Help just returning to hobby

[Baddon]

Sorry I know this will have been asked before in some form BUT:-

 

Just bought a Gumtree TT-02B which has a cooled ESC and Brushless combo (they came as a matched set) Everything works as it should but was built Stock out of box and sold as a RTR to the guy I bought it off. He ran it a few times and then got bored.

I got a couple of 3300NiMH of Ebay(likely not the best) and the charger I got with it seems to be a good one I can charge at different rates. 0.5,1,2,3,& 4A. Chargeing seems to be very quick which means the run time is also poor. One of the batteries is definatly worse than the other.

 

Any advice?

 

 

 

 

 

[Wooders28]

What is it you want to know?

That charger will charge upto a 4000mah battery (4A) and give you slightly lonher run times. (Slightly)

[Baddon]

Why am I only getting 5 min a run from one battery and about 10 from the other? (both batteries bought at same time, both only  been used 3 times.

[Peter_B]

Try charging the batteries slower (i.e. a lower rate). It could be that by charging with the rate high, the charger is incorrectly detecting the charged point and shutting off prematurely.

I had an issue when I bought a couple of 4500mah packs. I tried charging initially at 4.5A only for the charger to stop after 10 mins or so. I turned the charger down to 4A and they charged fine.

Since that first charge I've been mostly able to charge at 4.5A. The odd time it turns off too early so I just lower the rate and try again.

With your charger and those batteries you don't want to be charging at more than 3A. At that rate it should take just over an hour to charge, maybe a bit less if there is charge in the pack already, but should be in the hour ball park.

If you're already trying 3A and the charger is shutting off early, drop down to 2 or even 1A. It'll take longer to charge but should be more likely to get a full charge in.

When the batteries are charged they will be quite warm. If they're not noticeably warm they're likely not charged.

[Wooders28]

Overlander aren't that of bad a battery either.

What amps are you charging at?

Normal fast charging is done at '1C'  (1 x capacity) so a 3300mah should be 3.3A (so 3A on that charger) 

[Baddon]

1 hour ago, Peter_B said:

Try charging the batteries slower (i.e. a lower rate). It could be that by charging with the rate high, the charger is incorrectly detecting the charged point and shutting off prematurely.

I had an issue when I bought a couple of 4500mah packs. I tried charging initially at 4.5A only for the charger to stop after 10 mins or so. I turned the charger down to 4A and they charged fine.

Since that first charge I've been mostly able to charge at 4.5A. The odd time it turns off too early so I just lower the rate and try again.

With your charger and those batteries you don't want to be charging at more than 3A. At that rate it should take just over an hour to charge, maybe a bit less if there is charge in the pack already, but should be in the hour ball park.

If you're already trying 3A and the charger is shutting off early, drop down to 2 or even 1A. It'll take longer to charge but should be more likely to get a full charge in.

When the batteries are charged they will be quite warm. If they're not noticeably warm they're likely not charged.

As was taught to charge slowly if you can was charging at either 1 or 2Amps, no more. So trying at 3A this am. not paying attention to charger as with 3 kids no chance of that.

The batteries are not warm so did do em 2 or 3 times after each other as only taking a a small amount of time.

1 hour ago, Wooders28 said:

Overlander aren't that of bad a battery either.

What amps are you charging at?

Normal fast charging is done at '1C'  (1 x capacity) so a 3300mah should be 3.3A (so 3A on that charger) 

never used more than 2 till now.

[Peter_B]

Might be worth contemplating a different charger.

As Woofers says, Overlander batteries are decent, so should be ok. Did you get them new?

I have a Core-RC UAC-50 and that works great. I have a couple of those Overlander 3300 packs as well and it charges them a treat.

[Baddon]

30 minutes ago, Peter_B said:

Might be worth contemplating a different charger.

As Woofers says, Overlander batteries are decent, so should be ok. Did you get them new?

I have a Core-RC UAC-50 and that works great. I have a couple of those Overlander 3300 packs as well and it charges them a treat.

yep, new about 3 weeks ago

 

Any links to a decent charger?

 

[wolfdogstinkus]

What ESC is that?, Does it have a voltage cut off?, that will explain the low run times.

Look at ESC manual, see if it has a Ni-mh battery setting.

[wolfdogstinkus]

Those batteries are great for what they are, but if you want a cheap performance increase, get a 3s lipo and lipo charger.

[Baddon]

26 minutes ago, wolfdogstinkus said:

What ESC is that?, Does it have a voltage cut off?, that will explain the low run times.

Look at ESC manual, see if it has a Ni-mh battery setting.

There are three settings and its on the correct one for NiMH (3 beeps on start up)

[Baddon]

25 minutes ago, wolfdogstinkus said:

Those batteries are great for what they are, but if you want a cheap performance increase, get a 3s lipo and lipo charger.

While I know this will speed me up I understand these batteries are volatile and need my boys to be able to use them safely as well.

[Peter_B]

This is the charger I have https://www.modelsport.co.uk/core-rc-uac50-charger-12v-110-240v-6a/rc-car-products/365880

Lots of options, supports pretty much all types of battery. There are other similar ones too.

[Wooders28]

I've the 12v version of this, which is slightly less powerful than this 240v version.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/imax-b6-ac-v2-charger-discharger-1-6-cells-genuine-au-plug.html 

Although by the time you've paid shipping etc, you'd be maybe better going for Peters option! 

[Backlash]

11 hours ago, Baddon said:

Why am I only getting 5 min a run from one battery and about 10 from the other? (both batteries bought at same time, both only  been used 3 times.

Baddon, In my humble opinion (and as others have stated), I feel that the issue is probably with your charger..

The issue with the charger that you have is that you have no idea of how much charge the charger has put back into the battery, other than that the battery "should" be slightly warm to touch once the charge process is complete... If the battery is not warm when the charger turns off, then maybe the charger is only partially charging your batteries, which would explain the low run times..

I would suggest (like the others have) that you buy a charger that has an LCD display that will show you the capacity that has been put back into your battery whilst its on charge.. A popular choice would be a genuine Imax B6AC charger that will charge NiCd and NiMh batteries, as well as LiPo batteries if you choose to go that way later..

[Only4Fun]

I also have a Core-RC UAC-50 which I charge my Nimh batteries with. It is easy to learn how to use and works very well.

It does cost a bit new but if you don't mind using Ebay you will probably find a cheap used one (or similar) there. 

Mine was used and it cost £20 inc post and it was in mint condition.

[Baddon]

Ok and thanks, a new charger has just been added to my Xmas list....along with well the entire Tamiya Back catalog..............................................................I NEEEEEEED HHHEEEELLLLLPPPPPP