brettb76

I have just bought my first car (Tamiya TA05) and have bought a couple of new 3000 mAh NiMH batteries to use with it.

Should I trickle charge these batteries before I use them for the first time?

If trickle charged at 100 mAh will it will take more than 30 hours? I have a Duratra Intellipeak Pulse charger DTXP4110.

I have read on the forum never to discharge battery packs below 5.4 volts. The charger discharges packs to 3.6 volts. Will this cause problems?

Is a slow charge better than a fast charge?

Brett

Platinum_Racing

A slow charge is always going to give you more run time than a fast charge. In some cases a faster charge will get you more punch, but for not as long. It wouldn't hurt to break in your new packs with a slow charge. I would say 1 amp is a good starting point.

NiMH should never be left fully discharged anyway. Always store them with over 1/3 charge. If it's needed, throw them on the charger for a little while. If you plan on running your pack the same day, you may want to discharge down to 5.6 volts and then let the pack rest before charging again. You can get 2 succesful cycles from a NiMH per day, then they will start to lose performance. The electrolites inside the cell become active with charging and discharging, and generally the first charge will be good, then the second will be better. After than the electrolites need to rest before they will perform their best again.

There is some dispute about discharging. When done correctly with the right equipment (NOVAK Flatline), the dead short method can bring old cells back to life and give them more punch. When done incorrectly the pressure inside the cell will build up due to high current draw and heat, and the cell will have to release this pressure by venting. This venting can be repaired to an extent, but will always leave it's mark on the cell due to the loss of material from within the cell.

For bashing around, and tooling past your neighborhood, don't worry about deadshorting or completely discharging the packs. Just charge them slow at first then get gradually faster. Don't charge more than 5 amps though, it may overheat the cells. When discharging cells, let them cool before and after the cycle, then charge them again before you put them away for the day. If you plan on running again don't worry about it so much, just charge them when you get around to it.

If you think all this is tough to remember, just think about what NiCD were like. You couldn't leave them with hardly any voltage left or they may be damaged by the "cell memory" theory. I call it a theory because there are those who believe in it and those who think it's a myth. Why I don't quite know but that's what some believe.

If you have any more questions or if I missed anything, just let me know.

brettb76

Thankyou. You've been most helpful.