NiMH Rx and Tx pack charging
 

I have a few 1200mah packs and one 2300mah NiMH battery pack. I charge them once a week, the night before I run my cars. The batteries have instructions on how to charge them, but not how often or any tips how to maintain a pack.

Is there a type of maintenance that I need to do with these batteries?

Before I charged mt Tx pack they were still at 10.1 Volts (radio reading) from being used 6 hours and sitting for one week. I still threw them on the charger and put .5 amp charge on them for roughly 2-3 hours. I do not know what the readings are on the Rx packs.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

The point is that I do not want to damage the cells and I would like get full use of the batteries.

NiMh dont have a memory so you can charge them even when not fully decharged.

For best performance from the cells use a slow charger with 0.5Amp charge rate.

Even though everybody says nimh doesn't develop a memory, I still dishcarge em all down. RX, Radio batts, and car batts.

if they have been sitting a few days its a good idea to at least discharge them some before charging.. they will take a much better charge if they have been (warmed up) prior to charging..

I think Lithium battery is the one without memory, and NiMH only have temporary memory effect. It is still better to discharged the Rx pack after use.

Discharing my NIMH packs has always yeilded me better results.

I believe RX packs , you charge @ 1.0amp
TX packs @ .5 (I just use 8 rechargable energizers...there 2500mah nimh :nod: )

Discharge you want at about 1.0amp so all you need is one automotive bulb and whatever connector you use. Futaba, etc. and wire it up and discharge em. Only problem is your supposed to cut them out before they start to dim. So pay close attention. Never let the light dim.

I think nicd you get them to a low glow?? Not sure I dont have nicd.

Also lots of chargers have up to about low level dischargers which is good enough for about anything small. But yeah never go over 1.0amp discharges on RX/TX packs.

Then you let cool and charge. The main thing is too keep these things cool, dont let them sit too long. When you use it up and they are warm....let them cool then recharge.

If your going to store them , store them at half charge.

Then discharge and re-charge before use. That should keep things nice , keep them running longer and get more uses out of them.

There is also a guide on trinity for nimh batteries and elsewhere on the web.

I really dont like all the literature that always says these batteries dont need anything. They do and they seem to die quickly if you dont treat them just right, store them just right and charge them just right.

Thanks everyone. I will let the batteries come down in charge before my next outting. I did notice that my Tx pack went from 11.3V to 10.3 rather quickly compared to last weekend. I hope I didn't ruin the cells. :(

I've always charged my Nimh at alleast 1C. If you have 2300mah NiMH you could charge at 2.3Amp and still be OK. I'm running 1100 mah and I charge mine at 2C which is 2.2Amp which is considered a Quick charge. I've been running this battery pack for about a year, racing every other weekend and acouple of big races. Just out of being bored one day, I discharged the pack to .9 volts then charged it up again and it did not not show any lost.

I like Nimhs because you don't have to worry about mem. lost along with abunch of other things.

Racing Every other weekend will keep batteries and things in shape.

Also I tried charging my 2500mah energizers, which is a double AA battery @ just 1amp. It kept false peaking.

It also says in my novak instructions AA battery use .5