Hi Rick:
Thanks for the reply regarding the results of cycling your receiver
packs. I have found that it takes at least three cycles to get a new
pack
up to the highest rating also. I usually do five cycles before using
them
in an airplane.
Since I first asked the question about what to expect when discharging
a 600ma pack. I received several real helpful posts. I was questioning my
cycler but it never did any thing to indicate a problem. It did read low
450mah on several new 600mah pack. All my packs read about this or
lower (350mah) for older packs. I haven't had a receiver battery pack go
bad in three years.
After reading the GE manual on NiCads I found that the 600ma receiver
pack must be rated at the receiver continuous load current, I am assuming
this
to be (50ma) so if I discharged the battery at 50ma it would probably
take 12
hours which is 600mah. However I have a 250ma or a 500ma load selection
switch
on my cycler, and use the 250 Ma load current . This is five times the
50ma
rating on the 600 mah receiver pack. As you increase the load current
the
capacity (mah)of the pack is reduced. This appears to be part of the
reason
I am experiencing the 450mah readings from my cycler. I am also looking
into
checking the calibration of the cycler.
In the hobby industry, small batteries Manufacturers do not list the
current rating used for the capacity test. This information should be
available
upon request from the manufacturer. It is not important unless you get
readings that don't make sense. I have got along for many years without
this
information and knowing it won't change anything I am doing, but it
makes me
feel better to be aware of the reason.
A special thank you to all that replied to my post.
Happy Landings
Glenn Eiden
New Haven IN
.
On Tue, 11 Apr 2000 11:47:49 -0700 Rick Wardrop <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
> I have found the opposite with NiCd packs. A new pack always seems
> to test
> somewhat higher than the rating on the pack. But.... It takes at
> least
> three cycles for a never-used pack to reach that level, the first
> cycle is
> usually around 75% of rated capacity.
>
> Rick,
>
> > I have found this to be true. The rating on the pack has always
> been
> > greater
> > than what I am seeing on a discharge-charge test. I find this on
> new
> > receiver
> > batteries.
>
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