RC Model Reviews

Hey Gang

I have a Futaba 6EX that has a standard 600mAh battery. I am wanting to purchase a larger capacity battery. I am unsure whether to consider a lipo or NiMH? Hobby King sells the following;

Turnigy 1450mAh Lipo Battery

Positives
Fast charging
Greater capacity

Negatives
Higher voltage (11.1v vs 9.6v)
Availability?

The alternative is;

Sanyo Enloop 2000mAh NiMH Battery

Positives
Greater capacity

Negatives
Unsure how to charge using my Accucell-6 Charger

Would be interested in your thoughts.

Kind Regards

Jase

Have a look at a Life battery pack,they are much safer and also low-drain.Hobbyking has a few sizes.Just be sure to check that whatever you buy fits in the battery compartment.

Hi Danger Mouse,

My best suggestion is to read this and follow the links at the end of each page your questions should be answered. Bruce is the Ghuru and has spent copious amounts of hours gather all this information for us poor dimwits: and storing it in one easy location

http://www.rcmodelreviews.com/baffledbybatteries.shtml

I don't know anything about your transmitter, but, if it can work on 7.4v adequately I'd be going for Bruces homemade LiFE pack.

Check out RCModelreviews YouTube site for a dummies guide to your Accucell 6, plus a whole lot of usefull stuff. And if you find it usefull please donate

Hey Guys

Thanks for the responses. I have done a lot of reading this afternoon to gain a better understanding of batteries. I realised that I have not been charging my battery (9.6V 600mAh Nicad battery pack) correctly and I believe it has lost capacity.

I own an Accucell 6 charger and have tried cycling the battery through a full discharge and charge. I am not entirely sure I am doing this correctly and hope someone could shed some light on the subject?

I started by trying to discharge the battery to in effect establish a base line. I set the discharge current to 0.6A and the final voltage to 0.1V. I ran this for 120min. and was only able to discharge approx. 550mA and the voltage to approx. 8.5V.

I then tried to charge the battery at 0.6A. I let this run for approx. 72min. (120%), final voltage was 12.35V and charged capacity was 720mAh.

Have I done this correctly?

Kind Regards

Jason

12.35v out of an 8-cell pack is actually much higher than normal,so you possibly overcharged it a bit.I didn't think this was possible with chargers like the accucell.
However,ni-cads can take this sort of abuse without too many consequences.Let it rest overnight,and if it's down to 11.4-11.2v the next day,you have a good pack.
oh,i forgot to mention,an1.2 v ni-cad''s baseline is 1.1v,so you're about the right there.Normally,a full charge equals about 1.4 v per cell.

Hey quarry44

Thanks for the reply. Could someone explain the difference between "Aut" and "Man" mode on the Accucell-6 when charging NiCd/NiMH batteries?

Regards

Jason

I refer you to the manual which is a bit obtuse but in auto and manual modes you can set the current limit differently.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... L_manual(2).pdf

Hi Bill

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately the above link doesn't seem to work. I have printed up the manual when I purchased the charger and have read the section several times with regard to charging NiCd and NiMH batteries;

This program simply charge the battery using the current you set. In 'Aut' mode, you need to set the upper limit of charge current to avoid from higher feeding current that may damage the battery. Because some batteries of low impedance and small capacity can lead to higher charge current by the processor at automatic charge mode. But in 'Man' mode, it will charge the battery with the charge current you set at the display. Each mode can be switched by pressing INC and DEC button simultaneously when the current field is blinking.

Are they trying to say the following;

You can charge your NiCd or NiMH battery in one of two ways;

1. In 'Aut' mode where the charger uses a dynamic charging current.

OR

2. In 'Man' mode where the charger uses a static charging current.

Is one necessary better than the other?

Regards

Jason