt expert advice,


Thanks.

dtm

I've been running Panasonic SMH since May. Normally twice a day for one day a week. I part charge, discharge and put on RT2 to normalise until the lights go out before charge. So far so good... normal aging effect of the cells, slight loss of punch (I can't remember the Pro Trak figures) and about 20-30 sec drop in runtime.... thats not too bad with so much use!!

I don't for one minute believe the no memory effect for Nimh.... I have had many years experience with mobile phones when they were still Nimh....... you can try and convince me Nimh does not have memory but ...........

dtm

PS- I am certainly no battery expert!!!

signoftimes

Hi! Everyone,

Anyone here has tried Super Brain 959 from MRC (Model Rectifier)? Seems like a pretty good and flexible charger at such an attractive price. At USD46.99 from Tower Hobbies, it allows charging at rates: 0.5A, 1.0A, 1.5A, 3.0A, 3.5A, 4.0A, 4.5A and delta peak voltage thresholds settings at: 5mV, 10mV, 20mV, 30mV, 40mV, 50mV.

Anyone has even read any reviews on it. It'll be great to know that.

Dragon

I think when they say no menory, they mean very little till its hardly noticeable.....

sigh, its been 3 days, and no one really knows the answer, maybe i should stop over at the palm forum, wierd enough, they have lots of batt experts, maybe coz they are mostly nerds?

rcruv

I have MRC super brain 959.
It lacks some of better features of Novak millenium pro though, for that low price tag what more do you want?

It can charge my duratrax pirahna 1500 packs without much problem.
I'm not a racer yet. But I notice difference in punch and runtime when I change the way how to charge them.

It can also charge my Radio shack 3000 NiMH packs without too much problem. It false peaks time to time.
I heard and think around 7.2mV dealta peak is ok for 3000 packs.
But this one only has 5 or 10 and at 5mV it always false peak early. I tried to repeak it 3 times and it doesn't work.
So I tried 10mV and sometimes it detects peak just a little earlier than I would wanted, or overcharge the battery.

If I set 4.5A it peaks ok though battery gets a little hotter than I would wanted.
So I set it at 3.0A or 4.0A and try to repeak it at 4.5A and using my palm.

I don't know if it battery or the charger so when my new Team orion 3000HV sport packs come in, I'll try the settings again.

I wouldn't want to overcharge them though since I need them for the racing.

Fire

my MRC 959 doesn't false peak....yet....touch wood

when i charge NiCd i usually set the delta peak at 50mV, the highest setting and use 40mV to charge NiMH, don't know if it's right or wrong but my batts are holding up not bad.

diesel31

dragon,

i'm not the battery expert you are looking for, but i can tell you from my experience with these nimh's, that leaving them partially charged will make your batteries feel soft.

when i first got these cells, i would cycle them twice a day w/ atleast one hour in between to allow them to sufficiently cool down. after each cycle, i'd discharge @ 30 amps and cut-off @ 5.4 volts. i would then put 'em on an equalizing tray until the lights went out.

at the end of my race, i'd take out what ever is left in the pack back down to 5.4 volts, and put 'em away til next week.

now, i run 'em once a day and cycle 'em the night before just to "wake-up" the cells. this practice has actually worked better in preserving the cells, and at the same time not losing any punch. so basically, i'm only cycling my race packs twice a week. i try to race tuesday nights and saturdays and i use a total of 6 batteries for the week, and i use my junk cells for practice.

less is more, and for me this is working pretty darn well. now i'm not trying to talk sh*t, but i race regularly @ the world famous socal raceway in the sportsman class, and have been quite successful. my tc3 is very fast, but the competition is so stiff that if i make one bobble, i'll end up in the b,c,d,e main...get the picture.

what i'm trying to say is that i've got top notch equipment and pretty good battery practices, but all that still doesn't guarantee an a main.

Aurra Sing

Hey. I have an important question.

I just charged both my Team Orion RC3000HV's for the first time with my Novak Millennium Pro. At 4.0 amps (NiMh2 mode) they both exactly finished just about 15 seconds after the start and ended at 8.85 volts. Is it just that from the factory, they will already be fully charged? Remember, this was the first charge I ever charged them. Or is it just false peaks? The Millennium Pro is version 1.02.036 (able to charge HV's.)

futureal

Normally batteries arrive uncharged when you purchase them. In fact, I have never received any that had anything more than a negligible charge in them.

I normally build a pack, put it on the Turbo 35 and dump it first just to make sure, and then do a cycle with the long lockout. It is not uncommon for a battery to false peak the first time it is charged (or after long periods of non-use).

Just verify that the pack is completely discharged, turn the lockout on (assuming that the charger has one) and try charging it again. It should be fine...

Aurra Sing

Anyway, I fully charged one of the new packs because I will not use it for the first time in about a month. After the charge, these were the charge info.

Charge: 4.0 amps
Volts: 9.36
Seconds: about 2850.

Is this normal?

futureal

That sounds about right.

The charge numbers can actually vary by quite a bit, the best way to tell is to do a full discharge (cycle) if possible. I realize not everybody has the equipment to do this, of course.

But yea, what you posted there sounds right. Your pack should be good to go.

Speedo

Shane is right. Charge number vary quite a bit, and the only way to get accurate information about the pack is to discharge it. Often a higher peak voltage when charging signifies higher internal resistance.