[NSRCA-discussion] Scary night of flying

[Bob Richards]

Paul,
 
For Nicads and NiMh, nothing beats an overnight c/10 charge. A fast charge once in a while is ok, but it is possible (as others have said) to get a false peak when doing a fast charge.
 
If I do want to fast charge my nicads or NiMh, I prefer my Accucycle Elite. When it finishes the fast charge, it will switch to a slow charge. You can select the fast charge rate, as well as the slow charge rate. For my transmitter batteries (about the only thing I still use Nicads in) I will fast charge at 350 to 500 ma, and set the slow charge to 50 or 100. It will indicate how many mah capacity it put back into the batteries during the fast charge. The slow charge will then equalize the cells. And I do this outside the transmitter since the internal transmitter wiring and diode will affect the operation.
 
The Accucyle Elite also can cycle Nicads as well.
 
Some of the fast chargers, or charge-anything chargers, will not switch to the slow rate, they just shut off. That is why I like the Accucycle Elite.
 
Bob R.

--- On Sun, 8/22/10, Paul LaChance <plachance at cox.net> wrote:


From: Paul LaChance <plachance at cox.net>
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Scary night of flying
To: "General pattern discussion" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
Date: Sunday, August 22, 2010, 11:37 AM


Hi all,

Thanks for all the advice.  I have to admit I did not cycle the batteries before flying this time.  They were cycled when purchased and were new for the 2008 NATS.  I already bought a new battery but wanted to know if NiCad can be quick charged on a first charging or do they have to be slow charged like NiMh?  Thanks in advance.

Paul


----- Original Message ----- From: "Lightfoot" <lightfoot at sc.rr.com>
To: "'General pattern discussion'" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2010 11:13 AM
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Scary night of flying


> Might well have been a case of NiCad "memory". I wouldn't have thrown them
> away unless after cycling them twice they showed to be weak. Periodic
> cycling is a must!
> 
> Jay Marshall
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
> [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On Behalf Of Paul LaChance
> Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2010 10:57 PM
> To: General pattern discussion
> Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] Scary night of flying
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I finally flew my Prestige tonight after not flying it since the NATS 2008.
> I have not flown it or ANY planes for 2 full years.  I charged everything up
> 
> and all seemed well.  Flew my first flight and landed without incident.  I
> checked the plane over and checked all my batteries and all looked well.
> 
> Flew flight 2,  all was going well.  Flew the Advanced pattern twice and
> landed.  Checked my batteries again and they still read over 6 volts.
> Engine was running great and all was well.
> 
> Flew flight 3 and that is where things got scary.  I flew the sequence once
> and everything was going well.  When I started my second sequence the plane
> got sluggish and was not feeling right.  I landed ASAP and as soon as the
> wheels tounched down, I went to add rudder to stear towards the pits and had
> 
> no rudder, no elevator, and only one aileron was working but it barely moved
> 
> and was very sluggish.  I shut the plane off and checked the batteries and
> they were barely reading 4.5 volts.  This was a 5 cell nicad pack.  I guess
> I had a cell short and kill the pack.  I was just amazed and am very lucky
> to have been able to get the plane back on the ground before the battery
> completely failed.
> 
> Has anyone had this happen before?  What would cause this?  I am going to
> get a new pack in the morning and try to fly again tomorrow evening.
> 
> Thanks in advance for the help,
> 
> Paul
> 
> _______________________________________________
> NSRCA-discussion mailing list
> NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion
> 
> _______________________________________________
> NSRCA-discussion mailing list
> NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion 

_______________________________________________
NSRCA-discussion mailing list
NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.nsrca.org/pipermail/nsrca-discussion/attachments/20100823/e69c6975/attachment.html>