kruthles

I have recently purchased and indi octane 2 battery tray and I am wondering how you use this helpful tool for battery care.

Right now I am doing the following with the tray:

Run the car for the race.
Take the battery out and place it on the tray until the lights go out.
When the battery cools I then charge it again.

All my cells are the new style GP 3300s.

Most of the info I got from battery matchers sites and posts for tray usage seems in the most part vague.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

koabich

Hello,
You have bought a great dischage tray.
I use mine as follows:
I run the battery in my car. Once I am finished with that run, I dischage it using my GFX chager to 5.4 volts. I store it like that. When I use the battery again, I put it on tray for about 5-10 minutes after the bulbs go out. Take the pack off the tray and let the battery rest for 5-10 minutes. Then I chage the battery.
I normally do not run the same pack more than once a week.
Hope this helps.
Joe

zgeist

That is probably for nicd's right? I've read many places that you should not store nimh w/out a charge.

I am considering getting a battery tray, but I too am unsure how specifically to use it. After running your car if you have 3300mah cells, you might still have some significant juice left - should you first use a 20amp bulb discharger to drain most of it? Or is it okay to drain what's left on a discharge tray that uses leds? I wasn't sure leds would have enough of an amperage draw to drain the batts.

After that though, it's my understanding - if you are using nimhs - you should immediately remove the batts from the tray when the lights go out. Then - after it cools - immediately recharge it. Recharge 1/3 if you are storing for less than a week - and 1/2 if storing it longer.


But what do I know?

Joe B

iTrader: (1)

Yea Integy makes some high quality stuff, but their instructions and specs for their products leave a lot to be desired.....Kruthles,I also use the Indi for my discharge trey......something worth mentioning is that even after the lights go out on the indi trey,it will continue to discharge the cells all the way down to zero volts(which for me, I always want to do anyway) but for others that want a earlier cutoff (say .9 volts) there's a small unmarked dial inside that you can adjust to have the lightbulbs go out at a desired voltage level(you'll have to spend some time with a voltmeter to get it just right)and even with this set where you want it, you'll still have to manually disconnect each cell (immediatly)as the lights go out ,or you'll have a pack thats still unequalized....the whole idea of equalizing is to make sure each cell has the same voltage as the next.....so the pack will charge evenly,perform better and hold its match longer......and if your going to use that pack a second time during the day..... theres no need to re-trey... just re-charge them and usually the second charge will be the best performing charge.........as far as battery storage for any of the generation's of GP3300's (In my opinion)you cant go wrong (or tell a difference)no matter what you do.....some reputable matchers say its ok to store them at zero volts or even deadshorted and others say that its damaging to the cell structure if their left without a charge(even though this is the way their packaged and they sit on shelves for months if not more) hope this helps some......

kruthles

Thanks for all your help guys, it is very much appreciated.

Joe B, thanks for the heads up on the dial inside the unit sounds like something that can be usefull.