Charging / Dual Cell Bit .... Tear.

[laanguiano]

So I got about 10 160Mah batteries in the mail so it was time to do my first Dual Cell Car. I used my clone.. didnt want to jack up the 350Z.

After I soldered everything and placed it into the car I did the charger mod to my mod clone. I put the car on the charger for about 3 min. Then took the car off and the car wouldnt go. The On Air light not the charging light, didnt come on my controler so i removed the batteries and un did my charger mod... but when i took out the batteries they were flaming Hot.. i mean hot! Why did that happen?

Also If i put my car on the charger before the mod and press the forward button while its on the charger the car runs really fast like it should for a dual cell. But for some reason I cant get a charge to the cells.

Any suggestions... cause im kinda upset after spending 6 hours on it last night.

[noxorc]

sounds like you had the battery in backwards.

are you sure you got the polarity right?


To swap batteries, one should not have to solder.
why did you?

6 hours to swap a battery?
Don't mean to be mean, but how old are you?

[laanguiano]

It took me 6 hours to solder some wire onto the batteries and to solder a wire to the negative terminal inside the car...etc

I removed the batteries out of the charger yes, but I had to unsolder the mod I did to the controller because of the heating problem I had when I did the mod.

[noxorc]

Just as a test.

solder a wire on each end of your new batteries.
attached each end to the charger (proper polarity please).
Does the charger's 'charging' light come on?

[CaboWabo]

I'm sure this isn't the case, but had to ask anyway...
your clone controller, is it a 2 battery jobie or 3?

[laanguiano]

2 battery charger

[crazydave]

A volt meter can come in handy here, and in many other trouble shooting cases. When I do a dual cell I check the voltage of each individual battery, and both batteries together, in the car, coming from the charger, while charging after, after charging ect. Sometime I will accidently short something, and as long as I catch it before the batteries voltage drops past zero, I just fix the short, and give that battery a quick zap on the charger, and it's all good again.

You can get cheapie volt meters for less than $20. I strongly reccomend you get one, so you can make sure you have everything hooked up correctly, before you blow a battery, or worse, your car.

Nox is right, is sounds like you had a battery in backwards. You also could have had a dead short to ground.

Batteries are very heat sensitive, 6 hours is way to long to be applying heat to the things. Even if it is off and on. My last dual cell took me 10-15 min. Including warming the soldering iron. When soldering batteries you want to be quick, or your batteries performance may deteriorate.

[laanguiano]

I have a volt meter. Can u be really specfic and simple so i know what to do?

Also I orginally had soldered one of my NIMH batteries backwards.. then i had charged it for the 3 min. but then later i noticed, unsoldered, resoldered back on and tried charging it again, but i still had the hot batteries in the charger problem?

Im a super newbie and trying to not be "blonde", but i dont understand what all is being said because its said as if i know what im doing... and i dont.

[laanguiano]

Any more suggestions to help a crying soul

[maximan]

go to rat shack and get a 4 AA case and solder a charging base to the wires

[crazydave]

I have a volt meter. Can u be really specfic and simple so i know what to do?

I'll try to keep it simple, so here it goes.

How to trouble shoot a dual cell with a volt meter.
Check the reading of both batteries before your solder. After you solder them together it should be same as the 2 voltage added together. It might drop a little due to the heat, so if one cell read 1.25v, and the other 1.13v, it should read 2.38v when soldered together. If it's dropped alittle like 2.15v, then it fine move on. If it's reading like 1 battery 1.2 or something like that make sure that it's wire in series. (positive terminal to the positive of one battery, the ground of that battery connects to positive of the next, and the ground of that battery goes to the negative battary terminal) If you are properly wired in series, you may have killed one of the batteries, overheated both and lowered the voltage, or just accidently shorted the wires for a sec. Check the voltage of each individual battery. (You can do that while their soldered together) If ones dead, hold a couple wires to the ends of it, and touch those to your charging base's terminals, observing +/-. If after a few second it's not gaining any voltage it's probably trashed you need to replace it. If both batteries had a dropped voltage, just take the leads from your pack you just soldered, and touch it to the charger's terminals, and it shoudl take a charge, if not it may be trashed, I don't know i haven't encountered that.

By this point you should got your pack together and established that it's putting out 2 batteries worth of voltage, so install them in your car, and it should be the same voltage at the charging terminals . If it is only reading like less than one battery, and dropping, you are shorting on the - battery terminal, get the battery out of the car fast, before you cause voltage reversal, and ruin the batteries. Find your short, and fix it. if you getting 0 volts, something somewhere didn't make contact.

Once your ready to charge, I always use my volt meter while charging to watch for peak. This is especially helpful when I first build a dual cell, to make sure it's taking a charge. It will read the full voltage that the batteries in the charger are putting out if it's not taking a charge. About 2v-3v if it is charging.

I know you had a problem with your charger, and not the car, but the same type of trouble shooting technique could be applied ther too. I hope I wasn't too long winded, but you said you're just starting out, so I was trying to cover everything.

That's all based off my experiences, I'm sure you'll find your own problems to fix in your experiences. but let me know if that helped anyways.

[laanguiano]

I didnt think a little car could get me sooooo pissed off. I think i may just throw these cars in the ocean and never mess with them again.

Thanks mucho for the long instructions... mucho help.

I checked the voltage and i was only getting 1.2, and i think one of the batteries died... so i started over again... But ive been spending all night trying to solder a freakin wire on a battery... Im so aggitated. every time i solder that sucker, i think its on, but it just slides off... I may just given up on this mod... its taken me 9 hours total and nothing to show except 4 wasted batteries, a messed up charger, a freaked up bit, and lots of gray hairs.

If there is an alternative to soldering or something im missing when soldering let me know.. cause this soldering thing is harder than peeing in a toilet without hitting the rim.

[noxorc]

are you stratching the surface?

get some sandpaper and stratch the ends of the battery.
Got any flux? GET SOME! Does your solder have flux inside it?

-nox

[CaboWabo]

scratch up the surface of the battery real good with a wire brush or even a knife, something to make it not smooth, that'll help a bit.

you could use some soldering paste as well, it acts like acid pretty much so it'll adhere better to the surface, quicker too.

and remember, all you need is a tiny dab of solder and the iron should just touch the battery momentarily.

good luck pimp!

EDIT: nox took the words right outta my mouth! lol

[noxorc]

scratch up the surface of the battery real good with a wire brush or even a knife, something to make it not smooth, that'll help a bit.

you could use some soldering paste as well, it acts like acid pretty much so it'll adhere better to the surface, quicker too.

and remember, all you need is a tiny dab of solder and the iron should just touch the battery momentarily.

good luck pimp!

EDIT: nox took the words right outta my mouth! lol

Just two homies trying to help out another... I just hit enter first, and didn't take the C-dave route.

-nox