battery maintenance questions

[PWA]

I'm getting back into the sport with my kids and have a few battery maintenance questions. What should I be doing to maintain my batteries? If I'm storing them for a few weeks at a time what should I do to the batteries? I have GP3800 cells, an Ice charger, I currently don't race since we have no local track, and I just built one in my back yard for me and the kids to play on.

My biggest thing is I got a good investment in battery and want to be getting the most out of them. There are so many battery related Item out there I'm not sure what’s needed and what’s not.

Thanks for your time
PWA

[gizmoguy303]

Here is a very informative section dedicated to the care and maintenance of these batteries: http://www.axxis-racing.com/howto.html

In addition to the equipment you have now, I would buy a discharger that discharges the pack down to 5.4v. The Integy Reactors work very well. Get the 10 or 20 amp version.

[btsai4]

I am interested in this topic too. My question -- why do you need to discharge at such a high rate? If you use a battery discharging/equalizing tray (e.g. - Tekin Battery Doctor or Novak), it discharges at only 2 amps. Can someone clarify when you use high rate discharger vs. low rate?

Thanks.

[PWA]

gizmoguy303- thanks for the link, that has lots of good enough. I' lok at getting the Integy reactor. probaly the 20 version..my Ice alrady does a 10amp.

btsai4 good question when should u use a 10,20 or even a 30 amp dishcharger...are the only for cycling battiers or to finish dishcharging a partial pack

Thanks again for everyones help
PWA

[gizmoguy303]

I use my Integy Reactor to discharge my pack after a race. Cycling batteries doesn't help much...if any. You can use the discharge function on your charger to discharge at 10 amps (which is plenty), but you may find that you will want your charger for charging batteries only because it takes valuable charging time to simply discharge the rest of a pack using the charger.

[nomad1]

The othe reasons for the high discharge rate is that the motor( in most cases) draws between 20-35amps from the battery while running it. To maintain the batteries and keep them used to that draw is to discharge them at the same rate. For instance my motor draws around 30 amps. So after my race of 5 minutes, I use a light bulb discharger with 15 light bulbs ( 15Bulbs x 2amp per bulb= 30 amp draw) with a cutoff to stop the discharge at 5.4v or .9v per cell. Then I tray (integy 30 amp tray) tell there dead 0.0v which then it kicks off. I let the battery cool completely then recharge it again that day. Know At the end of the day I don't tray the pack, I just use the bulbs to discharge it. And leave some charge in then for storage. But before I charge them again I tray them first let them cool and charge them back up. And most of the packs I have are used Gp3300. Some over a year, and they were treated the same way. They still have awesome punch and runtime. Hope this helps a little.

[cr250]

I'm getting back into the sport with my kids and have a few battery maintenance questions. What should I be doing to maintain my batteries? If I'm storing them for a few weeks at a time what should I do to the batteries? I have GP3800 cells, an Ice charger, I currently don't race since we have no local track, and I just built one in my back yard for me and the kids to play on.

My biggest thing is I got a good investment in battery and want to be getting the most out of them. There are so many battery related Item out there I'm not sure what’s needed and what’s not.

Thanks for your time
PWA
SPC (http://www.spcracing.com) also has a good section on battery care.

[highroller]

Battery care falls into two catogories, bashing/recreational use - where person is looking for long life but good results, racers (club level to regional racers) those who have to pay for their packs.
Bashing/recreational use would take stick packs or cells that are not matched to matched stick or single cells. Charge using between 4.5 to 6amps, then discharge as close to the expected loads pack is subjected to in use, that could be 15, 20 to 25 amp for stock motors, 30 amp for modified motors. Discharge pack to a .90 volts per cell level and store(5.40 volts for 6cells, 3.60 volts for 4cells). If you plan to use the pack again the same day use some method to discharge the cells to a lower voltage - this can be a single bulb, discharge resistor (1ohm, 10watt resistor), pack equalizer or side by side pack an equalizing tray (Integy, Novak, Trinity, Tekin, Pro Match etc).
While it is possible to leave packs discharged at low levels for long periods several things may happen when pack is first used 1. runtime may decrease higher than packs stored with higher voltage (10min to a full charge), 2. peak voltage may not be as consistant 3. first couple of uses pack may seem flat or exhibit low voltage output . Personnally I have not seen any damage done to packs stored for as long as 8 months with only .90 volts left in cell, once pack went back to active use it was normally fine.
Racing/competitive use: pretty much the same thing except for the different types of racing you find people settle on a particular regime. Personally I only use a pack once in a day for some types of racing - for the same gains in increased voltage there is the runtime issue. In oval racing the pack is only used once for but no more than two times for offroad or TC. In oval the packs are discharged at 32 amp (16 lightbulbs) while offroad/TC it's 24amps or 12 bulbs. For equalizing the packs (before charging after storage) I used the Trinity Real Time2, Integy Octance 2 but now use the Integy Zero-30 (it can completely discharge a fully charged pack - but should be plugged into a power supply to operate fan to keep it cool). For charge rates 5-6 amp for mod/stock offroad, 6-7amp for stock/19T oval racing.

It doesn't hurt to vary the methods a little either to find what works best for you. I used to dead short IB3800 but found it effect their runtime more than it does GP cells, haven't tried the IP3800 yet.

[aus jd 2703]

hey does storing at 5.4v per pack then like the morning of racing (i race at night) putting all your packs on a rack getting them to 0.0v then arrive at the track put the pack on the rack for five minute then charge from there does this sound right?? and opinions on integy 6s and dyna pulse?? i havnt decided wether i want a tray or another discharger

[aus jd 2703]

ill have to read my manual but i seriously think that my intellipeakice can do pulse discharging but i am not sure ill check for it

[losiguy1090]

If your just bashing you dont need to be super strict about your battery care, but if you want them to last long it's important. I would reccomend getting a trinity dynapulse discharger for about 50 bucks. It pulses the discharge so the packs stay cool and it breaks down the crystal structures inside the cell bringing the performance back up.

But what I do to store my batteries after a race day is I charge my batteries, let them discharge on the dyanpulse (this can take about 7 hours) then I equalize them on a tekin tray and then I put about 200 seconds of charge into them.

[losiguy1090]

hey does storing at 5.4v per pack then like the morning of racing (i race at night) putting all your packs on a rack getting them to 0.0v then arrive at the track put the pack on the rack for five minute then charge from there does this sound right?? and opinions on integy 6s and dyna pulse?? i havnt decided wether i want a tray or another discharger

I would not reccomend dead shorting your packs (bringing each cell down to 0.0 volts) This will MARGINALLY increase the voltage, but hurts the runtime and cell life. I would reccomend having a high amp discharger like a dynapulse or a deans bulb discharger, AND an equalizing tray. Get one that has a cutoff though, like the novak smart tray, or the tekin. And you wanna store your packs with more than 5.4v per pack. If your just storing them for less than 24 hours, then its ok, but I would put about 200 seconds of charge in them when you store them. Then when you get to the track, equalize them, and charge them. Then when your done running them, discharge, equalize and charge again.

Hope this helps.

[gizmoguy303]

ill have to read my manual but i seriously think that my intellipeakice can do pulse discharging but i am not sure ill check for it

The discharging function on your Intellipeak Ice is sufficient; I would spend your money on a good equalizing tray.

FYI: The guy who won both buggy and truck and the Stock Nats discharges at 10 amps...discharging at a lower rate isn't going to kill you.