Jarrod Langlois

iTrader: (1)

haha no i was just wondering what you ment by it drops out. 20 amp discharge is fine if your running stock, thats just the rate smc uses to get the numbers on the cell when they cycle them.

fatdoggy

Thanks rc-zombies, spaz456 for you help, and yes I'm running stock One more thing (for the time being ) when you break-in packs how many times should you cycle them?

Cheers.

Reasons for my lack of battery knowledge is that I used to use a dynamite peak charger and I didn't discharge my packs. Hey you know you've wrecked your batts when they have 1200mah instead of the 1900mah that they had when you bought them lol.

Keebler

I hope someone with the Quasar Pro can comment here.

When I discharge my 6-cell NiCD packs with the Quasar Pro, it appears that it's cutting off too early. I say this because after the Quasar Pro goes down to 5.4 volts ( under load ), I can put a 30ohm resistor on the pack and it takes for ever to go down to 5.4 volts.

Also, if I charge the pack after the Quasar Pro discharge, I get a final mAh rating of like 1300 and the pack is a 1900. If I put the pack on a 30 ohm resistor after the Quasar discharges it, and stop at 5.4 volts, It gets a rating of 1900-2000.

I should note that it does actually go down to 5.4 volts (under a 20A load of course) since I verified this with my voltmeter as it was discharging.. Also, a minute after the discharge stops, the pack voltage goes up to about 7.65. (Trinity 1900mah 6-cell)

BTW, this happens with all my 6-cell packs. I have
4-1900
2-2000
2-2400

Also, there is a very subtle high pitch sound coming from the Quasar Pro anytime that it's plugged in.. It's just barely audible when the room is quiet.

I'm waiting for a response from AE, but I really want to get this resolved so I can decide if I want to return it to the LHS, send it to AE or figure out how to make it discharge farther and keep using it..

Thanks in advance!
Rich

RickyIS300

2 more people at my local track got the Quasar chargers, they were both having problems and end up sending their units in for replacement. Apparently, this 1st batch of AE chargers have very high defective rate.

Kraig

iTrader: (81)

Keebler, I cannot answer all of your questions but I will try to answer most.

The increase in battery voltage is normal once the load is removed. This happens on all batteries and even power supplies.

The 30 ohm resistor load is expected to take a long time to discharge. Using ohm's law (V=I*R) we can transpose the formula and figure out the current, 7.2/30=.24 amps. Now provided I have done my math correctly there is a big difference there.

If you want to bring your batteries down even further I would recommend getting a discharge tray for your packs. This will equalize the voltage in each cell down to a specific voltage. Unfortunately this will not work with stick packs.

I hope this helps some.

Keebler

Thanks Kraig,

I know that an increase in battery voltage is normal, but mine usually go up to somewhere like 7.65V or so. Supposedly, a fully discharged pack will go up to around 7.18V or so?

I think I'm going to return it since I haven't heard from Team Associated and I don't want to miss my window of opportunity for getting a refund.

My main reason for returning it is actually because of the loudness of the beeps that the charger emits. It's way too loud. They should have some sort of adjustment for that, whether it be a dial or an actual setting on the charger.

Rich

Kraig

iTrader: (81)

Depending on the batteries condition will determine how high the voltage goes back up.

As for the noise, they already know about that and are going to be changing that in the next batch that comes through.

Keebler

Kraig:

If you discharge a good pack with the Quasar Pro, wait for the battery to cool and then charge it with the Quasar Pro, do you reach full capacity?

Thanks,
Rich

Kraig

iTrader: (81)

I would have to say it really depends on the battery pack and how they have been treated. Some of the sport packs that are purchased are sc type cells, for racing purposes we use scr's or scrc's or Nimh. The main difference is the fast charging between the different cells, same can handle it good and some cannot.

Say a cell is rated at 1300mah. You charge it up and the charger says it took 1500mah to charge. Yet when you discharge it you only get 1300mah. The remaining 200mah is still in the battery because you only discharged it down to 5.4 volts for 6 cell or 3.6 volts for 4 cell. If you took it down to 0 volts then you might find the extra 200mah.

I have found that the older the cells the less capacity it has, even when comparing the first charge to the second charge in the same day. Nimh cells are a little different.

You probably already know this though.