alucard13

I just bought a futaba flat 5 cell battery pack to run my reciever. I know this varies, but how long will one of these last? Will it last 2 heats and a main plus practice time?

Also, i don't have a discharger so how can i make sure that the batteries are fresh? For example, i've fully charged the battery on monday and i've run it about 5 times since then. I am going to race on sunday morning probably most of the day. if i charge the batteries the night before, how long do you think they will last and how can i run the batteries down without damaging them?

chippy

iTrader: (4)

Depends on how many Mah the pack is on how long it will last.

alucard13

600 mah

chippy

iTrader: (4)

Iam running 750mah get 10min warm up 3x 5min heats plus a 15min final

You should get what you want out of a 600mah or just top it up before the finals.
As for discharge what tyoe of batteries are they nimh or nicad

alucard13

it says nickel cadmium.

chippy

iTrader: (4)

Ok nicads are not as critical as nimh when dis charging just let them dischage with the car turned on till they only just move the servo then switch off and recharge the night before you want to use the car again.
You should get yourself a reasonable charger with a discharge function takes away some of the guess work.

Im2lazy

Peak voltage is not as necessary in nitro as it is in electric (for obvious reasons), and therefore I say that dumping isn't as important. In fact, dumping your pack too often can reduce the battery's life. I'd say cycle your pack every month of racing. Keep nicads at a low voltage when you put it away for a week (almost nothing left in it). If you have a bulb discharger, dump to the point where the light begins to noticeably dim. Store the battery like this. Nimh's should be stored at approximately half-charge when you put it away for a week or more.

Just my opinion on nitro batteries.

alucard13

do the nicads and nimh batteries have a memory? What i mean by this is this: i remember that during the old cell phone days they always told me to run the battery down ALL the way and then recharge it. the reason being is because the batteries had a memory on them where if you charged them when they were only half dead the battery would remember it and if you charged it when it was actually fully dead it would only charge half.

also, are there any lithium ion batteries like what we have in the cell phones now a days that we can get for the cars?