HELP External HDD plug, imax b6 lipro balance charger and different 7.2v NIMH batteries

[TanvirQDS 51]

This is the fake one, not the SkyRC.

So i feel like a total dumbo when it comes to batteries and charging - back in the day i had a TYCO 'fast charge' 4 hour charger plug which i connected to my then 9.6v NiCD batteries. I knew how long to charge them as it was written on the plug, and never had any problems.

That was circa 1995!

Now its Lipo this, nimh that...and i dont know how long im supposed to charge anything, if im overdoing it or what.

So i have bought the imax b6 lipro balance charger for £20 off amazon.

No plug.

I found the plug that powers my external fan assisted hard drive provides an output of 12v at 1.5A (pic below) so i plugged it in and the charger powered up.

 

So far so good.

I go through the instruction manual and think im smart enough to set it up and set my parameters up as follows for my 1400mah 7.2v NiMH Carisma Sports Pack battery - 

User set program>

enter>toggle to NiMH sensitivity>D.Peak Default (which the manual says is 7mV/Cell)> USB/ Temp select>Temp Cut-Off 80C>Waste Time> [DCHG>CHG] 10min>Safety Timer> ON 75min> Capacity Cut-off> ON 1400mAh>Input power Low>Cut-Off 10.0V>

Back out of that menu > program select NiMH BATT>enter>NiMH Charge Man>Current 1.4A

connect my battery up using the tamiya connector, turn on the mains and press and hold the enter button until i hear the beep and it starts to charge.

No the battery was definitely low to empty as i had been using it that day. 

Once it does the battery check and starts charging, the display shows that the battery is like 8.5v from the start, and when it finished charging the battery it said CHG 1:12 and the number next to it was 1139 and the final figure was 9.5V 

It was red hot to touch too, i couldn't  touch it for a good 45min.

What have i done wrong?

Also good to know is that the battery did come with a car i bought so i dont know how old it is.

I then went to charge my brand new EnrichPower 3000mAH 7.2v battery using the same method but changing the capacity cut-off to 3000mAH and NiMH Charge to 3.0A.

Same thing, it started to go really hot and i was worried so i turned it off after about 15mins.

Help!

[MadInventor 3884]

I would say your power supply is too weedy for the job. I've just looked at mine for my ansmann charger (Which is probably identical electrically under the case, the operating interface is the same on all of these. My PSU is a big brick with a kettle lead plugged into , and has a power rating of 6A at 15V. I suspect that as the power supply has such a low amp rating, the circuitry that monitors the battery peak may not be working properly, and so it keeps charging at a rate that the charger will not detect the battery being charged, but it's enough for the cells to get hot as they can't dissipate the excess charge through heat.

 

Also, don't discount it being a faulty charger. One of my colleagues bought 2 brand name chargers from a well known UK modelshop for work, and when they arrived they failed the PAT test. So we took them apart and found that despite being mains powered metal cased chargers, the earth had not been connected, and we also determined that second hand sockets had been used during the initial manufacture (There were still stubs of earth lead on the socket, where they'd been cut out of something else). Beware the CE Mark. The 'Chinese Export' mark looks very similar to the european safety mark.

 

 

[MadInventor 3884]

Your NiMh main menu shows NiMH CHARGE 'Man'. Mine shows NiMH CHARGE 'Aut'

Check your instructions (I don't know where mine any more). 'Man' might mean manual mode, where it just charges at the rate you've set until the house burns down and the circuit breakers pop.

'Aut' will probably turn off the charger once the charge is reached by automatically detecting when battery peak is reached

Also have you check the User Set options for NiMh Sensitivity ? Mine is set to default

PS I wouldn't charge anything at 3 amps, as it's on the limit of your PSU 8.4V*3A = 25Watts, your PSU can produce 12V*1.5A = 18Watts, which eventually will induce PSU failure or another fire hazard. 

I would limit your charges to 1 to 1.5 amps until you can get a beefier power suuply.

[TanvirQDS 51]

On 1/22/2021 at 5:58 PM, MadInventor said:

I would say your power supply is too weedy for the job. I've just looked at mine for my ansmann charger (Which is probably identical electrically under the case, the operating interface is the same on all of these. My PSU is a big brick with a kettle lead plugged into , and has a power rating of 6A at 15V. I suspect that as the power supply has such a low amp rating, the circuitry that monitors the battery peak may not be working properly, and so it keeps charging at a rate that the charger will not detect the battery being charged, but it's enough for the cells to get hot as they can't dissipate the excess charge through heat.

 

Also, don't discount it being a faulty charger. One of my colleagues bought 2 brand name chargers from a well known UK modelshop for work, and when they arrived they failed the PAT test. So we took them apart and found that despite being mains powered metal cased chargers, the earth had not been connected, and we also determined that second hand sockets had been used during the initial manufacture (There were still stubs of earth lead on the socket, where they'd been cut out of something else). Beware the CE Mark. The 'Chinese Export' mark looks very similar to the european safety mark.

 

 

Hi @MadInventor

Thank you for the info! So i went and bought a beefier psu based on the info you provided, as i didnt have anything else around the house to test with to see if the plug was faulty. Anyway i have learned alot from this post alone!

as you can see, i have now got a whopping 120W power, via 20V @ 6A. I am going to plug it in and see what happens.

[TanvirQDS 51]

On 1/22/2021 at 6:14 PM, MadInventor said:

Your NiMh main menu shows NiMH CHARGE 'Man'. Mine shows NiMH CHARGE 'Aut'

Check your instructions (I don't know where mine any more). 'Man' might mean manual mode, where it just charges at the rate you've set until the house burns down and the circuit breakers pop.

'Aut' will probably turn off the charger once the charge is reached by automatically detecting when battery peak is reached

Also have you check the User Set options for NiMh Sensitivity ? Mine is set to default

PS I wouldn't charge anything at 3 amps, as it's on the limit of your PSU 8.4V*3A = 25Watts, your PSU can produce 12V*1.5A = 18Watts, which eventually will induce PSU failure or another fire hazard. 

I would limit your charges to 1 to 1.5 amps until you can get a beefier power suuply.

@MadInventor I cant change that setting weirdly, and i cant find where to do that in the 'instructions' - i have attached all the pages that show anything related to NiMH batteries if that helps? Once again thank you for the help, i really appreciate it!

[MadInventor 3884]

Well, I've found the manual, and hopefully got some help. I would certainly have never found out how to do this without reading the manual

Select NimH Charge. Hold down the 'Sel' button until the current starts flashing (You can alter it with the INC / DEC keys to set the current limit.) While the current is flashing, hold down the inc and dec keys simoultaneously and the mode should change to 'Aut'.

Let us know if this works. If so, it seems weird that the manufacturer is unaware of the Auto capability of the charger......

If this does work, the charger should be a different animal after this. According to my manual, the 'Man' mode just charges at the current you specify until you turn it off, it doesn't try to detect the peak.

 

 

 

 

[TanvirQDS 51]

37 minutes ago, MadInventor said:

Well, I've found the manual, and hopefully got some help. I would certainly have never found out how to do this without reading the manual

Select NimH Charge. Hold down the 'Sel' button until the current starts flashing (You can alter it with the INC / DEC keys to set the current limit.) While the current is flashing, hold down the inc and dec keys simoultaneously and the mode should change to 'Aut'.

Let us know if this works. If so, it seems weird that the manufacturer is unaware of the Auto capability of the charger......

If this does work, the charger should be a different animal after this. According to my manual, the 'Man' mode just charges at the current you specify until you turn it off, it doesn't try to detect the peak.

 

 

 

 

@MadInventor ok great i will give this a go and hopefully this will remove my anxiety around charging! I would have never thought it would be so much more involved 

[TanvirQDS 51]

2 hours ago, TanvirQDS said:

@MadInventor ok great i will give this a go and hopefully this will remove my anxiety around charging! I would have never thought it would be so much more involved 

I dont have a 'Sel' button on my charger?

[MadInventor 3884]

Use 'Start / Enter'

 

[TanvirQDS 51]

17 hours ago, MadInventor said:

Use 'Start / Enter'

 

Yea i did but it only lets you change the AMPs. Never mind, i charged the batteries both and with the new PSU they werent getting as hot, just warm to the touch so im good for a while- i will be upgrading the charger probably in 6 months so will just make do for now

[KEV THE REV 2307]

When fully charged the charger should bleep and display "full". You should also be able to set a max time of charging so it will stop charging after that pre set time as a safety measure  .

[MadInventor 3884]

5 hours ago, TanvirQDS said:

Yea i did but it only lets you change the AMPs. Never mind, i charged the batteries both and with the new PSU they werent getting as hot, just warm to the touch so im good for a while- i will be upgrading the charger probably in 6 months so will just make do for now

Once the amps started flashing, did you try holding down the INC & DEC simultaneously. When I do it on my charger the Man / Auto sometimes changes and then changes back again, so you need to hold for maybe 1-2 seconds then let go.

 

[TanvirQDS 51]

On 1/27/2021 at 11:46 AM, KEV THE REV said:

When fully charged the charger should bleep and display "full". You should also be able to set a max time of charging so it will stop charging after that pre set time as a safety measure  .

Yes it does that- i set the time limit to 75 minutes for now and it has been able to fully charge the batteries under this so far

[TanvirQDS 51]

On 1/27/2021 at 4:34 PM, MadInventor said:

Once the amps started flashing, did you try holding down the INC & DEC simultaneously. When I do it on my charger the Man / Auto sometimes changes and then changes back again, so you need to hold for maybe 1-2 seconds then let go.

 

I havent tried that, the next time i do a charge i will give it a go and report back on here how it went- the weather has been so rubbish recently i havent been able to run the cars outside.

[KEV THE REV 2307]

27 minutes ago, TanvirQDS said:

Yes it does that- i set the time limit to 75 minutes for now and it has been able to fully charge the batteries under this so far

I set mine to around 50 minutes and they charge in under that