Discharging Batteries

[trekbikedude]

Ok. I have a electric rustler with a novak xrs and it's pretty sweet. I also upgraded that pos stinger motor that I burned out in 2 days. But Is it ok to discharge the batteries by hooking them up to a 130 sized motor and just letting it run until the motor won't spin anymore? By the way it's a stage 1 xmod motor.


What are some other methods of discharging?



Thanks for any input,


John

[ibjamn]

Don't let it kill the pack completely. You could damage one of the cells.
Wait until the truck slows down to a walking speed, then disconnect the pack.

I actually use a homemade discharger for cycling my packs, when needed.
It consists of 4 standard automotive single filament light bulbs. It uses brass rods to connect all of them in parallel and used an older connector to hook up to the battery pack. The only thing is you still have to watch the discharging, because I let a pack die completely. And after trying to cycle it a couple of times, I ran it in my pede. Well one of the cell's literaly popped and smoked like a nitro exhaust for a second.

[SHAUN]

If you have NIMH there is no need to discharge, if you have NICD you must discharge or it will keep a memory, it is best to get some light bulbs (automotive back up bulbs) and just solder the wire to the bulb its self then put a tamiya or deans plug on the end. I used 8 bulbs for my DIY Discharger.

[chrome]

If you have NIMH there is no need to discharge, if you have NICD you must discharge or it will keep a memory, it is best to get some light bulbs (automotive back up bulbs) and just solder the wire to the bulb its self then put a tamiya or deans plug on the end. I used 8 bulbs for my DIY Discharger.

Surely you cut and paste that from some where. I've never seen you have both a good suggestion with good grammar at the same time. Remarkable.

Later,
Chrome...

[SHAUN]

Must be the sprint cars making me have better grammar.

Wait, what did he say about sprint cars

[sg219]

If you have NIMH there is no need to discharge, if you have NICD you must discharge or it will keep a memory, it is best to get some light bulbs (automotive back up bulbs) and just solder the wire to the bulb its self then put a tamiya or deans plug on the end. I used 8 bulbs for my DIY Discharger.

Surely you cut and paste that from some where. I've never seen you have both a good suggestion with good grammar at the same time. Remarkable.

Later,
Chrome...

Yes....






You can solder together some auto bulbs, buy a discharger, or if you let your truck run them down.


IMO...
Unless your racing and spending big $$$ on batteries, its a little less nessasary to consistantly discharge them. For your everyday basher, I think proper rundowns would be good. Its all about personal usage and preferences. Is a $10 stick pack worth spending more money on a special discharger or the time to build one? Weight your options.

[SHAUN]

No, I typed that.

[crazydave]

NiCds do need to be discharged, but they can be over discharged, causing voltage reversal, and permanent damage to your batteries. You watch the bulb, and unplug them the second the light starts to dim, or you can buy an auto cutoff, which is ideal for maintaining battery life. I believe Deans sells a bulb discharger with an auto cutoff. Really though, you can just run your car until it slows. Dischargers became neccesary when racing, due to the 4 minute heats, you more than likely had some juice left in your batteries at the end of the race.

With that said, most people are using NiMH now days, and they should not be discharged. They will not take a charge if the voltage is run down too far.

[ibjamn]

I don't race, but I do use a DIY discharger for when I get ready to run my stampede. The main reason is that it could be weeks, sometimes months, inbetween outings. I have to cycle the batteries to get decent runs as soon as I turn my controller on.