NiCD Basics with the BC-6

[The_Russian]

Guys,

I am new to glow powered aircraft and now have to power my RX with the infamous NiCD pack. The problem is that I don't know the first thing about these batteries. What is the proper way to charge them? And, how should they be charged on the BC-6 charger? What are some good techniques for NiCD care? What shouldn't I do?

:confused:

The battery I have is a MPI 4.8 volt 1700mAh if you would like to use it for examples.

Thanks ahead of time!

[RC Accessory]

Guys,

I am new to glow powered aircraft and now have to power my RX with the infamous NiCD pack. The problem is that I don't know the first thing about these batteries. What is the proper way to charge them? And, how should they be charged on the BC-6 charger? What are some good techniques for NiCD care? What shouldn't I do?

:confused:

The battery I have is a MPI 4.8 volt 1700mAh if you would like to use it for examples.

Thanks ahead of time!

Ni-xx packs need to be form charged and cycled before you can use them. You need to charge the pack at C/10 (capacity/divided 10) fro 22 hours. You cannot use any peak detection charger to do this such as the BC-6.

What is the rx side output of the wall charger than came with your radio? Most newer radios are about 100-110 mah. So C/10 on a 1700 pack would 170 mah for 22 hours. Let's say that your wall charger is 100 mah. I would charge it for 40 hours for example.

Once the 40 hour charge is done, set the BC-6 for 1 amp discharge and .8V per cell. The 4 cell pack you have would be set to 3.2V for voltage cut off. During the discharge, you will see how much mah the charger is pulling out the battery. When the discharge is complete, it should be about 1700 or higher. If it is less, charge the pack again for 40 hours on the wall charger and repeat the cycle.

Once you know you have 1700 or higher out of the pack, you can now charge it on the BC-6. Set the charge rate for 1 amp. You could charge faster, but 1 amp is a good starting place.

[The_Russian]

Wow thanks!

The wall charger is a JR NEC-221 that came with my SX600. The output for the RX is 5.8v and 50mAh. It came with a 700mAh NiMH that I don't plan on using so I switched to a NiCD on the recommendation of the LHS. Can I use this charger or should I get one with a higher output? If I figure from your post, it will take 80 hours to charge the NiCD at 50mAh.

[RC Accessory]

With the output that low, I would recommend a new wall wart charger. We have this one, http://www.rcaccessory.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=121

AC Wall Charger. Tx Output of 120 mah @ 9.6 Volts and Rx output of 150 mah @ 6.0 Volts or 180 mah @ 4.8 Volts. Rx end is Futaba Female which will work with Futaba, JR/Hitec/Z Systems. Tx end, come with special connector for Futaba (2.5mm), Hitec (2.1mm) or JR (2.1mm)reverse polarity. See picture for Tx end.