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nmb
03-27-2007, 06:00 PM
I just got a Duratrax Intellipeak Deluxe Charger.

I'm using a normal personal computer (PC) to supply a steady 12V up to 8A to the charger.

The charger has trickle charge at 100mA, fast charge between 0.5A and 6.5A.

Received two G-MAXX nimh 1200mA for the MIST and a normal nicd 2000mA 7.2V pack for a Mardave RC.

Now something is not right at all.

one of the packs I opted to fast charge at 2A. After only 5 min the charger flashes stating that battery is near peak. what? nevertheless over two hours later, the charger still does not switch to trickle charge. Remove the battery and my kid was able to run MIST for almost a minute. yes! 1 minute. wow!

the second pack was left overnight at trickle charge. result. MIST does not even move :(

I'm a complete newb at this...

Is the two packs faulty?? Is the Charger Faulty??

:mad:

nuno

tanandy09
03-27-2007, 07:06 PM
It might be due to a false peak.

I would try to do a quick charge @ 1.5Amp to see what happens. Monitor the temperature of the battery when charging @ 2Amp, It gets hot very quickly.
Battery should be fully charge in about 50mins.

If the battery still don't last, Try to cycle the battery using slow charge.(then let the pack rest for a day) and then discharge at 2Amps, after which rest for a few hours. Do NOT use the 10Amp discharge.

Try quick charging again after cycling the battery.

What about the other packs? Same problems?

nmb
03-27-2007, 07:23 PM
It might be due to a false peak.

I would try to do a quick charge @ 1.5Amp to see what happens. Monitor the temperature of the battery when charging @ 2Amp, It gets hot very quickly.
Battery should be fully charge in about 50mins.

If the battery still don't last, Try to cycle the battery using slow charge.(then let the pack rest for a day) and then discharge at 2Amps, after which rest for a few hours. Do NOT use the 10Amp discharge.

Try quick charging again after cycling the battery.

What about the other packs? Same problems?


thank you for replying so fast ;)

one thing I noticed. battery never went as much as warm. always cold. weird.

My first pack. the one that was charged at 2A and lasted a minute I left at trickle charge now. tomorrow I'll try 1.5A fast charge with the second pack and test again...

when you say slow charge are you talking at trickle 100mA or fast but 0.5A?

once again thank you for helping a newb ;)

nuno

tanandy09
03-27-2007, 08:53 PM
Slow charge should be at 140mA(0.14Amps) for your Gmaxx packs. 200mA(0.2Amps) for your 2000mAh pack.

But since your charger could only do a slow charge at 100mA, you would just have to leave it charging for a longer period of time. Probably for about 16 hours for the Gmaxx packs.

Charging at 0.5A (=500mA) is fine too, but as you had experienced, the charger might peak before the packs are fully charged.

Those packs you have may have been left on the shelf for some time, so it might take a few cycles to get them to work normally.

nmb
03-27-2007, 10:21 PM
Slow charge should be at 140mA(0.14Amps) for your Gmaxx packs. 200mA(0.2Amps) for your 2000mAh pack.

But since your charger could only do a slow charge at 100mA, you would just have to leave it charging for a longer period of time. Probably for about 16 hours for the Gmaxx packs.

Charging at 0.5A (=500mA) is fine too, but as you had experienced, the charger might peak before the packs are fully charged.

Those packs you have may have been left on the shelf for some time, so it might take a few cycles to get them to work normally.

once again thank you for your help.

I'm leaving them for at least 16 hours. when you say cycle, can I use them on the MIST followed for another 16 hours trickle charge? then MIST, then trickle...

tanandy09
03-28-2007, 02:49 AM
Yes, you could use them in your car.

I rarely cycle my batteries unless I'm having problems like you do.

Good luck!

nmb
03-28-2007, 10:04 AM
more info. after 16 hours slow 100mA charge, battery remains dead.

I did try the charger with a normal 6 cell 7.2V NiCd 2000mA and all went well. fast charge at 2A followed automatically slow charge. It was the first charge and lasted around 10 minutes on my Mardave.

another piece of info. tried discharging at 2A and the PC powersupply turned off immediately... weird...

now I'm getting frustrated and I opted to charged them at 3A and they remain cold for the past half hour :(

nmb
03-28-2007, 04:53 PM
more info. after around 3 hour charge at 3A with a always flashing peak led. lunch hour. gave up and disconnected the pack and put to charge the 7.2V 2000mAh pack at around 2.5A. after half hour lunch pack was charged and charger at slow trickle charge.

went for some fun and MIST for the first time lasted for at least 15 minutes with the pack.

during that time, charger was put at the car battery and charged the second mist pack. charge went ok. even went for some grass fun with mist.

after all, packs appear to getting some charge. let's hope it's a need to cycle thing :D

tanandy09
03-28-2007, 10:33 PM
Great to hear that at least 2 battery packs and your charger works!

Cheers!

nmb
03-29-2007, 01:26 PM
thanks for your help.

one thing remains weird.

even on fast charge, batteries are always cold and charger never goes to slow charge automatically.

another piece of info. put a amp meter in series in the battery charging and even at 3A, amp meter only measures 0.7A.

yesterday charger on my car battery did the right thing. about 30/40 minute charge and went to slow charge automatically. normal behavior.

could be a problem on the pc power supply. always worked fine on the pc.

tanandy09
03-29-2007, 03:25 PM
Maybe it's your power supply not providing enough power to the charger?

Check with your multimeter at the power supply side maybe it's not providing enough current.