teammpp

No worries about it exploding. The charge is so small that it just about keeps the battery topped up. My 4 gel cells are on charge at all time when not in use and never had a problem this past 4yrs. I keep them on a 20 - 40w bulb through the week when not in use and if I need a fast charge I put in a 100w bulb.

Solara

iTrader: (17)

Thanks for the advise......with my very limited knowledge on electrical....I created a little riser diagram, and does that look like what you are talking about..? Thanks....

P.S...the trasformer that you are talking about...can I use my existing 12V output wall plug charger instead..?

ShowMe_Mods

I use a small 11/2 amp battery charger from wal-mart, when battery is fully charged it goes into stand by. Its made for charging and maintaining charged batteries and its under $20.00.

GrandeGixxer

iTrader: (21)

Rookie, was there a race already that i missed?
I use a gel cell. I charge it overnight the night before every race. Let it be known that when I am at the track I use this same battery to run a tire lathe and charger for rx and tx packs. I have no problem with it lasting.

teammpp

That diagram is correct. Thats the schematics for how I do it. You probably could use you existing wall charger and direct it through the bulb to cut the current down.

A point regarding Grandgixxer. Note how his battery is able to do a lot of work over the day. The slower you charge a battery the longer it will perform (to a certain point). When I raced electric buggies in the late 80's when 1200's where the thing, we would charge the batteries slow over night. We were able to run about 3 teeth higher on the pinion over the 5min runs than when we blasted them in the 15min thermal charger. The initial punch wasnt there but the increased speed from the gearing more than made up for it on our indoor polished floor tracks where punch was creating wheel spin. I had the only standard Tamiya tub (Boomerang) in the A main against loaded out Schumacher Cats, Kyosho Optima's and Yokomo Dogfighters.

au_Nightmare

Hmm I believe you need about 13.5Vdc to float a SLA battery or 13.9Vdc if you are charging it (and stop once its charged).

Run around with google a bit, 2V per cell is under 50% charged. Maybe your 12V supply is more then 12V?

I use a 12V SLA (Gell Cell) battery in my box. It is charged with a Swallow charger and does indeed charge up to 13.9 volts for 6 cells.

teammpp

Yep. Thats correct. The 12v is only reference to let you know what battery type it is designed to charge. All chargers charge at a higher voltage than the cell(s) being charged. Otherwise they would just push juice in one side and out the other.

Data

unless our definition of a "live" wire is different, i think the light bulb should be on the other side, according to your instruction. but this is minor details, either way would work.

by the way, what kind of 40W light bulb you are using ? i meant what is the voltage rating.

performula

iTrader: (4)

Are you telling me my new gel cell that hasn't been charged for 8 months needs to be replaced?

Artificial-I

iTrader: (17)

I run the gel cell and hate charging it with the wall charger I got for it. Ive had 2 batteries since I got my starter.

They are the hanger9 gel cels. The first one lasted alright. I went to charge it the first time though and I charged it for longer than I should. Im not sure where I got the info but it was like 6 hours to charge or so.

All I know is it was getting late and I fell asleep. Woke up and went into the room it was charging and heard a funny noise. Got down next to the starter box to hear a sound of boiling water in a pot.

Well needless to say I thought that batteri was toast but lasted me a good 8 months. Next battery took precaution to not overcharge and its just never done well. I cant seem to keep my battery tester on the power panel in the green. Now its like as soon as it comes off the charger its already down.

This is a pretty new battery so I thought ok I keep charging it a lot and try to get it to come back. Well that kinda helped. But I then said ok time to give it a lot of charge. Well same thing , the bubbling occured after what must of been too long of a charge. Hard to tell when I cant ever see what its at.

It probably damaged the battery somewhat , but it still seems alright. But one thing I always notice is the battery likes to drain on its own.

It seems even more so when its switched on and left or the glow-heater is hooked up it drains faster. But Ive always had trouble with em and sometimes just leaving the glow-heater on the engine too long just sucks it down so fast.

Before I know it , it wont run and wont turn over a motor. I have looked into peak chargers so I dont under or overcharge , but doesnt seem to be any.

I like the stuff you guys are talking about but not sure exactly what to do. Id like to just charge it correct , rather than leave them charging all the time. So far the suggestions are good , anyone else got any others? Cause these gel cells are getting annoying.

au_Nightmare

Ok, so that would make this statement kind of incorrect then.

1. You really need a 13.5V supply with the bulb acting as a current reducer.
2. If you ask for a transformer you will get AC volts out.
Not meaning to be picky but if someone buys a xxxV to 12V transformer (hence AC output) its going to make a good mess of the battery.

Best bet is go buy a charger. If you plan on leaving it on charge ensure it goes into float mode (13.5V).

Artificial-I, sounds like your charger sucks. SLA don't peak like nicd/nimh they just dont take any more current at the charge voltage (13.9V). I assume the cheaper chargers just put out a set milliamps and overcharge battery as voltage goes over 13.9V.

When I watch the swollow charge my battery it limits the voltage as not to go over my current setting and builds up to the 13.9v where then the current slowly gets lower and lower untill its charged. (unlike NiCD/NiMH where current input is the same - voltage goes up to keep the current the same)

Data

i am using one of these to charge the gel cell. maybe you can check it out.

Big KAT

iTrader: (1)

I use the charger pictured below, never had any issues with it. I think it was about $15-$20 when I bought it.

Data

i think rather that the potential different is so little, no "juice" is being pushed.

Artificial-I

iTrader: (17)

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...?ProdID=HAN103

Heres my charger. Not exactly sure how it charges , but id guess it just keeps pushing 600mah.