NIMH HELP please?!

[rc_racer67]

i have a 600mah nimh 6.0v battery and a 250ma wall charger how long do i charge the battery and how do i know when it is done.

[Dave Robelen]

Hi,
To go on the basis of measured time, you would need to know that the battery is fully discharged. In that case, 2.5-3 hours should do the trick. In the case of a ni-mh pack, they get nie and warm when fully charged.
Regards, Dave

[rc_racer67]

thanks

[aeajr]

When you can afford a new charger, a peak charger is a better way to charge your batteries. Timed chargers can over charge batteries and take a long time. Peak charger detect when the battery is charged so they can charge faster without risk of damaging the battery.

Here are a couple of examples going from the low cost to the more sophisticated chargers. These are all 12V so you can charger at the field, or at home using the car battery.

Aerobird Charger - can charger any NIMH or NICD - YOu might need to change the connector. $19 I have this one
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Shop/ByCategory/Product/Default.aspx?ProdID=HBZ1026

Hitec charger - $39 - I have this one. You have to make up connectors for it.
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Shop/ByCategory/Product/Default.aspx?ProdID=HRC43340

GWS Peak Charger - $49 - Has several different connectors
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Shop/ByCategory/Product/Default.aspx?ProdID=GWS3000

Triton - Chargers NICD, NIMH or Lithium - This is the one I want - $109
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCJG7&P=ML

[rc_racer67]

i have an aerobird charger but it says to only charge 6-7 cell. mine is a 5

[Dave Robelen]

Hi,
You did not mention the number of cells the charger is rated for. I would not use that charger for a 5-cell pack.
Regards, Dave

[rc_racer67]

my battery is a 5 cell and i now have a duratrax intellipeak pulse charger, i have been charging the battery at .5 amps (by the way the batt is a aaa cell 6.0v 5 cell). i bought the charger mainly for my surface vehicles, but i use it for this too. it works fine with my mini-t's pack which is a 2-3a 6 cell, but when i charge my park flyer pack it only charges for a few minutes and then beeps, so i take it off and put it in the plane, and i only get less than 5 minutes of runtime before the motor starts to slow down.

[aeajr]

Did you get longer flights charging it the other way?

[ellenjiang]

hello

[aeajr]

i have an aerobird charger but it says to only charge 6-7 cell. mine is a 5

As I recall there is a table in the Aerobird manual that tells you how to charge 4-7 cell packs with that charger. You can use it for the Firebird II, ST and Outlaw packs which are 4 and 5 cell packs.