John Lussmyer wrote: > I've gotten into what is apparently Thermal Runaway while charging my > Sparrow a few times lately. The Zivan goes to 187 (or so volts) at > 1.7A (pack of 13 Optimas) and sits there. The batteries definitely > get hot. > > Do the batteries receive a full charge anyway? Or do I need to let > them cool down, and run the charger again for a while to get the > hi-volt finish charge?
When a battery is in thermal runaway, the energy is going into gassing and heating, not charging. When the battery cools off, you will find that its resting voltage is low, meaning it didn't really get fully charged. I *think* what happens is that while the battery was in runaway, it really was fully charged. But when you stop charging, the high temperature continues to be present for many hours. The hot battery thus has a high self-discharge rate. By the time it cools off, a significant amount of charge has been lost. -- Lee A. Hart Ring the bells that still can ring 814 8th Ave. N. Forget your perfect offering Sartell, MN 56377 USA There is a crack in everything leeahart_at_earthlink.net That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen
