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E-flite . Next D . Fast Lad Performance

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e-Electric Batteries & Chargers > Have I toasted them - Orbit Pro 6.3 ??
 
 
heliraptor
Key Veteran
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK

Hi

I have been using the Orbit now for a couple of weeks, all has been great.

Tonight I put on a set of 30 x 3000 panasonic Ultra Metals that I had flown about 2 hours earlier and ran them down in a hover so they were almost discharged.

The batteries were cold when I plugged them in.

I set it to charge on the Automatic delta peak setting NIMH+. I have used this previously with no problems.

Tonight I went in to check after abbout 40 mins. This is the usual charge time and the capacity it puits in is around 3250 - 3300.

Tonight I went in the capacity was 3465 and it was still charging, the batteries were are a lot hotter than normal and they were sizzling if you held them to your ear. The cells aren't swollen at all. I switched it off immediately.

Are they knackered, what should I do, try them when they are cool and see.

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers

Lee
02-03-2004 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
JKos
Elite Veteran
Location: City of California in the state of Maryland

You stand nothing to lose by trying them. How long had it been since you balanced the cells (i.e. a nice, slow trickle charge)? Just a guess, but perhaps the cells were unbalanced enough to not cause a delta in the voltage even when some of them had truely peaked.

- John
02-03-2004 Over year old.
 
 
heliraptor
Key Veteran
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK

Hi John

Well they are only 10 cycles old. the first few charges were real slow.

I'm still pretty new to electrics, would it be wise to discharge them or run them down with a load in the heli, and then format.

If so what discharge rate and what format rate??

Thanks for the reply.

Lee
02-03-2004 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
cwd10
Veteran
Location: PA, - U.S.A.

Sounds like unbalanced to me. Your charger should have detected the extra resistance in the pack due to heat. Is everything set correctly in the charger? I would put the batteries on a very slow discharge to bring them down to their lowest safe level, then run the balance program (3dc).
02-04-2004 Over year old.
 
 
heliraptor
Key Veteran
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK

Hi

What sort of discharge rate should I use ??

Sorry, what is 3DC ??

I apologise, still learning on the electrics
Cheers
Lee
02-04-2004 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
cwd10
Veteran
Location: PA, - U.S.A.

Sorry, I should have explained better. Since I am used to the Schulze chargers and not the Orbit, I assumed you knew what I was referring to. Use the lowest rate that the charger will "automatically" shut down with. In other words, the charger will stop discharging/charging when it's done. Not sure what Amp/hour rate that is in the Orbit. Check your manual. 3DC is an automatic program that cycles the batteries 3 times. Like this, "discharge, charge - discharge,charge - discharge, charge". 3CD would be "charge, discharge - charge, discharge - charge discharge". The first one is to balance so that the battery is ready to use. The second one is to balance so that the battery is ready for storage, or slow charge after cycling. Confusing huh? Anyway, no need to be sorry. We are all learning something in this hobby. You should see all of the questions I have posted in the past. Lol.
02-04-2004 Over year old.
 
 
JKos
Elite Veteran
Location: City of California in the state of Maryland

heliraptor,
I would suggest using the reformat sequence on your Orbit with a current setting C/10 or 300 mA in your case. There is guidance in your Orbit manual about current selection.

The way this function works on the Orbit is like this...
1) Charge at specified current until voltage reaches 1.45 V per cell (you have to specify the number of cells) at which point the current is pulled back to maintain that voltage. This will continue for 14 hours or until the current has been pulled back for a long time (e.g. you put a fully charged battery on, it will probably only go for an hour or two).

2) Discharge at specified current down to 1 V per cell.

3) Repeat 1) and 2) above as many times as specified.

It works really well. Yes, it will take a while but it is supposed to be a nice slow process.

- John
02-04-2004 Over year old.
 
 
heliraptor
Key Veteran
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK

Hi

Thanks for the advice , its just running down after about 4 hrs on discharge, taken out 2500 mah so far, as soon as its done I'll use the format option.

On the Orbit, would three formatting cycles be enough ??

Cheers

Lee
02-04-2004 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
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e-Electric Batteries & Chargers > Have I toasted them - Orbit Pro 6.3 ??
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