Novak Millenium and NiMH false peaking

[Alacrity]

Hi, I have a Novak Millenium charger with the v1.20 firmware. The charger works great on my NiCD packs, but I can't seem to get a decent charge on any of my NiMH's. Generally it will charge the pack for maybe a minute and a half, then will think it's finished. The packs come out with barely any charge at all.

I'm using the Linear Charge mode and have tried several different options for the peak detection, from 4mV (as suggested in the docs that came with the battery pack) to 6mV to 9mV. It always wants to peak very early.

The pack I'm working with is a Trinity Vis-Extra with Sanyo 3000 cells. It's a regular 6-cell side by side pack.

Any suggestions? I noticed the Millenium Pro just came out, and that has an enhanced NiMH mode, but it also comes with PitWizard and other features I'd never use (I use LRP speedos).

Thanks!

[SirSpeedy]

I use mine with a 4mV threshold. Never had a false peak even once. I would say someting is up with your packs.

[Alacrity]

Hmm, the pack is a brand new Trinity that was factory assembled. All the soldering looks good, I added some 14ga leads and an astro flight connector.

I guess I'll try charging up another new pack. I don't have any old NiMH's around to try :(

Thanks

[Nairb]

Dude, I know how you feel. My NiMHs almost always false peak once around 900mAh. Just hit start again and it will probably go all the way up without false peaking again. If your battery was discharged, just add up the mAh numbers it shows every time it "peaks" and keep going until it's around 3000 mAh or until it gets warm. The Millennium might find false peaks early in the charge, but towards the end it will stop at the right time.

[chizzler]

i had the same problem with older 3000 nimh and the millenium. just hit start again a few times if it false peaks and it should charge the rest of the way.

[baih]

my ni-mh's do the same thing. i tried different threshold settings also. after
they false peak just hit the start button again and they should be fine. if i am
practicing at the track all day the batteries
are ok after the first false peak.

[Grizzbob]

There is one thing you might consider....what kind of power supply are you using? There is a possibility that a less than ideal one might produce minor voltage spikes that could trip the Millenium's voltage threshold, & cause a false peak..... :)

[chizzler]

yes, i use my millenium with the npower, but i noticed that movin the power supply, charger, or battery around too much will also cause it to false peak every once in a while

[KIWIRCGUY]

Hey guys, nice piece of info there regarding power supplies causing false peaks. I have to use a car battery with my Novak because or club races outdoors on a temp. track so no power supply. I have a problem with false peaking sometimes. Could it be because my battery is getting a little low??

[rc10t3racer]

I was having some false-peak problems with my Millenium and NiMh also. I noticed my first few packs were peaking find, but after a few packs the Millenium would start false-peaking.

The change I made was to run my Millenium on my fan to keep it cool. I now put both my batteries and Millenium on my fan which is positioning to blow air straight up(previously I only had my batteries on the fan). Once I made this change, I no longer have false-peak problems.

It may be a concidence, or maybe it keeps the Millenium running cooler. I don't know, but it does work for me.

[CharlieS]

Typically NiMH cells false peak until you get a couple charges through them. It's almost normal. The problem will go away as you use the packs more. Usually after about 3 or 4 charges.

[Coconut]

Just to let you know that I use 3mv on my integy 16X5 which is what they recommend.Trinity says they've gone lower than this. There's also some info. on power supply problems on their site.

[ 08-22-2001: Message edited by: coconut ]