The stock charger, the battery powered one, crapped out on me a couple weeks ago and I havn't had a chance to get a new one.
However, I have a Hot Bodies 4-7 Cell Peak charger (Nothing fancy, I know) that has 1,2, and 4 amp charge cycles, and I'm wondering if that can charge my micro-t's battery up and maybe revive it, as I've been having crappy run times and lack of power.
The stock charger, the battery powered one, crapped out on me a couple weeks ago and I havn't had a chance to get a new one.
However, I have a Hot Bodies 4-7 Cell Peak charger (Nothing fancy, I know) that has 1,2, and 4 amp charge cycles, and I'm wondering if that can charge my micro-t's battery up and maybe revive it, as I've been having crappy run times and lack of power.
Thanks.
Nimh?
If it's nimh or nicd it probably has some voltage depression and or dendrite crystals. Zap the crystals if you have any dead shorted cells with a quick application of high current charge, then discharge each cell individually to zero or close to it (it will start to hang at like .1 volt or something) with a balancer or 1 ohm resisters. Then charge the pack at a reasonably quick rate, at least 1c, and monitor the pack carefully. This should bring it back after a few cycles. If you had any dead shorts, your cell separators are now damaged and your cells with self discharge very quickly so run your batteries soon after charging and or re-peaking. If you are going to not run it for a while, you can try to put a storage charge in there, but if the separator is gone, it will be absolutely dead in a week or less. This is why self assembled packs are superior because you can equalize them. In an assembled pack, you can't access each cell. I have two batteries that absolutely kick ass but have high self discharge on one or more cells. You have to equalize that pack before charging or it is worthless. You're probably on the last leg of that battery, and it will probably give you lots more good service, but you have to treat it differently -- run it down all the way and leave it there. I know you're not supposed to leave nimh discharged, but it just causes electrode loss over time at a very slow rate. Don't be too concerned about it because at that point you already have one cell that does it all on its own (discharges very quickly) so it isn't like you have a choice. That way when you charge it they all start out discharged.
Sucks -- but that's the way it is.
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Hot Bodies D8
Kyosho Lazer ZX-5 FS
In case you didn't notice, I'm a noob to most aspects of electric RCs.
Welp, then what I probably said was a little out there for ya. Tell ya what, tell me what the pack says -- like, is it NiMH, what is its voltage, and mAh rating. It should say something like NiMH 6V 1600mAh. Let me know what it says and I'll tell you what you can try with your charger.
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Hot Bodies D8
Kyosho Lazer ZX-5 FS
when I buy a new battery, can I use my Peak charger on 1amp to charge that micro-t battery?
Depends on the batteries. Some nimh can be fast charged, specifically sub-c (not what you have, standard sized batteries) are generally designed with internals that can stand higher charging rates. If the battery really is a 150 mah AAA pack, that's quite impressively tiny. My cordless phone batteries are 600mah AAA cells. A 1 amp charge on those cells would be over 6C -- probably not the greatest idea.
I mean you can try it, but I would guess they would get real hot and potentially worse. I'm going to have to suggest you wait for somebody who's tried it to chime in.
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Hot Bodies D8
Kyosho Lazer ZX-5 FS
these replacement packs are less than $10 on most sites. I also saw some 250mah packs that were similar sizes, not sure of the exact dimensions though. Google will show quite a few results for these packs.
BTW if you have a lipo capable charger, you might want to consider a Lithium Ion battery. I managed to get 2 pieces of 150mAh (if not 180mAh) of this lithium ion batteries.
I soldered them in a 2S (series) configuration and taped the ends to prevent accidentally shorting the contacts. The size of the finish product is the same size as the stock 1/3AAA packs... but will be giving out 7.2v minimum.
So far my Micro T runs faster and last longer (about 10mins at least) than the stock batteries (normally last about 5mins at most) . BUT I am not sure if the stock ESC can really handle it... although so far, there are no indications in my Micro T that it can not handle it. No glitch either.
Reviving a Micro-T Battery
