srfreeman

With nicads you'll have to discharge with light bulbs or a discharge tray after you run them. I don't discharge my nimhs after racing them, but you might get different opinions on that one. They seem to keep thier voltage up better if you don't discharge them. But nicads can take more abuse while charging, you want to have a peak charger if you have nimhs cause they get a lot hotter than nicads when they peak. Any chager would work but you'd have to keep a close eye on it, you don't want to over charge it. I think someone mentioned it before, check out SMC's website as they have some good info!

Boomer

The charger you have is designed for Ni-CD batteries, not Ni-MH. There are significant differences.

The Ni-MH require less maintenance (you don't have to discharge them, for instance) but do require more attention (they are more sensitive to heat and heat up faster). You would need to get a charger rated for Ni-MH cells as well.

The Ni-CD cells require a bit more maintenance - you have to discharge them after each run and you should run them only once or twice per day (twice is pushing it). However, they can be charged with your charger and will do just fine for quite a while.

Stick with what you've got for a while.

unknown

ok..i have read the info at the places you told me to go, but that stuff just goes over my head.

i understand I have to discharge my Ni-CD battery's. But, what do I discharge them to? I read some HOW-TO thing and they said I can make a lightbulb discharger with 12 bulbs. After the 6th bulbs, put a motorcycle turn signal (6 volts) and when the pack drops to 6 volts or below, only 6 bulbs will be lit. I am assuming this means that 6 cell Ni-CD battery packs have to be discharged to 6 volts?

Boomer

Easiest thing is to pick up a discharger. They have them with the proper number of bulbs and a little cutoff switch so you don't over-discharge them

If you want to build one yourself, use 10 bulbs in parallel (all the +s and -s). When you discharge, keep an eye on the lights. When they go dim, take them off. They'll be nice and bright for a while and then they will go dim. That's the cutoff point.

unknown

ok, i also noticed that there are two different types of battery connectors. I believe one is called a "tamiya" connector and the other...I don't know what its called, but it looks smaller than the tamiya connector and it is red. My Ni-CD battery has the Tamiya connector...and I noticed that all the Ni-MH has the other connectors. I noticed that all of the dischargers has little clips that clip onto the battery. Where exactly do they clip?

Here is a picture of the clips that im talking about...


And here is a picture of the other connector i am talking about...


I need a discharger that has a connector like this...


This stuff is so confusing....

popsracer

Buy a automatic discharger. Just plug or clip it on and push the button. Stay with stick packs for now. It's simpler for a beginner.

Don't buy a battery tray until you are experienced enough to KNOW that you need better stuff. Then you will WANT to build your own packs.

My reccomendation is 2400 NiCd packs are generally cheaper to purchase and easier to maintain. It's up to you on how much you want to spend. Though more $$$ doesn't always mean that you get a better battery.

I personally have not had good experience with the Maxx-packs, I also had some Trinity 1900 timewarp packs that only lasted a few months in a starter box.
Ask the people at your track what batteries they like to run.

Boomer

The red one is the one you want - it's pretty much the most common and standard one out there. It's from Deans so the plugs will (likely) be Deans Plugs (which are far far better than the Tamiya plugs you have)

You can either change the plugs you have to Deans (not a bad idea over the long run), make an adapter (also not a bad idea) or change the plug on the discharger to Tamiya (probably the fastest since you would change only one plug)

The discharge trays are not for stick packs. Those little clips are for a fan, not for the actual discharging.

I don't think that the little discharger works at a high enough discharge rate - I think it is a special purpose discharger.

You could also go in to your Local Hobby Shop (LHS) to get their advice for a discharger.

Boomer

One other option, although it isn't as good, you can just run your car until the battery "dumps" - you will notice it isn't quite totally dead, but it has definitely approaching that point. That will be just about to the right point.

Never run your car to the point it completely stops. That is bad for all kinds of batteries.

But if you pull the car slightly before that point, you will be good.

Does that make sense?

Pit Crew

He doesn't know RC, but is sure good at posting pictures! HAHA

popsracer

If you get a discharger. 20 amps for stock class racing. 30 amps for modified.
You want to best simulate what is happening to the batteries while being run in the car.
4 amp charging is OK for now. If you keep racing then a better charger and batteries you will be wanting. It is easy to spend alot of money on things that you that you really don't need at this point.
Race with what you have (maybe get a discharger) then after a few months you can upgrade to a better charger and batteries.

As your driving skills progress, you will start to get to the point where you feel your equipment is holding you back. that or when your maxx-packs die then move up a notch and buy matched batteries. Be consistant with whatever charge/discharge routine that you use, and your batteries should last for quite a while.

unknown

you are right...i know very little about R/C. I am what you would call a beginner. I figued I would get all the information I can from the people who have been doing this for a long time...and see what I wanna do.

I am starting to understand now. I didn't know that you can just change the Tamiya connector to a Deans. I take it I just cut the Tamiya connector off and solder the Deans connector onto the battery pack and do the same to the Tamiya connector on the ESC.

I just don't get what I am supposed to do with charger I have. It has a Tamiya connector on it. Can I just cut that off and solder on a Deans connector?

And one last thing...I just want to thank everyone that has helped me out here. I could go and talk to some of the guys at the track...but they just seem like they are too busy and stuff. I would rather chat with you guys and wait until I know a little more until I actually go to the track and mingel with them.

Just let me know if I can cut the Tamiya connector off of the battery, ESC, and my charger, and just solder on a Deans connector!?!?

Team R

Yes, all you need to do is cut off the Tamiya connector and solder on the Deans.

I have saw some good bulb dischargers on the internet. I did have one bookmarked but in formatting my computer I must of lost it. Check some of the magazines websites on how to build one. You can build one for around 15 dollars.

Have fun and enjoy the sport.

unknown

yeah, I will be making my own discharger.

let me just make sure one more time....

I can cut the Tamiya connector on my charger and change it to a Deans? That will not mess anything up?

TheBarber

cut away chief......no problem.........and i think most of these guys will agree that we are glad to help out, because we were all there at one point and we don't want to lose our potential competition. good luck and have fun.

unknown

GREAT! I will be doing that tomorrow...