Brushless eats batteries???

[Corpse Thrower]

This is the second battery pack that this has happened to!! I used the first battery (A tamiya 3600 NiMH) for ages in my Frog runner with no problems.

Using it in my Dark Impact, I reckon I've only charged it about 5-6 times max. Now it takes far less time to charge, and lasts about 3-4 minutes!! Its an intellect NiMH 4200 mAh. After the same amount of charges, the Tamiya battery went this way as well.

The first couple of times it worked fantastically, I was getting bored before the battery ran out!!

Charging with an Ansmann NiMH charger.

So is this just what happens when you use a brushless motor?

[Old Busted Hotness]

You've got a problem with your pack, or your plugs, or something. Brushless motors are more efficient than brushed, sos they should last about twice as long, like when the packs were new.

Are you using Tamiya plugs? They really aren't up to the loads a brushless system puts on them. Or the DI might have a bind in the driveline somewhere. It should roll smoothly, like there's no motor installed. 

[Corpse Thrower]

I'm using Deans connectors, so that can't be it. I've checked all the wiring and its fine.

The car is perfect, rolls down hills with no power applied, no bind anywhere, and FAST......for 3 minutes

[neo]

Are you charging/discharging correctly?

[Corpse Thrower]

As far as I know I am.

I was wondering if its due to lack of use? Its been weeks since I used this battery.

[TrevCoult]

Did you leave them fully discharged? IB4200s don't tend to like that at all. Best to leave at least 300mah in them for storage.

Wouldn't explain the Tamiya one though. 

Trev 

[WillyChang]

How good is the Ansmann? Sounds like its false-peaking, turning off prematurely.

Give your batteries a few cycles and they should be good again.

3600s should be charged at 5-6A preferably, and don't cool the battery whilst charging.

[Wireless]

Your battery pack cost probably double what the charger did - there' something fundamentally wrong there...! I'd be inclined to borrow a good charger and test it with that. A good mid-range 12v charger is the Pro Peak Prodigy II. Really quite nice and will charge just about anything.

 Roop

[94eg!]

I've found that if my Nimh packs have sat for a couple days, the

first run is pretty weak. Nimh batteries loose charge as they sit much

quicker than Nicad packs do.  It is important to store the

batteries with at least some charge in them to keep the cells from

becoming completely drained (permently damaging them). I usually fully

charge my packs before I put them away.  Then upon bringing them

out for the first use, I re-peak them on my charger & take em for a

spin.  Warming the pack up before the first use really helps to

bring the performance out.

Also, a cold pack that has sat for a

while will tend to give false peaks during it's first charge

cycle.  My Tekin BC112 charger has a "Cold Start" mode that locks

out the peak detection for about 10 minutes allowing the cells to

stabilize before watching for a real voltage peak.  If are getting

"false peaks" with your packs, you will notice they are not even warm

when the charger shuts off.  If this is the case, simply re-start

your charger & let it run again.  Youll know the battery is

done when the charger shuts off & the battery is nice & warm

(you don't want them to get really hot though)...

[Lemming]

Something very strange there.  I run 3600mah Nimh batteries (Vapextech) on both my brushless thingies (Top Force and Jugg).

I haven't charged them since before my son was born (over 9 weeks ago).  Put a single charge in them (BMI Digipeak charger) and then went to the Somerset meet the next day.

Got run-times in excess of 10 mins in the Jugg (gave it some real abuse!) and the Top Force was running for about 8 mins before I broke it (steering and the gearbox was sounding VERY dodgy)!

I have always found that run-times are far superior to hot motors (get about the same run-time as a TZ) and had no issues with batteries dying (touch wood).

I am running the older Novak SS5800 setups, so maybe modern brushless is more of an issue?

Don't know if this helps at all.

Steve

p.s.  Each of the batteries has been through the brushless vehicles 10+ times probably, no issues so far.  My old Ripmax Pro Peak charger di some strange stuff with the batteries though (sounds similar to your issues).  That was sorted when I got the Digipeak.  No problems since.

[RETRO R/C]

Hey Corpse - ditch the Anssmann charger (we drop the N out of the name[]) and see if you can borrow a decent one.

I could go on for pages with different methods and why they work however those two simple tips are the most important.

a) Make sure the battery is fully charged - they should be warm when finished - even hot with some of the latest cells. Cells perform at their best when they have heat in them as it is a chemical reaction creating the power! If the batt's are still cool when the unit "peaks" - hit the charge button again - there is a fair chance that the charger has "false peaked". Keep an eye on the cells making sure they don't get crazy hot.

  The latest cells don't like being charged at less than 5 amps - especially if you want performance. Charge at at least 5 amps - no more than 6 for performance and relative long life.

NIMH cells dont have nasty memory effect like the Ni-cads - so it is not critical that they be discharged all the time. It does not hurt though to take them right down with a discharger every 6 runs or so.

Cheers

Darryn 

 

[Corpse Thrower]

Good advice there guys.

I took the pack to the LHS that I bought it from, and they said the same thing, and put it on their charger.

They said they got it fully charged, and there was a bit of fluctuation, and it was false peaking.

As you said, my charger seems to be reading this, and shutting down. Might have to buy a decent charger I guess. I don't fancy having to stand there pressing the button all the time.

Strange that it started doing this though.....it was fine before. Might have to try charging my Tamiya battery again.....it might still be OK!!

[94eg!]

Honestly, thats just the nature of Nickel-Metal batteries. 

This is the main reason I opted for the Tekin BC-112c charger. 

The "cold-start" feature eliminates this problem by locking out peak

detection for the first 10 minutes of charging.  This allows the

voltage ramp to stabilize as the battery gets some juice back in it...

Unfortunatly,

the BC112 series has been discontinued (again) as tekin is working on a

new Lipo compatible charger.  They may still be available directly

from Team Tekin though.  Just a thought...