more help on batteries.....

[chizzler]

ok, i have charged 4 ni-mh batteries on my millenium charger at 4 amps, 24 mv total.
2 of them are the stock metal hydride ones. the other 2 are normal ni-mh's


what i would like to know is how you can tell which pack will perform the best with using this charger's info.....im still a little intimidated using the turbo 30 on my ni-mh's right now because i dont want to ruin them if i screw up!!!!!! :)

PACK
#1 9.48v 2816 sec
3129 mah 101544J


#2 9.48v 2948 sec
3276 mah 106656 J

#3 9.32v 3037 sec
3374 mah 108054 J


#4 9.26v 2223 sec
2470 mah 78294 J


if you can please explain WHY the pack would be better, now just state that "they are" :p
Also, are these numbers good for the packs they are?

im still learnding how battrees work :D
thanks guys :)

[Obi112]

Well, since you have 3000 mAH packs (more or less), the only number you really need to look at is the voltage (unless your running a 7 turn single or something). Higher voltage = higher motor RPM (often called more punch). Using this, packs one and two are clearly the best, since they have the highest voltages. Since the voltages are the same, pack 2 is the best because of it's higher mAH rating (more runtime).

[Railman]

Fron my experience it's hard to tell a lot about how a battery is going to perforn from charging numbers. You need discharge numbers to evaluate a pack. It would appear that the top two packs are better, but it may not be the case. A charger will not tell you what the packs IR is, Or average discharge voltage, & that's what determines how much punch a pack has. A really good pack will not usually have high peak voltage numbers. A pack with high resistance will peak high & then drop way down after setting a while. Having said all that, maybe someone else has these packs & can tell you more about them than I can.

[ 09-03-2001: Message edited by: Railman ]

[ 09-03-2001: Message edited by: Railman ]

[chizzler]

so ill have to discharge to test them, about how low do i discharge to?

[ 09-03-2001: Message edited by: chizzler ]

[jeepinator]

Well, I believe the standard is still .9 volts, so .9 * 6 = 5.4.

Please wait for other respnses though as the .9 volts rule may have changed.
I used to have access to a TurboMatcher 30. I used it for like a year. I would buy 50 or 100 cells at a time, keep the top packs and sell the lowest packs for $25 or so. Oh, and I had to trade the very best 6 cells for 6 average cells for the use of the matcher.

Ughhh... well anyway, I would use 5.4 volts for the pack cut-off voltage. Remember that run time is not as important as average voltage for stock racing, and even mod racing with 3000's (they have so much run time that you almost can't dump any more).

Cheers, and good luck !

[HowieStern]

you don't need a turbo matcher to determine which is your best pack.....

simply go out and run'em.... you will be able to tell if one pack is quite a bit flatter than another... but if you can not tell a difference in any of them, then it doesn't really matter does it?? LOL...

but-> if you Really feel the need to pull out the multi-meter...

1. charge up a pack, disconnect it from the charger

2. connect leads from your multi-meter to the pack...

3. also connect your discharger...

4. write down your starting voltage, then start dis-charging

5. write down the voltage every 15 seconds for 6 minutes..

6. calculate the average voltage reading over that 6 minutes

while this is not an ideal way to determine your best pack, it is about 500 bucks cheaper than the next best way.... LOL...

overall though... i rarely (actually never) look at the numbers on my packs... each brand seems to test differently, so you can't really compare numbers from brand to brand..... and your millenium will not give you all the info you need to determine which are your best packs.... what Really matters is how they perform on the track.... so drive'em and determine for yourself which pack is your best....

peace out.... :)

[chizzler]

thanks jeep and howie-

SO--

i Do have a turbo 30, so should i just discharge the pack to 5.4 volts, or maybe 5.7 to be on the safe side?

at what discharge rate should i try to go at to get the most useful info?

stock/mod.

[SirSpeedy]

You should use the cycle function on the T30.

It will charge them, delay, and discharge them. Then you can scroll through the screen and get all of the pertaining info on your pack.

And like I said before, you need to get a manual from CE....it covers almost every questoin you have asked on this matter in detail, and tells you how to perform these tasks on your T30.

Later...

[chizzler]

i must have gotten a bunk manual then sirspeedy. ive seen nothing that youve told me!!! :D
its only 4 pages long!.....

it really only goes through the basics of the charger, like "press left arrow to get to this menu" sort of thing, not suggested times and settings ;)

i feel so goofy! :D

[Railman]

Chizzler, Just do what Sir said. Just use the charge amps, discharge amps, & cut off volt ratings that are on your pack labels. Set the delay at about 10 minutes. That should be plenty of time to cool down enough after the charge. If you scroll through the options it should all be there. Just enter in the values. Use 6 times the individual cell voltage cut number (normally .85 or .90) 6 x .9 = 5.4v. Do you know what to set the delta peak value at? I think it's something like .04v or less for nmh batts. Nmh batts charge best on a linear charge, no pulse. I don't have a CE charger, or nmh batts, other than a GT receiver pack. Let us know how it goes.
Joe

[ 09-05-2001: Message edited by: Railman ]

[chizzler]

i know how to charge the batteries, but its getting just a little more complicated than i want, i think im just gonna sell it if anyone wants it. :( ill just stick with my millenium a bit longer, the instructions make more sense to me! the millenium tells you what to set the voltage threshold at, and it stays simple, the CE it doesnt for me. speedy told me i need to set the dropback to .02 volts, and thank god he told me because i definately would have ruined my batts, because i wouldnt have known that "dropback value" is similar to the v.t. on the millenium. i think the CE manual should go into more detail as to what the functions do. speedy said it does, but it just doesnt make sense to me. i got it to SPECIFICALLY charge my NI-MH's, but the charger was made before these ni-mh's became popular, so i didnt expect an explaination as to how to charge them properly, but even with the ni-cds im somewhat lost with charging. i dont feel like ruining an $80 packs ya know ;)

thanks all!

[ 09-05-2001: Message edited by: chizzler ]

[HowieStern]

i didn't realize you had a T-30... i only thought you had a millenium.... but with your T-30 you are in good shape for getting all the info you need....

btw... on the discharge, you don't need to take the ni-mh cells down to 5.4.... they aren't supposed to develope a memory, so there is no need to take them that deep... also... i would use a 20 A discharge (for testing) if you do a lot of stock racing, and 30 A if you mainly race mod.....

peace out.... :)